Less than perfect

[Gill-T]

Anyone hunting Sunday morning can attest with the warm temps, the deer were not chasing. However, if it is too warm to chase, bucks will use the opportunity to get out of bed late, run their rub lines to check scrapes. The set up I was on had two fresh scrapes with licking branches within bow range. The spot is one of those "spot within a spot" areas deep in the woods that produces every year. Due to the nature of the terrain, air foils creates difficulty in hunting the area unless conditions were perfect. Saving this spot until Sunday seemed perfect with the light south wind blowing. At 9:30 my buddy 1/2 mile down valley, texts me that all hell is breaking loose and the bucks are starting to move. In a span of 30 min. he saw five bucks with one eight pointer heading my way. Between me and my friend's location was a doe bedding area, and if there was nothing interesting there, the buck would continue up the hill and probably end up at one of the scrapes in range. At 11:00 I spotted him. I turned my body and aimed my bow at the far scrape....and that is where he went. Broadside 25 yards, he began pawing the scrape. I held and let it fly. The shot looked good. I saw the nock hit behind the shoulder in the crease, but low. The buck mule kicked both legs up and ran 50 yards. He slowed and I thought he is going to go down......but he didn't. He began snorting....he was pissed. Trying to figure out what just hit him. I snort weezed and grunted at him. Now I am not sure about the hit. A double lung hit the deer should not be able to snort. Below the ridge and down wind he caught wind of two button bucks bedded and sauntered over with a visiable limp. Now that sickening feeling started creeping in. Nobody wants to talk in a public forum about bow huntings dirty little secret. It is not a question of IF you will wound and lose a deer, but WHEN. Well this was my "WHEN". I climbed down out of the tree and found the arrow. Zero blood on the arrow and white hair clumps told me my shot was 2" too low and went through the back tricep area. Two specks of blood in 100 yards of tracking. So now I got a 120 class eight pointer gimping around the woods on my account. Hopefully he makes it. I have seen some amazing recoveries by deer.

[Broadhorizons]

I did the same on Saturday, just a small buck but still the same feeling. I hate it. If I could only practice all nerved up and shaking...

[711skwerlz]

Its not just us bow hunters. I have seen quite a few wounded by gun hunters also. I lost a doe this year with what looked like a great shot. Watched her stand in one spot for 45 min before she walked away. No blood at all. The rain didn't help. I have the shot on video and reviewed it several tmes. Tracked her the next day to no prevail. I hate the wait and not knowing the outcome, but my brother lost a buck last year with a 20ga.

[skipper19]

Commendments to you for telling your story. It is true what you said about when it would happen. Last year was one of my worst luck seasons I ever had. It still bothers me today. One like yours took off with an arrow, not even sure if the hit was good because of distance and a very small window through the woods. Should have been able to find the arrow with the laser nock glowing if there was a miss or pass thru but nothing. No arrow, no blood, no hair, no hoof digs...circled for hours looking for sign. Nothing. Then last day of muzzle loader, I shoot a doe and it runs away, blood trail seemed fair but it ran into an overgrown field and became lost in the golden rods. Blood ran to specs in about 300 yards. Then gone!...was trying new salons from hornady and found out later on that although they were accurate, they did not open up well and probably passed thru without much upset. It happens. And it happens even with bullets. When is the operative word. You will redeem yourself and the sting of it will lessen on a more fortunate day for you.

Mark

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[chowder]

I tell everybody getting into archery the same thing; once you let that arrow go, anything and everything can happen and eventually will so make peace with it, this is a live and let die deal with no apologies offered or accepted...

[ladyblugill]

very well put chowder.that's the way it is.

[Capt Vince Pierleoni]

Sorry that happened to you Chad. My story like that happened about 16 yrs ago, and its still a vivid memory. I had a 10hr truck ride to think about it all the way home. As others have said, many more deer become coyotee food by gunshots. Taxidermists and processors all have testimonials to the resilience of these animals, evidenced by what they see in completely healed prior wounds.

[Time Out]

A buck was killed last year at our camp that had a high broadhead wound, above the shoulder pass through, and a low brisket graze. We border some state land. The deer was moving as though it had never been shot and the wounds were not even noticed until it was back at camp. Many grazed and non vital hit deer (bow) survive and never have any implications from them. Dont be to hard on your self as the shot sounds like nothing more than a graze or super ficial wound and should be fine. If someone has never done it, they haven't hunted long enough.

