Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

I knew it would happen someday, but I never thought it would bother me this much.

Monday night I had my 11th hunt of the season. Right before dark, at about 6:55, I saw a doe all alone 75 yards to my right. First deer sighting of the season! She eventually made her way to 20 yards in front of me. I drew, but my shot was obstructed by some limbs so I let down after about 30 seconds. She then turned and stepped into a clear lane in the middle of the food plot and started walking. I drew again, but she wouldn't stop. So I mouthed a "Maaap" and she stopped and stared at me, 20 yards broadside. I tucked the pin 1" behind the front leg, 1/3 of the way up the body for what should have been a perfect shot. I aimed for about 4 or 5 seconds, and slowly squeezed the trigger. The luminokshowed the path of the arrow to be right where I was aiming. "Thwack!". Looked and sounded good, but it was too dark to see exactly where the arrow hit as the deer ran off. But at 20 yards and broadside, how could I have done anything but smoked her?

The deer ran into the tall brushy bedding area that is about 600 yards x 600 yards. This stuff is thick and nasty. The grass is about4 to6 feethigh, with thick bushy thorntreesscattered about. The nearest woods is about 600 yards in any direction. I backed out, and it started to rain about 30 minutes after dark . Since it was raining, and I was extremely confident of my shot placement, we elected to begin tracking after 30 minutes.

The arrow buried under the tall grass which wiped alot of the blood off. But it did have blood on it. The camo arrow and green and orange fletching made it hard to determine the exact color of the blood. From now on I'll be using white arrow wraps. I smelled the arrow, and it didn't smell like guts and there was no stomach content on it. I still think I smoked her. Found first blood about 15 yards past impact. Found a little more blood in the tall grass and followed a blood trail for about 50 yards. It was sporadic. Just not pumping like it should be if I hit the boiler room. Now I'm getting nervous. Did I hit high in the lungs? Then the blood trail just stopped, and now it's raining hard. At last blood, we hung some toilet paper in the tree and started doing expanding circles looking for more blood. Never did find any more blood after that. With the rain coming down hard, and the lack of a great blood trail, we backed out.

Now I'm getting nervous. At about 10 pm, the rain stopped for a little while. I fired up the Coleman lantern and went back out by myself. At this point, the blood that we marked was completely washed away. Now all I can do is grid search the grassy bedding area. I stayed out in the rain for the next four hours doing my grid search and never found the animal or any blood. The next morning I went out at 8 am and searched until 3 pm. I covered every inch of that grassy bedding area and but never found the deer. I also searched all the creeks and ponds in the area in case it headed to water. It would have had to go about 800 yards to reach the woods. If I hit the boiler room it coudn't have gone that far. I spent 7 hours looking in every thicket and bedding area I know, and walked every section of the open woods. Nothing.

I think the deer is still alive. I've concluded that since the deer was on alert and looking at me when I shot, it must have ducked the arrow and I hit the back above the spine. That is consistent with the sign on the arrow and the lack of a good blood trail. I have never liked shooting at an alert deer that's looking at you. I should have known better.

This is the first time I've ever lost an animal, gun or bow. I feel miserable. After going 10 consecutive hunts without seeing a deer, and then blowing it on the first deer I see, I just don't know what to say. I really don't have a strong desire to go back out there right now. I almost feel like I don't deserve the privelage to bowhunt.

I really believe my shot was exactly where I aimed. My bow is dead on, especially at 20 yards. I wasn't nervous at all, and I didn't rush the shot. I felt like I perfectly executed the shot, the deer just may have ducked since it was alert. Both times I've stopped a deer with my voice, I've made less than perfect shots. I think I'm going to wait for them to stop on their own from now on. I can't see the benefit in shooting at an alert animal that is staring at you about to spook. My bow only shoots 260 fps and with the luminok I know the deer saw the arrow coming. I was aiming at the top of the heart so I still should have hade some margin for error if the deer ducked. Maybe my luminok spooked her. Who knows.

