As many of you know I made a terrible shot on a nice buck last night and I am unable to find him...I hit him in what seems to be high shoulder and only got a few inches of penetration. I found tons of blood at first and then trailed spotty blood for 300 yds. Dan pointed out to me that I made a fatal mistake. Im a veteran bowhunter and have taken 31 deer with archery equipment and this was the 6th deer in 20 yrs that I have lost. I have not lost a deer in 5 yrs until now. In my younger days I made marginal shots and would take up the trail too soon, I learned after trial and error this was not the thing to do...and my recovery rate rose on marginaly shot deer... As to Dan's reply to me that I did not wait long enough and I trailed too far without backing out...He is 100% correct and I should have and did know better than to do it. No excuses, even if it's not a vital hit, it could have been or still could be and now I will never know and I have to live with it..Dan, no offense taken and I deserve to hear that from another veteran bowhunter...sometimes we get too cocky, and I was.. a lesson learned ..thanks Dan.
Glad you didn't take it the wrong way Landon. What happens after the shot and how guys approach tracking is a pet peeve of mine. So many....and I mean SO MANY more deer would be recovered if people would have a little patience. Sorry it didn't work out for you and glad you realized you made a mistake. Keep at it and good luck bro!
I understand erxactly what you meant. I did and do know better, I just got caught up in trying to "right" my wrong..I really believe that I got way less penetration than I originally thought...it wasn't the penetration as much as the point of impact...too high and there were no lungs to be hit at that angle, at least that's what I think.. I will surely learn a lesson and it's a shame that I had to learn again...
