You have the right plan from everyone, just wait until tomorrow, unless you are warmer than the rest of the country, temps arent an issue. She doesn't sound spooked too bad, but she is going to travel some now and likely not leave much blood after she got up. Your urban setting will be a benefit here because you have less woods to search if it comes to grid searching. Everytime a post like this comes up, you will get loads of recommendations or criticisms about what you should or should not have done, and almost all of them are "by the book" responses. Yet when each individual (unfortunately myself included)gets in a situation like this, the mind really starts to play tricks on you, it starts to justify things or suggest things that you would never consider while sitting behind a computer.
I'd go out tomorrow too Landon. There's nothing gonna be hurt by giving some extra time. Hopefully you'll find her not too far. good luck.
Landon, As others have told you I hope you wait til in the morning to go back. Better wait too long than go back too quick, especially since the temps are cool. Tough Luck! Dan
Nothing at all hurt by recovering that deer tomorrow afternoon even if she was dead an hour ago or more. Go to school, tell the kids you shot one, and go get her tomorrow afternoon bud.
thanks gents, I will give it my all, I might even take off early tomorrow..the students have exams and leave 11:25..I may get to slip out @ 12. I really don't know why I pulled up on the shot at the last minute...my heart sank..doe or buck it never matters, I hate to have this happen..especially twice in one year..I will continue hunt and shoot...it's just so hard to kill a deer in December, even a doe can be hard to come by this late in the game..and I blew it. I let myself down. Man this passion has it's highs and lows doesn't it...??
Hang in there Landon I know how you are feeling!!!! It is easy to arm chair quarterback after the fact. The shedded buck I just killed last saturday I saw the arrow laying there on the snow and walked over to look at the arrow when I saw the the buck laying there 30 yards away,now he was dead but I still knew I never should have walked over there but sometimes you just want to know when you know should not go over there but you just have to know.. I think it is even worse when you make a bad shot that little voice in the back of your head is to just walk over and find blood then you know you have a chance and then you look up and see her and you know you should not have gone over there but what do you do!!! Hold that chin up you will find her!!!Good luck Walt
Bring a friend See if you can have someone who understands hunting go in with you to track her down for the find gut and drag out
It is what it is, now. No use cryin' over spilled milk. I shot a doe like this in 2007. Came home....took my wife out to dinner.....and went back "in" about 11:30 (shot her at 4:45). I go to where I thought I'd last seen her....and she got up. I watched her walk about 10yds and lay back down. Pitch dark, and having a bow with me would have been pointless. I snuck out, went home, and went back "in" about 3:30AM (had to go to work in a few hours). She was right where I'd seen her go down the last time. You guess is as good as mine as to when she actually expired. I wouldn't expect her to be very far from where you last saw her, landon. Good luck. I hope, by now, she's in the cooler.
thanks for the encouragement guys but I didn't find her. I got out there at 1:30 and and tracked blood for about 150 yds and I lost the blood or it just teetered out.....I did several circles getting wider and wider as I did them until I covered the entire block of woods and all along the creek....still nothing. I went to the river bank and walked it up and down several times, nothing.. the blood was really good for about 100 yds then it got weaker reallt fast until I just couldn't find anymore...hands and knees...I looked for about 3.5 hrs in the block of woods until I searched every inch of it...Im not sure, but I think she went into a larger block, much larger and the man who lives there was at work, he's funny about his land so I didn't go over there...I will try to contact him in a bit and seek his permission and go back...it's starting to snow now and we are going to get 4-5 in by the morning, but I will continue the search as long as I can. His block of woods also borders the river, his block is about 5 times the size of this one, so it's gonna be tough going..is there a possibilty that she just simply went into the river? If she did, she's gone for good..this is the James river, it's tidal and big. I hope she stayed away from it...I have been really down today guys, I was stupid to even go over there....my fault, Im to blame..I am an idiot after all the deer I have killed and have waited several hrs before tracking deer hit far better than this...I just don't know what came over me.. now my confidence is very low and Im actually affraid to shoot a deer now. it may sound silly for a veteran who has killed 100 whitetails, but it is what I feel right now.
Landon..... The sooner you realize that losing a deer here and there (while unfortunate) IS a very realistic outcome (especially for someone who gets multiple opportunities, each year).....the sooner you'll simply get back on the horse that threw you. It's nobody's business, but yours. My only advice to you would be to go about this next time in PM with a couple people you trust. Trust me, pal.....you're not the only person who lost a deer this year (or in a previous season). You're simply one who aired it. And before anyone tries to extrapolate....."no". I had a great year. Get back on the horse.
