Rob/PA Bowyer

Monday morning I was off work because of my Saturday schedule this week. I was in the tree bright and early and waiting on the first rays of daylight. As light increased I didn't see anything for quite a while. Around 7:15 I caught a tail at the other end of the field and I started glassing the high golden rod but found nothing. Several minutes passed and I saw a deer flick it's tail at the edge of the bean field. I looked up and immediately saw antlers. I glassed him and he was a good buck. I assumed he was the 3.5 year old 8 I saw a week or so ago. I grabbed my River Valley Deer Flute and hit him with a short grunt....nothing. He was walking away so I grunted louder....nothing. Okay, this time I hit him with a loud, deep bellow and he stopped, looked back over his shoulder and pinned his ears my directions. Mind you, he was 200 yards away at this time.

Okay, now I have your attention so I toned it down with a short, softer grunt and he turned to face me with his ears at attention. I quickly slid the brass along the reed and gave him a contact call, slid the brass and a soft grunt. That did it, he walked the 200 yards to me on a string only pausing shortly to look as he came. At 22 yards I was at full draw and stopped him with a short bleet from my vocals and sent an Easton ACC tipped with a Rocky Mountain Snyper on it's way. I heard the hit and he immediately turned and high tailed it the way he came. I bleated loud with my mouth and it stopped him which disturbed me and I was thinking the whole time, fall, fall....darn it fall....I could see my arrow sticking out the far side only held in by the fletch. I could see blood dripping down the entrance side. I grabbed my binoculars which is a major suggestion as outlined in the recovery thread and glassed him. Again, arrow looked good, possibly a little forward as I witnessed him drop and turn at the shot. As he turned, hunching and tucking his tail I saw the gapping entrance hole. It was a little higher than I would have liked it to be and I quickly realized as he ducked and turned to run, the arrow hit high and angled forward. I watched him walk slowly, hunched and holdhing his tail tight the entire distance he came from and enter the high golden rod CRP field. I figured he'd be bedding there or just inside the small woodlot adjacent.

I got down, snuck out into the field and found a spot of blood, backed out and left. I figured I'd go home and relax for 5 hours and come back to collect him, if.....if I was able to catch a bit of the lungs.....

I made a phone call to my friend Kurt(Q2inwhitetails) out in Altoona, 2 hours away and told him the story...he was excited about it and enthusiastic about the whole situation...I however had my doubts. I replayed and replayed the situation and was thinking it was nothing more than a flesh wound and if I jumped him when I went back...I'd be able to hunt him another day. Ten minutes after we hung up, the phone rang...it was Kurt again. He said, "my brother just walked in and we can be there by 1:00, wait on us"...so I did. By the time we got out there it'd been 6 hours and rain had been steady. I was able to glass this buck until he entered the high weeds and that's where we started....there was no blood in the begining and I was only able to find a small spot about 2 ft off the ground on a weed....no more and we spread out and followed the defined trails through the brush and weeds. We scowered around for quite awhile when Kurt came to me and said a huge 8 pt just jumped up, leaped twice and was out of site in the weeds....I followed him to the spot and found a bed...no blood. A well defined trail from that back towards the only blood we found yielded a couple specks which told me, that was the same buck and that he's healthy. I firmly believe no vital shot would allow this buck to do what he did. Even a gut shot would have found this buck worse off that he was. It's evident I didn't catch the lungs that I was hoping for and it turned out I was correct with my glassing which indicated this was a flesh wound and he survived.

The only consultation is that I will be able to hunt this buck again and anticipate seeing him as the rut picks up.

Yes, I am thoroughly disappointed but I know I did everything right before, during and after the shot. The whitetail being a resiliant animal won this battle. I didn't want to make a wounded, now what thread but posting this hoping someone will learn and take tips from it....

Read the recovery thread and get ideas from everyone.
Use binoculars.
Back out and give an animal time.
Take friends or someone to help.
Don't pressure an animal.
Call to them after the shot to calm them.
Recall the last place you saw them and mentally mark it.

Justin

Once again Rob, I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune with this buck but as we all know this is the harsh reality of bowhunting. Believe me, I've been there.

You did all the right things in your attempt to recover this animal. Hopefully things work out better for you in the future.

Bird Hunt Dog

Sorry for the loss..........I know exactly how you feel...........It sucks!

WThunter

I had a friend make the same sort of shot on a doe a couple of years ago. He thought for sure it was a fatal shot but could not find her. He saw her a couple of months later with a couple of x's on her, and she was very healthy. It is amazing how tough these animals are.

Sorry you didn't get your buck. Maybe you will get another chance.

MA Jay

Rob, I am not being critical, but would like to share some advice.

First, you say when you went back 6 hours later you started where you saw him enter the field, maybe 200 yards away. If you had started at the point of the hit, and followed the blood all the way to the field, you would have had a lot of information that could help in the search. The type of blood, amount and how it falls are all valuable information. Plus the added benefit of training your eyes to find blood, as anyone who tracks a lot of deer will tell you it takes a bit to get into blood trail mode.

