Hope your hunts have been fruitfull. Mine have been super, with the exception of a lost animal. My season started with a huge hiccup. I had everything go right on opening day. Almost! I set up at a water hole we found last year. After about 45 minutes I heard a snap. I looked down the hill and I saw tan ... then antler. I got ready and a bull was feeding his way up to the watering hole. He fed for a while then raked a tree about 30 yards away. At one point it looked like the animal was going to feed right up in my lap. He was behind some trees as close as 6 yards. I tried to ready for the shot. He finally stepped out at just over 20 yards — broadside. I waited for him to look the other way and drew my bow. When I did I saw the limb on my bow was too close to a tree branch. I tried to lean back and let the arrow fly. The bull took a few steps and just stood there. I saw my arrow poking out of both sides. When he turned it looked like my arrow was a bit back, but not too bad. He took a few more steps and looked real shaky. I kept waiting for him to topple and he never did. I ranged him at 43 yards and by this time I was sure it wasn't a double lung hit. I pulled back and got a good aim and let loose another arrow. It fell short. My rangefinder ranged a branch and he was further than 43 yards. He took a couple more steps and just stood there. I put a tree between us and closed the distance. When I peeked around the tree, he had me pegged. He trotted up the hill. I went back and sat for a couple of hours. In those two hours it rained and rained. CRAP!!! When I started tracking, the rain washed everything away. No tracks at all! No blood! We scoured the area till dark and again the next day. I could hit this shot 10 out of 10 times. The branch in the way of my limb just affected my shot just enough. The shot looked good. I must have just slipped by the back of the lungs and got all liver. I walked and walked and walked. I just zig-zagged all over the mountain. The shot looked to be about 6 inches back of a heart shot. I need to start hugging the shoulder more. I am certain we still would have found it without the rain. We just nothing to go on. The area was open enough that the rain washed away everything. It wasn't a huge bull, but a nice rag horn 5x5. I have shots of him on camera. My dad did get a 3-point buck when we went in to look for the bull. The hunt got better the next week though. I drove my mom in to the water hole to try her luck. This is her first year with a crossbow. We had waited since about 5 p.m. and it was getting late. We probably only had another 30 minutes to hunt. There were three of us at the water hole. My buddy was right behind me looking over the top of the water hole and my mom and I had the bottom. Just then I heard a snap then the mountain came alive. A herd of elk came in on a run. I was keying in on the bull, but he was frantic. He traveled from the bottom to the top, then back to the bottom. His tongue was out and he was rutting pretty hard. My mom focused on the easier targets. The cows were bunched up in the middle. I told her to take the shot if she had it and she let loose an arrow (bolt). The elk took off and we went to check out her shot. Her arrow was soaked with blood and passed right through. I heard my buddy say "there she is!" The cow didn't even make it through the clearing on the other side of the water hole. Of course she shot the biggest one on the mountain. We had our work cut out getting her out. It was awesome. If I had my bull this would have been the perfect hunt.

Remember to keep shooting. You don't want your shooting form to be lost.