[IronNoggin]

We hunted hard the balance of the day, but although seeing more deer (total 42 whitetails that day) there weren't any more opportunities.

Final Day - Day Nine

Back to Rock Creek and another Region.
Hunted hard all day to little avail.

As dusk began to settle, we began to extract.
Best to be off the mountain when it gets full black there.

On the way down I saw a silhouette behind some brush around 50 or 60 yards out.

STOP! Come back in 15 minutes but drive away slow!!

I used the noise of the departing truck to cover the distance back parallel to where I had seen the doe.
After the sound of the departing truck departed, I waited a good five minutes.
Then simply moved my right foot enough to make the snow squeak.
That did it.

The doe largely cleared the brush at 50 yards, broadside, and stared in my direction.
The brush covered much of her chest, so I tried to slip the arrow in tight behind her shoulder.
It impacted on the shoulder bone, sounding much like a baseball being smacked by a bat.
And passed through into outer space.

This one ran almost 100 yards uphill in the deep snow, spraying red every inch of the way.
My partner returned, and we struggled our way out to her.
No pix, forgot the camera and sure as hell wasn't going back for it!!

Took an hour and a half for the two persistent Old Men to clean and drag her out.
Puffing like old plough horses at the end of it, but Smiles & High Fives all round...

Talk about Last Minute!!