Atlasman I am not saying all that you have said is necessarily wrong. Many of your points are valid but the way you have presented it shows a wrong attitude in my opinion.
Let me state here maybe for the first time that it has NEVER been my intention to come off as a know it all or that I am smarter then anyone else here. I think everyone only thinks of that because of my so called " greeness" If my posts were coming from some of the old farts around here they might get a few eyebrows raised but definately no remarks like I have recieved........all because they have been in the woods with a bow for a long time. Everyone is entitled to an opinion and telling someone they screwed up by losing an animal due to their own ignorance should not require a resume........it' s an opinion.......as a hunter......bow time has nothing to do with it.
Let me ask you something.......I hunted 22 days last year and will most likely do the same this year. 44-45 days in the woods. I am willing to bet that there are guys that don' t hunt that much in 10 years............who is more experienced?? One guy has 10 years in the field yet less or equal time. See how " experience" is such a bad measuring stick?? Not that experience isn' t a good thing.......it' s just not the only thing, and IMO not the most important thing. Take for example a guy who buys a bow and doesn' t practice or learn anything about bowhunting and throws a mechanical head on a low power setup to fly well. He goes out and sticks a deer who knows where and never finds it. Shouldn' t this guy have been all set and become a better bowhunter because he got some experience?? or would he have been better off with a good mix of knowledge and better skills to handle that " experience" ???
I haven' t heard anyone say you have to kill X number of deer before you can pass an opinion.
No.......they keep bringing up I only killed 1......same meaning. I wonder what the magic number is??
It is just that when you deliver such a scathing post and at the same time possess very little authority in the realm of experience to back it up, it does make one wonder. You see, the farther I go in life, it always amazes me how little I know. When you think you have seen it all, something will always jump up and surprise you. One likes to be prepared for everything when " everything doesn' t go perfect" , but it just isn' t possible.
Again I am not trying to sound like a smarty pants.........What authority is required to tell someone that they shouldn' t chase after a poorly hit deer?? Is it really asking too much of people to know what to do after the shot?? You still may be out of luck but at least you will know in your heart you did the right thing.
Take your toilet paper marking trail for example. I used your own words. You said it would help you " predict its path" . By your own admission it didn' t. You found blood " in a new direction" .
Yes new.........but still in line with the paper. Sheer physics alone will tell you the deer could only have gone a couple ways.........since none I have ever seen jump up and do a 180 in the air and then a backflip in the opposite direction.....not in mid stride that' s for sure. You eliminate 1/2 of your search area because you know his direction. The paper trail pointed towards an uphill hump in the woods........I would not have checked there first because I would guess he went downhill rather then up when hurt. He didn' t......and the paper trail showed me that.
Then you rebuttle my point by simply writing in capital letters the word " WRONG" as if that is game, set, and match. Of course you feebly say that if you stand behind the paper trail and combine that with tracks...tossed up leaves...you know " his next step came somewhere in front of the marked trail" . Has that been your experience, or does it just sound good? Many many trails I have followed the ground has been to hard to leave tracks, and there were no leaves to have up turned. Further, I would love to see what happens when your laying your paper trail after the deer has back tracked and the blood you are looking at is the animal both going and coming. At that point there is no way for the next step to be " somewhere in front of the marked trail" . These are very real situations that I have been in more than once.
I didn' t mean to say" game set match" sorry......but in my situation the paper trail worked perfect and I will use it in the future if needed. I also carry orange tape with me in case the trails start to criss cross like you said.
Concerning your Gorge issue. If the slope is that steep, until deer learn how to fly, nine times out of ten they are not going down it in a rush. Their survival instinct in most cases would keep them from attempting such a hazardous route.
Oh they go down and up my friend........I promise you that. The deer around that gorge are referred to as " bionic" by the locals due to their supernatural ability to scale that slope. When the snow falls you can see tracks where it looks almost impossible to travel for anything other then a mountain goat [
] The flowing creek at the bottom provides them with their water supply and shelter from guys like me.
As far as the high hit goes it isn' t worth arguing over. However I will say this, I have had a good number of deer blow blood out of a hit high on the rib cage, much like a blow hole on a whale. But that doesn' t happen everytime.
Yea I agree.......he COULD have been blowing blood out that hole like a whale. But he also might not have been.......so I waited. Either way I was safer waiting.......I don' t want to find out the blood trail sucks after I have been walking for 50-60 yards and then see him run off because I pushed him. Plus I was hungry
WRONG! I lacked the practical experience to be the parent I wanted to be. Fortunately for all of us I learned to adapt and survive and eventually thrive, but it didn' t happen over night.
Good luck.
If I was new to hunting, tracking and the woods I would agree 100%. I have plenty of experience in the woods and hunting to feel comfortable and well prepared. 10 years from now I will be the same guy.....the only difference will be I will have a bunch more bowkills under my belt.......same knowledge base an opinions.......just more meat in the freezer. Will I really be a better source of info or be able to give an opinion then just because some time has passed?? Seems silly.
Good luck to you to buddy. Stay safe.