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