Took a while to post but, here’s my 2018 buck taken at Kingsbury FWA on Nov 10. I wish I had a great story of watching him chase does, or tend a scrape, or something exciting but the fact is I was watching to the trails to my west and he snuck in through the thicket to my east. I heard leaves crack and there he was 35 yards away. A mouth grunt stopped him and the broad head did the rest! I’ve seen him several times on camera but not in person until that morning. Here’s a little ‘before & after’… [and yes, I was hoping he'd be more centered in the field cam before I shot him and I was really hoping I'd get a pic of him jumping but ]




Here is something I’d like to get your thoughts/comments on-
After witnessing some tremendous blood trails & success from my son using Muzzy Trocar broad heads on his compound bow, I decided last year to make the switch and use them on, both, my compound and my crossbow. Last year I shot a buck at 15 yards with the crossbow. He bounded twice then stood there at 30 yards for approximately 30 seconds until he gently laid down to immediately expire. This years’ buck was shot at 33 yards with the crossbow. He ran 40 yards then stood there for approximately 1 minute until he gently laid down keeping his head up for 2-3 minutes before laying it down to expire.
Both deer ran a relatively short distance, and both deer simply laid down very gently. No jumping, no lunge, no last kick…. Just very relaxed. The crossbow bolt from this years’ buck was absolutely clean of blood! (I think last years’ bolt was relatively clean too but don’t recall.) So my question is this, do you think the similarity (i.e. short distance, relaxed, gentle lay down, etc) is due to the fast bolt speed, sharpness of the broad head, a combination of both, or merely coincidence?

Thanks for your input. Also, thanks to all previous posters for the pics of great deer, nature scenes, etc. And congratulations to all who get out this year!!
-Jeff