• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Raw Emotions

I needed to read this tonight. Shot my first deer with a trad bow this morning. The shot was broad side shot at 11 yards. First shot was a smooth Miss. Second shot was maybe a touch back, but I thought for sure I got liver. I could see my arrow sticking out of the ground and since all my feathers are white I could tell there was blood on all of them. I'm color-blind so the shot is not the part I struggle with, it's the tracking. I watched this deer for 45 minutes walk around in the area where I shot him. He even sparred with the other Spike he came in with. I honestly thought he was going to fall over dead at any second. I gave him a solid 3 hours before I got down and looked at all. I found a couple drops of blood at the shot site and that was it. I started looking in his direction of travel and then the area where he in the other deer sparred and found nothing. I had to wait till this evening for a buddy of mine to come he found a really good blood trail that lasted about 10 yards and then dried up. We looked past dark, started grid search in the area with flashlights since we couldn't find any more blood with no luck. I unfortunately have to work the next few days to make up for all the rain outs I've had this week. I hate leaving an animal that I know it's dead out in the woods but I have no other choice. It definitely sucks!
8b8f93b6e5ce997a87ee66304bf41334.jpg


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
denots said:
I needed to read this tonight. Shot my first deer with a trad bow this morning. The shot was broad side shot at 11 yards. First shot was a smooth Miss. Second shot was maybe a touch back, but I thought for sure I got liver. I could see my arrow sticking out of the ground and since all my feathers are white I could tell there was blood on all of them. I'm color-blind so the shot is not the part I struggle with, it's the tracking. I watched this deer for 45 minutes walk around in the area where I shot him. He even sparred with the other Spike he came in with. I honestly thought he was going to fall over dead at any second. I gave him a solid 3 hours before I got down and looked at all. I found a couple drops of blood at the shot site and that was it. I started looking in his direction of travel and then the area where he in the other deer sparred and found nothing. I had to wait till this evening for a buddy of mine to come he found a really good blood trail that lasted about 10 yards and then dried up. We looked past dark, started grid search in the area with flashlights since we couldn't find any more blood with no luck. I unfortunately have to work the next few days to make up for all the rain outs I've had this week. I hate leaving an animal that I know it's dead out in the woods but I have no other choice. It definitely sucks!
8b8f93b6e5ce997a87ee66304bf41334.jpg


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Are you sure of the hit? It sounds like you might have just clipped the belly, maybe? I have had a low non-lethal hit give me a good blood trail for a little while like that before. I have never seen or heard of a deer spending 45 minutes in an area and sparring with another Buck after taking a lethal hit.
 
GCTerpfan said:
Are you sure of the hit? It sounds like you might have just clipped the belly, maybe? I have had a low non-lethal hit give me a good blood trail for a little while like that before. I have never seen or heard of a deer spending 45 minutes in an area and sparring with another Buck after taking a lethal hit.
Click to expand...
I think the other deer was challenging him more than he was trying to challenge or spar with it. I got the idea to other deer was giving him a hard time cuz he knew something was wrong with him. The way he was acting when that other deer challenged him, I thought he was going to fall over dead at any second. And yes I'm pretty sure of the hit. It was a little far back, but not that bad. Definitely wasn't through the gut and it was right through the middle of his torso. I honestly thought I got liver. Blood was dark to be lung blood, but again I'm color-blind so it all looks Brown to me. To be honest I think I clipped the liver, but didn't go right through it. By the time my buddy @Deltahuntr got there everything was dried up so, then it was real hard to tell. Thanks again DeltaHuntr for coming to give me a hand I appreciate you taking time away from the family to come help me out brother.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
denots said:
I think the other deer was challenging him more than he was trying to challenge or spar with it. I got the idea to other deer was giving him a hard time cuz he knew something was wrong with him. The way he was acting when that other deer challenged him, I thought he was going to fall over dead at any second. And yes I'm pretty sure of the hit. It was a little far back, but not that bad. Definitely wasn't through the gut and it was right through the middle of his torso. I honestly thought I got liver. Blood was dark to be lung blood, but again I'm color-blind so it all looks Brown to me. To be honest I think I clipped the liver, but didn't go right through it. By the time my buddy @Deltahuntr got there everything was dried up so, then it was real hard to tell. Thanks again DeltaHuntr for coming to give me a hand I appreciate you taking time away from the family to come help me out brother.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
You’re welcome but next time I’d rather that you call for help dragging one out that swamp :)
 
