That's what I thought yesterday here, but it worked out. Hate field dressing and wiping mosquitos off your face.
Best of luck to you Jake! I had to cancel my Ohio hunt because of my Pop's poor health, but you can pick up my slack. lol I WILL get there next season!
One more day of work and it's finally here. Earliest I've gotten a buck is the 5th, latest on the 18th. If I get one early enough I can get a second tag and keep going. The ONLY good thing about IL. Last time I didn't have signal where I usually do, not sure what was up with that, but I'll try to pass time in here.
Well for whoever was following I didn't find the buck I shot. I mentioned it to begin with to get advice on the follow up of a possible gut shot deer. Monday at 8:10 he came in chasing a doe. Prob high 130's buck, would be my best archery buck. Grunted and got him to stop at 15 yards. His back half was covered in trees and brush but vitals were exposed. I let the arrow fly and he bolted 50 yards stopped for 2 minutes than walked off, maybe with a wobble, was hard to see him. Fearing a gut shot, although I thought his back half was pretty covered up by trees, I backed out for 12 hours. Was quiet doing so and it was windy and thick woods so I don't think I spooked him. I hoped he would bed and die within 100 yards like gut shot deer supposedly do but he didn't. First blood I found that night was where he stopped about 50 yards away after he bolted than the trail had a drop every 15 feet or so. When he would pause there would be maybe a dozen drops. All day yesterday I tracked his blood and had to grid search at times cause it would disappear at times for 50-100 yards. At the end of the day I put it all together and figured out the loop he did and where he seemed to have exited the property. It was a thick 80 acre chunk of woods where he traveled around for over a quarter mile at least. I hit every inch of it and didn't find him or a bed. I looked today in surrounding lands and didn't find any blood or deer. I thought maybe it was gut shot cause the arrow had some slimy maybe brownish (arrows brownish/green) stuff on it and practically no blood except for a little on a fletching. The arrow didn't smell. Not once did I find gut shot material on the trail. There was white hair on the ground where the arrow was sticking out of the dirt and white hair on the knock. Here's a few pics. What do you think of the clump of hair in my hand? I found it along the blood trail a good couple hundred yards from where I shot him. Brisket hair? Sure would be nice if I hit that chunk of skin near his brisket and didn't gut shot him. The blood looks bubbly cause it had drizzled a little. Hopefully he shows up on a cam soon.
My arrow looked similar to this guys arrow who says he thinks it was brisket hit. https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=10&f=23&t=661478
It looks like you really made a great effort on that deer. It's tough to lose one but sometimes you do. I definitely think it was gut shot and probably didn't survive. Keep your head in the game learn from it and keep at it. Blessings..........Pastorjim
Looks and sounds like a brisket shot or just under the belly....fat is probably what you saw on the arrow...if he was acting normal not hunched over or anything and stood there for 2 minutes then walked off I'd guess that deer is alive and well Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G935A using Tapatalk
Wel jus a question here shot a coyote.. any body ever not get a complete pass thru? First ever shot at an animal with a bow and have lighted nocks but couldn find arrow guess il have to go back later seem like i should have gotten a pass thru but maybe not
I didn't get out today but for those of you that remember I hit a doe with my crossbow in pa a couple of weeks ago my dad was hunting that game land and she came by and is getting around good! So I'm happy she's okay Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
It appears you clipped him, with the hair tuff it looks like it may have been a big nick. It's anybody's guess if he lives or dies.
Thanks. Gonna take a while to shake the frustrated feeling. Now I'm motivated to join the campaign to legalize dog tracking in Minnesota!
With the 4 pictures you posted, I'm fixated on the clump of hair. That tells you more than anything, then add in the blood. I don't think it was a low hit, and I don't think it was back. I think brisket or front leg no bone shot. That is some long and coarse brown hair with a bit of white hair mixed in. Only thing youcan do now if hunting the area still is watch for the circling birds or maybe a whiff of decay when the winds shift.
Beautiful 10 point with split g2s came in and hung up at 100 yards. I'm guessing mid 150's to low 160's. He was chasing a doe hard. Ended up seeing 12 deer only 3 does. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
If it was gut shot after 12 hrs of waiting you would have found where he bedded til you jumped him. since you didn't find any beds I would say brisket and he will be fine. I ended up seeing a spike at last light. brings my total to 29 different bucks this season. I feel odds are tilting in my favor of getting a chance at one. problem is next week is the last week in PA and the rut hasn't really even began. hoping the cold front coming in tomorrow will start things. once again PA is retarded by ending there season so short. I think I'm going to start a mission to find a lease in ohio so I can hunt longer.
