SteveO KanevO

Well guys. Last time I posted on here I believe I said I was going to take a trip to West Point Ms. and do some bow hunting down there with my cousin. He works for Mossy Oak and has access to some bowhunting only areas on the company land. I left out last Friday morning at 3:00 am and made it there bought my liscense and was ready to go. We headed out and walked in to the most amazing place I have ever hunted. It was absolutely unbelieveable. The deer were still in the second rut. I set up on an old road bed in some half flooded timber. I didnt notice on the way in but there were rubs about every 10 feet and you could just pick a tree. I promise I didnt take 20 steps without seeing a new rub. The place was on fire! Anyway about 20 minutes after I settled in I see a deer aproaching a strip of young trees to my right. I was there to shoot some does but I had the go ahead on a mature buck if he came through. I thought the deer was a spike but I kept watching. He made a left turn and circled behind me to a trail. By then I realized that he wasnt a spike and was an 8 point about 115-120 inch deer. A definite shooter in my book, so I rose to my feet and drew when we stepped behind a tree. I hadnt ranged the tree but I said to myself that I was going to shoot my 25 yard pin. He stepped out and I let'er fly. WHACK. It sounded like a gun going off and he jumped took two hops and stopped. I missed! Or so I thought I watched him walk off and sat back down. I was so dissapointed. I watched several more deer. One was a six point that was around 20 inches wide. No lie. Im probably off a little bit in that estimation but he came right under my stand I could have drilled him. I got down and check my arrow around 10:00 it was covered in guts.I was sick at my stomach. I trailed him for about 100 yds and he quit bleeding. My cousin and I scoured the woods and never found him. It was a long long long drive home thinking about the biggest deer I had ever shot with my bow and didnt find. We looked for about 4 hours. That is definatly the best place I have ever hunted in all the 5 states Ive deer hunted in. Its going to be a loooooooooong wait until I can redeem myself. I cant believe I goofed it up. Oh and from me to where the deer was standing ranged at 24 yds. I checked around and noticed a small limb that my arrow had clipped. It changed the travel of the arrow about 8 inches to the right.

newman1

sorry to hear about that.that really sucks,but it's gonna happen sooner or later.you just gotta learn from your mistakes and move on.

HuntingBry

I hate to repeat this, but if you hunt long enough things like this will happen. I hope your cousin wasn't sore at you about it. Good luck on getting a chance at redemption.

rybohunter

BUmmer but the 1st moment you saw the arrow andsaw you had a gut shot you should have tried to wait as long as you could before heading after him. Sounds like you may have had to leave, but those 4 hours looking, would have probably been better spent as 3 hours sitting and doing nothing and 1 hour following the blood trail.

SteveO KanevO

Well I shot the deer at about 6:45 and got down at 10:00 to check my arrow I didnt follow up on the deer until about 10:30. I gave him over 3 hours but he was still nowhere in sight. My cousin wasnt mad that I had shot that deer. He was disappointed that we didnt find it. He wants me to come back sometime this month and try it again. I might take my muzzleloader I dont know yet. He asked me why I didnt shoot the six point. I just couldnt shoot another deer without knowing for sure that I had missed that eight point. I didnt want to screw up even worse. I shot two does like that earlier this season and lost one of them but that was on my own land. Im still frustrated about losing that one too. I looked for her for 2 days and couldnt find her.

Campo

Yeah, this is what I was thinking...I might not have even taken the shot with such a small time window.
Still, it sucks man, I feel for you.

Steveo, you mentioned that this has now happened twice this season? Have you checked to make sure you sight hasn't been bumped to one side or the other? How about your form, have you been practicing? It sucks to not have confidence in your shooting, maybe a trip to the range and a recheck of all equipment is all you need.

ash2042

I agree with Campo. A recheck of your equipment may help.
[align=left] [/align]

121553

That really sucks but I'm sure a lot of us bowhunters have experienced that feeling before, I know I have. 5 or 6 years I had the montana state record buck 20 yards from me in a cold freezeing blizzard. I swear this is no lie, it easlily had 200 inches of mass and points sticking out of points. I was so freaking cold and shot and missed, the deer trotted to few steps and stopped again, I knocked another arrow and missed again, never to get another shot, I dropped to my knees in the snow and wanted to cry but couldn't, I felt like throwing up, I cannot ever remember feeling so bad. I kept going back time after time and even try to find the sheds but to no avil. After all these years I still have that wrenching feeling in my stomach. I've shot some nice deer since but there still dinks in my book.
I pratice all year round and when it came for the moment I blew a chance of a lifetime.
I know your feeling very well and wish I could tell you it will pass, but it sure doesn't get any better, I still go back to that spot and ask God to just give me one more chance.
Sorry, I didn't mean to ramble on or hijack your thread, its just that I know what your going through. Good Luck.

Bobby

SteveO KanevO

My equipment is fine. I like my set up. The doe that I shot earlier this season took a step when I released and it hit her too far back. Another stepped out and I smoked her. The problem with this buck was that there was a small limb that my arrow clipped the end off and itthrew the flight bad to the right. The limb was close to the deer so it didnt throw it off far enough.I wish it had been closer to me so that I would have missed it entirely. It would have eased the pain a little bit knowing without a doubt that the buck was still alive after that encounter. I just couldnt see the limb because it was just turned shooting light and it was overcast.

GR8atta2d

Sunrise in West Point Ms, for today is 6:59 ..it had to be pretty dark, tough to see those little limbs. Better Luck Next time.