I put a doe in the freezer early Saturday morning as was the plan since our opener last week. I like to take a doe as early as possible, just to get the "rust" off so to speak. I've been dealing with a bit of a monkey on my back since I wounded a buck last fall in the midwest. I'm not very good at forgetting I guess. I had a group of does feed to me around 8AM and after watching and watching, waiting on them to get into a position for the shot, I decided to take the largest of the group. Shot was 25 yards and what I thought was a moderate quartering away, ended up being extremely quartering away. I was off a touch with the shot, and the arrow entered right in front of hind quarter. The arrow didn't appear to get much penetration as the deer sped off, then looped away and disappeared. At that point, I was really disgusted with myself. Based on what I saw, it didn't look great. Combined with climbing temps, I was concerned about getting on her sooner rather than later. I sat in the tree for 45 minutes (I timed it so I wouldn't leave too early), then quietly climbed out and packed up my gear, taking more time. Shot sight yielded no blood, and following the freshly torn up leaves left only a tiny spec of blood as well. I really wanted to back out, but again, the temps had me concerned. I very slowly pressed on in the direction she went and I last saw her. To my surprise, she made it a total of 50-60 yards from the shot and piled up. Needless to say I was relieved. The arrow was still in her and a quick inspection and field dressing revealed that the arrow did enter where I thought, passed through guts, liver and one lung before breaking her off side front shoulder. In reality, the shot was where it should have been in that case. This year I am using Rage Trypans and the damage it did to organs and the off side shoulder was pretty impressive. The lung it did get was slices almost in half, with a 4-5" gash. So the lesson for myself and maybe it will help others... Pay attention to orientation of the deer! I broke a simple cardinal rule and got really lucky on this one. This could have ended up a lot worse.
Thanks for the reminder! I had a similar shot on my buck last year, I didn't account for how hard it was quartering away and shot too far forward. It was one-lung hit. I found the buck two days later after the vultures and coyotes got it. Hard pill to swallow.
had a very semilar situation on opening day last month and took a shot i regret now. the grass was about 4 foot high and she was out around 80 yards and the wind was horrific i recovered the deer but it was hell tracking her. never will i shoot at that distance again def not with that terrain and wind. grats man on the harvest
I've had a string of really crappy luck find me the last couple of years and have been really hard on myself for it. I wounded two bucks in the midwest... first I hit a limb I didn't see causing a deflection. I hit the buck square on front shoulder and got about 1" of penetration. That deer I'm sure lived... Last year, I shot a buck at 15 yards... broadside. Shot looked good, reaction of the deer as he ran off looked right... good lung blood at beginning... ended up bumping that deer an hour later and never found it... So when I saw this doe run off with arrow hanging out... I was beside myself mad.. Especially early season when you're killing does, you should have plenty of time on a deer to wait out a better shot angle, etc... I was just not patient...
Congrats muzzyman. We all hit a slump sometimes, theres so many factors out of our control. Sounds like you hung with it and made a good shot and it all worked out. Good job! Just curious, how were you even able to see a deer in 4 ft high grass at 80 yards? Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk
