I agree with you completely. And FTR, I was not implying that just because I choose to shoot at a shorter distance, that others should do the same. A lot can happen between a bow and deer at 60 yards no matter the competency of the shooter. Its nothing like shooting a cardboard box.
I practice at 50 yards, and keep baseball to softball size groups consistently, but would not shoot a deer at that distance. Too much time for the deer to react in my opinion. I hope you find him, I really do. If you know you cannot track until the following evening, I am not sure it makes sense to go out and take a risky shot. I eat the deer I shoot, and leaving a deer for 24 hrs is a lot riskier than leaving overnight for 8-10 hours. I understand long shots out west where the cover is minimal, but now days I think people find it "cool" to shoot deer from further distances. In which the loss ratio probably skyrockets. Good luck. Hope the meat is still good when you find him.
Maybe not in the mountains but we most definitely have a huge problem with them in SE NC. We have a very short window here to recover our game before they come. It has happened too many times man....
Hoping for the best still... I too question your timing. If you don't have time to track... Do you really have time to shoot... tracking is as much a part of the hunt as the shooting and sitting. It would be like taking time to go to class but not showing up for the exams. Waiting for some good news...
After this much time, with no updates, I'm thinking it isn't gonna be good news. Would like to think I'm wrong, but it's not looking that way. Surely there would be pics or story by now if the deer was recovered
I'm thinking that deer won't be found for another few months if he hasn't found him by now. He had to have hit him good though to make him fall twice. That or he hit near the shoulder on the leg in which case that deer is going to suffer a miserable death
The second white-tail I shot was at 57. We tracked until 3 AM before finding her. I thought I made a great hit until we finally found her... it was really bad... thankfully my pard was a blood trailing machine. He scolded me for a few months afterward (good naturedly) and I have never taken another shot at that range... too much can go wrong.
If you are going to take a 60 yard shot at a whitetail, why not 70 or 80? I hope this deer was cleanly killed and is being butchered as we speak, but I am not optimistic.
I too am hoping he tracked it down, but for me personally, too many variables in Whitetail hunting to take a 60 yard shot. Not that people can't pull it off but I'm not trying myself.
Well ive looked for the last 2 evenings with no luck i did find my arrow and it has blood on it i tracked him threw cutover and just lost him me and 2 of my friends have covered the whole area i guess im going to wait for the buzzards to start flying i live and learn
