RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Are you talking where it wraps around your legs?

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Yes. The extra that sticks out after it goes through the buckle.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Hey Flst... yeah I trimmedmine up. I am glad to hear your hunting too! right on, we have 3 guys out and about..

I didnt hunt this AM guys... we have NE wind blowing in today... this is very rare and puts most of my wind right in the bedding areas of the bucks I am after. This evening though I have one really good stand for this wind direction over where the stretch buck lives...I will be there forsure.

I hope Jeff scored this morning!

Talk to you guys later .. UFC tonight (Jackson vs Henderson, it should be...orgonna be great)well..I am DVRing it so I can hunt.. Gonna watch BSU and WA today, then hunt...then watch ND and PSU and UFC tonight..when I get home.. Dvring both.. Temps have dropped here 10 degree and I've been waiting all season to hunt this stand which I need a North or NE wind... I watched the big boy (stretch)walk under this stand about 2 weeks ago..I hope he shows tonight..

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

here is trail cam pic I got of him in early July... and his sheds I found from him...two years ago...I didnt find last years.. I believe the sheds I found are from when he was 3.5...so he is at 5.5 now..

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

sheds from two springs ago..




ewwwwweee that pix didnt turn out to well.. oh well.. hes pretty much just heavier and a little longer these days.. Hope I see him tonight.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Good luck Troy, when I saw you post midday I figured you may have gotten one.

THat UFC bout is going to be awesome, I am pumped for that showdown.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Hey Ryan, thanks bud.. I got up this morning at 4 30 and looked at that wind and just decided I cant cut any corners on the big 4x5.. so I crawled back into bed... Rarely do I ever get a NE wind and thats why most of my stands are set up for Southern or SW winds...This one stand you know right were its at for the stretch buck.. hes coming over that backside of that CLEARCUT you and I hunted elk up above and moving across it towards my stand.. The one up behindmy house.. anyway.. in this big country he has lots of options andits still a bit ofa long shot but at least the winds right.. I was seeing him at least 1-2 x a week in August up there with two younger bucks.. I've been hunting now so I havent been glassing that.. we'll se what shows up tonight..

Take care bud..


(Havent heard from Jeff ..yet... maybe he scored today, I sure hope so..)

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

I think Jeff might be too busy primping for his date with his wife tonight to update uson his hunt.:D

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Thats some nice sheds of the buck. Hopefully you will connect on him good luck Shed...

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Guys.....I lost my first deer, today.

I saw 9 this morning.....with the last being a lone doe. She was in a peculiar spot....and I pegged her at 30 yds. I felt confident and let it loose. I saw the arrow make contact....and I thought the front-to-back was perfect. She was quartering away slightly. I thought the up/down might be a bit high. I shot her at 9:05. I stayed in my tree until 10:15.....and got down to check the impact spot. No blood. I looked for minute......then figured I had been fooled....and I'd missed. I stepped it off.....29 yds. So....I start to look beyond where she was standing......thinking the arrow may have overshot her and glanced away. Nothing. I was about to back out....and I saw my arrow to my right. I went to pick it up...and it was soaked with dried blood. Now I back out. I called Rob....told him my game plan....then went home to eat something. I got back on the trail at a little after 11:00. It was in the 90's here, today....and I felt like I was in a race against time. When I get back out there....Lisa and I can find NO BLOOD. Nothing. We looked for 2 hours, utilizing EVERY possible trail she could have taken. I watched her intently when she bolted.....and even counted to myself....to time when she might crash. I never heard anything but her running.

Back to my race against time......I let Lisa go get us some drinks.....and we started a grid search. I called some buddies from the shop....and they came over about 2:00. 5 Hours since I shot her....and it's HOT. At 3:00 I told them I thought it was futile.....that the meat was likely lost.....but they stayed with me. At 4:00....I told them to go home. At 4:50.....I found her....more than 200 yds from where she'd been shot.

I found NO blood leading to her resting spot.....and maybe a 1/2 ounce under her. I can't fathom what happened. The entrance wound was where I had thought it was.....the exit where it should be.

I'm open for criticism.....as long as it's corrective. Nobody can feel worse than I do right now. I rationalize it "some".....by knowing that she WILL be consumed by nature.....and that she is out of the herd (my neighbor on the farm over has been killing them via depredation permit for a while).

