driftrider

I'm so angry and disgusted with myself that I feel sick. Tonight I shot my second doe with my bow, and for the second time I was unable to recover the deer. The first time was three weeks ago. Thought I had a good solid pass-thru hit at about 15 yards. The arrow was coated with dark blood but there was no evidence of a gutshot. I was able to follow a scant bloodtrail about 40 yards before it just stopped. My wife and I circle searched for hours until it started raining with no luck.

Tonight, I had a perfect broadside shot at about 22-23 yards. I stopped the deer and shot and thought again that I had made a good shot, but the deer ran off like it wasn't even hit, but I watched the fletching go through the deers chest where it should have been at least a single lung hit. The deer ran about 100 yards before it jumped a fence. I also did not find the arrow and found NO blood whatsoever. I searched until an hour after dark just to find the start of the blood trail and found NOTHING. I KNOW I hit that deer, and I'm 99% sure that she's got an arrow in lodged in the ribs, and she's out there dying right now and I don't have a clue where.

I'm pissed off at myself for not only not making better shots but also because I can't track these animals. I'm starting to think that I have no business in the woods with a bow. On a target range and 3D course I'm a very good shot, but I can't hit the vitals on a real deer to save my life. And I also know that if those shots were taken with my muzzleloader those deer would have gone down within 50 yards and would be in my freezer.

One time I could accept as bad luck and write it off as something that eventually happens to almost everyone, but twice in a row and I have to question the wisdom of risking a third. Every deer I've shot with a ML has died within 100 yards and was easily tracked (if it didn't die withing sight).

Mike

Mike

AF Hunter

I feel for you Mike, since this is my first year bow hunting, I have had some experiences I never would have muzzle or shotgunning. I will still hunt those seasons, but, I have had deer within 20 feet of me bow hunting. Never have I experienced that before. Is the Iowa River down by Lone Tree still good deer hunting? I used to live in West Branch.

Mark
Des Moines

TROPHY SEEKER

Mike,

Sorry about the bad luck recently. Nobody but yourself can decide what weapon to hunt with. If you truly feel confident in your shooting and tracking ability then that's the way it goes. Unfortunately, it's part of bow hunting as well as gun hunting. This has hapened to almost all veteran bow hunters, yours just happened to come back to back. Double check the anatomy of a deer and shot placement. Sure kill shots are rarely lost.

Virginiashadowhunter

Drift, how long did you wait before trailing the deer? I have learned a lot over the years about tracking arrow shot deer, and that one should wait a minimum of 1-2 hours before tracking an arrow shot deer unless you see the deer go down, or if it is gonna rain and the blood trail is gonna be lost. Please don't give up on bowhunting. Buddy, I am embarassed to tell you how many problems I had when I first started bowhunting, I should have just been wearing a clown suit in the woods, for I really was a clown. I missed shots, clanged my arrows off my bow because I was so nervous, gut shot deer and tracked them, liver shot deer and tracked them, hit deer and never found them....etc.

vashadowhunter

wolfen68

My first bit of advice would be to NOT give up unless all of the other aspects of bowhunting aren't appealing to you and to secondly start leaning heavily on someone you know and trust who is an experienced bowhunter...and by experienced, I would say someone who has killed at least a half dozen deer or so with a bow. Having shot in 3D's and at ranges you must know someone. Have them help track the deer the next time and pay attention to every single detail from the time the arrow left the rest until the deer was out of sight. I think there are pieces of the puzzle that you may have missed. Hang in there...good luck.

DoctorDeath

well Mike I can relate my friend ... opening day here in Alabama I shot at a nice buck and missed ...it was late in the evening ..later that week in the evening I shot at a doe ..and missed ... I am 54 years old and just cant see well up close anymore ..when I try to see my pin its a blurr and when I squent to focus on the pin I cant see my target very well ...sooooo I sold my bow after hunting with it for 20 years and bought a crossbow last week with a red dot scope .. I can see great out if although I have yet to shoot at a deer with it ..Alabama and Tennessee made shooting a crossbow legal last year ... hopefully this will cure my problems .. I could have continued shooting a bow but do not just want to wound an animal ..age ..age ..age..and the beat goes on :&gt)

ROLL TIDE
DD

deertale

Mike, **** I wish I had your problem. I've been out the last 12 times and just seen one deer after dark and one sneaking through the woods. I had a couple of opportunities early season but pasted for various reasons, now I can't even see a deer. I sure regret not shooting those earlier deer. Man is this depressing. I mean really depressing. All my bow hunting goals are going out the window. I’m hunting all kinds of different places.

Tribal

Dark red blood could have been liver hit. Minimal wait of 4-6 hours in my book before tracking. But hang in there and it will get better. Sometimes things happen so quick we second guess our shot placement or have a hard time remembering everything that happened cause your excited. It is discouraging, but you need to redeem yourself and just take your time and everything will work out. Good luck bud!

HUNGAR

I think tracking a deer shot with a bow is totally different than tracking a ML shot deer or any gun for that matter. You need hands and knees tracking that can take forever and some people I've tracked with didn't have the patience, they just wanted to skip ahead. I'm not placing you in this catergory I just think some people get too anxious and miss valuable sign by going to fast or starting the tracking too soon.The first hit sounds like a liver which should have been a 2hr wait min. and the second (if you hit where you thought)could have been a high lung hit that might have taken a bit for the blood to build up and hit the ground, but she still could have exhaled some through the nostrils which could have been very fine and easily missed. Another thing, When I first started hunting the first few deer I shot I swore I hit them in one spot and when I found them I was usually off on my guess as to where I hit them. I told my dad once "I know I double lunged him" and when we found him it was a liver shot. I guess the short answer is track slow and don't track too soon, I shot a 7pt Tue. that I heard crash andI was 95% sure that itwas a heart shot and I still waited three hours-- he was still dead when I finally got there. good luck and don't give up. Chris

driftrider

With the first one I waited about 15-20min before I climbed out of my tree and retrieved the arrow, and another hour or so before I started tracking. I would have waited longer but I could see the rain clouds building in the west and I knew I didn't have much time.

The one this afternoon I waited about an hour because I thought it was lunged. I started searching right before the sun went down and searched until the battery in my flashlight started going dead. I would have waited longer but there is rain forcast for tomorrow (I really pick great times to wound deer, huh?) and I wanted to at least find a starting point of the trail to determine where the deer was headed after it jumped that fence and got out of my sight.

I left my stand up (I almost just tore it down right then and there because I was so upset, but decided that I didn't want to hump my stand and my bow back to the truck after dark), so I might hunt tomorrow morning and then search for this deer at midday. I have two doe tags, so if I were to finally make a good shot and take a deer tomorrow, I'll still have a tag to tag this afternoon's deer if I find it.

I've never hunted down there, but I have hunted the Iowa River/Coralville Lake area and seen a lot of nice deer out there. I was hunting in Kent Park today because I have two special management antlerless tags for the park and there are a lot of deer out there. I saw a total of 17 deer today incliuding the one I shot. (9 mature does, 6 yearling fawns, a fork and a small 6 pointer with a really screwed up rack).

I really hope my luck turns around tomorrow, because I love hunting with the bow.

Mike