denots said:
I needed to read this tonight. Shot my first deer with a trad bow this morning. The shot was broad side shot at 11 yards. First shot was a smooth Miss. Second shot was maybe a touch back, but I thought for sure I got liver. I could see my arrow sticking out of the ground and since all my feathers are white I could tell there was blood on all of them. I'm color-blind so the shot is not the part I struggle with, it's the tracking. I watched this deer for 45 minutes walk around in the area where I shot him. He even sparred with the other Spike he came in with. I honestly thought he was going to fall over dead at any second. I gave him a solid 3 hours before I got down and looked at all. I found a couple drops of blood at the shot site and that was it. I started looking in his direction of travel and then the area where he in the other deer sparred and found nothing. I had to wait till this evening for a buddy of mine to come he found a really good blood trail that lasted about 10 yards and then dried up. We looked past dark, started grid search in the area with flashlights since we couldn't find any more blood with no luck. I unfortunately have to work the next few days to make up for all the rain outs I've had this week. I hate leaving an animal that I know it's dead out in the woods but I have no other choice. It definitely sucks!
8b8f93b6e5ce997a87ee66304bf41334.jpg


Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

hard to tell from a picture but that does not look like liver or lung blood. I am thinking it was a abdomen hit that also went through some muscle tissue. I could be wrong as it is hard to tell from a picture. Did the arrow smell like gut hit?
 
DaveT1963 said:
hard to tell from a picture but that does not look like liver or lung blood. I am thinking it was a abdomen hit that also went through some muscle tissue. I could be wrong as it is hard to tell from a picture. Did the arrow smell like gut hit?
Click to expand...
That’s the first thing I did when I arrived. The arrow did not smell like gut but the blood did was dark, not very thick, it didn’t look like liver blood. The blood was thin dark with no gut smell which I believe generally is more of a meat only sign. There was no hair on arrow to help identify region of hit and blood we were able to locate was very dark with no particles suspended in it. All those signs appear to me to be meat only. Denots was able to see the hit and believed it was through the abdomen.
 
Sorry to hear that @redsquirrel. You did what you could to find him. Take pride in that. I know a lot of people that look around for a few minutes and then call it. I’ve spent many hours on my hands and knees looking for pin drops of blood. These critters are tough. Sometimes they survive when you think there’s no possible way, and other times I see them fall when you would think the hit was awful!

For those who have never experienced this feeling, I hope you don’t ever have to go through it. Unfortunately, if you keep hunting, just get ready for the emotional roller coaster.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Episode 23 of The Hunting Public - Deer Tour ‘18
has the raw emotions similar to this out there for all to see. Can’t say much more without giving away the ending, but it’s worth watching. Great reminder of what we’re all doing and what it means to let that arrow go at a living, breathing animal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
wildotter said:
Sorry to hear that @redsquirrel. You did what you could to find him. Take pride in that. I know a lot of people that look around for a few minutes and then call it. I’ve spent many hours on my hands and knees looking for pin drops of blood. These critters are tough. Sometimes they survive when you think there’s no possible way, and other times I see them fall when you would think the hit was awful!

For those who have never experienced this feeling, I hope you don’t ever have to go through it. Unfortunately, if you keep hunting, just get ready for the emotional roller coaster.

In case you haven’t seen it yet, Episode 23 of The Hunting Public - Deer Tour ‘18
has the raw emotions similar to this out there for all to see. Can’t say much more without giving away the ending, but it’s worth watching. Great reminder of what we’re all doing and what it means to let that arrow go at a living, breathing animal.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
It's all there. We all try our best not to be in that moment. I've been there once. Since then, I've passed on shots that others may have taken. It'll stick with you.
 
Same here! We all know things happen, and I have much respect for those that put in their due diligence when things don’t go as planned. Like in the video, a minor misjudgment on angle can change the game entirely. Just like not seeing that tiny limb that deflects your arrow and causes a miss, or even worse, a bad hit. Kudos to red, the THP gang and any others who have been there for sticking with it and keeping things in perspective.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
@denots get back in the saddle brother - hate that didn’t work out but you are putting the work in and it will only be a letter of time before you are laying that trad bow over a fine buck’s back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
kelly.jayp said:
@denots get back in the saddle brother - hate that didn’t work out but you are putting the work in and it will only be a letter of time before you are laying that trad bow over a fine buck’s back.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
It may be next weekend before I get the chance again. My trad commitment remains the same. I don't like not recovering an animal, but nothing goes to waste. The earth reclaims everything in one form or another.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk
 
Good luck, trad brother. I hope you are successful on the next draw.
Just had a very frustrating experience of my own. can't lose faith, though. Persistence will pay off.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top