Persavernce pays off

[Kevin J Legg]

After chasing ducks in the morning I decided to try the afternoon opener with the muzzleloader. I took a shot with about 10 minutes of shooting time left and although I had a good rest and the deer acted hit he ran into pretty thick brush. An hour search turned up no blood or hair. After spending a sleepless night I resumed my search this morning and extended my grid. After another hour I actually thought I smelled it before I saw it. Certainly he's not a monster but I earned him and beat the coyotes to the meat. He was quartering to me more than I thought and I took out a lung and the liver resulting in the 200 yard recovery. I never did find any blood or hair. I've learned not to guess where a deer has gone and limit your search to that area when you don't find blood. You need to grid search the entire area as they often change their original direction of travel. This deer had made a right angle change of direction and wasn't where I thought he went.

[EsoxAC3]

Awesome, Kevin. The ones that get away or almost get away seem to be the most memorable. Congrats on a successful opener.

Sent from my iPhone using Lake Ontario United

[BSmaster]

Been burned by that 90 degree turn.  Glad you got it.  Congratulations.

 

Joe

[Frogger]

Congrats Kevin! Way to not give up!

Sent from my iPad using Lake Ontario United

[ray koziatek]

Good for you to find him..

[143447]

Nice bucky!! Way to hang in . I love smoke polen em

[momay4000]

WTG Kevin - you are a true sportsman to hang in there and recover your animal.

 

Great advice on making a grid and looking, and looking and looking.

 

Take care,

 

Chris

[Chas0218]

I too had a deer mysteriously go 90* in the direction I last saw him.  Had to call in reinforcements to help grid search the one without any blood or hair.

[fbg14619]

glad you got him and beat the coyotes to him!

[reeleyz]

Way to stick with it Kevin. Meat in the freezer!

[Xxx]

Great job Kevin, no blood makes for a tuff find no matter how good a tracker is, those kind always tast better, congrats man!!!!

[Kevin J Legg]

I actually haven't hunted or fished since I took the deer. The sleepless night, and many early mornings throughout the summer and fall finally caught up with me so other than processing the deer and doing work around the house I've been resting up. I'm also in no real hurry to harvest more game or fish as I currently have a good supply. I may even take a trip with my wife to NJ this weekend to visit my daughter and her family.