All I know is I'm sick right now about not recovering the deer I shot. I hope she's still alive with just a flesh wound. I hope my desire to hunt returns soon, but right now I don't have the desire to get back out there any time soon. I just don't feel like I deserve the privelage after what I did. I know that's stupid but that's how I feel right now. This is the lowest point of my hunting career.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

That's a shame gzg. It happens. Hold your head up. Perhaps a flesh wound and she'll be fine.


Couple randomthoughts..

If you couldn't see arrow impact at 20 yards, It was too dark too shoot IMHO.

She didn't see the Luminok coming and dodge it!

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Go check one last time this morning please

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Man thats tough but it does happen. If you hunt long enough and are lucky enough to get a lot of shots then it is bound to happen eventually. On the 2nd day of season for me I shot a doe at 25yds I felt it was a good shot but I only found 1 drop of blood and it was about 45yds from the shot. I knew the way she ran so I walked another 30 yds or so on the path and came out in a gasline looked up nothing looked down and there she was. The shot was a little high so all the bleeding was to the inside period. She had ran maybe 80yds total.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

She was standing in an open green food plot, and I could clearly see the deer through my peep and the pin was glowing right on the shoulder. I don't feel like it was too dark to shoot. Legal shooting hours end at 7:10 pm. Maybe it was too late to shoot, but I don't feel like it was. I shot just before 7 pm.

I should havebeen aware of the forecast and not took a shot with rain on the way. That was stupid of me.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Don't hang up hunting, just learn from your mistake. I posted in another forum about a deer I gutshot 20 years ago and couldn't find. I searched for two days. At the end of the season I found him extremely far from the shot point. He probably lived for a day. Now, 20 years later, it still bothers me. I won't shoot unless I have a perfect shot, and all conditions are right. I'd rather pass a shot and think I probably could have gotten him.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Michigan has one tracking dog enthusiast listed on the United Blood Trackers website.....just a thought for those lost deer.

DarylCouturier
6160 Hummingbird LN.
Lake Leelanau,MI49653
231-256-7988
[email protected]


That's tough Terry, You very firstr sighting this year, your very first lost deer. Hopefully she made it.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

I understand you felling bad been there!So has most all bowhunters including myself.
Its not something we want to happen but it does!

I guess one of the biggest things that i have learnd from deer i have lost due to bad shot placement bad judgement,ect is that now when i get ready for a shot that i am about to make, I remember the deer i have lost and what caused it and i try not to make the same mistake.

PS,You will be ok! And i would be willing to bet so will the deer!
This experience will only make you a better hunter if you can learn from it.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

a good hunter willlearn from every shotthey take, butyou learn a lot more from a bad shot sometimes. my goal is never to make the same mistake twice.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

That's a good point. So what could I learn from this?

1. Don't alert the deer to your presence. I know you see this on all the hunting shows ("maaap - deer stops - perfect shot) but I'd rather wait for the deer to stop on its own. They usually do, and if they don't, oh well. Let em walk. Why put a whitetail on full alert and shoot them when they are staring at you? Your just asking for one to duck the arrow. I know better than that.

2. Check the dang forecast before you hunt. It's never a good idea to shoot a deer if rain is coming in the next hour. That's just common sense. How stupid was I to shoot 30 minutes before a 12 hour steady rain? God that was dumb. I can't believe I did that.

3.If you're going to hunt next to hundreds of yards of thick nasty bedding area, you'd better put a good hit on them so they don't go far and leave a huge blood trail. I thought I did that but I guess not.

I took the day off work yesterday to search all day. I will go out one more time tonight to look, even though the meat is already spoiled. I want to find the deer to know exactly where I hit it.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

This is a good point, but at the same time, TAKING a bad shot, and MAKING a bad shot are two different things. I think GMMAT made this point too in one of his threads. There are things you can't account for once the arrow leaves the bow. If the deer did drop and load for a jump out of there, you hit high, and you aimed good. Nothing you can do about it. We all try to TAKE the perfect shot, but MAKING it doesn't always happen.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Look at it this way, good lessons learned. And, not just by you, but all who read this. Thanks for posting. We all make mistakes and we can all learn from our brothers.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

I blame hunting shows for this, it's just plain bad practice. I have done it twice, onceon a crazed rut buck and this years doe. I can tell you on the doe I hit higher than I aimed. I use it as a last resort, but I am going to try and never do so again.

