Unfortunately, this guy wasn't from my saddle! I hung a preset lock-on in my "secret spot" rut spot, and hunted it Tuesday night in my saddle, but all the deer, including 2 nice bucks were on my weak side. So Wednesday morning I went in with my safety harness and hunted it "traditionally" so my previous "weak side" was now my strong side. First light I had several different bucks chasing does all around me, but I chose to pass on them. Just before 9 I saw a doe coming in from the opposite ridge in front of me, being chased by a much larger buck. She brought him right in to 15 yards,
I got to full draw and grunted, but he was focused and wouldn't stop, so just before he got into the thick stuff, I let one go. Hit him a little back, but thought it was a good hit. The blood was good, but since I thought it was a liver hit, I decided to back out and wait. After 6 (tough) hours, I went back in to track. I found 4 places over 150 yards, where he bedded down, but no blood after the last bed, and that was in the base of a bowl. The next day I searched for another 6 hours, but with no direction to go on from that last bed and every direction was uphill, I had no real clue where to look. The following morning I set out once again to search and noticed the loud crows/ravens so headed in that direction. When I got near, I saw a buzzard fly up from a field and there he was. I was/am a little upset that the buzzards got to him and I was not able to find him in time to save the meat, but very happy to have found him at all. The shot was only an inch or so back, but the bile blocked a lot of the blood from coming out.
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