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Official 2015 Deer Contest submission

redsquirrel

redsquirrel

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Post your kills here per the contest rules!

Only 2 deer are allowed per person, one of which may be antlered. So you can enter 1 buck and 1 antlerless deer, or 2 antlerless deer. **You may upgrade your buck one time during the season**

A photo of the hunter and saddle (either laying on the ground or on the hunter) with the full body of the deer is required to be posted in the official deer contest thread for submission
 
g2outdoors said:
redsquirrel said:
Post your kills here per the contest rules!
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Can you post the rules of the contest pictures as a sticky at the top of this thread?
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Put in in my first post.
 
Got a doe last night so team 4 is on the board. I'll post up the pic later.
 
a95b9f3875abb4cb6f162377c909bcee.jpg
 
Nice! Now begins my vicarious seadon


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Redsquirrel, Congrats on the big doe, do you have a story to go along with the picture?
 
Mike K said:
Redsquirrel, Congrats on the big doe, do you have a story to go along with the picture?
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Mike, the real story starts after the shot. I thought the shot was a good double lung shot, but I didn't see or hear her fall over. I stayed up in the tree for 20 minutes and then snuck out the opposite way to the truck to get my tracking bag and sled. The arrow looked good so I started the track. The blood trail was easy to follow for about 100 yards, not tons of blood but at least some spots every few yards to follow, which was nice as it was now dark. If you are not using one of the bright 500+lumen LED lights I strongly recommend you pick one up for blood trailing at night. They make a huge difference. I took the trail to the edge of a stream where she had stopped and there was a bunch of blood that dripped on the grass. At this point the trail dried up. I started trying every way she could have gone looking for more blood but wasn't having any luck. After about 30 minutes of this I am getting frustrated because I know it is a dead deer. I go back to the last blood and start examining the off shooting trails again. On one trail I finally find a pin head sized spot of blood. Bingo! At least now I know she went this way. So I follow a little more blood across into the stream, a good spot on a tree as she squeezed across the stream and then nothing. Back to the whole searching every trail method. Searching the stream up and down because did she walk down the stream and then cut out?? This goes on for another 45 minutes and I'm getting even more frustrated. I'm thinking about taking my chances and calling it quits and coming back at dawn with some light. Finally I get to the last trail I think I should check and there is a spot of blood on the ground. Then blood everywhere as she heads into the catbriars. I look up into an opening and there she lays. She probably went no more than 150 yards but through the swamp and stream and catbriars it was a tricky track. She was stiff when I got to her, about 2.5 hours after the shot. The shot was a little farther back than I thought, and she was ever so slightly quartering towards me, so the arrow went in through the close lung and came out through the middle of the liver and front of the stomach. I was surprised I got any gut because I saw no sign of that on the arrow or trail.

There is nothing like the feeling of finding a deer after a tough blood trail. I've made my share of less than optimal hits, but its very rewarding to know that you saw the job through regardless :D
 
Redsquirrel, I know what you mean, I've had a few tough track jobs myself. Glad you found her. Congrats again.
 
I'm glad you found her. Losing a wounded animal is a sickening feeling. I bloodied my first bull elk this year and never found it. it is only the second animal I've ever lost in my life and I'm sick about it. I knew the shot was a little high (I guessed the distance at 30 and it was actually 22) but I still hoped I got 1 lung. No dice.
 
g2outdoors said:
I'm glad you found her. Losing a wounded animal is a sickening feeling. I bloodied my first bull elk this year and never found it. it is only the second animal I've ever lost in my life and I'm sick about it. I knew the shot was a little high (I guessed the distance at 30 and it was actually 22) but I still hoped I got 1 lung. No dice.
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Yea it is a crappy feeling when it happens. But unfortunately it is part of the game, so when it does happen you just have to use it as a chance to refocus, figure out what went wrong, and try to correct for any errors. I tell myself that I make mistakes, but I try not to make the same ones twice.
 
I am going to hold this one in my hip pocket for now as I am heading to Ohio in Nov and I have a really nice 150-160 inch I have been chasing a couple years down here - still have not let an arrow fly even though I have had three encounters with him in 35 yards and under.

took this one first evening hunt on public land with my Caribow Tuktu Recurve - my first non-typical, couldn't resist
IMG_20151002_220841457_zps00ifr23i.jpg
 
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