Today was "my opening day" did not get to hunt the wv opener yesterday. Conditions were great saw several deer on my 20 acre property no bucks other than spikes but tons of deer. 3 times today I had the same mature doe come in and hang out in front of my blind. I told myself if she comes back one more time I'm going to make the shot. She did, and everything was perfect 15 yards broadside. I get settled in let the arrow fly and she didn't move. I knew I had hit her I gave it 20 minutes and went to find my arrow. Nothing what so ever on it but at the spot I hit her tons of blood. I gave it another half hour sure I hit her good (still couldn't explain the arrow being dry and without guts) fast forward 2 miles and 2 hours later. I had piles of bright red blood every 3 feet no sign of her ever beading down and then the blood stopped. Ran a grid and never found anything else. I am sure she crossed a road onto a property that is off limits. But now I am sick. I'm not a particularly religious person but I prayed the whole time looking and the whole time walking back with my head down. It is upsetting I do what I can to prepare I shoot hundreds of arrows a week year round. Tune, tune, and tune some more. I know this is part of hunting but it really stinks! I just keep telling myself she had a will to live. And also that nothing in nature ever truly goes to waste. If she did die she will feed other creatures. Hopefully I can sleep tonight knowing I did what I could to recover her and to make a good shot. It was dark when I got back now time to find out if I did something wrong or if something got bumped on my bow. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
There is nothing more nerve wracking than the time between letting the arrow go and recovery. Bites that you can not go on a property to recover a deer.
I tried, it's not a residential property and is off limits due to safety issues. Living in WV I believe it has something to do with coal mining. Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
It's a tough thing. I hit a nice buck last year and there was a ton of blood to the nieghbors line and golden rod field. I got permission but lost blood on golden rod. I called a tracker. Several hours later they picked up blood immediately. Bubbles ,puddles ,and we kicked him up. Well seeing the bed the tracker decided we should push him. As we are tracking crazy blood. We hear bang ! down where houses start again. He turned to me and said there goes your buck. We get to the houses and I get permission but between house we loose all sign. Tracker is frustrated and comes back the next day. Right at the houses everything just stopped . Two days, $$$ donation to tracker and I ended up with an embedded tick and a Dr. visit and no deer. That Bang still rings in my ear. Best of luck this year. BTW. I found my arrow this spring , a pass through buried fully in ground, disced it up. No gun season open ,bow only.
Those situations always haunt you until the next arrow flies. Nothing can make you question yourself like a good shot that results in no recovery. I had a similar situation last season and spent over 6 hours tracking good blood that eventually completely stopped. I couldn't sleep that night either. Luckily it was just a big doe, I can't imagine how hard it would be to go through that scenario with a good buck. Almost makes you want to sling the bow into the creek and call it quits.
No one is perfect. We can only prepare the best we can and sounds like you did. Might have hit a “dead” area in the chest cavity that only throws blood when she moves a bit, but not vitals. The area is high and a little lower of the spine. Vitals on a doe if she’s small isn’t so big. It happens , still sux but it’s hunting. Get back to practice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
