My first saddle buck and biggest bow buck

[surgicaltool]

Hey guys,

I harvested my largest bow buck to date and first deer from the saddle this weekend. We had a nice cold front move in Friday and had them on their feet early.

The experience was actually a terrible one, I shot the buck from 27 yds with my pin set to 20. Made the shot I wanted to make but must have misjudged how the deer was positioned relative to me - he turned out to be quartering towards when I thought he was broadside. I shot him right behind the right shoulder but exited through gut. I checked my arrow after 30 min and had nothing on it but bile, fat, and hair. I was devastated.

Worried about a potential gut shot without hitting anything else, I took the advice I have read on here and decided to wait a long time. I made the shot at 6:13pm last night and started searching this morning at first light, around 6:30.

The deer left not a single drop of blood on the trail that I could find. He headed in the direction of the neighbor’s property and I had seen a deer move slowly back onto my side with its tail up as I was climbing out of my stand last night. I decided to start searching my side until I could get permission from the neighbor.

Long story short I searched about 70 acres in blocks on foot all day today. Finally got a hold of the neighbor by knocking on another neighbor’s door and getting them to call her (I am hunting this place with free permission and the owner isn’t friends with any of the neighbors, unfortunately).

I found him 23 hours after the shot only 150 yards from where I shot him but just over the property line on the neighbor’s side. He had bedded down on a transition line between the old growth hardwoods and a cow pasture in some of the thicker stuff. Unfortunately, the coyotes found him before I did, and I was only able to salvage the head.

I learned a lot from this experience and I am ashamed of losing the meat from this deer. My biggest problem is patience, I got all jumpy and nervous when he started to show signs of getting my scent (the wind was favorable but intermittent and a lot of the time scent was just falling to the ground or swirling a bit).

I feel a lot better than I did last night because I do believe the animal died quickly given how short a distance he ran and the fact that his carcass was entirely consumed last night by coyotes suggesting he died long before daylight. It’s an emotional roller coaster going from thinking you made a good shot to the agony of wounding an animal and wondering if you’ll ever find it or if it’s laying out there suffering. I thank the Lord and my beautiful wife for the chance to hunt whitetails and pray I will make a better shot next time.

Also wanted to thank all of you guys for your contributions here as I have been learning a ton this year on this forum.

Good luck this season!

Colby

 

[Cajunshooter]

Wow! That’s a shame but also congratulations!


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[Coathanger15]

Well, you put the work in and showed the animal the respect it deserved. You were ably to recover and know for sure what happend. Sometimes in bowhunting even good shots turn bad by no fault of ours. Having closure on this must be somewhat of a relief. Congrats on the successful hunt . All we can do is learn and try to use that knowledge to improve.

 

[Bigterp]

Great buck! Sorry how it turned out for ya, if you bow hunt long enough you will make a less than ideal shot or the animal does something weird at the shot. It sucks but it happens from time to time….. hang in there & learn from it.

 

[Bwhana]

Congrats on the entire experience and finding him, relish it! The only people who have not had something similar happen in some manner are those that never shoot. It is just part of this game and nothing to feel bad about at all! I've lost deer to coyotes in the past because I drove back home to get my cart and they were destroyed when I got back, all in less than an hour from the time I found the deer and got back (and for those that will say leave a coat or hat with your scent on it, I did, and they ate them anyway).

 

[LoadedLimbs]

Great job with the post-shot activity - you definitely did the right thing to wait until morning to begin the search based on what you found on the arrow. Great persistence with the search, glad you finally found him. Sorry to hear that the coyotes got the meat. I’d consider a revenge coyote hunt right away!

 

[surgicaltool]

Thanks guys for all the encouragement! The more I’ve thought about the events following the shot and the effort I put into the recovery, it really feels like a successful hunt and a trophy. I couldn’t be more thankful for the opportunity to hunt these animals.

 

[Hughes03]

Congrats on he discovery. Relish the experience. Always learn something every time you hunt, you will be a better hunter.

 

[EricS]

Congrats and way to stick with it to find him. Bow hunting has been an emotional roller coaster for me. Fortunately it’s been more highs than lows the last few years but we’re all just one twig, bad anchor, poor follow through, or jumpy deer away from feeling that bad feeling we all hate. Enjoy the victories even when they don’t go as planned. Nice buck. Good luck with the rest of your season.

 

[slonstdy]

He is a great looking buck and I'm sorry to hear the yotes got to him before you but reading your post I see many positives and things you did right.

There is no need to be ashamed of losing the meat to predators because that's not on you. You found the deer which is a big accomplishment and you should take pride in knowing that you used learned skills, from the decision to back off and give the animal time to expire right up until you found the buck, and applied them to complete the task.

You have gained some good experience and field craft in the last few day and you should know you are capable of "getting it done", so now you need to work on what I consider the real challenge...the mental aspect and keeping your composure BEFORE the shot. It's you against yourself but with more encounters with game the easier it becomes to relax at those last few moments before releasing the arrow.

Great job and best of luck!