#4 2017 Rut Report Ch 4- ”Another Bowhunter”

I'm not sure how others think of the time between a shot and recovery, but to me it's the most golden and cherished period of a hunt. It's the part my mind races & fast forwards to in daydreams. I like to take my time and savor this part of the hunting experience. Others I know are totally opposite of me, putting little interest in understanding the details between the shot and the prize at the end of the trail. Just get to the animal as quickly and directly as possible. But to me the tracking is the best part. It's the imagination's opportunity to soak in the minutia, to tease into existence the enviability of such hard earned and tangible success. Taking very slow and careful steps I'd made it around ten yards from where the bull was standing when my arrow connected with him. He was lunging straight uphill at this point, and I was parsing the ground in front of me when a few glints of crimson finally caught my eye. Several dime sized drops of rich, heavy-looking blood draped over the rocky ground. First blood. Game on.