The first deer I killed with a bow was one of those ???? episodes. I was about 30’ up a poplar in a climber and a fork horn came easing by maybe 10 yards from the base of the tree. I let fly and it felt like a good shot.
The buck ran off about 75 yards toward the southwest and with the setting sun behind him, I could see his silhouette. He stopped and after a few seconds he dropped. I climbed down, packed up my stand and gear, then walked over to check him out. There was lots of blood around and at first couldn’t find my hit. Then I found I had hit him in the neck. I was thinking, “there’s no way I pulled a 10 yard shot that badly.”
I was shooting a Zwicky broadhead with IIRC, a span of a little over an inch and “bleeder” blades that span about 5/8”. The main blade struck 90 degrees to his neck and had cut the jugular. Had the arrow spun a quarter turn more or less and it may have missed everything vital. I figured that he jumped the string and the arrow landed just as he squatted and whirled to his right.
