First set up at the camp this season. It’s hot and it’s dry. The past two afternoons there has been a borderline buck walking this tree line I’m at up on. Hopefully I get to take a good look at him.
Okay. I finally have a chance to answer your question and just tell the whole story. Sorry, but it's going to be a long post. First, here's an updated OnX pic: Anyway, let me lead off by saying that I misspoke when I said that we actually blood trailed for over a quarter mile. I looked at the wrong track. Elly May's track above is 0.4 miles. The actual blood trailing was shorter. Okay. Again, the blue stand is where I was and the left red X is where the buck was. I've deleted all tracks except for Elly May's second attempt. Yeah, after I dragged her off the track we went back and started again. That time she went a totally different direction. The actual blood trail that my neighbor and I tracked followed Elly May's track (with the exceptions of her hitting other trails) until we got to the red X in the middle. When we got to that red X the wind was fishtailing out of the SE and Elly May stopped tracking and wanted to go down the road. I let her go but she wasn't sniffing the ground or tracking at all. At this point I know that the actual blood trail crossed the road and made an arc back to the blood icon, which was last blood. I saw that Elly May wasn't actually tracking so I made her stop and practically had to drag her back up the hill. I should have trusted her because at that point I'm sure she had winded him and it wasn't the first time she'd winded a dead deer and left the trail to go straight to it. My idiot self didn't remember that though. Now I feel like such a jerk, because at that point she was about 70-80 yards downwind of where I found him this morning. My wife and I took Elly May back down there this morning and she did find the track temporarily because my wife saw a couple of blood specs, but it didn't last long. Elly kept following other deer trails that went all over the place. I left Elly with my wife and walked the ravine that leads to the creek but found nothing. Finally we gave up and walked all the way back up the hill home. I sat in my recliner and looked at OnX and realized that I didn't do something I should have. I didn't walk the actual creek. So, I got on my E-Bike and rode back down there. My plan was to ride another road down to where the road with last blood hits it, park there, walk all the way to the creek and then walk the creek back up looking. Just before I got to where the road with blood hits the road I was on I saw a buzzard fly in low and disappear. I stopped, parked, turned on OnX tracking and that's the short track you see that leads to the buck. I hadn't walked 15 yards into the thicket when the buzzards busted up. I knew I'd found him. After taking a couple of pics I went back to the bike to ride home, get my bow for pics and a saw for the antlers. I was riding up the rocky road, hit a rock and wrecked for the fourth time since I started hunting this spot. This time I didn't escape unharmed. My right foot got caught between the front wheel and the bike frame and the fall twisted my ankle and foot terribly. I also landed on a good size rock that impacted the right side of my back. After laying there for a few minutes, I got up and rode back home. My neighbor was kind enough to let me use his four wheeler to go back down since I was injured. That was nice because I'd have ridden the bike down again. Well, that's the story, I still haven't taken my boots off to look at my ankle. It's still burning and I have a significant limp. I haven't taken my shirt off yet to look at the bruise there either. Fun couple of days.
Jeez man, this hunt really beat you up from all aspects. I glad you didn't give up, and you finished the job. Congrats on the recovery. And glad your not hurt worse.
Honestly I don't even know how bad my foot is hurt, but it doesn't matter. Thanks bud. Do you remember in 2017 when I broke my left foot putting my underwear on after a shower? I kept hunting.
Heal up and get back out there and kill something else. Take a few days , nobody will fault you for that. closure , smallerone , I don’t think so congrats on the buck. Way to go and not give up
Man that's tough the way it ended up with your injuries. You did your best to find that deer and you can be proud of your effort. You probably learned something about your dog as well. I hope you mend soon Sent from my SM-N975U1 using Tapatalk
In the same spot as yesterday evening just earlier and quieter. If the same doe and fawn come through today I’ll be ready. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Glad you found the deer. Sorry you got hurt doing so...fwiw, from experience, the 'best' bruises will take a few days. Get better physically, get your head straight, take a few days for both.
Is Elly May your dog Chief? That is cool to have a dog to help search. Sorry you didn’t get to him in time before he was scavenged. He is a nice buck!
Wow, quite the adventure. Glad you weren't hurt worse, but it sounds like you need some serious rest. Hope you recover quickly.
It seems like that Bike is a wreck waiting to happen .... glad you found the buck, better late than never ....
ALL HAIL ELLY MAY!!!! Awesome effort to find your buck!! Glad to hear you're not too hurt. Glad you were able to get help from your neighbor, haven't heard you mention him before? And I hope Elly May gets a whole back strap for dinner.
Johnny, after all that, I can only say that the rest of the season has to be easy going because you sure paid your dues for that buck. Get well my friend.
LC congrats on finding your buck I hate he was all ate up but man what a effort and if that’s a little guy send a couple little guys my way Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