But it's a hollow feeling. I'll tag her and call her in......but she'll be the first bow kill of mine Im not proud of. I honestly don't know what I could have done differently, though. I'm at a loss. I feel like I let her down.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

jeff,

sorry to here that man, it happens, I need to keep this short, I am sitting in my stand right now using my phone..to check our team thread. keep your head up, after this hunt tonight I will chat with ya some more. sorry again.

the wind here is perfect and its beautiful out, I gotta go...two and a half hours till dark...

troy

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

The bottom line is, you didn't give up the search! Even with a good shot, sometimes they just keep going. She won't go to waste. She will feed others in the woods.;)

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Sorry to hear it man.......truly. Sounds like you did it right, actually. If the hit was a tad high, and the exit a tad high, all the blood could have stayed in her chest cavity, and not escaped. Hitting an artery is what causes the "spray" that is so easily visible when tracking..... I'm not sure what else you could have done......

And yeah, I guess the meat was probably bad after that long......I will say, though......It's a very POSITIVE thing that you found her. What's even more sickening is when you don't....

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Good luck, Troy.

Thanks early and troy......it sucks.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff, you did NOTHING wrong ..... you even found her ..... in the north, the weather would have you feasting on her backstraps this very night ..... it happens ......

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

If you hit her back a little, like you should for a quartering away shot, she might have had a full stomach from the night feed and the contents can plug up the entrance and exit holes. I have had that happen. When their stomach is full it can push up into the lung area pretty good. If you get that chewed up vegetation floating around in there you might not get a blood trail.

I made what looked like a perfect quartering away shot on a buck once. When I got down and found my arrow, it had green goo all over it and some blood.I left and came back a few hours later and found him within 75 yards. It was a perfect shot but his stomach was so full that it was well up in his ribcage. My arrow had entered between the 2nd and third last ribs and came out by his front shoulder. Passed thru both lungs, but not much of a blood trail either from the chewed up vegetation plugging the holes.

Hang in there man. This happens to us all if we hunt longenough. You didn't do anything wrong, the weather was just your enemy on this one. You made every effort to recover her. Something you learned from this hunt may help you recover the next one.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

its a crappy feeling, but if you hit her high, and diddnt hit her arteires, then you wont get any good blood trailing, did you gut her? if you did you would have been able to tell what happened, Her chest filled with the blood, and until the blood got to the hole she wont loose any... SO, its not your fault.

I shot a doe 2 years ago in rifle season with a 180grain 30-06 at 90 yards broadside, hit her high, went to the spot found some fur and a drop of blood no bigger than the end of a pencap, and that was it, she ran maybe 800 yards before she piled up, i gutted her out and as soon as i punctured the diaphram, blood was EVERYWHERE i mean that in every sence of the word, it was insaine how it worked out, Dont feel bad she will feed many other creatures, nothing you could do.

Dont feel bad it'll happen to everyone every once in a while.
Ryan.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Get back at it in the morning and learn from it. Lack of blood trail is very common for the first 40 to 50 yards. You always have to watch them until they are out of site, mark that spot in your mind with many references. Dont be to hard on yourself. Sometimes nature will humble you for all the right reasons. your friend Chris

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

I think John gave a pretty good scenerio Jeff. I have had this happen but got lucky with the weather being cold and found the deer to salvage the meat. You have been hearing this for awhile im sure. It happens to all of us. I have had them fill up and then blow massive blood through there nose right before they go down and no blood in between. My doe last season, on a perfect double lung pass thru, went around 500-600 hundred yards with a blood trail 2 feet wide, up and down hills, and half ways across a pond before i found her floating. Deer can be tough, keep your chin up and keep pushing on ;) This can bring up the question of, is hot weather hunting a good thing.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Gmmat,

I don't see how anyone could be overly critical from what you described.

The one comment I would make would be to do an autopsy on her. It is such a learning experience to look insidewhen something like this happens,especially when there are so many questions in your head. I wouldn't pass up the chance to see what happened on the inside of her.

I could show you pictures of a buck where the entrance and exit woundsindicated itwas a perfect double lung/heart shot, just behind the shoulder. Reality told meit couldn't have been. When I opened him up, he was liver shot...strange but true. Lastyears buck was still alive fifteen minutes (timed) afterbeing shot through the lungs and heart...strange but true.

