Never stop looking for that Deer!!!!
11-27-2003, 10:50 PM
#1
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location:
Posts: 602
Never stop looking for that Deer!!!!
I have been reading this board for a while, and just registered so this is my first post.
Shot a deer last Sunday evening around 5:20 pm (within 5 minutes of legal limit time). I was really confused if I hit the buck or not as he didn' t drop. Shot was from about 50 yards broadside, but was extremely hard to see thru the cheap piece of crap scope I had on my trusty Marlin 30-30. Normally I would have waited for a while before getting up and looking, but I had to be somewhere at 6:00 that evening. I searched the area of the shot with a flashlight, and found nothing. No blood, no hair, nothing. So now I' m thinking I just flat out missed, or did I? I searched around the area for a little while looking for body, but never saw anything.
Monday morning I loaded up and hit the woods to take another look. I just wanted to make sure I did indeed miss. It was cold overnight with a freeze having come in, so I new the meat was okay if I were to find anything. I went back to where I shot the buck, looked thoroughly in the area (hardwood bottom), and nothing. I new the direction he ran after I shot, so I starting zigzagging the exit route. About 100 yards from where I shot a few droppings of blood. I marked the spot, walked about 10 yards, and more blood. Then, nothing.....looked and looked. Called my brother in to help me search for the lost blood trail. He was in the area and arrived quickly. We both looked for about another hour. We had all but given up on the blood trail and branched out to search for the deer. The blood trail was heading up hill, and just didn' t seem right. With my brother searching the uphill area, I veered towards the creek to see if I could find any blood where he may have crossed. I walked about 30 yards down the creek bank, and bingo!! There he was lying right next to a fallen tree with its head stuck under one of the big limbs. Pure luck I found that small blood trail. The deer was gut shot and had backtracked towards the creek. The funny thing is, when I walked out that evening he was only about 40 yards to the right of my trail.
Always go back and take a look if you even remotely think you hit the target!!!!
Here' s a pic......and this is my first " official deer kill" !! Not a big one by any means with a small 6 point rack, but I' ll take it!!!! Tasted mighty fine......
P.S.: After that gut shot incident with that scope, I immediated replaced it with a better quality scope on Tuesday!!
Shot a deer last Sunday evening around 5:20 pm (within 5 minutes of legal limit time). I was really confused if I hit the buck or not as he didn' t drop. Shot was from about 50 yards broadside, but was extremely hard to see thru the cheap piece of crap scope I had on my trusty Marlin 30-30. Normally I would have waited for a while before getting up and looking, but I had to be somewhere at 6:00 that evening. I searched the area of the shot with a flashlight, and found nothing. No blood, no hair, nothing. So now I' m thinking I just flat out missed, or did I? I searched around the area for a little while looking for body, but never saw anything.
Monday morning I loaded up and hit the woods to take another look. I just wanted to make sure I did indeed miss. It was cold overnight with a freeze having come in, so I new the meat was okay if I were to find anything. I went back to where I shot the buck, looked thoroughly in the area (hardwood bottom), and nothing. I new the direction he ran after I shot, so I starting zigzagging the exit route. About 100 yards from where I shot a few droppings of blood. I marked the spot, walked about 10 yards, and more blood. Then, nothing.....looked and looked. Called my brother in to help me search for the lost blood trail. He was in the area and arrived quickly. We both looked for about another hour. We had all but given up on the blood trail and branched out to search for the deer. The blood trail was heading up hill, and just didn' t seem right. With my brother searching the uphill area, I veered towards the creek to see if I could find any blood where he may have crossed. I walked about 30 yards down the creek bank, and bingo!! There he was lying right next to a fallen tree with its head stuck under one of the big limbs. Pure luck I found that small blood trail. The deer was gut shot and had backtracked towards the creek. The funny thing is, when I walked out that evening he was only about 40 yards to the right of my trail.
Always go back and take a look if you even remotely think you hit the target!!!!
Here' s a pic......and this is my first " official deer kill" !! Not a big one by any means with a small 6 point rack, but I' ll take it!!!! Tasted mighty fine......
P.S.: After that gut shot incident with that scope, I immediated replaced it with a better quality scope on Tuesday!!
11-28-2003, 03:32 AM
#3
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Brampton Ontario CANADA
Posts: 423
RE: Never stop looking for that Deer!!!!
Way to go Ground-Hunter..nice deer......so tell me...where do you hunt that you are allowed to discharge a firearm on Sunday..
..that' s highly illegal around here!!!!! Brampton Mike [8D]
11-28-2003, 04:42 AM
#5
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fredericksburg Virginia USA
Posts: 13,672
RE: Never stop looking for that Deer!!!!
Congrats on your first deer and also a big salute to following up on the shot and recovering your deer. The best thing of all is you learned from this and took action on it by upgrading your scope.
11-28-2003, 07:32 AM
#8
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Port Neches, Texas
Posts: 5,514
RE: Never stop looking for that Deer!!!!
Congrats on your buck, Groundhunter! Also a pat on the back for the extra effort that you put in to find him. Too many people would just assume they missed and given up. Last season my buddy and I tracked a deer he shot, after losing the trail, we picked it up again the next morning and recovered the deer. In cool weather the meat was still very good. Again, congrats!
11-28-2003, 08:01 AM
#9
Join Date: Nov 2003
Posts: 13
RE: Never stop looking for that Deer!!!!
Congratulations on tracking the deer until the end. We had a 170-class deer on the property we hunt that was shot by a guy who was a friend of the owner. The deer came in about 15 yards on his tree stand and he said he made a good shot with his crossbow. He saw the deer run into the large field and thought he saw it lay down. He waited for 20 minutes and started searching the field. Long story short, he looks for another hour or two and throws up his hands and says it' s time for the OSU-Michigan game and takes off. I didn' t hear about it until two days later. One or two hours and not calling up anybody to help you grid the deer out. I' m sure we will find this magnificent animal, or what' s left of him, when we still hunt the field during the middle of the day on first day of shotgun season. Needless to say, if I can help it, this guy will not be hunting on the property ever again.
Oh, BTW, forgot to tell you that my friend pull a 4" chunk of arrow out his recurve 10-point this year from the same crossbow. But that' s another story.
Anyways, thank you very much for sticking with it.
Oh, BTW, forgot to tell you that my friend pull a 4" chunk of arrow out his recurve 10-point this year from the same crossbow. But that' s another story.
Anyways, thank you very much for sticking with it.