[quote]ORIGINAL: atlasman

Hindsight is always 20/20??

Is that your excuse for knowing nothing about what to do or knowing what to do and not having the willpower to do it because it was a good buck??

You made a terrible shot.......

Lighten up Frances!!!

The guy admits his wrong doing and is asking for advise. His tone suggests that he is more worries about the animal than his trophy. Let's all try and focus on the positives and not dwell on the negative. The guy was out, legally hunting, with a tag, and a big buck surprised him. Adrienne kicked in and time started coming to a crawl. Maybe he rushed the shot, but in his moment of hypertension, he was doing everything right.



CMSCAT50,

You should be looking for that animal the very next morning if this was a sunset shoot. Other than that, all I can do is share my experience on lost animals.

Last year, in S.D., I lost a nice Mule Buck. Sunset hunt, I was set up in a turkey blind along the trees that bordered a harvested corn field. The Buck came from my left a 50 yards in front. We had a shooter (this was muzzle loader season, by I was with the bow) another 100 yards in front of that buck. He either caught the shooters scent or what ever and got spooked. I didn't expect this buck would be mine! I ran, at an angle toward me! He got to the tree line to my left and slowed down to a trot, still coming right by me. I drew the arrow, but did not expect anything, but I figured that maybe I can give him a bleep and stop him. In the worst case, I would spook and already spooked deer and he would continue running.

He Stopped!!!! Dead in front of me at 10 yards! No Bleep! No Nothing! Just stopped, Broad Side, Looking back toward the gunner!

THWACK!!!

I hit him, dead on in the side! Clean Entry, Clean Exit! He fell dead in his tracks and already bleeding from the mouth!

I sat there in total disbelief. It was still early! There were already about a dozen deer in the field and four does were making there way toward me before I spotted this deer. After he fell, they looked up, but continued feeding. They were still feeding in my direction. I still had 1 more tag left and thought that this might be my lucky night!!!!

The does were within 30 yards and the buck was lying 10 yards in front of me. I was hoping that the does would not catch the bucks scent, but I and the buck was down wind. Nonetheless, I nocked an arrow and was preparing for a 20 yard shot.

30 Minutes has gone by now and the does are taking a LONG time to feed 30 yards out. Sunset was 20 minutes ago, shooting time is almost over and the light is getting pretty dim. There was a nice mature doe, 2 yearlings, and another somewhere in between. I had my eye on the big doe, but I would have taken a smaller one, or just wait until tomorrow. One of the yearlings trotted 5 yards closer looking for more food. Then another 5 yards. She is within 20, but she was the smallest one. I figure I'll wait to see what the others do. Sure enough, the small doe starts feeding and the others follow her to her newly found food. 20 yards, 4 does, and a dead buck. None of them notice the buck! I am waiting for the other yearling to pass by the mature doe, she does. I slowly get up on my knees, aching from being in a crouched kneeling position for the last 15 minutes, stretch out my left arm....

What the F*$&?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Out of nowhere, and for no reason at all, the buck jump to life, gets on his feet, runs 10 yards to the left, then make a 90 degree turn to the trees behind me!!!!!!!!! Spooks the 4 does, I have no idea where they went because my eyes and ears were on the buck!!!! I no longer saw him, but I heard hooves, rustling leaves, and fallen branches breaking. Then nothing!!!!

No buck, no doe!

Just then I heard a shot. My partner got his!

I didn't know what to do now.

I went out to where the buck first fell. There were two nice pools of blood. One from teh exit wound, and another small one from the mouth. But that was it! I found a few drops about 5 yards away, then a nice long trail into the tall grass. It was really dark now, so I figured this buck is spending the night out here, but I just wanted to get an idea wehre he went and mark my trail. I couldn't find anything through the tall grass, so I figured that mark where he entered the grass and woods with a couple of sticks and head for camp.

I go to where my buddy was staked out. He's gone. Probably field dressing, I'll go warm up the truck so we can pick it up later. On the way back, I see him. He is out of breath and tells me that he shot a white tail doe and it hauled but. He said it was a clean shot, but cant find her. It's too dark. He said he heard her fall, but cant find anything. I tell him my story, and he can't believe it! We get back to camp where we meet the other guys. One of which is my uncle. A VERY experienced hunter and has more animal heads and skins in his house than the San Diego Zoo! He believes it and spends most of the next couple of hours telling us similar stories. He said the best thing to do is do our hunt in the morning, but each of us should reserve our tags for these two escapees and we'll find them when the sun is up (If the Coyotes don’t get them first!)

The morning up turned up nothing for anybody, so we split into two groups, each of us had experienced hunters. My uncle had a hard time tracking mine. He believes that is bled out while laying there and didn't have much left to give. He still found the blood trail literally one drop every 5 or 10 yards. Foot prints were hard to see and the forest floor was drenched in pine needles. He tracked this thing for 3 miles before discovering that it had jumped the fence into Sioux Territory. Bad News, he is gone!

My partner found his within 10 minutes. Is fell in some cover about 40 yards away from him. He walked past it about 10 times the previous night!

Well that's it, I guess even under perfect conditions and scenarios, they still get away from you sometimes!!!!