While I'm sorry that it turned out that way, I'm glad, as I'm sure you are, that it wasn't a wounded deer. I think you win just by getting a shot at this stage of the season. Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk
Do you shoot lighted nocks? You sure you didn’t shoulder em? Didn’t hit a tree? Sorry man that’s rough.
The pop sound, my first thought was a lung pop sound. There was one small branch right in front of his head, but nothing between me and him. I'm kind of thinking I hit a branch, maybe behind him. Might have shot over his back. I also thought maybe shoulder also, but with zero blood, didn't seem likely. No lighted nocks, just had to many things go wrong with, mostly breaking and not turning on when they hit the deer. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
I glad he's not wounded also. It's just one of those years we're the deer beat me. I will come back next year at my best. If I wounded him and lost him, that would have been gut wrenching, thankful for that. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
I'm going to make a return trip very soon to try and figure out what happen in the day light. Hopefully I will find that arrow. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
I just got home. Unfortunately, I am joining @Holt in the Not Good News category. There is more to the story, which I will share tomorrow. Right now, I am going to help my wife put the kids to bed. Long story short, 99% sure I shot low and gave her a hair cut.
I shot a doe point blank, she actually tipped over. Got up hopped into brush then slowly walked away feeding up hill. I watched her for over a hundred yards when I barely saw her tail go straight up and then disappear. I got to impact and there was not a single drop of blood anywhere. I followed the sight path she had taken. Nearly 200 yrds away there she was dead. Zero blood anywhere. Rolled her over and gutted her blood gushed out of her as if poured out of a bucket. High straight line and all blood remained in her. No lighted knock found arrow 3 yrs later by chance. Had same thing happen in shot gun season, but that time the slug hit but actually never entered the body. I found it just under the hide when I skinned her with just a small flat side on tip of slug. Less than 30yrd shot The impact still tore the liver and she bled to death. That one I figured the slug had been under packed when made or gotten wet some how. I only found her because I watched where she walked. Zero blood. We couldn't even find the hit. Hubby asked if I'd Texas heart shot her. No she was broad side. Strange stuff can happen out there. Good luck
I was set up about 20 yards off of a public land food plot last night facing into a creek bottom that had a big thicket on the other side about 100 yards away. About 30 minutes before dark, I hear splashing in the creek and there was a doe crossing about 40 yards away, right where I expected them to cross. I had three openings in the trees where I could shoot varying between 22 and 35 yards. She went through the first two openings without stopping. The third opening was the biggest and closest to the food plot at only 22 yards. Unfortunately, she was walking faster now. I hate having to "meh" or grunt to stop deer, but, it was either that or let her get into the food plot where I didn't have a shot closer than 45 yards due to the tree cover between the food plot and me. I aimed low and right on her shoulder when she stopped, expecting her to duck, she ducked hard. About 10 minutes before dark, I hear splashing in the creek again. The creek runs north to south into the lake which was about 50 yards away. I was facing due east with a NE wind. This time there is a doe walking straight down the creek from N to S. From the direction the one I shot had ran towards. I threw up my binos trying to look for blood on the deer's body, assuming my shot had not been as good as I hoped. I didn't see anything and nothing about the way this deer moved that suggested it was hurt. It bedded about 40 yards away behind a tree with only its head showing. Right as it got dark, this deer got up and went to the lake edge, I thought it bedded again in some cattails. When my buddy came over, now about 45 minutes after the shot and in the dark, we went to the cattails, assuming this deer was the one I shot. We found the bed by the tree, but no blood and the cattails were in too deep of water for the deer to bed there. If this was the deer I shot, it either swam across the cove of the lake, about 200 yards, or it moved down the lake shore in the dark while I was climbing down, without leaving a blood trail that we could find. It was really open on this part of the lake shore, so if it had bedded again, we should have been able to see it. At this point we had been looking for over an hour and were both convinced that this was a different deer. We ended up following the lake shore for about 200 yards in opposite directions looking for blood or a bedded deer before giving up on this part of the search. Other than a little blood on the fletching, the arrow was pretty clean. My initial thought had been that maybe I hit high on the top of the back due to how hard she ducked and the lack of blood. There was no blood at impact. It was now two hours after the shot and starting to pour rain. The creek bottom opened up quite a bit heading north, which the direction the doe ran and we had to head out anyway. The creek bottom ran for about 250 yards. We spread out and walked the creek bottom, covering the whole thing. We never found blood, if the shot had been good and she had died in that creek bottom, we would have walked up on her. No deer. We ended up heading back to the vehicles. In the headlights, we were able to see a couple of small white hairs caught in the fletching that we had missed in our headlamps. So, I am convinced I hit her low, probably barely broke the skin and the arrow was through her so quick, only the fletching caught a little blood.
I hope he's not dead. I will be going back this week to check, but won't matter much for the meat either way. A down deer doesn't last over night there. It was his reaction after the shot that has me to believe it was a miss, but I could be wrong. Never had a mortally wounded buck just walk away like he did. Also didn't walk away like he was gut shot either. I hope I find something to confirm what I saw and not a dead deer. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Biggest buck of my life I shot was a clear hit . He jumped a brush pile then simply walked away. I didn't like the sound of hit so I left everything in tree and went to call deer search several hours later they came out but we never found him. I later found out the farmer that borders us saw him drop in his field and took him . That was another no blood trail and the searcher was so frustrated he came back the following day. At one point the dog did take us to the field. You'd think well there would be the gut pile....he loaded it in his truck un gutted. Why in gun it's shoulder and I tend to shoot very close to should in bow. 3 x's I've had buck lifted on me. One time deer search came and they kicked the buck up. He couldn't believe from the bed the deer was still alive. We tracked pools through our place then on to land I had permission to track. Well, it was bow season and we heard a single gun shot infront of us. The tracker turned to me and said there goes your buck. By the time we got to sound.. all sign of the buck ended. Not far from a couple of back yards. We have some real winners out here.
