Jim, I' ve been in situations before with little blood and poorly hit deer. This was a little different in that the blood trail was VERY heavy and I' m familiar with femoral artery hits....with as much blood as he lost and the distance I followed it I figured he' d be at the bottom of the hill...he was, just not dead yet. I think some deer just refuse to give up a little harder than others. I would have never persued him after only an hour if the blood trail told me otherwise. I' m just glad it all worked out in the end and he was recoverd. I feel bad about him suffering for so long, but I didn' t want to push him. Advice noted and taken with your sincerity in mind! Thanks![8D]

Way to go Jason that' s a really nice buck.

Congratulations Jason. That is one heck of a deer and a major accomplishment.

Congrats on a great buck! Glad you stuck with it and found him. Sometimes things like that happen, but it' s how you follow up that matters.

He' ll look great up on the wall and in the freezer.

CONGRATS AND NICE BUCK.


GO DEEP HUNT HARD.

Awesome! Thanks for the story and pictures. Congratulations!

Wow, thanks guys! As much as I' d like to take full credit for the hunt and recovery I can' t. When I first moved up here about 5 years ago one of my co-workers took me under his wing and taught me how to bowhunt, how to get close to deer, what to look for and how to find it, etc. He put me onto a good spot the next fall and I arrowed a 7 pt....he wasn' t that big, but he won our little buck pool here at work. Through the last five years we' ve spent countless hours tuning, shooting and scouting together. This year I was having a bad year and not seeing many deer. We had a bad winter up here and the Game Commission has made some very major changes to our deer hunting like Antler Restrictions, increased doe harvests and early doe only hunts with rifle and muzzleloader. The deer numbers are down but the buck numbers are more inline with a balanced herd. Well, he - Steve - told me to scout a particular area that had produced for him in the past and he' s always seen big bucks in the area. Since I hadn' t been seeing much I took his advice and scouted it out....picked out a good looking tree in a good looking spot and hoped the morning would be eventful.....once again his advice was right on and I was in the right place! I owe a lot of my success to Steve and his old haunts....he moved to a different area and lives to far away from his old places to continue to hunt them....he passed them on to me and I haven' t let him down. He was there on the final tracking job and was just as excited as I was when we got see to him up close....he' s been an inspiration as a dedicated bowhunter and friend. I hope someday I can do the same thing for someone else that he' s done for me. He shot a nice 9pt the first week of the season and has since been hunting doe and helping me get a buck....I' m very grateful and blessed indeed!

Thanks for taking the friendly advise the way you did. You never know the experience level you are dealing with here. I don' t know you but it is obvious to me now that you were pretty sure about the whole deal. It' s hard in forums like this to come across in a positive way sometimes, even when that is the way it is intended. Nice story about you and your buddy Steve too. It' s great when you connect with someone like that who is in it for the greater good of the hunt and not just himself. I wish you continued success. Jim

Very nice Jason, one to be proud of. Congrats.

Congrats on your nice buck! Good job on tracking him down.
Dan