For those who read about my night spent in the woods curled up by a fire, I made it home and got 3 hours sleep and went out to find the deer I was tracking when I lost all of my lighting. First I saw a gut pile, then I saw the hide tied to a tree. They took the head which I know held ten points.

What a bummer. I was looking forward to finding him curled up half frozen, but didnt expect someone to find him before I did. It was a huge let down, but what can I say!

Maybe next time I will get him in the morning and find him before dusk. My loss! But a big one at that.

Sorry to hear someone else got your deer, but glad you made it out of the woods alive! Your story reminded me of a time I got lost in the woods. I was hunting in a location that I had never been before (hundreds of acres), and I got turned around afterdark. Eventually, I ended up finding my way out to the road, but the only problem was it was the wrong road, and my car was about 3 miles away.

[Deleted by Admins]

Dude that sucks!!!!!

Sorry to hear that! Man, I'd be upset.

That's like.....3 deer that people (from this forum)have shot now.....lost.....and then found the gut pile/etc... from.

That's pretty freakin remarkable if you asked me. How many people are out there roaming the woods? It's archery season.

Question....

When you find a gut pile in the woods....how do you know it was from your deer?

Usually when I am tracking a deer I can barely find them when they are tucked away tight...I couldn't imagine someone else just randomnly stumbling around and finding the deer I shot. That being said Hoyt, that really sucks if they found your deer and tore it up like you described.

It was pretty obvious when half my Gold Tip was laying on the ground beside the carnage

That sucks. Sorry to hear that....

My question is why did theyskinit right there? Weird...you would think they might gut it and drag it off. Unless they wanted to let you know they found it. Private property or public? I see you are in VA....where?

This particular piece of land was in Louisa. I arrowed it on my property but it jumped a fence onto a llama farm. The guys are pretty cool except when you leave them about 200 pounds of meat. He must have expired sometime between midnight and sunrise. I went back before noon and thats when I discovered the gut pile and my arrow. It looks like they strapped him to the tree to skin him, but what am I supposed to say. I may have done the same thing if it was on my property.

They are usually cool about recovering on their land, but possibly they thought it had gotten away from me and it was theirs for the taking. I cant much blame them, although I may stop by today and ask for a backstrap or something. I will be sure to bring my quiver of Gold Tips to show it was my arrow that killed him. I hope they decide to give me his rack too....I need a good set to rattle come rut time!