I am going to say this, some may disagree, but...

I think we have become to "perfect shot" addicted these days. I think a lot of us are thinking about not wounding a deer when we shoot, and not killing one.

We live in a free society, and with that comes mistakes. We have to accept those mistakes and tolerate them. If we start beating ourselves to death over mistakes than living a life is just about over IMO. It's not the end of the world, deer die everyday from what we do. Deer die worst ways than be wounded by an arrow or gun. Something I or any hunter does not want to do, but it happens. It happen before we hunted, and will happen until the end of time.

In the next 35 years of hunting I plan I doing, I know I will lose one or more again, the odds are there. I am going to learn from it and move on. If I or anybody letsare bad past outcomes effect are current shots,we might as well hang our bows up.

What I am saying, and the last wounded thread I plan(:eek:) on responding to is this: It's not the end of the world, its not what any ofus plan or want todo either. So learn from it, get it out ofyour mindand move on. It's a deer and I am sorry but we can not have it both ways. We can use the "It's animal not a human so we can hunt it argument" and then turn around and give a "human" feelings to a deer when we have a bad outcome. Do you guys think when a cougar screws up he goes to all his couger buddies and confess to be a complete failure as couger he is[&:]

My advice to all is if this happens to you. Figure out what you did wrong, and you will know. Fix it and move on. Deer will have two outcomes. It will live or die.

"Shoot to Kill"

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

I am sorry to hear of your misfortune but totally understand how you feel. The first time this happened to me I felt like I was going to vomit. It has only happened twice in the 20-odd years I have been hunting but it is a feeling I try to avoid as much as is humanely possible. I guess that is the crux of it then, isn't it? We are all human and this type of situation is bound to happen from time to time no matter how hard we try to avoid it.

Keep your head. You will get her the next time.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Dont kick yourself. It happens and it dont feel good. Last year I shot a doe about 20 yards from the clear fork of the Brazos River, in Brock Tx. I had been still hunting and set up on a big fat doe. I stuck and arrow right throught her, she turned and jumped in the river and died. I walked to the rivers edge and watcher her flow down stream. I tried my hardest to get to her, but the river edge was to over grown and the river moving too fast to swim after her. I guess she washed up somewhere and the coyotes got to eat.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

don't feel TOO bad, it happens to everyone... believe me it could be a LOT worse... a somewhat similar incident happened to my cousin about 5 yrs ago, he actually found the doe, he just had another surprise in store for him... nice big doe comes out, early season... he watches carefully for about 5 minutes or so... takes his shot and the doe drops in about 10-20yds... he starts over to the doe and about half way there he hears a spotted fawn bleet a time or two and sees it come into the clearing searching for mom... said it broke his heart cuz he thought he'd been very careful to not take a nursing doe, watching and listening intently to keep from doing it... it was the last early season doe he's ever taken... now he waits until after christmas to take does...

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Wonderful post, Gary ........ well said

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Thanks Germ.

I realize the best thing to do is to learn from it, correct whatevermistakes I made,and not dwell on it. It's never happened to me before so this is the first time I've had to deal with these feelings of shame, embarrassment, guilt, frustration, and anger all at the same time.

I will say this: If I ever get to the point that wounding a deer no longer bothers me, I probably will quit hunting. It SHOULD bother you. The fact that it bothers you is what makes you want to learn from it and makes you a better hunter.

I hate these threads too. Hate them even more when it's me we're talking about....

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

That was great post Germ, perhaps the best yet, to an "I wounded one" topic.

On apositive sidegzg.. I made a couple more Luminoks based on your post.