Keep your chin up. If a guy hunts long enough, there are going to be some disappointments in recovery. Of course we don't like it and doeverything we can to prevent it, but we don't live and operate in a perfect world.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff,

For what it's worth, you didn't let the deer down. There is no perfect scenario when hunting. Sometimes blood trails are easy and other times down right non existent. It's probably just a fluke. What matters is you didn't give up the search, called all the right moves to find her and simply couldn't beat the heat.Early season has it's disadvantages.Anyhow, hang in there, put it behind you and remember you made agood shot period. Best of luck with the rest of the season.

Kel

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

You did all you can do!! how could anybody say otherwise??

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff, dont beat yourself up over that. i applaude you. you found her...and theres nothing that could been done differently. you did your part. dont beat yourself up. id say you done did good. i dont see much you could have done differently that would change anything.

and dont worry...she isnt going to waste. youd be surprised how quickly a deer can be consumed in the woods. the last thing they do is goto waste. even if she lays there for a long while, still goes back into the earth. definently not wasted.

thats one of my fears about starting my nanny season next weekend...but the highs are 70s from here on out it looks...lows in the 50s. i still gotta beat the mid day heat, but i'll take low 70s over 90s.

keep at it Jeff...dont let it get you down..you done did good...

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

I appreciate all the replies. Bottom line....Ill get over it on my own timeline. But dont think your words aren't appreciated.

Chris....I watched her for a s far as I could see her......all the while timing it. I was actually counting to myself.....to see when she'd crash.

I'm humbled. I made a good shot.....one that I'm proud of......and I'm still humbled.

You guys are my brothers. I appreciate your support, right now (and always).

Have a great weekend.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff you did not give up andthis is part of hunting pal.
Most of us have been through this myself included a few years back.
Get back up and go after it Sunday/this morning.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff,

Hey man, after re-reading this here at home tonight, there is really nothing else you could have done. You took a very ethical shot and it didnt work out like its suppose to in the text book, ithappens. Learn what you can from this experience and move forward bud, I know you will. I really wouldnt beat yourself up to much, but as you said, you will get over it in your time. I read your thread while sitting in my stand and was looking forward to getting back to you this evening. Get right back in the saddle Jeff, for me anyway thats the best medicine. Well bud, I got a little news to share with the team.. no kill but a great night..



Team 43.... Ihad a great night. My chess match began with Stretch tonight...

Just after 6 pm I'd pm'd (cell phone) Jeff about his doe from my stand... Then with the wind in my face and that feeling of...."it just feels right" tonight consuming me... I looked glanced out into the clearcut beyond my stand and there he was! The big dude slipped into view. Instantly I could tell it was him by his definative long main beams. I looked at my phone to check the time after glassing him for a few minutes. 6:23 P.M. and he was 89 yards from me according to my range finder. After looking him over and over ....as he fed, I can see He had definately put on some mass and length compared to the sheds I have from two years ago. I just started thanking God...for letting me see him and that he showed up where I'd scouted him..then I settled down and waited......and glassed him and watched him... After those first few minutes I lost all my butterflys and just watched him. He fed away from me out to 129 yards so I tried a little soft social deer grunting and all it did was get him to look my way for a split second then he went back to feeding... Then he moved back to 103 yards and fed on another patch of buck brush. I prayed he would comemy way to the timber line and give me a shot. He never did. 1 hour later at 7;35 pm he laid down at 111 yards with his back to me..his nose in the wind...all evening the wind worked pefect for me..Stretch showed up but didnt work to me...

With the light fading I started contemplating what I would need to do to get out of my stand and not spook him at just over 100 yards from me. I glassed him for minutes in his bed, I could just see his shoulders and head and awesome headgear...He definately looks like a 5 year old... body..looks great, husky buck..forsure..

I pulled out my cow call with 10 minutes of light left and tested it out on him... hoping I could use it to slink out tonight...I gave a few soft mews and he rotated his head my way and then immediately turned it back like he was not bothered...

So at dark..and after a couple more social deer calls..just in case I could get him to come check me out...I slipped out of my stand..leaving my bow, backpack everything..I did not want to take anychances on anything making noises...I got out of that stand 100 percent silent..then when I hit the loud crunchy forest floor I hit the cow call and did my best to walk out like an elk.. I glassed him in his bed and I snuck straight away on a game trail from my stand...I walked 100 yards away into the timber then headed down the mountain..continually trying to sound like a few elk working off the mountain...I am very sure I didnt spook him...

