My hunt 11-14 and a ?
 

I hunt a prime piece of property in Jackson Co. Michigan. My buck sightings there have been awesome in the past few weeks. I have seen what I consider 8 or 9 different shooters. Until.........

I head to my climber on the ridge just 50 yards from the Grand River at 6:10 am. I have a perfect NE wind but a bit strong at 15-25 m.p.h. but in my favor nonetheless. I sit there in the blackness of the morning woods with a slight mist in the air to cause a fog off the river bottom. I listen to the owls hoot and the turkeys start to wake up as the sun starts to spread its light on my woods. At first light I see a single yearling on the rivers edge about 70 yards out and decide to play with it a bit with a Primos Can. I call and it comes running to the edge of the river closest to me but, refuses to cross. He turns and walks away and I bleat him again when I see he has a partner in crime. Now, I am about laughing at these 2 refusing to cross the river. I play with them for about an hour, back and forth they go. All of a sudden they took off and there he stood. A beautiful 12 point, guessing 160-170 class at 50 yards. He immediately crosses the river but, going away from me. I figure I blew it by calling too much. I hear movement to my left side and there he is now only 40 yards away, going back and forth trying to catch a wind and not, offering a shot. Soon he disappeared into the thick cover and was gone. About 10 minutes go by and I sense something behind me. There he stood 25 yards away and downwind. He catches a scent and walks away. It it only 8:15 a.m. and I am loving every minute of it.

He never reappears so, I make a bold move at 9:30 to move to where I thought he went to bed down. The small swamp at the front of the property. I walk up the lane with my climber and find a nice tree. There aren't many shooting lanes so again, I make a bold move and trim a few trees back and go up with my climber 22' and set everything up for my hunt later. I go home for a bit, have a sandwich and decide to have a small nap but, cannot sleep. I am back at the woods by noon. I run a scent drag to the edge of the swamp on 2 major runs where I have seen nice bucks before. The sit is long and the winds are kicking at 25-35 mph now. It's about 3:15 and I am thinking about packing it up due to the weather. I stand up and I catch movement about 150 yards down one of the runs I ran a drag on. It's him, he's trashing a small tree. My heart is racing just at the sight of this guy. I watch him for about ten minutes when he throws his nose to the ground right on my drag, he's headed the wrong way. I grab my MAD bleat and let out a screamer. He snaps his head back and changes direction right back at me. It took 45 minutes for him to sniff his way within 50 yards of me and he breaks left, totally off my scent drag. I am wondering what is going on. I check the wind and he had caught scent of my scent wick and decided enough trailing and he's coming for business. I watch this guy flank me, wind in my favor. He comes over the top of a small hill and is 20 yards away behind a small tree. He comes over and throws his nose right at the wick. He's only 12 or 13 yards away. I come to full draw, unnoticed due to the wind conditions, find my mark and let it fly.

Unfortunatley, one ofthree things happened. I peeked the shot, which I doubt, I hit a small branch, or the tree swayed on me in the wind at the exact moment I released,sending my arrow to his back hip. It sounded like I hit a brick wall when it hit and I watched him fall, snap off my fletchings, jump up and run off. I am sick knowing I just blew it, wounded a great animal and let myself down. I wait a bit, climb down to see what I can find. I follow his fresh tracks about a hundred yards and find another length of shaft about 20" long covered in blood and hair. Small drops of blood here and there but, nothing great. I track him until I can't see anymore and was about 1500 yards from where I took the shot.

I have given up hope on a recovery and am sick to death over this. He would of been my biggest buck since I started bowhunting 23 years ago.


Here is my ?'s now.

Is is possibe he will survive this shot?

Should I have let him lay up over night? Although I truly don't feel I jumped him and never found a spot where he laid down.

Has or does anyone use a game tracker? Pros and cons?

Today is opener of gun season in Michigan and I truly feel he will make it past someone else or someone else will find him.

He should be in my freezer but, a prayer that he finds his way to someone elses wall.

RE: My hunt 11-14 and a ?
 

I would have waited a minimum of 12 hours to track him. Even if he didn't lay down he very well could have and you could have pushed him too deep and far to recover. I think he may survive, big bucks are tough. Tough break on the shot, unfortunately things happen sometimes. Good luck in the future!

RE: My hunt 11-14 and a ?
 

I think he will survive. I saw a monster out my family room window this morning with his nose to the ground!! As I looked through my binoculars, I noticed that someone shot him on his back, and took out a VERY LARGE piece of his back!! It is a huge wound, but he kept on moving as if he was not even hurt! As someone mentioned earlier, big bucks are tough. Good Luck!!!!!

RE: My hunt 11-14 and a ?
 

Great story, sorry about the shot and recovery. Hopefully he makes it. Hits in the hams are tough to kill from, unless the femoral is cut. He may make it. In the future, on marginal hits, I would give at least 12 hours before even looking. If he lays up nearby, he may just die right there. When pushed, they can go amazing distances.