I am the Hunting Buddy RAM96 referred to earlier and in his defense. He is a very ethical hunter, and is very confident and proficient with his equipment. Like he stated before we both shoot all year round in indoor and 3D leagues and shoot all the time at home. He makes sure his equipment is in top shape and dead on. Shooting broadheads to make sure they hit where his fieldpoints do. And on top of all this we both are Bowhunter Education instructors for the PA Game Commission. So he teaches others to be ethical hunters. As for the Blood trail from this deer, there was blood everywhere for a good distance then it slowed to a trickle while the deer crossed a field then picked up once again. I even found a piece of meat sliced from the deer from the broadhead. Then the trail just plain old ended. It was not for lack of trying to find this deer. I know Ram is absolutely sick to his stomach about this. He is going out tonight again to atleast see if he can recover the antlers.

In defense of ram96.

He is a shooting partner of mine in the summer and we do shoot 3D all year, and indoors in the winter time. He is not a bad shot and is an ethical hunter. Simply put, he is having a bad run of luck this season. Those that made comments about him staying out of the woods or quiting for the year obviously haven't shot enough deer or are extremely lucky. Sooner or later it does happen, regardless how careful you are.

On a lighter note, ram 96, since that Bowtech can't kill em, I have a nice shiney Hoyt with a fresh kill under its belt you might be able to borrow.

RAM96,

Hope ya find that deer! I still don't understand how ya missed the "spot" 3 times if ya practice all year (just a run of bad luck i guess). I know how ya feel about loosing that deer. My first buck I shot with the bow I had a liver shot (arrow hit small branch i couldn't see). Since I was excited & it looked like a good shot I went after him a lil early. Ended up jumpin him and he ran to someone else's property. Left him then came back about 5 hours later (could see him laying down in the corn stuble). When went to retrieve him had a woman come flying out of the house using words that are quite unlady like telling me to get off her property. I explained what happened & where the deer was. She didn't care wouldn't let me get him. She feeds the deer & considers them hers. Called Fish & Game and they tried to help me retrieve him but she stood firm and still wouldn't let us get him. Fish & Game told her if the deer was gone she would be ticketed and it was now her obligation to remove the deer and bury it at her expense under Fish & Game supervision. That didn't even change her mind. Have to hand it to Fish & Game for trying everything at their disposal to help me get the deer. Thought about going in at night to get it, but with all the commotion & law involved decided against it. Anyway that was about 12 years ago and to this day every time i go deer hunting I remember that awful feeling. If you are a true sportsman and hunter and really care about the animals those thoughts will never leave your mind.
It was truly a waste for that deer to die and i still feel awful being the responsible party that contributed to his death for nothing. If I only was more observant/careful w/my shot perhaps that situation would not have happened. It took me along time before I was unable to shoot another buck w/my bow as I lost alot of confidence in my abilities.

So my advice is make sure your equipment is properly working and climb back in the saddle again. This incident will never leave your mind but you will become a better hunter for it as it should increase your desire to do everything you can to make the perfect shot to recover an animal you choose to harvest.

Best of Luck & hope yours changes

Giving him time may have not been the best thing to do. They only way you are going to find a pure muscle hit is to get on him and hope he bleeds out. Bedding will only help with the blood coagulation.

Get John Trouts book "Finding wounded deer".

Sorry to here about the bad luck. I wish the best of luck finding him!

Sorry to hear you're run of luck Ram. You've got a couple of respected hunters from the forum vouching for you so you get the benefit of the doubt. I know bad shot do happen. What you do after the shot often makes the diffrence between recovering the animal and leaving the woods broken hearted.

Do you shoot often durring the season? Sometimes we get peroccupied with hunting and forget to practice durring the season which can lead to disasterous results in the woods. If you're doing the right things and just having a case of Mr. Murphy stick with it. Things can only get better.

After spending several hours Saturday, I spent several Sunday and tonight , I have not had any more sucess in locating the deer.

I took my GPS and used it to help me make a grid search so that I did not overlap too much. I have even gone back and rechecked deadfalls and brushy areas for several yards around the last place we found blood.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

At this point i guess i'd look for birds working the carcus. Should lead ya rite to him.

If ya don't see any birds......just maybe he got out alive.

Good Luck