First Kill of the 2011-2012 Season

I took her Thanksgiving morning at about 0720 hrs. She had shown up twice before that morning but never really had a clear shot at her on the first two showings, plus I had my doubts about whether she was a doe or a spike or button, so I waited... and waited. Then she showed up in a grassy lane in front of my tree-stand and stopped to eat the mushrooms there (if you ask me, they're some pretty gross-looking brownish mushrooms that have seen better days, but I *hate* mushrooms myself). No nubs, no antlers, she appeared to be of a decent size, especially compared to the other doe that showed up and tried to share the mushrooms with her. She drove the little one off and went broadside. And then... boom!

Blood-trailing her was pretty difficult because I shot her in the heart, and without a functional heart, well, blood tends not to get pumped around, so she wasn't gushing blood everywhere like a double-lung shot would've. She made it maybe 35-40 meters before dropping dead and I got a bit nervous when Robert saw some meaty-looking stuff on the ground. Turned out the meaty-looking stuff was bits of heart tissue and not skeletal muscle. She's by no means the biggest doe I've shot and she's certainly a youngster, but I figured she was a shooter given that the little doe that came up to her got driven off, she seemed to be of a good size, and well, this season has just been outright brutal with all the bears showing up. So yeah, no fawns were orphaned in the process and I now have some nice, healthy protein in my freezer!