TFOX

Don't fret over it Jenna,it was a twig,there is no way you can clear them all.AND seeing them sometimes is even tougher so don't let it get you down,you did your part.Being upset and searching for 8 hours is a sign of a good hunter and I also agree with josh,I doubt that deer is dead.

MN/Kyle

Me thinks you'll get a shot at a doe with a scar on her back, later this year

kickin_buck

I have to agree with solocamcan here. I think all you did was give this doe a nice scare and made her a little wiser. I am sure I am not the first to say it, but bad shots happen to every hunter. Any hunter who says other wise is a liar. Shooting a target is one thing, but shooting at something that is living and breathing is another whole story, things just happen sometimes. I hit a doe in almost the exact same spot a few year back. I did not hit a limb, but I did misjudge the yardage something bad, plus she was very uneasy before the shot. The combination of the caused for a horrible shot with no recovery. I did get pictures of her after the fact still walking with a real nice scare. Get back in that stand and just learn from this, that is all anyone of us can do. Good luck!

Brett/IL

Jenna-I found the pic. of the deer I mentioned. This is after he was skinned out and I put the arrow back in the hole to show where it was when I shot him. As I said, I shot him during gun season as he was chasing does. It was only after I recovered him that I saw the arrow. It had passed above the spine and through the loins. If this is where you hit the doe, then she should heal up o.k.

my7pointmonster

Odds are just about everyone on here has lost one in their day. I know how you feel, and you prolly wont sleep tonight either. Hang in there and get back up on that proverbialhorse.

Ryan.

gregrn43

Jenna there is not a soul out there who has hunted for any length of time that hasnt wounded a deer and not been able to find it. It happens to all of us. Sometimes we make mistakes, we are only human. Your job is to do the very best that you can to find the deer and if thats been done and from the sound of it, I think it has, then we have to go on and put it behind us. I have hunted deer since i was 14 years old and i want lie, I lost a few deer when i was younger. I tried to learn from my mistakes and I made many of them I assure you. About 8 years ago my wife and me was hunting this grown up field and i watched this nice, I mean very nice8 point come out into this field. Knowing it was gonna pass closer to her first I just watched and waited for her to shoot. Finally she shot and the buck just stood there, I waited for her to shoot again but the shot never came. The buck was turning around to head back into the woods, i kept saying to myself why are you not shooting again. The buck started doing that high stepping like when theregetting nervous. I laid the crosshairs behind his shoulder, he was quatering away from meand squeezed of a round out of my 7 mag. The buck jumped up kicked his hind legs out and took off for the woods. I thought to myself he aint going far. I walked down to my wife and she told me her gun jammed.We trailed goodbloodupinto the woods then it ran out. I wasnt to worried at that time because i knew i had made a goodhit on the deer, but i was wrong.That happend about 730am and we looked for the restof the day,till dark,and never found that deer or any other blood to follow. To sayI was sick is a gross understatement.Iwent back the next day and looked till 2pm, but no luck. To this day i still think about that deer and wondered what happend. But i know that i dideverything that i could to find that deer. It still makes me sick to think about it, but we just have toput itbehind us.I guess I still make mistakes after 30 years of deer hunting. Maybe this will help a bit and maybe it wont. I just know after 30 years of deer hunting the fire still burns in me like it did when i was a kid. Just hang in there ok.

peakrut

Jenna dear keep your chin up and get back after it.


T

deertale

Jenna,
I agree with most others here, it happens. Its a bummer but it does happen. Just learn from it - think positive, and do your best the next time. Your on the right track! I get very concerned when bow hunters do this and think its no big deal. Your obviously not one of those.

davidmil

I shot a buck about the same spot on an extreme uphill angle one year. My bad, didn't take into consideration I was shooting up about a 60 degree incline. The deer bled like a stuck pig for a little bit. I sliced right through both backstraps I figured. About 2 hours later we jumped the buck. He lit out like a rocket. The last I saw of him he was flying right back up the same hill like nothing. He stopped bleeding entirely after the first 150 yards. He was killed by a gun hunter within 200 yards of the same spot a week later chasing a doe. I also shot a deer one year with 6 inches of arrow withbroadhead buried in his back in exactly the same spot as yours, only maybe an inch lower. The Muzzy was stuck in the bone. It had completely heeled over. I saw the tuft of hair on his back sticking up just before I shot him and thought he'd gotten horned by another buck. When we skinned him we found the arrow. It looked to be no more than a week or two old but had completely heeled over. There was no infection other than a little discoloration around the shaft. We cut out meat an inch on each side and he ate just fine. He was butterball fat and healthy.

danscott

Take the time you need to regroup, but do get back on the horse. You'll be glad you did.