he has a FLIR for this very tracking scenario. I talked him after his morning hunt earlier today. This morning he was in the spot I hunted last Sunday which is only 400 yards to the parking spot. But, the wind wasn’t looking good for that spot. If LC went back to his orher spot, it is a mile back via Rambo bike to parking. if he is in that spot and had to go back to camp for the FLIR, he could just be getting back out there.
Life is all about the details, every aspect of it. Miss something and you could miss everything altogether. Analyze and adapt, rinse and repeat. I'm not liking the length of time since shot to update. Either without signal, too busy tracking or going to call it a night and go out in the morning to pick it up.
I’m sorry to keep you guys hanging. Short answer is we have to wait until morning. With no exit wound there is no blood trail to follow, and in the dark weaving looking for blood we can’t follow a compass bearing. I know he disappeared from sight bearing 132 degrees from my tree but not from where he was standing. I did scan with the thermal imager where we were but saw nothing. I didn’t want to stomp the whole area up looking for a needle in a haystack though. We are going to head out at 8:00 am to try again. I’m going to climb my tree and walk the other guys to where I saw him disappear. Again, I apologize for the delay. When we parked the truck to go look I left my phone in the truck. @cantexian - I did go to the other spot, and you’re right. It’s about a mile on bike and then close to a half mile on foot through the woods including crossing two creeks. Since I didn’t have my phone I didn’t have OnX so I had to find it from memory in the dark. Anyway, if we can get on the right track we should find him. I have no doubt that deer is dead. I saw the angle of the arrow and the amount of penetration. There is a good chance that the yotes will find him first, but I have no choice. We just can’t follow a deer with no blood at all. I know that eventually he’ll start blowing blood out his nose. Hopefully we can find that.
On another note, I’m feeling really low right now. I’ve hunted so hard for a buck here and I worked my butt off for this one. I played chess with these bucks for a week, making calculated moves after observing, never moving in too far or stomping through their living room looking for sign. This morning was my 15th consecutive sit with no breaks this trip. If only he hadn’t walked straight to my tree. Why do they always do that to me?
Sorry I couldn’t reply. My phone was in the truck. Given the shot I had, the placement was perfect. His reaction was he wheeled right and kind of kicked at the same time and then ran like a bat out of hell with about a quarter to a third of an arrow waving a lighted nock sticking out of him at about a 25 degree angle.
A good friend of mine I called after the shot said it’s not dead until you find it. I called BS. That deer is a dead deer even if we don’t find it tomorrow.
I’m up. We aren’t leaving until 8:00 though, and I’ll be sure and remember my phone this time. I had my alarm set for 6:30 thinking how nice it would be to sleep in. Yeah right. My internal clock is set for 4:30 now. I tried to go back to sleep but that wasn’t going to happen with what’s going on.
Your shot sounds like one I made in 2013. Hit a little high front shoulder quartering towards, 3/4th penetration. Took me some time, but I found him, and you will too.
That's how I was on Wednesday night. Hard to sleep when you know you have a deer out there. Good luck, you got this! Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
I'm right there with you. Got my big cup of coffee and jumped on the fourm. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
I’m sitting here waiting thinking about how difficult it is to get a shot at any deer here on this WMA, let alone a good buck. I’ve said before on here how educated the deer are. The older deer seem to sense your presence. Even a spike or a fawn will pick you off and leave you humbled. It’s like they learn from the previous generations that there is danger up in the trees and they look for it. Ive been hunting this place for over 10 years now and this is only the second time I’ve had a shot opportunity on a decent buck.
Speaking of Natty Light, that’s all I had for dinner last night. My stomach was in knots and I couldn’t make myself eat anything. Surprisingly I feel pretty good this morning.
Still have some waiting to do. It’s only 6:55 and the guys aren’t going to show up until 8:00. Then it’ll take us 15 minutes to drive to the parking spot and another half hour to get to the stand. I have to say it’s killing me to just sit here.
Good luck Johnny. Off to get a vehicle inspected and (hopefully) waste $ at the sporting goods store...
