I know stuff happens, mistakes are made, things don't go according to plan. How many wounded and lost deer have been posted up here at the forum so far this season?
I'm guessing nobody is counting And give the people credit for asking for help to find their deer or trying to learn to try and prevent it the next time. It happens ever year.
My guess is most of the lost animals don't make it to the forum. The ones that do are typically the younger guys asking for advice/help on how to recover their deer. The more experienced guys know what to do and having exhausted all options prefer not to share their woes with us. Just my opinion anyways.
Funny I get called names when I posted and did not accuse any hunter of doing wrong. I am curious as to what some here do or what the plan of action is for when the blood trail ends and the deer isn't there? I have never said I was perfect as a matter of fact I have lost two bucks I have shot an arrow at. 1 I tracked and searched by myself found the gut pile in the ditch on the other side of a road. The other 1 I had access to a bow hunting mentor who was with me searching and teaching, I can grid with the best of them but I learned much in that loss. I still to this day would not hesitate to bring in help if there was a wounded deer involved. Not preaching but I do put a filter on when somebody posts I wounded a doe, how long do I have to wait to hunt the stand again, seems like many do not have a recovery plan for when things don't go as planned.
I used a smiley because I really was just joking. Mistakes happen and the learning curve for archery is steep if you are self taught, so I don't give anybody a hard time about it. I try to offer advice if I think they really want it. I do not like the guys who say "I'm glad it was just a doe" so I stay out of those types of posts. Or the ones who act cavalier about losing deer like it's no big deal. Luckily that doesn't happen often on this sight but the "other" big archery sight lol.
I hate losing deer and the thought of it haunts me every time I shoot a deer. It is hard to give worthwhile advice because the perception of the hit and reaction vs what actually happened. It really does help to have two people looking but much more than 2 it becomes a cluster. I wish minnesota allowed use of tracking dogs, guess I am lucky my barn cat is a damn good tracking cat.
So if your in MI and your looking for a deer that you shot you can't take the family pet along for a walk in the woods.
Technically no, if a co asks what you are doing and you say tracking a deer and you have the dog with you that is a violation of the law.
You need to get on the Minnesota bandwagon Sota to get that law changed. So many states have done it already. As far as how many?? Man I don't even want to know. I'm not going to bash anyone as I've lost some myself but I wish the newcomers to archery would spend more time learning how to track and what to look for before they even pull back an arrow. Coming onto a forum asking what to do next after they shot a deer 5 minutes ago isn't the only way to learn.
Nice backstroke, but what you really did was simply ask how many people had not recovered deer this year. Which, really isn't something that any archery sight wants to make easy pickings for anti's now is it?
I agree posting on the internet is NOT a recovery plan. I don't know why Minnesota is against tracking dogs, I know it would help.
I've lost one doe I've shot at, wounded and didn't recover.. followed it all day and for over 2 miles.. I was completely gutted, lost a lot of confidence and had a hard time getting myself out in the woods for 2 weeks.. I did eventually see that doe during late rifle season, it wasn't using its right front leg but made it through a rough winter, dint make me feel any better about it considering I no longer had a doe tag. it was my 3rd year archery hunting and like a noob let my nerves gget the best of me by rushing a shot before it was light enough outside to see through my peep clearly and got all shoulder.. already held back on shooting a decent 8 point the first day I was out this year under almost that same exact circumstance, so I learned my lesson.
