Lost my first deer
 

Went out openingday ( 9/13 ), here in Jersey bow season.
Had a beatiful eight pointer in the morning at 20 yards, but Jersey law is a doe must be taken first.
I did take my doe opening day evening.
I went out yesterday ( 9/20 ) and shot a nice doe from 35 yards.
Arrow went right behind the shoulder.
I saw the arrow sticking out as the deer ran.
It crashed straight through some really thick under brush and I lost site of it.
I continued to listen to it crash through everything it ran past and it suddenly stopped.
I thought, great it's down. I had 45 minutes before dark, so I gave ten minutes before starting to look for it. I never heard another movement from the last place I heard it.
When I got down I went to the impact point and marked it, took a quick look to see if the arrow was laying in the thick brush but didn't see anything.
I went to the area where I last heard the crashing stop and started to look around. Nothing. I looked 15 more minutes and decided I had to get back and look for blood or a arrow.
I looked till dark, then called for help. Three of us looked for 2 1/2 more hours and nothing.
No blood, No hair, No arrow, No deer.
Temp went down to mid 40's last night.
The three of us went out first light for another 2 1/2 hours.
No arrow, blood, hair or deer.
I know where the hit was on the deerand she ran with the arrow in her side, but nothing found.
Temp went into the 80's today, so I am taking it as a lost deer.
I hate to take a life of a deer and have it go to waste.

**** Edit: This is not my first deer ever, this is just the first deer I havenot recovered. ****

RE: Lost my first deer
 

That is why I don't bow hunt anymore. I've shot one deer with a bow, finally found her about 1/2 mile away in a briar thicket and when I finally got her back to the truck I put the bow down and went back to my .270. You probably hit the deer further back than you thought or something. You are in for a number of people telling you that you should have waited an hour. Happens to most everybody, especially bow hunters.

RE: Lost my first deer
 

It's easy to say it now, but with 45min. til dark, cold dry temps overnight, morning with a few friends may have led to different ending. Like I say, easier said than done. Let it be a lesson learned.

RE: Lost my first deer
 

If it looked like a good hit and you thought you heard it die then I can't blame you for trying to track it before dark. Tracking at night is a whole different game and I always try to avoid it.

Last year I nailed a doe with my crossbow, and it ranabout amile. I gave it 20 minutes and began to trail it fairly slow. It's open land here and they can cover a lot of land fast. I found a thin, fairly conistant blood trail, with larger drops every 40 yards or so. She didn't bleed at all for the first 50 yards. I finally found the arrow in a dried creek bed about three quarters of a mile away from where I made the shot, and the trail seemed to dead end in the neighbor's bean field. I started making circles from there and finally found her after 4 hours of tracking. The reason I tell this story is because it was a perfect hit. The rage broadhead made a heck of a hole in her, and I totally lanced both lungs. Nothing is set in stone with hunting, sometimes the deer wins and sometimes you both lose.

RE: Lost my first deer
 

I have to give you credit where credit is due. You went out and looked! And went back out the next day. You made every attempt to recover the deer. I tip my hat to you! Some people would have looked for a couple hours and gave up, you didnt. Koodos to you. It happnes to alot of bowhunters, including myself once in a while, thats why its called hunting not killing.

RE: Lost my first deer
 

yep this happens to every hunter..but ive switched to fairly new broadhead..and ive nothin but success with this one..here is the website..check it out http://www.spintite.com/

RE: Lost my first deer
 

My buddy gut shot a doe last year and we knew it was a bad shot so we left and backed out overnight. We went back the next morning and I took one of my field trial pointer bitches with us and she found that deer. We had good blood up until a certain point. We turned that bitch out and she went on line down the the ditch about 100 yards and slammed on point. I told my buddy "there she is." Sure enough. I know this doesn't help you but maybe think about it next time if you know someone who has a birddog or a tracking hound it could save you a deer.

RE: Lost my first deer
 

every hunter no matter what the choice of weapon has lost a deer it is just the bad part of hunting

RE: Lost my first deer
 

I am never amazed at what these beast can do when the adrenaline kicks in.....some have a stronger will to survive than others...

RE: Lost my first deer
 

i almost everyone has had something like this happen even if they dont admit it my theory is $hit happens