Lost one.
10-26-2004, 10:13 AM
#1
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location:
Posts: 1,927
Lost one.
Had a buck come by me at 6:40PM Saturday evening. It was overcast, wet and gloomy so I didn't have great visibility but I could see him clear enough. He came from uphill from me and walked down at an angle to my right. He crossed an opening and I could see he was big enough (East coast standards) for me to shoot. He went behind a tree and I came to full draw. As he stepped into the next opening he was quartering away from me with his body in an uphill angle. I released the arrow and it looked good in flight but, due to the gloom I couldn't follow it's full path. I heard a satisfying hollow chunk as the arrow hit and he ran about 60 yards and looked back at me. He stood there for 5 minutes and then it was too dark for me to see that far. I waited 30 minutes before getting down. We found no arrow, no blood. The ground was wet making it hard to tell blood from water. We went to where I last saw him and nothing. We decided to wait until morning. It poured all night so all blood sign was gone. Four of us looked all over the mountain and didn't find the arrow or the deer. My only hope at this point is vultures lead me to the body and I can recover the rack at least. Bummer.
10-26-2004, 10:18 AM
#3
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: North Lima Ohio & Clarion Pa
Posts: 6,453
RE: Lost one.
Talon, Prepare for an unslaught of criticism here. I'm afraid you have opened a door that others will jump through.
My questions are simple ones.
1)Why shoot in bad light?
2) If forecast is for rain, why wait until morning to pursue wounded buck?
My questions are simple ones.
1)Why shoot in bad light?
2) If forecast is for rain, why wait until morning to pursue wounded buck?
10-26-2004, 10:42 AM
#4
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Oct 1998
Location: Hughesville, PA USA
Posts: 18,322
RE: Lost one.
Personally I'd like to welcome you to the forums. I hope you enjoy and continue to post but I have a question.....why tell us at all about losing one? It's information we didn't need to know. I'd say condolences but....
10-26-2004, 10:54 AM
#6
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,555
RE: Lost one.
IME if you heard the thud you should find something, rain or no rain. Rain will wash away blood but there should be hair where he was when you shot. I have in less then great light hit an animal and when to where I though he was standing only to find he was 15-20 feet further from me then I had thought when I shot. Bad light will play tricks like that. The best bet in that situation is to get the correct line and then search near and far on that line until you find something. Trust me it's there if you hit him.
Now, after waiting out a night of rain it'll be damn tough to locate any sign. Blood will have washed away and tracks will fade and be covered by falling leaves. IMO you should have been on his trail knowing that rain was in the forcast or even if there was a question of rain. I'm sure your hindsight is pretty clear though.
By his reaction I question if he was actually hit. I've shot quite a few deer with a bow and have never had one stop running within sight after they started unless to pile up. I've heard of (but never witnessed) a deer being hit and standing in place but if you startled him enough to run if he were hit I think he'd have gone a lot further. I'd be looking for you arrow in the ground/leaves in the line of the shot.
I may be wrong but IME and opinion I question the hit. I also question how long you looked. did you look down hill, at water sources, or on the most easily traveled path in the direction the deer ran. If I were you I'd still be looking. IMO you took the shot and owe it to the animal.
Ahhh yes, Welcome to the forum.
Now, after waiting out a night of rain it'll be damn tough to locate any sign. Blood will have washed away and tracks will fade and be covered by falling leaves. IMO you should have been on his trail knowing that rain was in the forcast or even if there was a question of rain. I'm sure your hindsight is pretty clear though.
I heard a satisfying hollow chunk as the arrow hit and he ran about 60 yards and looked back at me.
I may be wrong but IME and opinion I question the hit. I also question how long you looked. did you look down hill, at water sources, or on the most easily traveled path in the direction the deer ran. If I were you I'd still be looking. IMO you took the shot and owe it to the animal.
Ahhh yes, Welcome to the forum.
10-26-2004, 11:08 AM
#7
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location:
Posts: 7,571
RE: Lost one.
Yea, but if he was hunting form an elevated stand (I don't know) and he shot at the deer as it was going up hill. Shouldn't he have found the arrow? It should not have been difficult at all if he missed unless the deer was right at the top of a hill.
10-26-2004, 11:19 AM
#8
Join Date: Sep 2004
Posts: 20
RE: Lost one.
Okay, I'll be the dissenting one...
You're sure to get some criticism, maybe even a lot...but the facts are that bowhunting brings with it more risk than gun hunting. We should review our actions and question our judgment after a bad experience, but most bow hunters will lose at least one in their life time...my opinion and I'll stick by it.
That does not mean that we lower our standards of sportsmanship or that we accept defeat quickly. Rather, we maintain our high standards of excellence, responsibility, and ethics because of the nature of our chosen sport.
Let me be the first to offer my sympathy. I've lost deer in the past and it's a hard situation to face. It does happen though. You followed through by looking both that night and the day after. Depending on the situation you may even go back and see if you can find him later on...but you tried your best.
Sure, there are questions that you'll get and some may even 'question' your standards of taking a shot in low light conditions...but that doesn't change the facts. I don't want you to feel any worse than you already do. I've been there.
You're sure to get some criticism, maybe even a lot...but the facts are that bowhunting brings with it more risk than gun hunting. We should review our actions and question our judgment after a bad experience, but most bow hunters will lose at least one in their life time...my opinion and I'll stick by it.
