Deerslayer_37

Well, i finally scored last nite. i got a doe. right away when i got to my spot, i parked at my neighbor's house, got my bow out of the case, and walked out into their yard. i kicked up a buck probably 100 yards away from their house. he must have seen me pull up and he headed for the next county. i got to my spot about 345 PM I was sitting behind two large trees(almost like bushes) that were in a thin strip between two picked cornfields. i knew there had been several does using both of them. right away, i had squirrels all over me. i coulda grabbed a couple of them. i had the wind in my face, it was perfect. i saw a doe in the woods about 60 yards away, just kinda meandering through the woods. i gavea couple fawn bleats on my True Talker. about 45 minutes later, it was beginning to grow dark. I heard a bunch of noise near the field edge. i figured it was just squirrels. then 5 mintues later, i heard noise right next to the field. I thought to myself, "theres not a snowballs chance in hell that that is a deer." i leaned back, looked under the cedar, and saw deer legs. It was the doe i had called to earlier.

She came in like she ws on a string. She was around 10 yards from me, but still behind the bush wheni came to full draw. a few seconds later, teh wind suddenly swirled and she stoppped moving. she knew i was there. she put her head down and quickly came back up. she took a step. i breathed to calm myself. the pin was moving erratically. she took another step. and another. her head was bobbing, trying to make me out. one more step, and she stopped. slightly quartering away. i calmed myself and squeezed the trigger. WHAP! "oH *@%# " i said immediately. she jumped the string, and the arrow entered in her hip. it was fletch deep and i saw as she entered the woods that it stuck out the other side. that really got me worried. i listened for her. i did not hear a crash. i waited 25 minutes, put my stuff in a pile, and went back tomy four wheeler. i drove as fast as possible to get my dad. We grabbed flashlights and a rope and went out to get her.
We got out there, and started a grid search because we didnt find any blood. right when were getting distraught, i found blood. and some more. we followed the trail onto a grassy, small pine covered hillside. we found where she bedded right away, blood on both sides. Then we lost the blood. We were out for 3 1/2 hours looking for her. it was warm too...50 degrees. my dad said it was time to give up the search. the deer would spoil over night he said because it was warm. I was really upset at this. he just said to chalk it up to experience. i lost one lsat year, so two years ina row madeangry and depressed.
I woke up right away in the morning and checked the temp. 25 degrees. i got ahold of my dad and asked him if we could go look for the deer ,because it probably didnt spoil. he said it woulda been ok if my mom cleared it. This is when i got real upset. My mom said no. school is more important in her book. I really was depressed the whole day. i felt terrible inside, losing that deer. I decided to get out and look right away after school. and thats what i did. i had to wait for the longest day of my life, but i was out the second i got home to look. i went to the spot of hte last blood and followed a well used deer trail over to the neighbors fence. i figured she wouldnt want to jump that, so i followed it down and started walking a hillside, i planned on doing a grid search. i immediately saw white and then the rest of the body. I HAD FOUND HER!!!! I was so happy. I immediately thanked God for letting me find it. Unfortunately, it was spoiled. But i feel alot better in knowing that i recovered it, instead of letting it rot out there. I just think in situations like this, you can't give up. I found the arrow had dead centered the hip, and becuase she jumped the string, it went up into the chest cavity, hitting all the guts. it exited in the middle of the ribs.

Thanks to all you guys who got my into the sport, and helped me when i first started. i really think that everyone here helped me be more determined, with all the posts about losing deer. i jsut didnt want to do that. thanks guys, good luck to yall who are still hunting. i still have a buck tag left so maybe ill fill that sometime this year. im fine though wiht just getting this doe. thanks again

slayer

Fieldmouse

First question, Are you hooked?

Second, How long did she sit and in what temp? My buck last year I had to let lay all day in 50' temp. He was still kicking and if I approached he would jump and move 30 yrds. If I continued he would have spooked some monsters bedding down on the ridge. I let him die during the day and recovered him after my night stand. He stunk like hell when I had to gut him but the meat was fine. I didn't keep the ribs but I did keep the roasts and the back straps.

Deerslayer_37

#1- Amen. i thought i was hooked before, but now its definte.

#2- we figure she died around 7-8 PM last nite. she was extremely stiff when we found her. the blood was all dried up aroudn the holes. She sat dead in anywhere from 50-59 degree weather until about 3 in teh morning. according to the NOAA, thats when we had the codl weather come in. she was bloated very badly, which is to be expected, but when i slit her open, it was easy to see the meat was bad. it had been sitting for many hours with the stomach contents on it.

slayer

JimboHunter1

DS- Sorry to hear that you couldn't salvage the meat. Glad to hear that you eventually found her though. What did you do with her after you located her? Just wondering if her meat would have been more useful to the critters in the woods. Whatever you did is fine though.

nubo

Even though you weren't able to salvage the deer ,I'm very happy at the determination you showed at finding your deer.I hope other's follow your example .

nubo

Deerslayer_37

after we recovered her, we registered her, and then took her back out to the woods for the critters to munch on. we put it ina spot where we can monitor it for coyotes..hopefully catch one feeding off it. i was just really glad to find her, as i felt terrible leaving her out there in the woods. i know it taught me to not give up on it, and to use every possible minute within that 24 to 36 hour time frame you basically get before the coyotes get it.

slayer

Prarie_Boy1

Congrats Deerslayer! Must feel pretty good i'm still looking for my first bow kill

JimboHunter1

That's about as good as you could have done. Way to go and good luck with the next one, DS.

SumHunter

I admire you for your persistence. Apparently, you are still in high school...It's great to see kids your age (especially these days) with your hunting ethics.

Congrats on your first bow kill!

cardeer

Thanks for your drive to find the deer.You just keep that atitude in life.