For a second I got the feeling you didnt believe me! Its pretty hard to fool the 12 friends who were up all night looking for me. I crossed two barb wire fences, and when daylight came and made my way back to my land I must have passed at least 5 different stands that werent mine.

I had to get home and sleep some before going back out to look for him. It was a good 6-7 hours before i located where he expired. If anyone was up at dawn going to any of these stands they would have seen the blood and most likely he was laying in sight of the other hunters. Since it was daybreak, and nobody was on its trail, they probably figured it was a lost kill. That was my thinking, and I dont much blame them. Its raining today and i didnt get a chance to follow where I thought I had trailed him, but it was on someones elses property and they have the right to do what they want.

I cant say that if I showed up at my stand in the morning and there was a halfway decent buck freshly killed I wouldnt have done the same. Granted I would have waited a few hours to see if anyone showed, but I was snuggled in a warm bed after a night in freezing darkness. I cant be angry, just dissapointed that I ran out of batteries and light. I have a good idea of who it was, or at least the landowner so I may go to him tomorrow and ask if he has some extra backstraps for me.

I pulled up google earth to get an idea of how far I trailed him and if you see the dense forest I ended up in, Im just thinking the lord that I had my lighter a half pack of smokes, and some snacks. I wasnt sure how long I would be there but the best thing I did, and I would suggest it to everyone, stay put in this situation. They ended up having the state police helicopter on its way with FLIR, but luckily I lasted until sunup and got my bearings straight. I had no idea I had trailed him for no less than 3 miles into the abyss!