gzg38b

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.

GR8atta2d

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!

peakrut

Go check one last time this morning please

royak

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.

gzg38b

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.

Martlet

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.

Rob/PA Bowyer

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.

RTA47

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.

arch

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.

gzg38b

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.