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First Stone Harvest

This season I had a friend who is an incredibly talented knapper, give me two matched weight stone arrow heads with the hopes I would use one to harvest a deer. I’ve killed a pile of deer this season with compound, rife and recurve. On and off I had been hunting with my longbow and wooden arrows and stone heads. Although I had passed a bunch of deer this season and generally hold out for at least a 4.5 year old buck, I had made the decision to take the first deer that presented a 15 yard broadside shot with this equipment. Last week I finally had my opportunity as a young buck came to a ridgetop pool to drink. As he left the water I drew and settled in for the shot. As I increased back tension, he stepped behind a tree, partially covering his vitals. I let down and drew again as he stepped out. I increased back tension and the string slid from my fingers. The arrow buried to the fletch in his ribs and he took off down hill on a sprint. I stood there half in awe. I had just accomplished something I had dreamed of since I was a kid. I had killed a deer with a stone point, made by a good friend, specifically for me. I had carefully hafted it to a cedar shaft, using sinew from a previous traditional deer kill and fletched it with arrows from a Tom I had taken with my recurve. I hadn’t been this excited to shoot a spike since my first deer 23 years ago. I sat down to give the deer time and enjoy the rest of the evening as snow started to fall. Two more bucks, including a young 7 with great potential came in to drink as a red fox worked his way back and forth along the hillside. From the tree I could see blood splatter on a sapling where the buck was standing at the shot. Just before dark I climbed down and followed the trail for about 40 yards and found the front half of my arrow. I decided to go home and meet my brother in law to help with the track and drag. We were back at the hit site a short time later and the blood was getting hard to follow due to the snow. We found the middle section of my arrow and the blood tapered off. He stayed with the trail and I headed down towards where I lost sight of the buck. I immediately found heavier blood and called him down. We walked 10 yards further and there lay my buck, who had obviously died on a full run. No more than 15 seconds after the shot. What an amazing feeling to walk up and lay my hands on this deer. It meant more to me than all the other deer I had shot or passed the entire season.

Congrats on a very impressive accomplishment!

Went back over the weekend and found the back of my arrow.

Neat, CONGRATS!

That's pretty cool the tip didn't break... Now will you be able to shoot it again without touchup?

Congratulations!

Excellent job on a great deer!

You are regressing nicely;-)

Zbone- the head would need to be touched up just to get it razor sharp again. I’m goibg keep it just like this on the mantel though.

Treeline- Hahalve, I’m alrazy looking at building a self bow for next year

Congratulations skip on making something come to reality that many bowhunters only dream about .... myself included!

That is very cool and impressive!

Congratulations!

Congrats! This is extremely cool and something I've dreamed about too.

Congrats on the trad kill with a stone point! Thanks for sharing this special moment too with us.

This is so cool! big congrats dude, that's got to be one proud moment you will never forget.

Excellent work all the way around. Congrats on the whole process!

The headlight ruined it for me........Track with a candle next time.:]

On a serious note,that’s amazing ! Many talk about it but few ever do it...Congrats!

Outstanding! Nicely done.

True Bowsiter...., right there. I’d like to do that before I hang up my bow.

I’m never hanging up my bow!!! I’d like to try that !!

That's pretty cool!

Thats bad ass! Congrats

Well Done!

That is sweet! Stuff like this impresses me way more than big antlers. Congrats on a great accomplishment!

This is amazing! I am extremely impressed. Doesn't get better than this.

Off the charts cool. Congrats.

I’ve always wanted to do that. Congrats! Very impressive.

VERY Cool. Congrats!! What an awesome feeling it must have been.

Totally awesome, I’ve been finding arrowheads and can’t think of anything cooler.

IMPRESSIVE!!!

AWESOME!!!!

Mark

congrats!

Thanks for sharing!

Congrats!

Very cool. Congrats

Awesome!

That's Awesome Greg!

Congrats

Wow! Deadly Congradulatiins !!! >>>>——->

Any details on the shot placement wound channel? Entered between ribs or went thru a rib? Two edge, cut on contact nice. Kudos to your friends who did the heads, they can rightly say these will cut.

I am awed and impressed. Well done!

Best of Bowsite 2018! Awesome!

Congrats on a great deer

I can feel your excitement. Nicely done. my best, Paul

Having shot a few critters with chert and obsidian points, what was very interesting to me was that the wound channels were significantly larger than the cutting diameter of the points.

I think it has to do with the serations on the edges pulling the hide going in and out.

I was also impressed with the blood trails - better than with a 2-blade steel point.

Really stinks that Colorado does not allow stone points for hunting. Even though they have a longer track record of killin’ critters than anything else!

Another need for correction with CPW...

Huntcell, the shot entered the back of the ribcage hitting 2 ribs, passed through the liver and offside lung before centering a rib. The blood poured out instantly. The deer made it about 200 yards on a full run down hill before crashing.

That's really cool. I think every bowhunter dreams of killing a deer with a self bow and wooden arrow with a flint knapped head.

Congratulations on accomplishing a dream! Stone heads are not legal in Minnesota, so guess I'll have to keep dreaming?

Incredible story

Agree with everyone here that is off the charts cool, way to go Greg!

Big congrats that's awesome! You have 2 friends that make you stone heads. I need new friends! Well done!

that's like throwing a stone axe through it. well done

Now that’s true old school bow hunting right there. Very cool, congratulations! J

Nothing I can say that hasn't already been said.

Congrats Greg!!

I'm into arrowhead hunting and never seem to find them in tact. I presume mostly due to tillage equipment where I find them. However I also wonder how often they broke during use.... were they typically a 1-time use thing and then the native would have to knapp more??

Also wonder if anyone has ever documented finding one in tact and using it for a modern times hunt. THAT would be crazy cool. To use a head knapped by a real native..

Congrats. Can feel your sense of accomplishment in your story. Well done!

-Mitch

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