Well I got set up in the stand this morning. I make ita habit to be there about half hour before shooting time. About 8:00 am I didn't see anything and decided to use my Primos Can. About 4 minutes later I see movement in the corner of the corn field. I keep watching as the deer enters the woods where my standis and I see spikesand itwalks the edge inside of the field. Just as he goes behind a tree near my shooting lane I see a small doe in the field and the spike jumps out to the field. He sniffed her but she wanted nothing to do with him and then he tried to mount her but when his chest hit hear rear she moved. At this time it hit the can call again and the spike ignores it but the doe runs into the woods trying to find the deer. It went into a shooting lane but I shot right over her back. She then ran off so I hit the call again and she returned about 30 yards out. I pull back at don't you know the aroow hits a tiny tiny branchand goes way off to the side. About 15 minutes later I look over where the buck was and now 4 doe are working there way in. The first doe in my shooting lane I set the pin on and let it fly. It runs out to the field and walks away. I continue to watch it as the others come just under my stand. The doe never dropped but I lost sight but heard a snort. I climb down and find my arrow which has brown crap and no blood. I hit it but it was a gut shot. I am going back out at 4:30 to track her so it will be eight hours later. The problem is I never saw any blood where she went to the field. Also the land she was heading towards the guy is anti hunting and I dout he will let me track her on his property.I don't know whether to smile or cry. I hope I find her. Sorry for this being so long I just have to let it out.

You are giving her plenty of time to die. If you cant find any blood then look for worked up leaves, beds, or maybe follow a deer trail b/c she may have taken that. Also look near water b/c they will get thirsty being gut shot. Hope you find her. Good luck!

ouch, yep prob a stomach hit.....you did the right thing but not pushing her though. did you use landmarks to mark places she ran by? best bet is that she didn't go to far inside the field...maybe 50-100 yards and bedded down. look for some thick cover and take your time. You might have to end up zig zagging the area if there is no blood. sorry to hear about it and good luck

Once again the crows are very helpful in these situations. And as for your neighbor, I know in some states the landowner cannot stop you from trying to recover a deer that has went onto there property as long as you are not armed with a weapon when you go onto there property. Thats the case here in Iowa but it is always good to let the landowner know that you are going to be on there property if they like it or not. I even called the game warden once to let him know that I was going onto a outfitters property to recover a deer, he told me that anyone gave me a hard time to call him back and he would come out there and make some arrests. He said it was called interfering with the recovery of a game animal. It didn't matter though because one of the people that were hunting with the outfitter got my buck before I could get there. Oh well. I hope he choked on the backstrap.

How many shots did you get this morning?

3

You did the right thing, if that deer never knew you were there, she will go to the nearest cover and bed down, if you spooked her at all, could be a tough one.

Even though you shot the deer in an area your allowed to hunt you need to let the land owner know what happened. If he tries to stop you from tracking the animal call the game department and have them send an official out to help you. I don't know the exact charges but I'm sure it'd be worth it jus in case some other person has the same thing happen.

As long as you dont bring a weapon on the the land you cant hunt, then you have every right to look for your animal, and if he throws a fit then call the game warden he will help you get in there and find you deer.

only problem is sometimes you might need to shoot again, if she is weak but alive. i would recommend taking a bow just in case of clean up shot, talk to the landowner or a game warden