First Buck

[Reel Doc]

My nephew took up hunting a few years back when some of his U of Buffalo classmates took him out. He came over Thanksgiving that year and we put him in front of a dozen does so he took his pick and had his first harvest with a muzzleloader. No luck since then and last year he took up bowhunting, so I invited him over last weekend.

About 7:30 Saturday this 6 pt caught him by surprise as he was only 15 yards away before he saw him. The buck crossed in front of him so he had a textbook shot, but Buck fever took over, so the morning hunt had just begun. I heard the crashing from my tree about 200 yards away, then silence. He thought he had a good shot, maybe a little high, so we waited 30 minutes and I went over. Brown hair at the shot site, no sign of exit, and then 5 yards away we had the back half of the arrow. No blood, and I mean No Blood anywhere. We scoured from shot site to where he last saw the deer, then bit by bit went to where my ears heard him go.....No sign, no blood. I'm fearing the dreaded gut shot, but keep thinking this deer cannot go far with 1/2 an arrow in him.

Our woods narrows down close to the road and tends to be a Safe Zone/bedding area for deer when pushed, especially during gun season. Sure enough, we make our way into the thicket about 10:30 that morning, and there is the buck, down and done. Turns out the shot was "high and outside", nicked 1 lung and must have hit a vertebrae and redirected through the liver and was just starting to come through the bottom of his abdomen.

I was real thankful to have found him and needless to say my nephew was relieved as well. Hopefully his Buck Fever will be over with now, (although none of us ever fully get over it do we!), and we can chalk it up to a good learning experience about a patient search.

Greg

[RUNNIN REBEL]

Greg,

NICE BUCK & Fantastic picture there. Congrats on the tracking and finding.

Good story, Thanks for posting.

Jerry

[33canuck]

Awesome congrats to him! And nice job tracking him down

[momay4000]

Greg,

Congratulations to you guys, but most importantly WAY TO GO with your efforts to push and find him. I can't tell you how many times I've found deer from other hunters who simply have not taken the time "after the shot" to look.....It shows great sportsmanship that you both possess!

Thanks for sharing!!!!

- Chris

[salmonbound1]

greg nice job on the tracking job what broadhead did you use to down that deer

[Reel Doc]

My nephew lives in Rochester, so he got his outfit at Gander Mountain last year. Was using a 2 blade mechanical on the arrow. It made a nice entry wound, one blade had a notch in it where I figure it hit bone then was redirected. Good 2+ inch cut as it made it's way through the liver.

My career choice being what it is, deer cleanings are like a post mortem for me, I use the same scapel blades I use for cow surgeries....it can be fun to trace the wounds created by the arrow...you can commence with the jokes about how twisted I am now.

As for the tracking, I didn't start hunting until my veterinary school classmates convinced me to give it a try, so haven't had that much experiece I guess. My underlying fear has always been about the wounding of an animal without recovery. Luckily, when I've missed shots in the past, its been a clean miss, though one time I gave a buck a belly shave with white hair on the ground to prove it. This time was the closest to a lost wounded deer, but we were not going to give up on it early knowing there was a considerable amount of arrow missing/in the deer. No doubt my nephew will never forget his first buck.

Greg

[Legacy]

[jaychunter]

nice job .. i know i have a problem with the fever all the time ...

[chowder]

Ol' 'Tracker Greg', way to go Like I always tell people; when we find the deer , I'll tell you what happened w/ the arrow because for better or for worse 'just about anything is possible'.