First Buck, no recovery. Long read.

[justbairley]

Brief introduction. I'm 31 and this is my third year hunting. My first year I went out once with a friend and he put me in his stand. I shot a hefty doe at last light with a muzzleloader. She ran across an open field 150 yrs and expired. I was completely hooked.

Last year I set off on my own Oct 1st and hunted with a x-bow and then muzzleloader through the entire season. I saw 1 doe in over 20 sits. By the end of the season I was convinced I was doing something terribly wrong.

I hit the homework hard this last year, learning everything I could about deer. I bought a compound bow in June and practiced just about daily. I got a little bit of scouting in over the off season but not as much as I wanted.

Oct 1st came and early in in my evening sit a doe and fawn came in on me. I didnt have a shot on the doe but the fawn came in 7 yards broadside but I ended up not taking the shot, thinking i would have more action. Over the next couple weeks i moved around a lot and saw at least 1 doe most sits, but no bucks.

The last two weeks I have been stuck at work, but last night I was able to get out for the last day of michigan bow season. I sat from about 10:30am and at 4:30 I saw a deer working out of suspected bedding. I perked up and got ready. The deer passed out of sight and I relaxed a bit, but before I knew it, he was entering my line of sight again. That's when I saw it was a buck, just a small 6 point, but he looked perfect to me!

Really quickly he was right under my tree at 10 yards. I was drawn back and ready to make the shot from the saddle on my strong side. I stopped him with a mouth grunt and let the arrow go.

Obviously I dont need to explain this part to anyone, but I was so full of adrenaline before and after that the whole sequence is just bits and pieces and I can't for the life of me remember seeing that arrow hit.

I watched that buck jump up, and haul ass about 50 yards into some thick cover, stop for a moment and then proceed walking away.

When I got down I scoured the area for blood and my arrow. I didn't find either but I did find a large tuft of brown hair. I followed the trail to the point where I last saw him and couldn't find blood. There was snow on the ground which should have made finding blood much easier I would imagine.

I backed out and took my gear to the truck and waited 2 hours. Went back in and followed where I saw him heading last. It led me over some heavily used deer tracks into a marsh/swamp area. I went up and down all the deer trails entering that area and couldn't find a speck of blood. I pushed into the start of the swamp area but not too far as the water was getting too deep. Eventually I had to back out as I felt like I wasnt gaining anything.

It was always my thought that if this happened to me I would be in the next day again looking, but this morning was opening day gun season in Michigan and I walked by about 5 stands I'm the area I was combing over last night and decided I wasnt going to do that.

Steven Rinella says, I hate that I lust so badly for this animal, that it impacts my ability to make a shot that I could nail anytime on a target. I felt that last night.

If anyone has any thoughts, experiences or words to share with me I would appreciate it.

 

[Wirrex]

Deer probably ducked the arrow along with some buck fever. I do not stop deer after having a similar experience.

On the plus side if you didn’t find blood in the snow you can pretty safely assume it was a mis.

 

[Vtbow]

I would always rather miss than have a bad hit. Concentrate on a small spot, not the whole area...I often have a hard time remembering this too, and it is so much easier with a target and contrasting colors.....

 

[justbairley]

Deer probably ducked the arrow along with some buck fever. I do not stop deer after having a similar experience.

On the plus side if you didn’t find blood in the snow you can pretty safely assume it was a mis.

I played a lot with the fact that I may have missed. I just kept coming back to the chunk of brown hair and lack of finding the arrow. I dont have enough experience to say for sure.

I thought a lot about calling to stop a deer or not. This guy was cruising through my shot opportunity pretty quick. He stopped so nicely at the call, I dont know if he jumped the shot. He was 10 yards or less, I was up about 16ft.

 

[Nutterbuster]

First...

It happens. Don't beat yourself up. If you'd have hurt him, he would have bled and you would have seen it in the snow. I shot one with a 7mm Rem Mag and climbed down to see white hair everywhere, and no blood. Still don't know what the heck happened.

I practice with a blank target face. Just paint over whatever you have. Deer do not have a conveniently placed bullseye. Also, hunt as much as you can, and kill as much as you can. I squirrel and duck hunt, which means I experience small doses of the jitters very regularly. Sounds silly, but it helps.

