I shot a 190lb buck one afternoon a couple of years ago on the side of a ridge and of course he ran and rolled to the bottom of a very steep hardwood draw. Probably about 250 plus yards from the top of the ridge and 100 feet below the lip. Well I drug him a little until the euphoria of adrenelin wore off and decided to go get my truck and see how close I could get back to him. I was so exhausted that I almost couldn't find my way back to the truck as I tried to cut across some 7 year old planted pines to make the walk shorter. I surely wasn't thinking clearly. And Yes there were a few briar patches along the way. Anyway, I finally get to the truck and start making a road through a firebreak around the edge of the pines. The truck needed a few more scratches...gives it character. I arrive at the top of the ridge where my stand was located halfway down a point where three ridges run down into the draw. I get out of the truck and it is dark by now, so my headlights are shining into the abyss of limbs above the hardwood draw. I roll out the full length of my winch cable, 2-25 foot chains, 1-30 foot chain, 1-30 foot tow/snatch rope, some unkown length of 550 para cord and my bow pull up rope and I winched that sucker up the ridge. When I finally got him there I untied the rope threw it over a limb in a nearby tree and winched him up, backed the truck underneath and lowered him down into the bed. I threw the chains and rope into the bed and proceeded around the firebreak. I forgot to unplug the remote to the winch and it eventually got knocked off of the brushguard somewhere along the way, but I heard it hitting the transfer case when I got on the dirt road. I've thought alot about that day of hunting alone and how much work it can be to get a deer out of the woods. It also made me realize that shot placement means more than what part of the target you aim for...you should also consider where your target is going to be when the shot is over. From the first time I saw CAM's signature line, I got it! "Don't let a dead deer kill ya". May all of your kills be over flat land.