Your post sure simplified the way I had done it in the past. Thanks a lot

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

I have never stopped adeer for a bow shot. If she or he is on teh move that much, I let em walk. I have just been scared to death to yell out or grunt or anything.

And this example confirms my idea that its not a great idea always.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

I have stopped deer in the past and have not had a real problem. But if the deer is jumping out of it's skin and looking at me, I wouldn't shoot.

If you do it quiet enough, the deer usually stops and looks around to identify the sound. I wait till I get the tail flicker (or the first step forward) and then shoot.Granted it doesn't work all the time and I don't always do it. Shooting at an even paced slow moving deer thatare in close is not all that much of a problem.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

That is the key. Well said. Never sling an arrow at a deer looking at you, he will drop right away, ducking the arrow, or getting hit in a bad spot.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

I don't believe I ever have stopped a deer while it was walking. I have shot a deer while it was milling around at a SLOW pace. I don't believe I would shoot at a steady moving deer. I've seen it on shows but I need them stopped or moving turtle speed.

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. It's one of the worst feelings ever....been there. Good luck getting some closure.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

I had the EXACT same thing happen earlier this season. Deer looking at me. Shot and LUCKILY hit her in the spine. It should have been perfect, but because she saw it coming it was not. I was lucky for sure.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Sorry to hear about the way it went down. Sounds like you were 100% confident in your shot. Don't beat yourself up too bad. Like others have said (and you've already said), disect what happened, how to avoid the same outcome, and learn from it. Get back in a tree and hunt.

IMO this was the downfall. TV is to blame for this craze in bowhunting. I've never "stopped" a deer and never will. The only possible thing you can do is alert them. Why on earth do people continue to want to alert a deer they intend to shoot totheir presence? To each their own I guess, but I'd rather let them walk and hope for another day.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Man, I feel for you. I've been where you are and know if I keep doing this that there is a good chance that I'll be there again.

Germ makes a great point. We put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect on every shot and that just isn't realistic. Keep your spirits up and get back out there.

Good luck and live and learn.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Don't let it discourage you. Any hunter that can say this never happened to them hasn't hunted long enough. Remember we are not perfect and we all make mistakes. Live and learn.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Sorry about the outcome. Wish you would have found her. About hunting when some rain might be coming, I don't agree that you shouldn't have shot because of the coming weather.

Thats some of the best time to hunt when a storm is on the way. You might as well not even be in stand if you are worried that a coming rainfall "might" screw up finding a deer. You just had some bad luck with this one. By all means if rain is coming and a confident shot is there, I would still take it.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Why stop the deer? A walking deer is an easy shot. I only lead about 2 inches infront of my mark.Sorry you lost the doe.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

It happens. Don't shoot yourself in the foot over it. I've done and and know many other people that have done it...good luck the rest of the year.

RE: Lowest point in my bowhunting career....
 

Don't beat yourself to death over it. I just had a similar thing happen to me. I had a doe come in at 24 yards anda perfect broadside shot. She came to a full sotp on her own without knowing I was even there. Just as I touched off the release, she took a step forward. The shot hit her what I assumed to be in the hip. She stood there for a few seconds and ran off into the thick brush. I gave her plenty of time to lay down, put my stuff in the truck, got the flashlights and headed back in for the search. I found the blood trail at the point of impact, and followed it for about 50 yards before it started to fade to very small drops. It was really getting dark and the lights were going dead after about 1 1/2 hours of looking. Came back the next day and followed the trail for close to 3/4 mile until the blood trail stopped. No deer in sight. I called my DNR agent and told him what had happened and he just so happened to be in the area. He came to the area and we tried looking for two more hours and nothing. We had a long talk about what happened and he really helped me through the exact same feelings you had. He said that he has had people turn their equipment into him because they didn't think they could hunt again. Thanks to him and his advice, I am not going to give up but like it was said above, learn from your mistakes and it will make me double check myself and the shooting conditions more carefully.