 

[justbairley]

I

I would always rather miss than have a bad hit. Concentrate on a small spot, not the whole area...I often have a hard time remembering this too, and it is so much easier with a target and contrasting colors.....

I had a small target picked out for sure, I can remember staring at where I wanted the arrow and once I squeezed the release it's like my minds blank. It was also 25 degrees and I had been in the saddle for 6.5 hours already.

 

[justbairley]

First...

It happens. Don't beat yourself up. If you'd have hurt him, he would have bled and you would have seen it in the snow. I shot one with a 7mm Rem Mag and climbed down to see white hair everywhere, and no blood. Still don't know what the heck happened.

I practice with a blank target face. Just paint over whatever you have. Deer do not have a conveniently placed bullseye. Also, hunt as much as you can, and kill as much as you can. I squirrel and duck hunt, which means I experience small doses of the jitters very regularly. Sounds silly, but it helps.

Thanks for the words. I get after all the small game I can and turkeys! As fun as it is it did not prepare me for that trainwreck of adrenaline lol!

 

[redsquirrel]

Buck fever happens. I still get it. I hope I never don't get it. I have managed it much better than I used to but things happen so quick sometimes. I can related to not remembering what happened or the sight picture. I'm pretty proud that I've gotten myself to the point that I can now visualize the shot after the fact and remember what happened and where I hit. The only way I got here was by practice. Practice with your equipment and practice by shooting all the deer you legally can. Hang in there because it is part of the sport. It will get better but it will never go away. I had a pretty miserable encounter a month ago and I made a bad decision. If you want to read the emotions of a seasoned bow hunter who screwed up do a search for my "raw emotions" thread.

 

[Nutterbuster]

Thanks for the words. I get after all the small game I can and turkeys! As fun as it is it did not prepare me for that trainwreck of adrenaline lol!

If that feeling ever goes away, hang it up. You can learn to suppress it sometimes, but it's just part of it.

My hypothesis is that it's proof we're made to be predators. It's your body trying to make sure you want to hunt (and eat) again. Rabbits and cattle don't have prey drive. Dogs, cats, and yours truly do.

 

[bigjoe]

Hang in there.

 

[dalton916]

Shot high, arrow cut back hair and sailed off into the nether regions never to be seen again. Sleep easy, the buck ain’t hurt

 

[justbairley]

Shot high, arrow cut back hair and sailed off into the nether regions never to be seen again. Sleep easy, the buck ain’t hurt

I'm thinking so. Now its just "how could you miss that shot!"

 

[dalton916]

Boy have I got a video for you.....sit tight.

 

[dalton916]

Not mine, thank God!

 

[rutjr]

When I was young I would get buck fever so bad I would always miss. I realized I would aim at the whole deer. Now I still get the fever pretty good but I talk to myself in my head I say "aim an inch above it's elbow" I concentrate on that spot and keep repeating, an inch above the elbow. I haven't missed in years! When I see a deer my heart goes into my throat, my ears get hot and my temples throb. That's why I love deer hunting!

 

[Apex7]

Deer probably ducked the arrow along with some buck fever. I do not stop deer after having a similar experience.

On the plus side if you didn’t find blood in the snow you can pretty safely assume it was a mis.

On my bows riser I have a piece of tape with the word Pass written on it . It is were I can see it as I aim. Pass means pick a spot stupid it has served me well over the years. Just a piece of tape and the word Pass. Try it and I'll bet it helps you. Here is proof.

 

[Root]

It happens a lot. I've tracked two deer this year my friend's wife "shot" the first one she knew she hit so we spent 7 hours combing through 40 acres of brush and thorn trees. It was her first buck and we wanted to find it and keep her hooked on hunting.
The second deer my friend borrowed a metal detector to try to find the arrow to see what it would tell us. She sat in the same stand for both deer on a field edge. After three hours we found two arrows. She never hit the first one! Now a metal detector is on my list of must owns. Painfully long process in a hay field. I'm sure I'll find several arrows in my lawn where everyone comes to practice.

Lack of blood doesn't mean a deer wasn't hit. I've seen deer with arrows lodged that didn't bleed until the last 40 yards. But I've seen several with rifle shots that didn't leave any blood trails. My rifle buck last year only left one pencil size spec on impact. 0 blood until we found him. The body cavity balloons and they don't bleed until it reaches the impact height. So I would say you did good to still go after him if you didn't find your arrow.