That does not mean that we lower our standards of sportsmanship or that we accept defeat quickly. Rather, we maintain our high standards of excellence, responsibility, and ethics because of the nature of our chosen sport.
Let me be the first to offer my sympathy. I've lost deer in the past and it's a hard situation to face. It does happen though. You followed through by looking both that night and the day after. Depending on the situation you may even go back and see if you can find him later on...but you tried your best.
Sure, there are questions that you'll get and some may even 'question' your standards of taking a shot in low light conditions...but that doesn't change the facts. I don't want you to feel any worse than you already do. I've been there.
10-26-2004, 11:41 AM
#9
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location:
Posts: 1,927
RE: Lost one.
Hey everyone, This isn't my first post, close but not quite. I just found this forum at the beginning of this month. I had been posting on Bowhunting.com but I like this BBS setup better. Easier to follow threads.
As to my hunt. I know I'm in for critisism, and may deserve it, but let me make my case.
First, I have been bowhunting since '92 and have taken several deer, and gun-hunting deer for close to 10 years before that. As far as shooting at low light: I shoot instinctive, with a bare compound, and shoot very well at low light situations, in fact, in some regards better because I'm forced to concentrate more. I practice shooting in such light and have killed deer in less light. This was well within legal shooting light in VA. It was a twenty yard shot and I could see the deer well but just no color. I just couldn't follow the arrow all the way to impact, even though I have white fletching. But having shot deer I recognized the sound of the arrow hitting a body cavity and that's what I heard. No arrow could be found and no blood or hair in the arrow. I've seen weirder things bowhunting than that so I wasn't too worried. I had thought that I would have found a complete pass-through and the deer hadn't even felt it but had jumped away from the sound of the bow. I staid in the stand and my hunting partner came over a half hour later and I pointed out where I had shot. We looked around for about 30 minutes that night and although we couldn't find sign I was certain I had hit him. The arrow had been heading toward him in flight before I lost sight of it and it sounded like a good hit. We didn't keep looking that night for a couple of reasons. 1) although I was sure I had hit him, I couldn't swear that it hadn't been a gut shot. I didn't want to push him over the mountain and thirty minutes wasn't long enough a wait for a gut shot. 2)The ground was already wet from a week of rain and seeing the blood was already a near impossibility in the dark unless it was bright pink and at this point it didn't look like that was the case. The forecast was for chance of scattered showers, we chanced it and lost. We did show back up at first light. We had four guys looking uphill and downhill, along trails and in ravines, for three hours in the rain and fog. The temperature raised too high during the day for the meat to still be good by the end of the day. So as far as meat it is a loss anyway. I will probably continue to look for him but having to work I have to wait for next weekend.
The point of my post was to try and get theories of what happened. My theory is that my arrow entered at a high angle went through the body and lodged in front leg on the opposite side. As to how he acted after the fact I'm not sure. That and the fact that I'm bummed. I have seen lots of deer so far this year and have passed on them, including a buck that I decided to hold off on for a better opportunity.
Thanks for input though.
As to my hunt. I know I'm in for critisism, and may deserve it, but let me make my case.
First, I have been bowhunting since '92 and have taken several deer, and gun-hunting deer for close to 10 years before that. As far as shooting at low light: I shoot instinctive, with a bare compound, and shoot very well at low light situations, in fact, in some regards better because I'm forced to concentrate more. I practice shooting in such light and have killed deer in less light. This was well within legal shooting light in VA. It was a twenty yard shot and I could see the deer well but just no color. I just couldn't follow the arrow all the way to impact, even though I have white fletching. But having shot deer I recognized the sound of the arrow hitting a body cavity and that's what I heard. No arrow could be found and no blood or hair in the arrow. I've seen weirder things bowhunting than that so I wasn't too worried. I had thought that I would have found a complete pass-through and the deer hadn't even felt it but had jumped away from the sound of the bow. I staid in the stand and my hunting partner came over a half hour later and I pointed out where I had shot. We looked around for about 30 minutes that night and although we couldn't find sign I was certain I had hit him. The arrow had been heading toward him in flight before I lost sight of it and it sounded like a good hit. We didn't keep looking that night for a couple of reasons. 1) although I was sure I had hit him, I couldn't swear that it hadn't been a gut shot. I didn't want to push him over the mountain and thirty minutes wasn't long enough a wait for a gut shot. 2)The ground was already wet from a week of rain and seeing the blood was already a near impossibility in the dark unless it was bright pink and at this point it didn't look like that was the case. The forecast was for chance of scattered showers, we chanced it and lost. We did show back up at first light. We had four guys looking uphill and downhill, along trails and in ravines, for three hours in the rain and fog. The temperature raised too high during the day for the meat to still be good by the end of the day. So as far as meat it is a loss anyway. I will probably continue to look for him but having to work I have to wait for next weekend.
The point of my post was to try and get theories of what happened. My theory is that my arrow entered at a high angle went through the body and lodged in front leg on the opposite side. As to how he acted after the fact I'm not sure. That and the fact that I'm bummed. I have seen lots of deer so far this year and have passed on them, including a buck that I decided to hold off on for a better opportunity.
Thanks for input though.