Well I put an arrow in one. That's about as far as the good news goes, that's if it is good news. So, today is my last day to hunt for 3-4 weeks. Rifle season starts this weekend and I have things I need to get done. Anyway, I got up in the stand early this morning. About 45 min before the slightest sign of light. About 10 minutes before shooting light I let off a couple social grunts. Right at shooting light a small deer walked within 10 ft of me. It saw something it didn't like (me) and hopped sideways and to about 8 yards from me. I couldn't see much through my peepsight but I was confident I could put a good shot on it. It stood there for a good 90 seconds while I took my time to make a good shot. I let one fly. The lumenok lit up and showed where I hit. It looked good. It kinda kicked and ran about 40 yards then stopped. It looked around for a few seconds before taking off across the field. I sat down and waited for 30 minutes before climbing down and going to take a look. Here's the issues I have with myself, and the situation. First it was darke enough that I couldnt tell if it had horns. I didn't want to shoot anything with horns and if it had horns they were small horns. So the real issue with this is that I shouldnt have taken the shot this early. It was too dark to tell so it was too dark to shoot. Second I didn't get a passthrough. While this might not be a huge deal I've only killed one deer that wasn't a passthrough. Here's why I think it might be.... when I shot it was broadside arrow hit the right side but when it was quartering away showing its left side I could see the lumenok as far as I could see the deer. Makes me think poor penetration. Again, too dark to shoot. Makes me think possibly shoulder, just hoping the opposite shoulder. So up to this point I've made more problems for being impatient. I start thinking to myself while waiting, if I find blood where it stopped then its all good. Even if its a small buck at least it gets found. I get out of my stand and have a look. I walked the perimeter of a 10+ acre field without a trace of blood. I decide to take a step into the woods and walk around some. On one area of some of the heavy trails off that field I find a decent area of blood. About 20 drops the size of a pea and a couple nice drops the size of a quarter with no less than 5 bubbles in each. Then it disappears. I backed out and called my cousin. We're going out around noon to grid. I'm upset because I took a shot i shouldn't have and may not find it now. I'm also upset if we find it and it is a little buck that I shot something I wouldn't have normally. A valuable lesson was learned but I still don't feel good about it. Here's hoping i find a dead doe this afternoon. While its hard to share this I am hopeful it helps someone not take a shot that isnt ethical.
Take it as a lesson learned and move on. As long as you make every effort to recover the deer youve done all you can.
Not try to harp on you - but what made you decide to shoot if you couldn't identify your target? This is the #1 rule of hunting safety, period. If it's too dark to see if the deer did or did not have antlers and you admittedly could not see through your peep, you should not have shot. Period. Mistakes happen in the heat of the moment, I understand that. But shooting while it's still dark, and most likely before legal shooting hours, is absurd. There's no excuse for that. I hope you find your deer and this story ends well, but this should be a lesson learned.
It was legal shooting hours, I shot at 605-ish am... which was within state laws. When I said couldn't see much I meant markers on the deer. The side it came in on has some branches hence not telling if was buck or doe. It was too dark I know. while legal it wasn't ethical. There will be noone harder on me than myself. It was a bad choice made out of frustration and concern this would be my only chance to fill the freezer. heat of the moment as someone said. wish i wouldnt have taken the shot. while i hope we find it i still shouldnt have shot... i know... im upset with myself. I'm biting my nails waiting. again i posted this to help if possible... to make something good out of something bad.
I hope you recover the deer in time to use the meat, and learn from this. On a good note, unless you shot someone's bull, I guarantee it won't have horns. See, there's a positive in every situation.
I had a similar situation yesterday AM. I could make the deer out, just fine. I shoot a recurve, so peep lighting wasn't an issue. I could have made an ethical shot on the deer. Period. I elected to glass him to see what he was sportin'. What I saw made me drop the binos and seat my tab. Too late. He's on the move. Here's where I difffer from Justin. If you had a legal buck tag, and YOU were sure you could make an ethical shot, I say you did nothing wrong. Only you can answer that, though. Hope you find your deer. FTR, I haven't used either of my 2 buck tags, and my buck was broadside at 10yds. If I had it to do over again, I'd still glass for antlers. But, that's just me. You made a call. Hope it works out.
