The one that got away...
 

My normal hunting spot has been great to me the last couple years, but this year it had cattle on it and I wasnt seeing anything. So, i went and asked for permission on some land and was granted it. This past Saturday I hung a tree stand at 2:00 and was in it with my wife at 3:00. I hit the rattling antlers and I had a monster on me within a couple minutes. The first pic is a zoomed in shot of a trail cam pic taken at 3:08! 30 seconds later he gave me a 20 yd shot with my bow and I dropped him in his tracks. He looked to be paralyzed and the shot was a little high so I assumed he was. I snapped one more pic while he was down (second pic, filtered to see antlers better). I didn"t shoot another arrow at him. Looking back I wish I would have! He got up about two minutes later and walked off. Good blood at shot site where he laid down, but 75 yds later no trace. Looked for two days with no luck. Absolutely sick to my stomach. I am just wondering what you guys think he may have scored. I am not real familiar with how to score racks.

His frame was a 10 with an extra brow tine on the right side. Sorry for the blurry photos.

Nice lookin' rack!

Hey guys, any help on guessing age or score on the deer from pictures above? I know they are grainy, but it was going to be my first archery buck and I would really like to have an idea of what it would have scored. I got so lucky and so unlucky at the same time. I am going back up to my grandfather's for Thanksgiving to look again and hunt again. I never introduced myself to the board either. I am from Dodge City. I work as a teacher and football coach. I do most of my deer hunting on family land in Belleville, KS where my grandparents live. I grew up in Concordia, KS but it wasn't until 4 yrs ago that I started deer hunting. How stupid was I to waste all my youth not out in the woods!?!? Hope to be an active member of the board! I have immersed myself in deer hunting and can't get enough of it! Anybody have an idea on that brute though?

Hard to see but it looks to be a 4.5 5.5 year old giant of an old buck. I'm not great with my scoring but looks to be about a 170. That close you should have had another arrow ready to fly if needed but heck he dropped like a rock so I can see why you wouldnt. To bad you couldnt find him. That kind of thing happens though, keep hunting hard you will get another chance and know just what to do.

I forgot to mention that my great uncle has been hunting that property for a number of years now. He decided for some reason not to hunt this year. He is just as sick to his stomach as I am. He said he had seen this same buck each of the 3 previous years but it never presented a shot for him. I am planning on taking my grandpas bird dog out next time I am up there. She might be better at finding dead things than birds! Every time we go out she gets into something rotten! Any other ideas on finding it?

dogs, buzzards, helicopter... I have a flashlight with a red led beam. It picks my deer right out when I kill one and have to go find it after dark. Maybe even sneaking around at night you could spot varmits on the deer. Deer usually go for really thick cover or straight to water. Most of the time straight down hill for me also.

If hes hurt bad but is mobile I think he would go lay in a creek for sure though.

Thanks for the help!

He should be around there somewhere... The first 8 I shot this year with my bow... I hit him a few inches higher than I would have liked. He didnt drop but did the same thing "just walked off" He went about 75 yards to the woods, walked in the woods for about 10 minutes, came back out and started feeding and dropped dead a few minutes after that. I was just looking around a few days later and didnt see where he had bled anywhere.

That's prolly at least a 160"+ buck. It's is a shame to lose one like that. :sad0064:

Did you recover your arrow? A lot can be learned by looking at an arrow that has passed through. Not very good at scoring myself but I know that was a darn great looking buck.

Sounds like you may have him on one of the "spurs" on top of the vertebrae. If so, it probably won't kill him unless it gets infected. There aren't any major blood vessels there, just muscle which would explain blood where he fell and why it quit after a little bit.

Several years ago I hit a pronghorn doe like that with a rifle. She went straight down and then got up running flat out. She disappeared into some gullies and I couldn't find her. The next day I was doing some glassing and saw an antelope with dried blood on here side. I stalked close and dropped her and it was the same antelope with a fresh bullet wound in the back strap.

When I boned her out one of the "spurs" was shattered. Other than the blood, there was no outward sign that she had been wounded. She moved like she wasn't hurt at all and was actually feeding when I found her the second time. Game animals are tough and will often survive a high shot that misses the vitals.

I didn't find my arrow. I noticed just a little hanging out on the fetching side as it was lying on the ground. Pretty sure he ran off with it in him. Very disappointed in myself for not letting another arrow fly. My bow hunting inexperience really hurt me.

I shot one time and she dropped right down. Me and a buddy stood there not 20 feet from her for about 30 minutes because another doe was coming across a field so we didn't move. Never a doubt in my mind the way my doe dropped that she was dead. My friend ended up shooting the other doe that was walking across the field. We went to look for it and were about 100 yards away when my doe got up and started walking. At first I thought it was another deer because I assumed mine was dead. Went back and found a very small blood trail and she walked across a field that that was over 1/2 mile and we never did find her. I can only assume that I hit high and close to the spine and once the shock wore off she was not hurt bad at all.

My heart goes out to you Kyle. I can only imagine your exasperation and disappointment.
You just have to let it go as soon as you can.