[Broadhorizons]

My very first buck I shot was at Montezuma NWR and I got it with the shotgun two weeks after another guy in our group ended up shooting it through the neck with an arrow when we were bowhunting earlier in the same season. When it came out of the drive, none of us would have known it was the same buck until we picked its head up out of the cattails and saw the wound. Complete pass-through and never hit an artery or spine. Tough animals.

I also got a doe one time that was missing her front foot from the ankle down. We all knew her from watching her in the summer raising twin fawns for 4 or 5 years and she always limped (we called her the Limper) but we didn't know why. Nearly everyone in my group had shot at and missed her over the years. I identified her bowhunting one time and decided to pass her up. The same season, she came out of a drive to me and I couldn't tell her running from any other deer and end of story. Walking along, she limped, making ground she didn't move any different than any other deer. We never knew what happened to her but she was callused over at the end of her leg bone at the ankle.

[Gator]

"Dirty little secret"...yeah. Everybody wants to tell the story of the kill shot, but it's embarrassing when we lose one. But you know, if you made a quality shot, in range, open, broadside, and it's not raining, then spit just happens.

I lost a doe last weekend. Shot looked great...she kicked hard, went 30 yards to the edge of the field, and collapsed. Keith was hunting the other side of the field and saw the whole thing, even texted me "That was excellent to watch!".

Five minutes later, the doe lifted her head, got up, spun circles a few times and weaved onto the neighbor's land. So, I left the woods and drove over to the neighbor's house to get permission to retrieve her. When I came back an hour later, Keith and I started trailing her. There was great blood to start, coming out both sides from the pass-through shot, and we expected to find her within fifty yards of the property line. No dice.

Anyway, after tracking her all the way across the neighbor's property the blood trail had become negligible. When she crossed onto the next property and headed toward the swamp, we called it quits. Frustrating! She's got to be food for the 'yotes now. My initial confidence in the Slick Trick broadhead has diminished somewhat, but I'm sure that it comes down in the end to shot placement. It's possible that the Rage 2-blades would have given me that extra bit to put her down, but who knows? My shot, my fault.

There's been a couple I've lost over the past thirty years, including one good buck. I feel your pain.

[shadster]

Yes, it certainly is a bummer when you lose an animal. Just goes to show how passionate most of us are about them and our method of hunting. I have lost a few myself and to this day still play those in my mind at times. I can remember one long night on hands and knees through rose flora tracking puddles to pin drops back to puddles again. Totally amazed at what I thought was a perfect shot in a perfect place ending up without a dead deer. Then the times when I knew the shot was questionable but still carried out the search to find peace in knowing the deer survived.

It has been awhile since a futile search until this year. I back strapped a doe on the first day of the Jersey early season trying to Earn a Buck. Putting the pin right on the spot she still managed to drop and catch the arrow between spine and lungs. I watched as she carried the shish kabobbed arrow off into the thickness of late summer. Knowing it may not be fatal I backed out and returned the next day in a pouring rain. I searched a full four hours covering a lot of acres. I think I eyeballed every rock, stump or resemblance to a deer and peeked under every bush and into every blow down. No arrow. No deer.

Despite my success and great memories of dragging deer out of the woods this year, I still see that shot on the doe as well as the rain dripping off my cap when hoping to find her. I am telling myself she survived, Still a little painful. It will subside. Just amazing how tough these animals are. It is what it is. You can only do the best you can and as chowder says, make peace with it.

[W.W.IV.]

About 3 seasons back,the last day of BP season I had 4-5 doe come in and spot me. maybe 25yds, all but one ran. At the time I didn't think about the way it moved till after I shot her. Both her hind legs were broken off at the ankle with her feet hanging by the skin. I'm thinking she got hit by a car.That's what I call tuff. Last fall I shot at a 4pt. but it was low and hit the breast bone,I could see most of the shaft sticking out, two inches lower would have been a miss. I got down and found the arrow broken off about 50yds away and no blood. I was standing there and looked up and saw a doe running at me,she passed about 20yds away and shortly here comes that buck right after her. I don't know how he made out with her but the bad hit didn't even slow him down,I felt a little better about a bad shot.