I hope you find your deer. But its very hard to be encouraging to someone who knowingly did a lot of things they shouldn't have. May I also suggest rather than gridding right off the bat, go back to last blood and look a little more from there.
So everyone knows I have the ability to shoot a buck or a doe, so legally it doesnt matter. While I took a shot that i thought was fine... hindsight is 20/20. I missed my mark by two inches and for that i blame shooting too early. i was making a poiny that while you might think its ok and its legal doesnt mean you should shoot. im not new to hunting but im not pro either. its easy to say i shouldnt have shot. and maybe im just being hard on myself, but im hoping new hunters take this as what NOT to do. hopefully i can update with a happy ending
A lot of what happened can only be judged by you. I understand that it was legal shooting time and you couldn't make out the horns. I had a buck 24 yards from my stand about two weeks ago probably 20 minutes after shooting time. I couldn't make out the horns so I believe he was small, I didn't shoot. For some silly reason I didn't look through my binos to evaluate closer. This was a little mistake I made in the heat of the moment and it may of cost me a nice deer, doubt it but maybe. I mention this example because I understand how mistakes are made in those scenarios. Important thing is to evaluate, try to learn, be honest and ethical moving forward. We have all made mistakes in the outdoors but the real sportsman is honest with himself and doesn't let it happen again. Don't beat yourself up too much.
Yes, good luck....sounds like it might have been a solid hit - even in the lower light. Hope you find it.
Same thing happened to me. "Probably" could have made the shot. I could make out the body didn't know the exact quality of the buck (knew it was "nice"). Decided to pass and glass him in the field. And I dropped my binocs when I put my eyes on him (litteraly 18 feet to the ground) Any update on the deer? Hope you found it.
At least your admitting that what you did was wrong In your eye's Instead of making excuses up for something that didn't happen. I commend you on your honesty. I'm sure you learned something from this no matter If you find the deer or not but like you said hopefully others (1st time hunters) will learn from your expierence here too. Best of luck.
Update. We looked for him for about 3 hours. Know it was a him because we were only able to find blood at scrapes where he was working the ground. We trailed the little blood we found to a neighbors land that we couldn't get permissions to follow the buck on to. We followed him for about 1200 yards. The three of us felt pretty confident that I smacked the shoulder. It would explain the lack of penetration and the small blood trail, and the fact the areas we found the bit of blood were at scrapes. I'm not hunting for a few weeks then I'm headed to Nw missouri for a week. I have time to reflect on what happened.
You couldn't get permission to find your buck that you shot? Was there a blood trail you could have followed? If there was man, thats some crap, I would have called the game warden to atleast go to the end of the blood trail. If there wasn't a deer, whats the worst that its going to hurt? You shouldn't have even shot the deer in the dark, thats a bad judgement call, but I'm glad you feel bad about it, because hopefully put in the situation again you wouldn't do it. I wouldn't not hunt for a couple of weeks because of it, just admit your mistake, pray, and move past it. No reason to dwell over it for that long. Get your mind back on hunting, and put it past your mistake. I hope this helps, goodluck to you sir.
I'm not taking a hiatus r/t the shot, I'm taking one r/t rifle season and other projects that require my attention. About the land, the trail was spotty at best especially after 1200 yards, . To quote our CA: "Retrieval of game Anyone who kills or injures a deer must make a reasonable effort to retrieve and include the animal in his or her season limit, but this does not authorize trespass. It is a violation to wantonly leave or abandon commonly edible portions of game." I destroyed an "any deer" tag, and we tracked it for hours (I believe that would be reasonable). The land it jumped on to is a junk yard, and they have the right to say no, and it's not a "junk yard" in the typical sense. It's a very large area of land that has a lot of junk on it... lol
