One week ago I made one of the biggest blunders in my hunting career. I took a shot on a 150's 160's buck with limited light in the early morning, the shot was a nice 20 yarder, the buck was quartering away, but a little too much. I shoot with both eyes open so I was fairly confident with my visibility, but the limited light played tricks on the angle of the animal. Needless to say I hit the front shoulder hard (loud noise). I could not see if the arrow stuck or deflected, however if it did deflect it would not be found. I tracked and trailed the buck looking at some of the biggest tracks I have ever seen and only 4 spots of blood (none larger than your thumb) I could tell by his impressions that he was putting very limited weight on his front left hoof. and the few spots of blood were in one spot. to indicate one wound. I shoot a rage two blade so if it stuck in or glanced to the inside of the shoulder I figured there would have been more spots of blood. I have replayed the whole day over and over in my head, I can't seem to shake it off. It is wearing me out. I have layed awake night after night for hours not being able to think of anything else. Any feedback or suggestions or just comments would be greatly appreciated.
My guess is he's still alive. It sucks but it happens. I hit one in the shoulder and heard the CRACK. I was sick and I looked for two days for him. A month later I watched the same buck sent trailing does not even limping. They are tough!
thanks for the reply. that was all i needed to hear. i am sitting in my stand right now waiting for enough light before i even nock my arrow. i think i learn all my most valuble lessons the hard way. thanks again for the responce.
Hang in there. There's nothing you can do about it at this point, so don't continue to beat yourself up over it. Yeah, it sucks...but likely the deer will live if its just a shoulder wound. With any luck you'll see him again to ease the pain. I actually switched to fixed 2 blade Magnus heads for exactly that reason a while ago. Just in case something goes awry...you still have a pretty good chance of getting to the boiler room. Those things will slice through about anything. Its hard to say what happened on yours....but its time to put it to rest. Good luck with the rest of your season!
Dreams Lost?
