surgicaltool
New Member
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
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