This is my 3rd season bowhunting. I have not harvested a deer yet. I was hunting on saturday evening. I had a really nice 8 pointer come in to the water hole I was hunting. I took a shot and hit pretty high on him. Definitely not proud of my shot, I made a bad on and I am the first to admit it. He ran and stopped about 40 yards from me and looked at me, then he ran about 300+ more and I watched him the entire way until he entered a slough and I could not see him anymore. I left him that night because it was horrible shot placement and I knew I would just push him if I went looking for him. So Me and a 6 of my friends went out the next morning to look for him. I knew the last place I saw him, I marked it. I started where I saw him jump the fence, I could not find a speck of blook anywhere, I looked and looked and looked, finally I decided to go to the last place I saw him, We all got there and we looked around and looked around, and looked around. I found no arrow, no blood, no deer. He ran into a slough that is about, well if you put 3 rows of about 4 football fields in each row stacked side by side thats how big this slough is. And you can barely see 2 feet in front of you in it. But I walked and walked and walked in it hoping to find some sign or something, but nothing. I am going out again tonight to look and I pray that I will find the deer. I am to the point that I am not sure if I should even be bowhunting anymore because if I can' t make a good shot and can' t find the deer then I shouldn' t be doing this. I am sorry that I am probably giving all of you guys(other bowhunters) a bad name because of my mistakes.

I as well as most have felt this way at one time or another. But don' t give up. Search again today and see what you come up with. But, don' t put the bow down for good. Examine what you did wrong. Were you excited, was the deer too far from your comfortable range, did you punch the trigger, did you use proper back tension, etc, etc, etc. Then use this as a learning experience. And learn what needs to be done in order for you not to make the same mistake. You have a conscious about this, and that is good. It is the person that sits in the tree and says oh-well and doesn' t go after the deer and learn from the experience that I personally have some problem with.

Good luck finding your deer.

Yes, you should have that empty feeling in your stomach. If you didn' t then I would say to hang up the bow. In my opinion, this happens to the best of them. I think it will make you a better bow hunter because it' s another experience and you learn alot with every bowhunting experience. Last year I had 3 shots at 3 different bucks. The first I missed clean, the second I hit high (like yours) & never found him, & the third I bounced off the shoulder (yes...bounced off). This year I practiced more, felt more confident, & last weekend I shot the biggest buck I have ever shot. Stick with it!! Sorry for rambling..just my 2 cents.

It rough reading stories like this. How far was your shot? You hit high? high towards the front shoulder, middle of deer? Sometimes its easier to find some sign of where you hit him, closer to the impact point rather than going to the last place you saw him. Its good to mark both, though. Best bet is to try and figure out what you are doing wrong to avoid this scenerio again. We will try and help you sort through that.

Good luck finding your deer, take some peroxide in a spray bottle for lil drops of blood. I commend you on not giving up and continueing to search. Good luck.

good luck finding your deer

Well it happens.Your ln a learning experience. You will make a good bow hunter. You got the character that it takes. You feel bad that is normal and is a good character trait. Try and figure out maybe what went wrong and try and work on it. But Dont stop bow hunting. Only loosers Quit. And your not a looser.

Look as long as you can...and remember sometimes " you can' t find what isn' t dead"

Most anyone that has been hunting for any length of time can relate to your situation. I don' t know of anyone that has not lost an animal at some point in their hunting lifetime. hang in there, your feelings will pass. examine what you did wrong and try to learn from it. no one likes the idea of a lost or injured animal.