I am pretty sure I did the same to the last buck I hit (Monday night). We looked for 1.5hr and found nothing. The next morning I spent an hour and then found the blood trail (Field shot, then ran 200yds). Tracked the blood trail for another 2 hours (another 200yds). He headed back into ravines and wild thickets, crawled under logs, into brush, for acres. Found the sleep spot (2ft of bloody leaves) and then nothing. Figure he was wounded and I drove him off the next morning searching. Bummer. After hours of tracking and random searches, I gave up, I was too mentaly and physically shot to go on. Like 5 shot, I figure I will smell him out there this week.<img src=icon_smile_angry.gif border=0 align=middle>

Sometimes takes a couple of hours sometimes to find the blood trail particulary if you are a shakey hand (like I am also...that was my second kill, first was opening Monday) cause you tend to &quot;forget&quot; exactly where it went, and where it turned into the woods exactly, and where the arrow went afterwards when you are &quot;sure&quot; you saw it go down.

I shoot pratice all the time, but it is so different from actually releasing on a deer. I can outshoot my more experienced bros on the foam deer everytime, but they can do much better in the woods with 5 or so kills each and many years experience. They know where they hit it and where it went.

My friend shot his first buck 10 yrs ago. He and one of my bro's looked for 4 hours that morning and sat down on a log to rest and put his bow behind him. When he got up he turned to get the bow and see's the rack on the ground...and the buck was behind him on the ground, it had crawled under the downed tree right up to that spot on the trunk.

Thanks guys for all the advice. Is there a possibility of clotting in the blood? I went to look sun and looked again for 7 hours and notinging. I was also hunting public land and theirs always hunters around, so walking all over the place is kinda hard without pissing everyone off. The doe's last blood teail i found was 300-350 yards away from the point where i shoot her. I waited 1 hour to track her after the high shoot. I should of waited any where from 3-8 hours to track her. How long before the meat will go bad? Here in ohio its gettting down to 35 degrees f. at nights and as high as 70 degrees in the day. I feel really bad not be able to find these deer and cant even sleep over it at nights. This would of been my first deer i taken, so you must know how i fell. The buck i shoot was not found eather. I took a few buddies with me to look and still not luck. I think i didnt wait long enough and spooked them both when i went to trail them. Is it true that wounded deer can trevel miles before dieing, or there wounds can clot and live? All the tracking stuff to me is new so all the stuff you told me helped out very much. Thanks allot for everything. James

Youd be amazed at what they can live thru. You went back and gave it a good honest effort,better luck next time.Hunting on public lad there is a good chance someone found em.I shot a doe in Hoosier National Forest once,spent 3 1/2 hour trailing her only to find a gut pile,within 50 yds of where I had parked.Just the way the ball bounces sometimes.You done all you could,dont be too hard on yourself.

I agree with trapperdave,it sounds as though you made every effort to recover this deer.If you don't hit a vital spot, chances are you won't get them.I have lost 2 different deer that I shot with arrows, both with good pass throughs. Tracked them a long way and they just quit bleeding. The buck I shot last week had been hit by my neihbor and the broadhead was in the top of his shoulder. This deer acted fine and would have been o k if he hadn't come in to my stand. We also butchered one that a friend shot, and found a broadhead with 4 inches of arrow shaft,along side of spine. This deer had been shot by friends dad 2 years previous.

http://www.edershunting.com/publicat...ot/default.cfm

That's a horrible story and I'm sorry it happened. All you can do is what you did and do your best to recover the animals.

For the future, all the tracking, time, frustration is just not worth it just to shoot an animal. Take your time and only shoot when you have a good double lung opportunity at a range where you know you can score. I'm new to bowhunting and have shot 2 this year already. Both were excellent lung shots and the deer still ran 1-200 yards in both cases. A bad shot and the deer goes who knows how far. I'd rather pass on an iffy shot and wait until I get an opportunity that I know I can execute. Good luck.

Good points above. About the only thing I can add, is maybe start aiming only for a heart shot. I have found this to be a good fix for folks that have a problem with high hits. Sometimes, a high hit can be a poor shot by the archer, but also, deer have a tend to start dropping at the sound of the shot...so even a good aim at the lungs can end up being high. If you aim for the heart, and the deer drops, you still have a pretty good chance of a lung shot. If both those deer were hit high, but below the spine....I doubt you'll find them. That spot seems to be the mysterious &quot;VOID&quot; that supposedly doesn't exist....though I know many hunters that would dispute that. Regardless, I think if you concentrate more...maybe make a mental checklist to go through upon drawing, (with one of the points being aim at the heart), and give any deer you hit, a little more time...you'll be ok. I went through a similar thing many years ago...I know how you feel. But you'll be ok...get back out there and get that monkey off your back!! Good luck

I went and shoot today from a fork lift 15feet up, and all my shoots was perfect, so it was all mental why i hit high because i had a buddy move 3 targets around in all differnt ranges even ranges i wont shoot because of the distance and all the shoots was perfect, so figured all i need to do is to stay calm. Thanks for everyones help
James

I took a doe last Friday with a game tracker expandable 100gr. I was on the ground and I hit her high, just above the lung area. The arrow didn't pass through but there was an initial blood flow upon the hit. She lunged forward and broke the arrow off. I noticed the blood flow lessen almost immediately as she walked about 30 feet off and stood behind a tree for about 40 seconds then trotted down the hill. I retrieved my arrow and waited. I had bright blood but no bubbles. I heard what i thought was her about 3 minutes later fall down the ravine. After about 45 minutes I started tracking and lost all blood trail within 30 yards. I could see roughed leaves and headed in the general direction very slowly. I found her at 75 yards. I hit her in the void above the lungs but fortunately found her. She bleed internally rather than on the ground. It was my first bow kill and I'm not sure but i think she ducked a bit. I shot her at 12 yrds. I barely missed a double lung. My nephew shot a doe just above the heart the other night, I took the deer to the butcher so i saw it, and it traveled over 300 yards. sometimes it is hard to say how far they will go

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