Second, you saw the arrow hanging from the deer. Did you find the arrow? When you got to the field where you saw the deer enter, you should have found the arrow and the only way to do that is follow the blood. I know people get excited, but the way you describe the fan out method you employed it is clear you didn't follow drop to drop.

Third, you assume the deer you jumped was "your deer". I have jumped dozens of deer while tracking blood, and I'd say almost all have been incidental. Without following the blood, you don't know if the deer you shot walked by where the buck you saw jumped from. Deer that have been shot completely through, and are leaving even a little blood trail WILL leave at least a few drops of blood in a bed. Going only from your description, the tail tight and hunched after the shot, I would highly doubt the deer you saw bound out of the field was the same deer, but without finding the arrow and following the blood it would be hard to judge. Back tracking down a trail from the bed to the last blood isn't enough info to tie the 2 together.

As I said when I started, I am not saying anything critical about you, but trying to provide some advice on how you could perhaps do better next time. Staying with the blood, controlling the group looking for the deer, and recovering your arrow are a must.I hope you find him.....

tschammel

Again not to be critical but I agree with MA Jay. He tucked his tail in and hunched his back because he was hurt, probably pretty bad too. If he was hunched over and hurt, more than likely six hours later he was pretty stiff and sore. I don't think the same deer leeped up and bounded away. You have to find that arrow or at least look for it or blood for an extensive amount of time before you fan out. Again not critical but just things that I have learned from bumping deer and screwing it up for me. We all learn from our mistakes. Good luck with the rest of your season!

Rob/PA Bowyer

MA Jay,

all great advice and trust me, all was covered. There wasn't a leaf left uncovered and I'm absolute the buck we jumped was the same buck. I drilled my friend for information on the rack etc. It was the same buck. After the shot and as the deer walked off I saw my arrow fall out. No we didn't find it but it wasn't for the lack of effort and the arrow wouldn't have given me information that I didn't already know. I glassed this animal the whole while. We started at the last point because it was the best place to start. After jumping the animal and covering all basis, we backtracked to the shot and I even got up in the tree and direct my helpers.

There's no doubt in our covering the ground, etc....again, all effort was made believe me and I have no doubt in seeing this animal again.

Great advice though and I welcome it....we all should. Thanks.

QuickkillMcgee

I would be willing to bet that with the way that buck acted when it went into the field it was a better hit than you think. I hunt blacktail deer in western washington but I'm willing to bet that when hit most deer do the same thing. They hunch their backs tuck their tails and run. I must agree with MA Jay that you should have done a better job of sticking to the blood trail and that no matter where you've shot a deer if it beds down theirs gonna be blood. My dad shot a deer with his bow and she hunched up and ran about 75 yards and layed down we left her for an hour and came back and she had ran 25 more yards after laying in the spot we saw her stop in. It was raining hard but their was still blood in the bed so we knew she was hit and that she wouldn't be far, but we didn't give up when we couldn't find any blood anywhere else because of the rain. I've become quite good at tracking animals in the rain and I don't care how hard its raining there will always be blood in the bedding spot.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Again,

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind it was the same animal. Where the buck was bedded, there was blood not 5' on the same trail....none on the ground but in on a stem off the ground. There was no blood from that point to the bed, past the bed, or anywhere else beyond the bed. I don't know what part of "every effort" and "positive id" on the animal some of you don't understand. I didn't start hunting yesterday, I've been at it more than 20 years. Did you read my recovery post....? Though I'm no self proclaimed expert, I KNOW, every effort was made on this animal and I WILL see him again.

I followed this deers footprints back and guess what...NO BLOOD....there was no blood exect one spot from impact point to where I watched him enter the high weeds. There was no blood from the first speck I found in the weeds to the last speck at the bed site. There was no blood from the bed site beyond.....rule out that I should have stuck to the blood trial. When there is no blood trail, you change stragies.

Any questions?

I appreciate advice, but I take execption to criticism when all effort was made. I don't take leaving animals lightly. I have too much respect for any animal. I did not leave a dying animal. I left a live animal I will see again. Sorry for the rant, I was there, you were not.

Talondale

Okay where are the flames? I'm suprised no one has said anything about ethical quick kills and never having lost an animal and what is the point of this post, etc. If this had been someone else this thread would be three pages long by now with criticisms. Constructive criticism and encouraging words are all we see. This is the way these types of threads should be. I wish we'd extend the same kind of curteousy to the other posters as we do Rob. Of course if someone posts something stupid, like making a head shot on a doe with an arrow, then they should get a strong response. I'm wondering what some of those with "perfect" records will do when they have their first unrecovered deer, commit seppuka?

Rob, sorry you lost him. Hopefully he will recover quickly and offer a rematch. I shot a six once because he ducked I hit high in no-man's-land and he ran off and I couldn't find him. Come rifle season he walked under my stand with a scar on his back. I let him go that time. Another hunter shot him last day of the season and I got to see him up close and he had a triangle scar above his shoulder but seemed fine otherwise. That's the great thing about sharp arrows, they can heal fast and clean.