Tired and frustrated

[Matki15]

Had a nice 7 point come in to one of my plots today, worked his way in from 60 yards and got about 30 yards away when he started to circle downwind of me. Ranged him right at 30, drew back, settled the pin and let it fly. Shot looked and felt great, but when I get down I can’t find blood. I ended up calling in some blood dogs and in total we tracked him 5.7 miles, bleeding a little bit the whole way. My only guess is I managed to hit right in front of his lungs down into the brisket, because he was quartered away slightly and we found a mix of body and belly hair on the arrow. In the end, I’m confident that the deer will survive so that’s good, but I’m still kicking myself for it

 

[Nitrous Kyle]

Hate that man. Happens to all of us. Stay positive and get back out there. Never know what can happen tomorrow.

 

[Jimmack73!]

Been there and it happens. Showing regret over a bad shot shows that you are hunting for all the right reasons. Keep your head up and pick a hair on them and drill it!

 

[Page]

Keep after it! Happens to all of us sooner or later. Hats off to you for all of the effort you put in. Way more than some people would have done.

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[Jtoddg]

Hang in there. Tomorrow is another day.

 

[fbwguy]

I fully understand the emotion, my friend. Same type of experience opening weekend. Worst feeling you can have as a hunter. You’ll get redemption.

 

[kyler1945]

5.7 miles! Sounds like you were chasing a live deer, not tracking a dead one! He’s gonna be fine, if he doesn’t die from exhaustion haha.

It happens to all of us. He will heal up just fine, move on to the next one!

 

[Murph4028]

Might've hit him a little high up in the backstrap. That doesn't bleed much. It happens

 

[DaWiz9578]

Man Ive lost a deer to a 1 oz slug point blank. Father in law says I had a bad shot, which I guess I had to, but I watched the impact and couldnt have paid for better placement. Another doe ducked a slug not quite point blank but just clipped her shoulder. My guess is she jumped some noise I made a split second before firing not the actual shot. Just some head scratchers. No idea what the projectile will do once in there. All you can do handle everything on your end.

 

[Matki15]

Might've hit him a little high up in the backstrap. That doesn't bleed much. It happens

That was my initial thought when I didn’t find blood, but part of my arrow had fat and belly hair on it and the other half had what I THOUGHT was lung blood

 

[hokiehunter373]

That was my initial thought when I didn’t find blood, but part of my arrow had fat and belly hair on it and the other half had what I THOUGHT was lung blood

My guess would be you just got one lung on the side you hit, got unlucky as crap, and didn't get any major arteries on the exit. 5.7 miles is insane, can't imagine he'll die after that. Way to do your best and give it all you got.

 

[Matki15]

My guess would be you just got one lung on the side you hit, got unlucky as crap, and didn't get any major arteries on the exit. 5.7 miles is insane, can't imagine he'll die after that. Way to do your best and give it all you got.

That’s what I figured, I guess he was quartered more than I initially thought live and learn I guess

 

[Matki15]

5.7 miles! Sounds like you were chasing a live deer, not tracking a dead one! He’s gonna be fine, if he doesn’t die from exhaustion haha.

It happens to all of us. He will heal up just fine, move on to the next one!

After the first couple miles we assumed he was still alive, but the dogs kept us on blood so we had hoped he would bed down eventually, but he never did. On the bright side, I did find some decent trails leading into bedding areas for future hunts

 

[woodsdog2]

Several years ago now I shot a beautiful buck at almost point blank range from my climber as he stuck his nose into a scent wick I had out. This was at high noon on a perfectly cool but super dry early November sit. About 20 minutes earlier two does came by and I know one of them must have been in estrous. Upon release the buck kick turned and went straight back down the hill from whence he came. The arrow was sticking right in the ground in front of me. I got down about an hour later and picked up the blood trail, which was decent but no lung bubbles and it soon started to dissipate. At about 75 yards out I completely lost the trail. I did circles, grids and finally called Deer Search who came out the very next morning. The dog never got super gamey and we tracked for a good three hours or so. Nothing. We deduced that I shot the deer just above the lungs but below the spine in "no man's land" which some people say is a misnomer. That shot haunts me to this day but I know that deer didn't die which made me feel infinitely better. My takeaway was to throw away the 7/8" diameter broadheads I went to for the first time that year. This was just before mechanicals really were starting to get popular and I wasn't interested in committing to them so I went with a fixed head that was super low profile instead. I will never use a low profile fixed head again. It has to be at least an inch for me to use it. The heads were very strong and durable just not wide enough.

