Well... I have a buck tagged and I'm both sad and happy. Then again I feel bad about feeling happy... so I'm an emotional wreck. (typical woman.. I know) I've been hunting pretty hard and have had a few encounters with some really nice bucks but I'll be darned if I could get them in to less than 40 yards. (well, one was 37 yards but same difference) I had seen what I considered a 'less-than-a-shooter' buck three times in the same small area (which is weird because bucks don't follow much of a pattern out there). I didn't really try to close in on him because he just wasn't as big as some of the other bucks I'd seen. Well, November came and went and suddenly I'm less picky. I set up where I'd seen this buck show up at 3:30 pm previously.. and I'll be darned if right at 3:30pm, here he comes. He's a little bigger than I thought. He starts munching on acorns and passes by at just over 20 yards, but there are a couple of branches in the way. (Just a few but I'm a really paranoid shooter) Eventually he works his way out in front of me. Broadside at 25 yards with his head down.. I think 'that's sweet' and draw. A squirrel (or something) right on my tree or at the base of my tree freaks out when I draw and goes running away at warp 8. The buck jumps and stops looking away from me. He's now about 26 yards and at a 45 degree quartering away angle. I'm drawn.. and I think, "he's not that scared, he's not even looking over here." I settle my pin on him shoot. Let me tell you, that buck didn't just jump the string, he damn near jumped out of the county. By time my arrow got there he had moved/spun forward and away. All I could see as he ran off was my arrow sticking straight back out of him and high. It looked to have very little penetration. So... we tracked him by his hoof prints for about 400 yards, in that distance we didn't find enough blood to fill a thimble. We looked for hours day and night, in the rain and the wind. Nothing. The evidence pointed to a superficial wound. We were all still looking, for a live sighting or a carcass. Then the 'sighting', Drew the natural areas manager for the park calls me. (Drew helped me look for the buck the day after I shot it. It was pouring rain and 20 mile per hour winds.. Drew is a trooper. ) He was out walking his blood trailing dog and she found the buck. My arrow still in it. A mile from where it was shot. The buck has been dead for some time.. perhaps it died a few hours after the shot? Maybe a few days later? He's certainly been dead for at least a week. In ultra weirdness, the muzzy was still firmly planted in the pelvis/hip (the ilium bone).. but the shaft had broken off behind the broadhead and was jammed into his body cavity. I cannot begin to fathom how that happened... but it did. Maybe he ran into something? Fell? Talk about bad luck. So... here he is: I know poop happens.. but dang.. I was more confident at that shot than I have been on past 20 I've taken at deer. I am relieved that since he's dead I was able to tag him and I feel a little accomplished at finally getting in range* of a half decent buck on this often tough to hunt public land. *I'm re-defining what my range is on an alert deer. Down to about zero yards.
I wouldn't have let that buck walk. I'm glad you found him, even though circumstances weren't ideal. Congrats.
Even though you wish me dead... (you're such a softy)... A BIG congrats Christine on the buck and the recovery! Great pics too... kudos to the photographer.
Hey, regardless of the circumstances, you got your buck. Nicely done Christine. It sure pays to have friends keeping an eye out.
Having to "settle" for bucks like that is a GREAT problem to have. Damn fine "Less then shooter" you got there. I don't envy your emotions over what happened but you certainly should take comfort in knowing you did everything you could to find him. Sounds like you have some nice people helping you as well. Hope this brings you some closure and when you look back at him in the future it will be fondly. Congrats.
Congrats! Finding that buck is 10X better than not.Thank goodness for the parks guy and his dog.. Nice buck. Maybe you should get a bigger maglite and.............never mind.
I've experienced those same emotions this season with the doe I killed and found 2 days later. Congrats on a dang nice buck. Did you use the blood trailing dog to try and find him earlier?
First of all great job on doing all that you could to find him. Secondly, congrats on a great looking buck. Now I am going to tell you things you already know... Bowhunting is extremely difficult. Nothing EVER goes perfectly. I struggle with "the rules" for alert deer as well, but for the most part I figure we hunt as much as we are able and have very limited chances of taking an animal that we would be happy with. We can what if ourselves right out of the tree, but it does no one any good. It sounds to me like you made a sound judgement call and things turned out poorly. That happens a lot in life whether you are talking about hunting, work, relationships, you name it. All we can do is our best and we should find comfort in that fact.
This is the greatest quote of all-time. I'm getting Mike a shirt made with this on it. Congrats on the buck and the recovery! :D
Great Buck! You did nothing wrong for sure...glad you were able to retrieve him. The more I hear about those dogs...the more I'm amazed...
Congrats Christine. Finding it even a week or more later has to be better than always wondering. And that looks like a great buck to me. No meat but a great trophy!
Christine, Congrats on finding your Buck!! That is much better than not finding him anytime. Poop happens at any range. I think because the Buck was already alerted he was probably setting on springs even though he was looking away from you he was obviously ready to react to anything. Some of the easiest shots I have taken have been out at 40 yards or so, and some of the toughest have been 3 to 4 yards. :-) Dan
