I shot a nice 7 pointer this evening around 1830. He was with a doe and I grunted & rattled my butt off trying to get him to leave her for me. Well, the doe eventually brings him right too me with minutes of shooting light left. I stop him at 35 yards and put my 20 & 30 yard pins on the center of his chest and squeeze off the release. He does a 180 and bounds off into a briar thicket. I immediately realized what I had done AFTER the shot. It sucks because I even took an extra second to make sure everything was right. I should have used the 30 & 40 yard pins. I always fold under the pressure. I got to my arrow about 45 mins later. Little bit of blood and some white hair on the shaft and ground. Looked at the blood trail for about 5 yards (sparse) and slowly backed out. I never did hear him spook if he was bedded close but I'm unsure how far he actually ran after the shot. I guess I could have hit an artery and the arrow cleaned itself on the way out but I doubt it. Heading out in the morning and I'm taking the mutt to accompany me. I really hate to be a pessimist but I really don't think I'll find this buck. I can honestly say I think he'll live to see another day but I'm hoping to be proven wrong in the morning. Don't feel too bad for me though....I'm used to this sort of thing. Here's a couple pics I snapped when he was about 120 yards out.
Give it your best shot looking for him. Last year I killed a doe that left almost no blood on the arrow and no blood at the impact site. Good luck!
Sorry to hear that. Hopefully he ducked the shot a bit and the white hairs are from the exit. Good luck in the morning, hope you find him or something to let you know he's still kicking.
My shot was on a deer too close to me (I was waaay up in a tree). Entered near the spine on the far side and exited low on the same side. One lung hit. As much lung as got hit, you'd think the arrow would have been covered in blood but it wasn't. I thought I must have just nicked her high. In fact I was still thinking that when I found her. So while my hit is different. No blood on the arrow can just be a fluke. I think if you're seeing blood at the impact spot, there's hope the hit was just low but still very lethal.
I remember that old thread. Definitely gives me hope. Wonder how many people don't take up a dead deer's trail because of the way the arrow looked at the POI?
finch, dont give up so quick just ease in thier in the morning and take your time and keep your nose open cause them ol'deer are smelling ripe this time of the year! maybe your dog will find him and earn some of that dog food he's been putting away all this time ha-ha best of luck to you buddy!
Good luck ! Hopefully we'll be seeing better pics of him tomorrow ! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Good luck finch. Put the time in to find him. If you hit anything important he will be dead and taste great bid you didn't than I'm sure you barely got him ad he will live to be bigger for the next shot you get on him.
I'm tracking him now. I must have done some damage b/c the blood has really picked up. My hopes of recovering has picked up as well.
Its not looking good. Been looking for four hours. He lost what I think is good blood and then I lost the trail. Walked a trail I thought he had taken and found a bed with a quartered sized speck of blood and one drop five yards away. No more blood after that saw I walked the trail I thought he used. Nothing. When walking out to go back to my truck, I found blood where I had lost the trail. He bedded down down twice with ten yards of each bed. Walking back to the first bed I found I noticed he had bedded down about 2 yards from it. I didn't see it the first time. The entire trail is 350-400 yrds id guess. Breaking for lunch and getting the dog to help.
Sounds like he's hurting being how often he's bedded down. Tough call on it, been quite a while since the shot. Good luck
Yeah, I'm at a loss. He had a full 13 hours to expire with no pressure (at least not from me). I'm really unsure what his outcome will be.