 

[Matki15]

Several years ago now I shot a beautiful buck at almost point blank range from my climber as he stuck his nose into a scent wick I had out. This was at high noon on a perfectly cool but super dry early November sit. About 20 minutes earlier two does came by and I know one of them must have been in estrous. Upon release the buck kick turned and went straight back down the hill from whence he came. The arrow was sticking right in the ground in front of me. I got down about an hour later and picked up the blood trail, which was decent but no lung bubbles and it soon started to dissipate. At about 75 yards out I completely lost the trail. I did circles, grids and finally called Deer Search who came out the very next morning. The dog never got super gamey and we tracked for a good three hours or so. Nothing. We deduced that I shot the deer just above the lungs but below the spine in "no man's land" which some people say is a misnomer. That shot haunts me to this day but I know that deer didn't die which made me feel infinitely better. My takeaway was to throw away the 7/8" diameter broadheads I went to for the first time that year. This was just before mechanicals really were starting to get popular and I wasn't interested in committing to them so I went with a fixed head that was super low profile instead. I will never use a low profile fixed head again. It has to be at least an inch for me to use it. The heads were very strong and durable just not wide enough.

I was using Magnus 125grain stingers but after last night I believe I’ll be switching to Shwackers. It may have made a difference last night, or it may have not. But it will make me feel better about certain shots

 

[mattsteg]

5.7 miles! Sounds like you were chasing a live deer, not tracking a dead one! He’s gonna be fine, if he doesn’t die from exhaustion haha.

It happens to all of us. He will heal up just fine, move on to the next one!

We did once track a gun-shot deer (the first buck I shot at, actually) further than that and ended up getting him. The memory is hazy, but
1) after all that we finished the job like 30 yards from the road the next morning
2) there was some serious leg damage that probably would have ultimately been his demise.
3) winchester 94s make a really loud click when you pull back the hammer!
4) if you don't properly aim a followup shot with said winchester...apparently it just sounds like some dude playing around with a semi auto.

 

[kyler1945]

Several years ago now I shot a beautiful buck at almost point blank range from my climber as he stuck his nose into a scent wick I had out. This was at high noon on a perfectly cool but super dry early November sit. About 20 minutes earlier two does came by and I know one of them must have been in estrous. Upon release the buck kick turned and went straight back down the hill from whence he came. The arrow was sticking right in the ground in front of me. I got down about an hour later and picked up the blood trail, which was decent but no lung bubbles and it soon started to dissipate. At about 75 yards out I completely lost the trail. I did circles, grids and finally called Deer Search who came out the very next morning. The dog never got super gamey and we tracked for a good three hours or so. Nothing. We deduced that I shot the deer just above the lungs but below the spine in "no man's land" which some people say is a misnomer. That shot haunts me to this day but I know that deer didn't die which made me feel infinitely better. My takeaway was to throw away the 7/8" diameter broadheads I went to for the first time that year. This was just before mechanicals really were starting to get popular and I wasn't interested in committing to them so I went with a fixed head that was super low profile instead. I will never use a low profile fixed head again. It has to be at least an inch for me to use it. The heads were very strong and durable just not wide enough.

You can rest easy. There is no ‘no mans land’ between the lungs and spine. The spine dips between the shoulder blades. You either doubled lunged him and died in seconds, or you shot him through the Backstrap’s and he was just fine!

 

[hokiehunter373]

You can rest easy. There is no ‘no mans land’ between the lungs and spine. The spine dips between the shoulder blades. You either doubled lunged him and died in seconds, or you shot him through the Backstrap’s and he was just fine!

100% this


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[woodsdog2]

My other takeaway was/is: Aim low at the "elbow" !!! Even deep chested big fat bucks can move super fast and "jump the string" in a split second.

 

[WoodyNC]

It is going to happen to everyone some time. Don't let it get you down, sounds like the deer will make it and you may get another chance. Never can tell about them. Tracked my own and others with friends for long distances only to see the deer days or weeks later. No one is perfect and there are all kinds of things that can happen. Again, just get back out there and enjoy your time in the woods.