So here is the story of the buck I liver shot two weekends ago. On the 11th of November I finally got out of class at noon. I was headed to NW Oklahoma where I had been hunting quite a bit this year. My brother and cousin had headed up the day before and had seen good movement that morning of the 11th. When I got there they were supposed to have hung me a stand, but instead they sent me to sit in an old ladder stand on the far south end of the tree row we are hunting. The wind was not good for it, but we didn't really have a whole lot of choices. Once I got there, I seen three large scrapes not ten yards behind the stand. That night I seen a lot of does, spooked some does, and seen one decent buck and had a small buck come in dogging a doe and grunting the whole way. That was it for that night! The next morning I head to the same stand but take my muddy hang on because this ladder stand is maybe ten feet tall. So I hang it and am set up a good 30 minutes before shooting light. This stand is hung with two large limbs in front of me for cover, the scrapes are to my left. At about 7:30 I have five does come by all underneath my tree and they hung around for a while. Then it went to nothing until twenty minutes later. I looked to my left and not 15 yards away stands a big buck! He comes right to those scrapes and starts working it and the licking branch over, facing me the whole time. I knew he was a shooter and a nine point and past that I didn't know exactly how big. He finished working the scrape and turned away, so I drew, then he went right and was broadside at ten yards! I went to settle my pin and my riser hit one of the limbs that was in front of my, so I had to lean back and then there were two small limbs over his chest. At this point I'm panicking!! So I put the pin past the limbs and let it go.. Nothing but liver. At this point my heart sinks. So I wait an hour and look at my arrow and it covered in dark red blood, so I think he should be dead. But we still decided to let him lay for five hours. We return five hours later and have minimal blood and then I find a bed in the salt cedars he went into and there is dry and fresh blood, we jumped him. So we grid searched the area within about 400 yards and no deer. This was the end for a while... So I call the land owner and ask for them to watch for buzzards and that I had shoot a deer back there. (Its a 3 hour drive for me to go out there) Then on Tuesday of this past week I call them to ask about coming out there to rifle hunt and she informs me that another guy who rifle hunts the property found my deer!! I couldn't believe it, but was happy as hell! He found him in the same general area we had grid searched and all I can figure is he went in a plum thicket and it was too thick for us to see him in there and the coyotes had drug him out. The coyotes had really done a number on him, so only the head was recovered. But for my second bow buck ever I couldn't be happier! He scores 136 7/8
Take this as a learning experience and remember how you could have changed the outcome. You took a shot when you should have waited. You took up the blood trail too early for a verified liver shot. Instead of backing out, you continued to look for the deer that you knew was on the run. You didn't look the following day. To me this would not be a success; if it is for you, congrats.
I am not going to disagree with what you posted, but I asked on here how long to wait and the general consensus was 4 to 6 hours. I waited five. It is only my second bow buck, I don't have sh!t quite perfected yet as you would like. And I had to come home and couldn't look the next day, I have an obligation to college right now and had homework and a project to do. School takes priority.
Congratulations on getting him! $75 for a cape from your taxi and he'll look great on a nice Coombs form! :D
Glad you found him, too bad you didn't get to eat the bounty and I believe you waited long enough. I shot a buck in the liver in 2007, knew it, he dropped and turned at my shot. Dark red blood, waited 3 hours and took up the trail. He made it less then 200 yards adn was stiff as a board. usually a liver shot is very lethal and fatal and rather quick. I shoot the Rage 2 blade and it really opened up the liver and cut the main artery leading into the liver. But it is good to learn from our mistakes, sometimes it happens. I'd say it was more the shot around limbs instead of not waiting long enough but still it happens. In the heat of the moment its hard to think straight.
I'm not going to congratulate you, it's not a success in my book. I do hope you learned a valuable lesson and all should have been considered including not being able to come back the next day when you took a risky shot. I personally would have made arrangements... We all make mistakes. I sure made my share of them in the past and I wish I would have had the internet and the knowledge on this forum to aid me along. The key now, did you learn something?
Glad the deer was found and you can have some closure. I know, its tough when you have so many other obligations, especially school, which should take priority without question. As Rob said, lessons to be learned here, not only by you, but everyone else on here.
Oh yeah I did. And I know I can read all about it on here, but when its the moment things are a little different. But I have learned alot from it and the more I learn, the better I hope to become at this bow hunting thing! Thanks everyone!
That's all that matters. Closure, lessons learned and experience. Now when you look at him, you can remember and take that to the field... Like I mentioned earlier, I wish I had the internet when I started... I know I'd have a heck of a lot more mounts.
I don't think you made any mistake that most here haven't made, but you open yourself up to a lot of criticism by saying you are "happy as hell" about another hunter finding the rotting carcass of a deer you lost.
