Tealboy

You one are a excellent bowhunter in my book. We need more like you in the woods. Most slob hunters would have searched for the deer for no more that 2 hours. Like you I am a new bowhunter. I had a friend shoot a doe opening weekend. He made a bad hit on the doe, not because of his shooting ability but because he took the shot when he should not have. He was 30 feet up a tree and the deer was 10 yards from his stand quartering towards. Of course he gut shot the deer. He came out of the woods at dark. I was at the barn when he came out. He showed me his arrow and I knew from the color and smell it was a paunch shot. I told him he needed to wait 6 hours before tracking. He agreed, after about 3 hours he started to get antsy and wanted to go track the deer. Against my advice he went ahead. He returned in 2 hours for my help. When I returned with him we marked the trail and found were the doe' s first bedded, 60 yards from his stand. But he went back in too early and pushed the deer, I am convinced if he would have left the deer alone she would have probably stayed in the bed and expired. I searched for the deer with him for another 4 hours to no avail. He told me he would resume trailing the next morning. I believe he never returned. When tracking a deer you have to use your head. If its a bad shot and you know it, wait. The deer is not going anywhere......unless it is pushed by the hunter. Patience is the key. I read " Trailing Whitetails" by John Trout Jr. a few weeks ago......awesome book. John has made some bad shots on deer also but he knows when to wait and knows when to push a deer. You can get it off Amazon.com for like $9. It is a excellent resource for any bowhunter.