HuntingNet.com Forums - great story ny buck

It was Friday, Nov. 7th. I was in my stand with my doe decoy in place just before light and had a good feeling about the day. Shortly after I got settled in, I could just see another deer within 10 yards of my decoy. I could tell it was a doe. This doe was feeding right next to my decoy!

About 15 minutes later, this big boy stepped out of the brush and was circling both the doe and my decoy. I waited for the best possible shot I thought he would give me, and released the arrow. Immediately the buck dropped in it's tracks. Within seconds, the buck dragged himself into the hedgerow I was hunting from. I couldn't see him, but could hear him crashing around.

After a minute or so, the deer stepped out on the other side of the hedgerow. He was walking on all 4 legs! I grunted, he stopped, then he kept walking...I had no second shot. From my stand, I called my brother, Larry (which we both do for second opinions). He said he was on his way with his ATV and to stay put. We found half of the arrow shaft and had excellant penetration and blood. Because I didn't see the buck finally go down, we both decided to back-out and give him time. It was now 7:30am.

We started following the blood the trail 3 hours later at 10:30am. There was steady blood you could see 20 feet in front of you. I remember my brother telling me, "Great blood! He shouldn't be far." Yeah! We tracked this buck for over 700 yards to the edge of a big thicket without seeing any spot where he had bedded. We weren't sure if we could be pushing him and thought maybe he finally bedded in the thicket in front of us. We, again, both decided to back out and leave him. It was 11:30am.

My brother called Deer Search (deersearch.org) and Bob Yax said as long as there is a blood trail his Wired Hair Dachshund, Gusto, would be all over this deer. Bob arrived within an hour and Gusto was hot on the trail. The time was 12:45pm. Gusto trailed this deer thru the thicket, across an open field, up and down hills and into a cat-tailed filled swamp. In the middle of this swamp was a perfect little "island" where we found this buck's first empty bed (over a mile from the shot). The time was 3pm.

Gusto continued tracking this deer thru the swamp, across a road, and to edge of a open-water swamp. I could tell where the deer had been by the discoloration of the swamp water. Gusto, Bob and Larry circled around and I trudged thru the 2 foot deep water. We picked up the blood again on the other side and finally had to quit at dark when we lost the blood at the edge of swail lot. We said goodbye to Bob and Gusto along with our thanks. Gusto had blood trailed that buck for more than 2 miles!!! The time was 5:30pm.

My brother and I returned at 11pm that night with flashlights and found the blood trail again, over 100 yards from where we lost it. We continued tracking him all night until he went into some property we did not know the owner of. We backed out again and had serious doubts if this deer was mortally wounded. It was now, November 8th at 4am.

In the morning, my brother and I, along with two friends (Dale Davis and Dan Penders)and my son, Joshua, decided as long as there is blood, we could not give up. We received the landowner's permission and continued blood trailing. The time was 11am. The five of us tracked this deer all afternoon in some of the thickest jungle. Anytime we lost the trail, I would have Joshua stand at the last blood and the four of us would fan out. We would find the trail again everytime! After going thru a horse pasture, crossing another road and wading thru another swamp, we found this deer at the end of the blood trail! The time was 4pm.

The shot placement was just behind the right shoulder, below the spinal cord. The broadhead and partial shaft never entered the body cavity, but had nicked a major artery and was embedded in the deer's vertebrae. Everytime the deer walked it would move the arrow shaft causing him to keep bleeding and not clot. After looking back at all that had taken place, I wouldn't have done anything different. We stayed on the trail becuase the blood we were finding was mostly dried, so we didn't think we were pushing him. Also, the weather report kept calling for rain. After seeing the wound, this deer would have eventually died, but we never would have been able to recover him without the blood.

All-in-all we had a steady blood trail for more than 4 miles and recovered this buck 33 hours after the shot!!!

Thanks again to Deer Search, Bob Yax and Gusto. Wish you and Gusto were there with us at the end of the trail!