Another sob story from a bow hunter

[ktownduckhunter]

How 'bout you put your rocks back in your pocket and give this kid the chance to do the same thing.

x1000000000 ill prob. bloody up a few more in my life that i dont find. but its part of the game.

[LabLuvR]

The guy took a 10 yard shot, no problem there. Apparently hit the deer pretty darn good, no problem there. Stopped looking too soon, Houston we have a problem. I'm a well seasoned hunter and made the same sad mistake last year after examining every probable route the deer had gone. Hell I even got a dog and walked grids looking for the deer. Just stopped my distance too short. Shame on me, I paid the price in kicking my own ass for a long time. Still do it was a rookie mistake.
,
Get back in the saddle, figure out what went wrong, keep the respect for the animal at the top of your list and you've about done all you can do.

[2thDoc]

damn. you people are quick to judge..and i think that goes both ways. quick to judge the shooter and quick to judge what those that have responded are saying.

i think the whole point of "chat rooms" is to learn and share knowledge. while ktown realizes he might've messed it up, others are just telling him to learn from THEIR mistakes. no high road here...just a group of guys that might have some knowledge of the subject.

if someone is so inclined you could pull up a thread from me from last year where i lost a deer I shot right where i was aiming...on a slightly quartering away deer. I suspect the arrow lodged in the opposite shoulder. I now know I need to aim for an exit point BEHIND that shoulder. I lost that deer. it bothered me bc i THOUGHT i did everything right...but i didnt. i learned and havent taken that shot since.

but if that 10pt would've given it to me, i would've aimed just a bit farther back.

here endeth the lesson.

[fro]

Wow, wise words from the dentist...

[ktownduckhunter]

Wow, wise words from the dentist...

very deep thanks for the help guys, my guess is he hung a right where i lost blood and hit the swamp and if he did i dout ill ever see him again...deep swamp

[dixiedeerslaya]

hell yea, i did the same thing last year.... shot at a deer, my arrow hit a small vine and deflected hitting the deer too far back and low. i trailed and trailed, until a rain storm started washing any hope of finding blood away. i found the deer a few weeks later right by a cypress pond about 100 yards from where i lost the trail.....

if someone would have mentioned going to the nearest water enough on my thread last year, i prolly woulda went out there and checked that small cypress pond...... and would have found my deer before it spoiled......

thats what these threads are for.... you can read what i posted in responce to his situation on the first page.... i told him to go to the water, cuz i will never forget that feeling of loosing a buck and then finding him a few weeks later, knowing i should have looked there on the day i shot.....

[ktownduckhunter]

thats about the shot i took, any ideas, too far back to far foward???

[dixiedeerslaya]

i woulda shot him a little farther forward. your arrow prolly stuck in his far shoulder, prolly only got his far lung...

[dixiedeerslaya]

if you woulda been shooting some of them nine pounds per inch arrow setups like glenn, you woulda prolly busted on through...

of if you woulda threw an axe (rage) through him he prolly would have dropped right there.

[Glenn]

That's liver and lung all day long.

[CAJUN LAB]

I really think you didnt give him enough time to die and pushed him....

[ktownduckhunter]

I really think you didnt give him enough time to die and pushed him....

maybe, kinda a bad thing about this time of year. You give him to much time to lay up and die the meat mite not be good. Which is another good question. IN THIS HEAT, HOW LONG WOULD YOU GIVE A DEAD TO DIE????

[MC]

I would have been further back where the back leg joins the abdomen, but honestly, that's a "no go" shot for me. I have taken a shot angle very similar to that and it will more than likely kill the deer, but any way you cut it, you're in for a long trailing job. See where your exit hole would be in relation to the off side shoulder and leg?

I would feel very comfortable telling you that deer is dead, and with persistence you can find it, but the long hard trail job was simply the result of the shot angle. The further he goes the more chance there is of something going wrong.

Remember these words...Double lunger = no hunger

[Glenn]

maybe, kinda a bad thing about this time of year. You give him to much time to lay up and die the meat mite not be good. Which is another good question. IN THIS HEAT, HOW LONG WOULD YOU GIVE A DEAD TO DIE????

If I don't see 'em fall I give 30 minutes minimum with what I know is a great shot and at least and hour if I'm not sure about the shot. I gut shot a doe two seasons ago, no excuse just yanked it, and gave that deer at least 8 hours. Found her the next morning at day light bedded and dead 150 yards from where I shot her.

[FLS]

Shit happens, thats the ugly truth about bowhunting. ANYBODY thats done it much has lost some game. If they say otherwise they are FULL OF SHIT and should be trusted. You can put the odds in your favor by shooting for the offside armpit and ALWAYS aiming low. Most losses are from high hits.
I shot a 7 pt quartering away with my recurve on the opener and the offside shoulder stopped the arrow. Not a drop of blood but I had a pretty good idea where he was going and stumbled across him in the dark. It was a big 3 blade I sharpened myself on a very heavy arrow. Shot placement was good, but shit happens... I was lucky this time.

[tradorion]

1- At the shot- do your best to watch where the arrow impacts (** I will bet a case of beer that IF you find this deer before it is shredded you will discover that you did NOT hit it where you think- mis-seeing the hit is a very common oooopsie**)

2- As the deer runs off make the very best visual mark of the last place you saw it (crossing left of the big cedar etc etc) THEN LISTEN- your ears can tell you alot- running through leaves followed by briras or water or crashing through a cane patch all give very distinctive audio clues.

3- in my opinion that shot angle is too steep to consistently get a good hit.

4- in the future give great shots 30+ minutes and anything else an hour. If you KNOW you got gut or liver then 6 hours minimum. Granted there are many environmental issues but deer/elk out west often go more than a day in early (warm to hot) season before they get packed out. You have some time before major spoilage sets in (especially if you don't bust the gut with your broadhead)

5- If you start on a blood trail and A) jump the deer or B) do not find it dead within 100yds either sit down and ponder life for a good while OR leave and get dinner and a buddy and come back.

6- When trailing get 2-3 sticks with flagging or reflective tape on them. When your blood starts getting sparse mark last blood... then when you find some more use 2nd stick- the line between the two shows general travel... when you find more blood stick the 3rd stick on it and grab the 1st for the next blood. One man stays near the stick fine combing for sign and the buddy can move forward a bit scanning.

[SCSwitchback]

In my opinion, that is a shot that should absolutely not be taken. Way too much can go wrong there, even if you're only an inch or two off. At absolute best, you've got a hellacious tracking job in front of you.

I've killed my share with the bow, and I stick to this general rule when taking quartering away shots. If I can't put the arrow in a place where it will come out behind the off shoulder, I will not shoot. The shot you took....you'd have had to hit him in the back ham to get it to exit behind the shoulder.

Just wait on the deer to turn a little more.

[dixiedeerslaya]

could someone explain to me why you wouldnt tuck it in low and right behind his right shoulder? you gonna be all up in his boiler room, and would probably punch it on through the other side right around the front end of his far shoulder..... if you shot a little far back, you would get both lungs..... if you shot a little far forward, you would get one lung and heart.

like this....

[tradorion]

not likely to get heart- only likely to get one lung- decent chance of getting some deflection and running under the hide without getting into the chest cavity.

exit would is front of brisket... can limit exit of arrow.

Just me- I would not take that shot period shooting a bow.

[DMP]

Crap happens. Keep your head up and get back after em.

Next time it happens get a dog in there. Even if you don't have a tracking dog get any dog and put them on that blood and let em go. My lab finds all kinds of things in the woods. He just wonders around and finds stuff.