Ugh, it's 130 in the morning, I went hunting tonight. That only means one thing. Bad shot. I drew on another doe tonight, I wasn't jittery or juiced at all, I was calm, picked a spot, had to lean a little bit to my right (lefty) to get the shot i wanted, as I was leaning my stand shifted to the right just as I released. Arrow hit right, rear hindquarter. Waited 30 minutes, got down, went home, came back an hour later. No blood, nothing. I walked a little further into the woods and jumped her. Watched her with the binoculars until she bedded down. Hopefully she will be there first light tomorrow, hopefully expired, if not i'll make the kill. 5 and a half more hours till sun up, gonna be a loooong night/
Hope she's laying there expired for you. I had a bad low shot placement last night as well as I tried to shoot while it was getting dark; not the smartest idea. Skimmed one hair off her brisket; non-fatal. Definitely sucks but good luck.
Good Luck Caddis... biggest buck I ever got I shot in the hind quarters. Hopefully by jumping her she cut the femoral artery.
Well, found my arrow, it barely penetrated past the broadhead. Then as I was walking out I bumped the doe. Was able to glass her at 50 yds. No blood, barely even a hole. I guess when I lost my balance and released my string hit my sleeve and stopped most of the energy. Thank God she's not mortally wounded. Going back out tonight to see if I can finish the job. I was up all night, I tried to lay down but I kept thinking about it. I was able to find the deer that the neighbor didn't recover last year. His entire skeleton was laying just as he died, not scavenged at all besides bugs. I'm taking my stand down and welding it so it doesn't move. Thanks for all the support guys!!! I really hate feeling like such an idiot, and most of all I was just worried that the doe would just go off and die and go to waste. Thanks again guys!!!
Glad to hear she was ok. Amazing how tough these animals can be. Good luck with the rest of the season.
Ya weld that sucker up soild, or use an extra strap. Good luck gettin back out there. Sounds like that doe will be fine.
I'm hoping so, tonight is the first night the wife will be in the trees with me, i'm super excited for her lol
I crank my ratchet straps down as tight as I can then I get up in the stand & "jump" around then tighten it up more. As for the string hitting your sleave i would reccomend practicing with the same clothing on that you will be wearing while hunting that way you figure out what will/won't work. & coming from a guy who "has" made a bad shot & lost a deer you should have waited much longer than you did before taking up the trail. Not being a wiseass or a know it all just trying to help hunters avoid mistakes I have made. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk - now Free
Okay, I might come off a little cruel here, but it must be said. A shot in the back leg of a deer is fatal. I don't know exactly what happened, but I can tell you that I shot a doe yesterday evening and hit her in the back leg. I drew back on her at 19 yards and was at full draw for several minutes while she kept turnong around and hiding behid trees. She finally presented a quartering awat shot and I settled my pin about half way back her rib cage and let it fly. My heart sank as I watched my arrow sink into her about 3 inches behind the crease of her back leg. I waited in stand and gave her some time before looking over the site of the shot. I found no blood and decided to walk a few feet down the trail I saw her run. Less than 10 yards in I heard a deer jump up so I stopped in my tracks and waited. After sone time had passed I slowly walked to where that deer was bedded and found no blood. I was disheartened and decided to back out. Less than 15 yards away I saw a white belly and found my doe. The deer I heard get up was an entirely different deer and my doe had only went around 70 yards. While field dressing her I found that I never made it into her vitals and had only hit the guts. Was I lucky? Yes!!! But the fact is that a terrible shot was still very lethal. Far too often as hunters we make a bad shot and make excuses for why we don't recover the animal and this is the worst thing that we can do. We need to relaize that these things happen and it is our fault. We let the arrow go and the is the only reason that animal is running away with an arrow stuck in it's back leg. You may have got terrible penetration and that deer may live, but for actual experience I have found this not to be the case. We simply can't chaulk it up as a learning experience if we are going to downplay the situation! That will do nothing but lead to future failure. I am not trying to say that I am perfect, as I have lost two or three deer in my past, but I will say that I know every deer I have lost died, and it was entirely my fault.
You might want to read the whole thread next time. He saw the deer alive and got to put bino's on it. I am not saying that I buy the whole story about the stand shifting AND hitting the sleeve, and.....but, he saw the deer alive. I think we have all had a hard time at some point admitting that we completely blew a shot. Forget the excuses, and learn from it and move on.
