Wait a minute. You were too sick to track a buck but not too sick to shoot another one? Tell me I have this wrong.

Dan

I don't think having more arrows is the answer.:hit:

Hate to say it, Jeff....but you're stepping balls deep in this one.

Geez,

Im not sure how to make sense of it now that its gotten so out of context. Yes I had a nasty cold and had a chance to get into the stand. Yes I shot at a deer about 10:30 AM but was not too sure I wanted to go right away and track him because of how he crossed a creek and was gone in a flash. I wanted to wait until late afternoon and go after him. I went home, drank some theraflu, called two buddies to help me out and went back about 3 ish with the intent of crossing the creek and finding him. It started pouring down rain and I knew I was going to be in for a nasty afternoon and evening. While I waited I was not really interested in getting soaked to the bone so I went to my ground blind where it was nice and cozy.

That is when it unrolled like I explained. Rusty and Chris, my hunting buddies could not get in touch with me because of no cell service where our lease is, and I was pretty much stuck after mr buck showed up in the clover plot. Both of them went to the stand I was at by the creek and thought I didnt show up because of the rain. Between the time of day and the fact that I wasnt about to spook him out, I wasted three arrows and all of daylight. When he finally retreated into the woods it was pitch dark and about 45 degrees and raining so I figured the first buck would be fine to wait out until this morning.

I got up, put my daughter on the school bus and then hit the woods to track the first one I shot early yesterday...still pouring down rain and barely 50 degrees. Yes I did find the buck I shot, and yes he was shredded by whatever got to him before I did and his ribcage and headgear were about all that was left. It was like pouring salt in a bad wound, so thats it in a nutshell.

As far as balls deep, I forgot how easily things get turned inside out on these forums and turn into silly soap operas. Maybe I should have just not told my story, even as interesting as it seemed late last night when I posted it.

Next time I will just wait and let the pictures tell the story!

Well that sucks, but hopefully you can get back out there and stick an arrow in him the next time he steps out. And how big was the first buck you shot? any pics of that rack?

Speaking of pictures....I'd like to see the first buck! Call me a sadist.

Secondly....I learned the hard way that having two recoveries going simultaneously is NEVER a good idea (if you didn't see the 1st deer go down). I'll never nock a second arrow until I KNOW my first deer is in the bag.

That's where my comment stemmed from.

I don't care how much you hunt. Glad you got out. But you had an "unknown" out there....and were willing to maybe have another. THAT....I disagree with.

what i find strange here
 

is the fact that in the first post there is not one word mentioned about shooting a smaller buck, or calling buddies to help track the deer.personally for me ethics would be the question here.one deer shot and then shoot another without even knowing.first deer should have been pursued rain or not,if you had no intentions of getting wet should have stayed home.jmo

Sounds to me like you shot a buck that wasn't something YOU were proud about and went after something else. Would you have crossed that creek if he was a 150 class buck?

Ethics, ethics, ethics. Makes me wanna puke sometimes. Ethics are PERSONAL. What you consider "unethical" I might find totally acceptable.

Last year I arrowed a doe and didn't see her go down. 15 minutes into giving her 30 minutes, I arrowed another doe. Was that "unethical"? Nope, not to me. I saw a double lung pass-thru and knew she wasn't going far. Sure, not really an unknown, but it could have been. I recovered both deer by the way, and everyone here said congrats on the "double", but that doesn't matter. This guy made what some will call a mistake or a bad judgement call, or maybe he just got greedy and wanted another deer. I don't know, it doesn't matter to me and I don't care. I'm not his conscience nor am I the "ethics police". I just get sick of seeing an "HNI wolf pack" descend when someone backs themselves into a corner on this site.

LC:

I'm not jumping his case. I'm saying I HIGHLY advise against this.......because I've been there.

For someone who's never been "there"....I hope they form their own opinion on what to do....based on the good AND the bad.

That's it. FWIW....I got CRUCIFIED (here) when it happened to me. This pales in comparison.