Tomorrow.. my move.. I am stoked at how great he looked.. hes got 1-2 inch g-4's is all...but he's a 5x5..There restof him looks awesome.. Big body, long long main beams 25 plus inches.... hence "stretch" and tall G-2s and 3's (9-11 inchers..all of them)....on both sides.. browtines about 5 or 6 each.. good mass..The biggest surpise..he still had velvet! I was shocked.. Anyway.. Day 9 was good...rarely do I ever get to sit and watch a buck I am targeting out in front of me for 1.5 hours.. The wind is suppose to be the exact same tomorrow.. I need a Northern wind or I cant hunt him.. I hope it holds true..he seemed really comfortable where he was..and if that wind is right tomorrow, I am gonna move to a lone pine tree that he milled around today.. I am stoked..

Jeff....best of luck bud, it all happens for a reason..... Flst.. you too, good luck!


p.s. I took at least 6 pictures of him with my little digital..but its still hanging in the tree...:)they were right at 100 yards out andmy zoom goes to 10x..hopefully they will turn out.better yet kill him tomorrow in there...and take some real pix..

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Great stuff Troy and good luck. Hope you don't mind me in here.


Side bar: Whatever happen to cardeer?

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

On a side note, guys.....I had a chance to take a buck in velvet, yesterday (well.....I'll never assume, again. I had a "CHANCE" to take him). Had him at 20 yds, two different occasions. He was a six pointer.....and I hooked my release......thought for a split second.....then unhooked. If I have to think about it.....it's the wrong decision. Saw another velvet six pointer, as well.

I'd love to see one of my targets still in velvet, next week.

NC's a no-hunting on Sunday state. I think I'll set a stand in the area I hunted yesterday morning. God knows there's enough of my scent in there already.....I don't think it could hurt. Maybe I'll get back in there in a week or so. I've got othe rplaces to hunt 'til then.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff, Since I just started hunting this year I have yet to track anything but your perseverance will be something I'll remember when it's my turn.

Troy, Great stuff ! Good luck today. Son has a football game this morning so I'll have to wait til evening.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Gmmat
I don't know what more you could do, you found a deer with no blood 200yds and 8 hours away. You just got screwed by the temps. Many guys probably would never have found it. How bad was she when you did reach her, and did you analyze your shot more?

Troy,
Awesome bud. Simply awesome.

I'm headed out now to check the loggers' status and be back in time for the Steelers:)

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Rybo:

Thats what had me so torn. Believe me....after all that.....a 1/4 mile drag wasn't gonna deter me. I could have carried her that far. I just realized after about 5-6 hours.....I wasn't gonna take the chance with the meat. Someone here may tell me she'd have been just fine to ingest......but I'll have to be told by an authority on such matters to believe anything could lay in this heat for 9 hours (by the time I'd have gotten her field dressed, butchered and on ice, at best. Shot was as described. There was some matted blood in her hair.....but it didn't even run the length from the wound(s) to her chest.

Troy:

I love reading about your encounters. Keep 'em coming, bro.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

GMMAT.... sometimes "STUFF" just happens. Anyone that hunts long enough will have some squirrelly things happen. No way I can give any advice that might make it easier to find the next time. You got to go with what you find and play it from there. If you were high it's obvious she bled out mostly internally. There probably was some blood that you missed, although probably meager amounts. Sometimes the terrain and vegetation just makes it harder. Being from Carolina I know you've seen how hard it is to track in pine straw compared to leaves. Open fields can be a bugger too. Sometimes the best thing is to go on the best guess as to where she would go when injured. 200 yards isn't a long way for her to run if you only got one lung and probably liver. A liver shot is for sure usually a 200 yard dash. She was probably dead within a few minutes of being shot. I'd say the meat would be questionable in that heat. You can't really tell until you skin them out a little. If the tummy is all bloated up you're sure to find the underside of the skin starting to have a green tint or slimy appearance. When I hit that I leave it for coyotes and foxes. If it took her a few hours to die the meat may have been OK. Then you have to really fall back on bloated state and color. Sorry for the results, I know you put a lot of effort and time into doing everything right. Sometimes Mother Nature just throws us a curve. You may go for years without another such incident but you'll always remember that crappy feeling that goes with these deals. Sounds like you did your best and tried to do it right. Those quartering to shots are a bummer. May want to reconsider the possible negatives over the benefits of such shots. I just don't do them anymore, but that's me. I figure if I'm at full draw and the deer is quartering to.... if I hold out long enough they'll turn at some point or come on in to give me a better shot. Even if they turn to leave you have enough time usually to slip in a better hit. And if it doesn't happen, well there's the next hunt. This hunt stunk up the woods with wife, friends and yourself wandering all over in heat. Hot weather sucks for hunting.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff, I hope you get things cleared up for yourself,and can get back to hunting soon.

