So long story not so short, my buddy called me yesterday at 630 AM that he just missed a big buck. I told him to get down and check his arrow to make sure and he called me back ten minutes later saying that he hit him. I told him to go back to the truck and wait, Ill be there in an hour. He does and when I get there we head out to the spot to check the shot area and arrow. Arrow is soaked with a darker red blood and I immediately think liver. Decided to back out for a couple more hours. About 1:00 P.M. we pick up the trail, not great blood but enough to follow for 100-150 yds or so and then it ends. I start circling and my buddy goes to a ridge to look down in the gully that the buck was headed towards....and thats where it gets interesting. He jumps the buck, we sat and watched him as he crossed a cove of the lake and stood on the bank. He just stood there. Would take a few steps, hunched up, then stop. Did this for 60 or 70 yards until he was up the hill and we lost sight of him. We checked the bed we jumped him from, minimal dark red blood. At this point we are obviously backing out again and I am thinking gut shot with a clipped liver on exit, but the arrow shows zero, and I mean zero, evidence of a gut shot. Fast forward until 5. My buddy started a new job this morning, no way to make it out and I have a deadline that I needed to hit today. No way for either of us to make it out today until dark. We made a decision to pick up where we last saw him and slowly follow the trail. I expected him dead at the top of the hill, but no, he jumped. Now, as I watch him run, I can tell it is seriously in trouble. It turned and ran toward the lake down a very, very steep drop. Almost a cliff. we crawl to the edge and there he is laying on the beach partly in the water. We both think its dead. Cant see breathing, its not moving at all. Buddy nocks another arrow and boom, it bounds away 30 yds and lays back down. Here is wear a lapse in judgment may have happened. We start thinking we can get a follow up shot on him. Hes not wanting to move. After 4 attempts he is back up on the ridge he shot him on and we called it a night. Im going back out at 330 and hes going to meet me there about 5. I am like 98% sure that buck is either on that ridge or back down in the lake. He is definitely a dead deer. Now for questions, one of which Im pretty sure I know the answer to. We shouldnt have went for the follow up shot, should we? As a side note to that question, deer was on public ground laying on the shore of a heavily used lake. Chances are good he would have been picked up by someone today. Second question. Chances he didnt go far?
In that bad of shape and the following evening, I think going for a follow up shot is not a bad decision. I think that deer will be back by the lake if he can make there. Fever will set in and he will want water.
I am fairly sure of that as well. Just looking for other ideas. I really cant figure out the shot though. It just made so little sense that the only clues to a gut shot were his actions. The amount and type of blood all screamed liver, but he should have been dead if that were the case. It has been above and beyond the most exciting thing I have ever been through while hunting deer, and I didnt even have a bow in my hand. There were literally two occasions where I was standing in a lake. Forgot to mention too, hes a good 150" plus chocolate rack clean, beautiful 10.
Good job not giving up. Will be interesting waiting for the news you got him. Please follow up for us on here.
Will do. Im not one to leave updates empty. http://forums.bowhunting.com/bowhunting-talk/26157-awesome-horrible-night-need-advice-bad-way.html
How close did you get when your buddy was about to take the follow up shot? Anywhere under 60 and that deer would've gotten a second arrow Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
That's awesome! Did your buddy hit it in the neck? If so surprised it went that far Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Believe it or not, but from entrance and exit it appears all liver, nicked one lung and maybe nicked guts. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how it lived that long.
Wow, crazy story. Good job at sticking with it. Great looking buck and sounds like you made all the right moves.
That looks like a good shot I feel like an inch or two higher and you would have had double lung right?
That's awesome! Congrats to your friend It's a welcomed change to have so many of these threads ending up with a successful track this season, won't always be the case, but have had quite a few thus far.
I'm impressed, after reading this thread I didn't think there would be pictures of a dead buck at the end. Hell of a good job sticking with it!
way to stick with it, congrats ! i have experienced a similar situation before, had 3 arrows in this deer, was still fighting as i pulled him from the laurel. almost had to go hand to hand combat. crazy what the adrenaline of the rut can make these things do !
