This evening was the fourth day of Indiana's archery season. After working a 9-hour day, I climbed my tree at 5:00 PM. The temperature was in the upper 80's, which wasn't very good for deer hunting. Luckily, we've had a bad drought here, so the mosquitoes weren't bad. I saw does from this same tree at 6:00 PM the day before, so I was disappointed when nothing had shown up by 7:00 tonight.

At 7:15, I saw a lone doe meandering down the wooded hill towards me. If she'd have offered a broadside shot sooner, I would have arrowed her then. She ended up closing the distance until she turned broadside somewhere between 5 and 10 yards. I aimed low with my 20-yard pin, and released my Gold Tip arrow tipped with a Rage 2-blade mechanical broadhead. The deer jumped straight up like a scared cat, and took off up the hill. I waited, and heard her crashing around, so I was sure she was down.

When I found my arrow, I was concerned that it was covered with stomach matter, and the shot site had white hair and diarrhea-looking stuff onthe ground. I feared a gut shot, but was confused by the fact that I couldn't have shot that far back from point blank range, not to mention that I heard her crashing. A gut shot deer just hunkers up and walks away slowly. This deer ran full bore until I heard it crash.

I'm one of 10% of males who have red colorblindness. I can see red, but have trouble seeing deer blood. I called my brother and got no answer. I then called my uncle, and he had a girl coming over, so he couldn't help. My father (who doesn't hunt), ended up bringing a large DeWalt light and helping me track, as it was pitch black out by now. I showed him the shot site, and he took off following the blood like a pro. It started out faint, then got heavy, then faint again. The hillside is a tangle of old treetops littered around, so it wasn't easy to navigate. We finally came to a log, and couldn't find evidence of her crossing it. My Dad started shining the light around, and discovered that she turned downhill. The blood got really heavy, and he said, "There she lays!" She wasn't lying 40 yards from where we'd left the truck. I gave my Dad a big hug, and thanked him. For being a non-hunter, he sure could bloodtrail like a bloodhound.

The entrance wound was a huge 2" slit high/front of the ribs on the left side, and the exit was low/rear on right side. A classic double-lung, but I must have nicked the intestines or stomach to get that brown gunk on the ground. I was in too big a hurry to do an autopsy.

I field dressed her quickly, then tried in vain to find a check station that was open at 8:50 PM. Everything close was closed, and I found one 25 minutes away that closed at 9:00 PM (10 minutes from then.) I begged the girl to wait on me, and she agreed to wait until 9:15. I drove right through town and stopped at stoplights with the deer on my "hitch haul" on the back of my Jeep XJ. I got quite a few stares. I'm used to checking them in out here in the country near my home, not driving through a town with them on the back. I made it to the check station at 9:13, and got it checked in. Then I had to drive another half hour to the processor.

I called ahead, and begged the processor to meet me at his shop at 9:45. With the heat, I had to get it in a walk-in cooler immediately. He agreed, and the rest is history. Now I can relax, and wait until it cools off some, and start hunting for a big buck.

Quoted: Got pictures?

No, I forgot to take the digital camera. I did have my camera phone on me, but was in such a big hurry to get the deer out of there, checked in, and to the processor that I totally forgot to snap a quick photo.

As for the Rage 2-blade broadhead's performance, I've seen some devastating photos in the following threads:

www.indianasportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7705

www.indianasportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7738

www.indianasportsman.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7602&page=3

Quoted: Since you got your doe out of the way, are you now restricted to just hunting for a buck? In Okla we are allowed a total of 4 deer which may include no more than 2 bucks.

I can still take three does and a buck during archery season.

We can only take 1 buck per season with any legal weapon. If a P&Y buck doesn't cross my path before the November 17th firearms opener, I'll be waiting until then to shoot a buck with my .458 SOCOM. I usually just take one doe per year with my bow, but I may go out a few more times for more of them.

We are allowed extra doe tags for any legal weapon. We have county antlerless quotas, but if you were to hunt all 92 counties in Indiana, you could take somewhere around 400 does a year legally.