So hit a nice 9 pointer this morning at about 7:30 pretty much perfect scenario. Came in right to my stand behind me pretty much in my boot track nose to the ground. He came up on my right at about 15 yards quartering slowly away from me. Looked up at me as I pulled back and kept going. I let the arrow fly at about 20 yards nothing in between us. Hit a little behind left shoulder. He jumped a few steps then slowed down and stopped. I took another arrow out and shot again a little rushed and nailed a tree. He walked out to the road about 80 yards from me and hung out there for a while and ducked in woods across road. I got down and found arrow it was stuck in the ground and it passed through. Blood and fur on it not a lot but decent. Had decent blood got out to the road and had awesome blood drips and small puddles. Every 5 feet. Saw him slowly walking in the woods so I backed out. Came in 2 hours later followe blood for 200 yards and it disappeared with decent blood the whole way. Searched area for 6 hours. Def hit lung white bubbles in blood and bright red blood. Did I graze a lung and exited out through front of chest not do enough damage I am beside myself feel like crap. I've replayed it 1000 times I should of aimed farther back. What do you guys think???? This is him Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Man these situations are really sickening but a ton can be learned from the whole scenario. That deer can definitely take a while to expire if you only hit on one lung. I have most recently been in the same situation this year. The only thing I could do was question my shot placement. Replay the angles and understand where you hit it if u could tell. At 20 yds the shot is definitely at an angle but the spot your aiming for still has to be where you have room for error. You said your shot was quartering away well in that case if you hit him right behind the shoulder either it angled in to far forward and went out through the brisket wounding him badly or you caught that vital and he's out there dead. I did the same thing Nov. 8th and search 2 days for my buck with help no luck at this point all you can do is make every effort to find him and hope for the best and be confident about it. Many will tell you it's happened to the best of us. My honest opinion is that some seasons are just luckier than others. Seriously hope you are among the lucky and find your buck he looks like a nice one good luck with the recovery. I lost a mature 6 point this year and 11 point so I am definitely feeling your pain both which would have been my biggest bow harvest to date. One thing this will do for you is groom you to become a better bowhunter I'm sure. Sounds like you made a good effort but at quartering away even slightly you have to put that arrow further back so it will angle into the vitals potentially tearing his vitals to shreds hitting lungs and heart and giving you the highest percentage of a short track job. The shot you and I took sounds like for a broadside shot and even then you still can leave room for error. Best of luck man hope this will help you. Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk
Thanks Jeff appreciate the thoughts. Sorry to hear about your similar situation it def makes you feel bad. Yup the more I think of it I should of aimed at least 4" back. It just happened so fast I never really thought he is quartering aim farther back. It was giving me nightmares last night. I'm heading in now to go look again. A buddy of mine told me to go to the last spot of blood and back track it and look for blood off of that. He said he's had deer do that and jump off his older track if they think they are being followed. I was thinking if he is dead maybe the crows will lead me to him and not the coyotes. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Well case solved just checked trail cam and shows you how unbelievably tough these animals are this was last night almost 24 hours after. That's him so he's still alive. . And I actually have the footage of right after I shot him from trail camera I'm relieved he's alive but how the hell did he get over a punctured lung that fast. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ok update on buck shot him on the 17 and was on trail cam that night. With a nicked lung or a small puncture of the lung can he survive. Or is he dead there hasn't been any coyote activity and there's plenty of them around. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
To be honest, I don't know the answer to that question definitively, what I do know is that they are tough animals. We've seen them survive some pretty crazy wounds over the years so I'd say it's definitely possible he made it. It's also possible yotes got him and you'd never have a clue. Just hope for the best.
I just think it's weird he was on trail camera that night after I shot him. Usually I feel like he would of left that area immediately after something wounded him. I want to think he's still alive but my gut thinks otherwise. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
