Been hunting this place in rocksprings for about 6 years now. Bow hunting the last few years. No bucks to speak of until last year and this year. We’ve spent six years managing does and culling some gnarly old spikes (multiple 12” spikes!). Many of the neighbors have done the same. We have seen the effect. We also started feeding protein and added more corn feeders this year. At least 5 deer with 8 points or more on camera. I sat in my blind Friday night. I saw 28 whitetail come within 50 yards(!!!) and 3 axis. The axis never came closer than 150 yds, but it was fun seeing them. Right about 31 minutes after sunset I saw this 8 point buck walk up to the pen and just stand there at about 15 yards. I could only make it out in my binoculars. Too dark for naked eye. Saturday night I sat in the same stand thinking he might come out again...maybe earlier this time. A spike came out and I spent way too much time trying to determine if he would be my therapy for Texas losing to OU or if I’d give him one more year to see if he develops more. I let him go. Not 15 minutes later a 9 point with all width and no height to him came out. I drew while I was blocked by a tree. As he walked into the open I just saw the 8 in the corner of my eye. I knew I would take him if I saw him again. I swung over and released with what felt like a great shot at a broadside deer. This is where things took a turn. As I was releasing the 9 had jumped the fence to the pen and the 8 reacted by jumping forward after him. Not sure what spooked them as I didn’t hear a thing. But maybe I was in the moment. The arrow hit far back and a “little” high. The deer took off straight away from me. The arrow looked like it was barely in and from my view it looked way back and high. We left him overnight just to be safe. I went out the next morning to find no blood. At all. It had rained a little the night before. This was gonna be tough. It took me two hours of crisscrossing to find the arrow and a couple of drops of blood. This scared me a bit. I was hoping to see more. I tried to remember where the runoff “creek” is on this section of property. I know that injured deer sometimes head to water and since it had rained there might have been some flowing. I made my way down to the bottom of the valley and crisscrossed again. After about 45 minutes I found one drop of blood. I bent down to take a look and see if I could find anything else. I looked up and he was staring at me about 25 yards ahead. I disposed of him with my knife and then spent quite a bit of time talking to my much more experienced friend about what I could’ve done better and what I’ll take from this to the next hunt. I was especially proud of my trusting my experience and instincts in finding him. We examined him a bit closer. Turns out the arrow just barely hit spine and barely nicked any artery there if at all. Very little blood inside even after all night. He would’ve died eventually but it would’ve been slow and probably from starving or dehydration. This made my finding him that much more important to me. I am very new to bow hunting and keep learning a ton every time I go out. Two years in a row with an 8 point. Plenty of misses and WTFs along the way the last few years. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk