Just a quick sad story while I'm awake enough to write. Being busy with college, I haven't had much time to get out this year except maybe once or twice on the weekends. Tonight after school I was able to get in the stand next to a cut bean field and get set up just after 3 o'clock. I got my harness on, pulled my bow back, range a couple areas and settled in for a pretty promising sit. Not three minutes after I finally get settled in I hear something crashing through the woods to my left and see a very nice 8 or 10 point run out into the field. I instantly thought "shooter" and grab my bow and got ready for him. I saw that he was looking back behind him and didn't really think about it at the time, I just wanted him to come about 40 yards closer haha. Well he did just that at a jog and when he got close he stopped and turned broadside and looked back behind him again. I drew back on him because he was in a large opening and felt confident. I had ranged the area just behind where he was standing at about 26 or 27 yards and figured he was close enough that i could use my 20 yard pin and settled it just above his belly line and pulled the trigger. I immediately knew after the shot I didn't get the best shot. I saw the arrow go almost just under him and a little blood fly out, I think I basically hit him in the sternum region. After the shot he ran a few yards closer to me and stopped in some thick stuff and looked around. I knew I couldn't wait and grabbed another arrow and knocked it as quick as I could and drew back again. He walked a couple of feet and stopped in a small opening and I let arrow 2 fly. This I knew instantly that it was a clean miss right over his back. Either ducked it or I hit a limb, but I feel like he just ducked in time. After that I lost sight of him after he ran through the thick stuff and I couldn't find him through the brush. I calmed down a little after a few seconds and I could feel the dread start kicking in. Just as I called my Dad I saw what started this whole mess in the first place. About 80 yards away a coyote popped out right where the buck had and moved across the field but not close enough for a shot, so I let him walk on. After an hour or so I got down and started to track with my Dad. When we got on the trail and found where he stood right before I shot at him the second time we found 2 huge bright red pools of blood (photos attached) and my Dad was confident I killed him, but I was less than optimistic. We found the blood across the field where he went into the deep stuff and laid down for a bit after about 400 yards but saw that it was dried up and continued walking. It got harder after but we found where he went across the field and again and then back down into a deep, thick valley and lost the blood because it got too dark, at which point the deer has run between a half mile and 3/4 of a mile. My Dad is honestly shocked he is still running with the amount and color of the blood we had, and I'm shocked he is still going too. We backed out after that because its just too dangerous to track through it at night and risk injury. Now with rain forecast over night I'm not too hopeful to recover him. I think he's going to make it. I called a guy near me who has a tracking dog and asked what his opinion was and it mirrored mine. I'll look for him in the morning but again my hopes are low. Just wanted to share this with everyone so you don't make the mistakes I did or at least have the same bad luck as I had. Remember to get the right distance before you release, because like me an inch or two on where you hit a deer can make a world of difference haha. Hope everyone is having a good and safe season and you guys at least have a few chances coming in the next couple of weeks.
That was some quick thinking on the second shot! Couldn't tell you how many times I've heard someone say that they never thought about it. Hope you find him in the morning or he lives to be shot again! Good luck!!
