What Happened?
Well guys ,I lost a nice buckthis last weekend. This is the first deer I've ever lost and it really bothers me. I've spent the last couple of days and nights trying to figure out what happened to prevent it from happening again. Here's the story.
Deer comes out about 35yds from my stand. I'm about 15 feet up. I range him and he's now about 30yds walking toward me. At about 25-28yds he turns left giving me a almost completly broadside shot in a narrow shooting lane so I take the shot. Now I can keep most arrows in a 4" circle at 40yds so please don't flame me. Arrow hits low, about what I would say was heart level but a little further back.
Penetration was only about 6" judging from the recovered broken arrow (broadhead end not recovered). I was shooting a trophy ridge undertaker with an arrow weight of 342gr out of my Guardian@ 61lbs. Earlier in the season I shot another buck at 20yds or so and had complete pass through with the arrow stuck in the ground about 6 inches. Iwatch him run off with the arrow sticking out so I know from the stand, no pass through. I decide to quietly come down and return later to track.
I pickup the blood trail which is a decent amount of bright red blood after a hour and half wait. I track him to were I saw him last and see where he had laid down but I guess I bumped him even after the 1 1/2 hour wait. At this point I really bummed so I back out and return the next morning just before daylight as the temps are forcast to rise into the mid 60's. Pick up the trail and track it for an additional couple of hundred yards while the blood gets less and less until I find just one drop.
At this point I start a grid search for the next 4-5 hours. Can't find him. Now I'm really bummed, so I go home, get the toy poodle and try to track the deer again. Hey, I deperate at this point. She helped but when the blood ran out, she was lost as well. At this point I get on my blackberry and find a blood tracker. He's willing to come help but get this, on Louisiana WMAs, there not allowed. At dark on the day after the shot, I finally gave up the search. On the way out I ran into a game warden. (Had tried to get in touch with one all afternoonto get permission to use tracker but couldn't locate one and state communications wouldn't give out their phone number).He's says he and most others would just turn their heads if dog was on leash and no weapons were with you. Never did find the deer, can't figure out why penetration was so poor.
Oh, arrow had no fat or gut evidence on the recovered portion. Is it possible to slip and arrow between the heart and gut and the deer go this far? As low as the shot was I wouldn't think I hit liver. Maybe just nicked a lung? Broadhead maybe didn't open? What do ya'll think? I ordered some Slick Tricksyesterday from Dan just in case that was the problem. What do ya'll think? Sorry for the long post.