So last night at fading late, I shot at a buck at about 20 yards with my bow. He kicked and ran, but only about 20 yards. He just stood there for a few minutes, and I kept expecting his legs to buckle and go down, but after 5 minutes, he was still standing. I ranged him at 43 yards, so I decided to put another arrow through his boiler room, figuring i may have missed the 20 yard shot. So I shot at 43 yards, he kicked and ran off again. I waited about 20-30 minutes and went to find my first arrow, which was dry. Clean miss. I went to find my second arrow, and it was no where to be found, but I found one leaf with a little spot of blood, so I knew I hit with my second arrow. It was almost black out by this point, so I went to look for my deer. Got about 40 yards through the woods and saw him curled up next to a fallen tree. To my surprise, he was still alive, and he ran off again. I decided it was cold enough to leave him until morning, and not keep pushing him off. This morning I went back to recover my buck, which took a little while, but I found the blood trail and it lead right to him. he was only about another 40 yards away from where I kicked him out, and maybe 80-100 yards from where I shot him. I was so excited to recover him, until I realized he was half submerged in a creek, and some other animal got a hold of him last night and tore his lower half to shreds. There wasn't really anything to recover, and I don't think I would want to have tried anyway. He was a 7 pointer, with a decent rack on one side, but the other side was deformed and somewhat small. Nothing you really want to pay to mount. Anyway, I was excited to recover my buck, but pissed that I cant use the meat. I took the antlers, called in my tag, and dumped the body in the woods for the woodland creatures to finish him off. Figure something will eat it. I've always seen them on the hunting shows leaving the game until the next day, and it always seemed fine, but I guess we have some night prowling meat eaters out there in Maryland. I gave him a good 30-40 minutes to expire, but that wasn't long enough. When i did find him, the arrow had gone in at a 45 degree angle from the ribcage up through it's vitals and out through its shoulder/chest. About as good of a shot as can be made, but that thing kept living. Next time I will give it an hour or two and keep the search going into the night. Successful hunt, but wasted meat... Thoughts??
You should have just waited after you bumped him for another 45 and then go on and you prob would have had him.
Yeah Sgt, I guess I have learned the hard way. This is my first evening kill with a bow. Every other deer I have taken has been in the morning, or with a rifle, so there was no running, so i've never encountered a night time recovery. (it was pitch black) next time, ill look all night if needed
Its best to wait it out..if your not sure about the shot...and believe me I know its hard....nexttime go home or get something to eat and then go back with a friend.....I really don t like leaving a hit animal over night ..because of predators....just backout for a few hours.
I did the same thing last season with a doe I shot right at dark. We looked for a while and couldn't find her in the pitch black, so we waited till sunrise the next day. Found her about 100 yards from where I shot her, but the coyotes had gotten into her hind quarters pretty bad. I tagged her, and got what meat I could off her. I think I ended up with about 15 pounds of meat. I wouldn't consider what you did as being wasteful, you made a solid effort, and went back in the morning to find him. Also, you obviously were qualified to take the second shot, being as good of a shot as it was, so I wouldn't say you did anything wrong.