Troy, man what an opportunity, to sit back and observe a buck you know is out there. I had to watch my 11 point half body mount buck bed 30 yards away for an hour, with a limb between us. Then he got up and actually fed my direction and gave me a 15 yard broadside shot. I can't tell you how many times I got the shakes watching him lieing there. But when it came time for the shot I was very calm and it all worked out. Hope Stretch is on the same pattern tonight and you put us on the board.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Hey Dave.....I appreciate the reply and the constructive advice. I think either I wrote it wrong or you misuderstood (I'll go back and check my post).

She WAS slightly qusrtering away.

Again....thanks for the extended reply. I certainly appreciate it.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Shed- good to hear you seeing the deer you are hunting, I believe you will have a great season this year. good luck bud.

Germ- how are things going? Ready to do some hunting..... or are you in jail??? 125,000 I hope it was not your account it went into.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Good Morning guys...Just checking it...I just got in from a little elk hunting this morning with my back up bow in hand.. I was awaken by a NOT SO FAMALIAR bugle this morning at 4 am.. Sure enough after 2 weeks of waiting a good bull moved in on the local herd hereby my place....of about 25 cows and 6 little bulls.. spikes and rags.. Hes a nice bull.. 5x6... I pretty much just slipped out this morning to see where he was going to take the herd....Hiawatha is coming Friday for elk for a week.. This bull is definately a shooter... ;)

Ok..whitetails this afternoon.....I've got to make the decision as to either move a stand closer today on the "Stretch" buck..since I have a N wind and not another north wind in the forcast for a week its now or never up there..... or I canhunt him in the same stand as last night..

heres my concern.. if I do move closer .....and dont get a shot if he came out and bedded where he did ...I wouldnt be able to sneak out...he would have me pinned down.. I dont like the idea of being possibly pinned down..then again.. I dont like the idea of just watching him do the same thing..like last night..

I am 50/50 right now on whether or not to put a stand 100 yards closer in the pine..I do have the option of setting up on the ground tonight as well.. in a small patch of little trees next to the pine.... The brush out there is over 6 ft tall ..so last night when I was glassing him I was looking down into the maze of brush he was browseing in...at eye level in there..a guy would never see that buck..cept for where I picked outone spot he walked across that was like a little park in the brush... bout 30 yards in diameter..he walked right through it..

Decisions decisions... hey everything could be perfect tonight and he simply may not show up.. hes got food in every direction for a hundred miles.. ;)

so what do you guys think? play him safe and hunt from the same stand I have watched him come under this summer and was in last night......or move out closer to where he was last night.. The wind will be perfect in both spots and perfect for setting up a stand.....???

JEFF>>BEST OF LUCK TODAY! hope your feeling better..

Flst.. best of luck to your son in the Football Game!


p.s. I think hes gonna be right around 70 inches on his left side and just under 70...say 68 on his right.. 18-19 inch inside spread.. just for the heck of it I figured I would throw that out incase I arrow him.. see if my field judging is worth a darned..

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff,
If it were me I'd be more ticked off at the world, than at myself. You got hosed, despite your best efforts. Findingthe deer, but losing the meat to heat or predators, is just a bad break. Doesn't make it much easier but maybe a little.

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

That's a tuff call. But unless there is something he is feeding on in the other spot that isn't around your stand, I think I would sit in the stand you already have up. You know he uses that trail too. Maybe go over and see what he was browseing on. Then make a decision. It's a lot of work setting up another stand. Plus you may stink up the area or alert him with the noise, depending on how far away he beds.

Good luck whatever you decide on.;)

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff - Sorry to hear about your experience, but its happened to most of us, and we can only learn from our experiences... I know how horrible a feeling it is, but you cant let it get you down, or worse throw off your confidence... stay at it man, and good luck next time...

RE: 43- Official Team Chaos Thread
 

Jeff

I have had the flu all day, I can finally sit up.

Everyone has said what needed to be said. I still have nothing but love for you;) If I lived in the south, I would have one of those on my resume for sure.

I have had to let a few sit over night. Best advice I can give you is a miss low is better than high. I have no idea why, but deer I have missed high have been my toughest tracks. The ones I miss low seem to fall over in sight.

Germ, I am going to bed