NH opener, not off to a great start.
09-16-2004 | 02:51 PM
#1
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Joined: Feb 2003
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NH opener, not off to a great start.
Last night was settled into my stand by 4:30. 5:20 had my first deer come through, up out of a draw that was thick, real thick, to feed along the edge of the white oak stand I was set up on. She was a 1 1/2 year old doe and gave me a 42 yard shot at her nearest point, I passed as it was early and the opener, plus a little long.
Not another thing till 6:20, when about 80 yards out I see a much larger deer coming in on a line to my stand, after watching this big doe I turn my head and coming directly at my stand from another angle is another mature doe. They meet at 20 yards in front of me and start feeding on the acorns of one particular tree. One doe, an older brute, kicked the other one who was crowding her. I decided to take her. She turned broadside with a very slight angle towards me at 21 yards, I drew and put the pin behind her shoulder and touched off the shot. I was focused on my "spot" and was checking her feet to make sure she didn't step, but at the shot she curled her body as if to scratch creating a little extra angle. I punched through the near lung and I really thought I caught the rear, but after tracking her as far as I did, I'd have to believe I just got one.
I spent from 9:30 till 2:00 am tracking her, and then again from 6:00 to 8:00. I was not optimistic at this point. At about 300 yards she appeared to be looking for a place to bed, in some ferns in a a little hollow with moist ground. I lost the trail for awhile, as it just stopped. I found the trail again almost doubling back on itself, with bound marks. I had a hard time tracking as she was really hauling butt. From the tracks, it appears she walked right up on either a dog or coyote just as she was about to bed. In the mud, dog tracks are right on top of the blood trail.
My brother started searching at 10:00, and at 1:00 found the deer by the crows. There wasn't much left. In total distance the deer was about 500 yards from the shot, and except for a 4 hour window from 2 to 6 and then from 8 to 10, my brother and I were within a few hundred yards of this deer, and the coyotes still had eaten over 1/2 the deer.
He called and told me the shot looked good, maybe a hair back on the exit, but he would have sworn that deer wouldn't have gone 100 yards. Very depressing as this happened to me last year as well. In 10 years I had never had a problem, in the last 2 I have had deer I would have recovered eaten before I found them.
I blame myself for not making a better, cleaner shot. Tough way to start the season.....
Not another thing till 6:20, when about 80 yards out I see a much larger deer coming in on a line to my stand, after watching this big doe I turn my head and coming directly at my stand from another angle is another mature doe. They meet at 20 yards in front of me and start feeding on the acorns of one particular tree. One doe, an older brute, kicked the other one who was crowding her. I decided to take her. She turned broadside with a very slight angle towards me at 21 yards, I drew and put the pin behind her shoulder and touched off the shot. I was focused on my "spot" and was checking her feet to make sure she didn't step, but at the shot she curled her body as if to scratch creating a little extra angle. I punched through the near lung and I really thought I caught the rear, but after tracking her as far as I did, I'd have to believe I just got one.
I spent from 9:30 till 2:00 am tracking her, and then again from 6:00 to 8:00. I was not optimistic at this point. At about 300 yards she appeared to be looking for a place to bed, in some ferns in a a little hollow with moist ground. I lost the trail for awhile, as it just stopped. I found the trail again almost doubling back on itself, with bound marks. I had a hard time tracking as she was really hauling butt. From the tracks, it appears she walked right up on either a dog or coyote just as she was about to bed. In the mud, dog tracks are right on top of the blood trail.
My brother started searching at 10:00, and at 1:00 found the deer by the crows. There wasn't much left. In total distance the deer was about 500 yards from the shot, and except for a 4 hour window from 2 to 6 and then from 8 to 10, my brother and I were within a few hundred yards of this deer, and the coyotes still had eaten over 1/2 the deer.
He called and told me the shot looked good, maybe a hair back on the exit, but he would have sworn that deer wouldn't have gone 100 yards. Very depressing as this happened to me last year as well. In 10 years I had never had a problem, in the last 2 I have had deer I would have recovered eaten before I found them.
I blame myself for not making a better, cleaner shot. Tough way to start the season.....
09-16-2004 | 03:07 PM
#2
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 3,555
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From: Maine
RE: NH opener, not off to a great start.
Hey Jay,
That's a tough break but it's bow hunting. You did what you could and you located the deer. It's not uncommon to hear of yotes getting to a deer with a half hour of a fatal shot. You did what you could and you recovered the animal. Had you given up on it that would be one thing but you didn't. I know it's little conselation now as you're porbably felling pretty $hitty about the situation. You're not the first to loose one to the yotes.
That's a tough break but it's bow hunting. You did what you could and you located the deer. It's not uncommon to hear of yotes getting to a deer with a half hour of a fatal shot. You did what you could and you recovered the animal. Had you given up on it that would be one thing but you didn't. I know it's little conselation now as you're porbably felling pretty $hitty about the situation. You're not the first to loose one to the yotes.
