Well, what a day. I crept into a new stand in the snow this morning. Within 30-40 minutes I heard movement, but it was still pretty dark. I knew shooting light was only a few minutes away as I watched the buck work his way closer. By the time he was in range I was confident I had enough light to make a shot. I could see he had a big body, and long brow tines. I drew and he stepped into a shooting lane 20 yards out, quartering slightly away. The shot hit him him with a pretty loud impact, and he took off. I waited twenty, then got down to find the arrow. I thought things were pretty good until I found the arrow 60 yds away, broken off 6-8 inches from the tip. Given that it was still snowing, and fearing a one lung/muscle hit, I opted to follow the trail while I could. I think this was the right decision, based on later events, but I was guessing at the time. I followed blood and hoof prints for the next three hours. For the first hour, the blood was good. Great even at times. I expected him around every turn. I tracked him through a swamp, across a tidal inlet to a golf course, then up the side of the golf course. Then I jumped him in some brambles! He popped up 15 yards away and trotted off to about forty yards. Here is where I think I made my biggest mistake. I didn't check to see if the blades of my mechanical broadhead were still secure after all that tracking. I had a clear shot through some trees at the vitals, a shot I can definitely make, but the arrow made a horrible racket and hit trees and I never even saw it. The buck ran off. I knew I had blown my chance, but I continued to tail it for several hundred more yards while the snow began to melt. Blood dried up to pea sized spots every few yards, then I lost the tracks. I've been looking all day. Now I'm totally exhausted and pretty dissappointed. Cheer me up?
You should have gave the deer more time. My rule of thumb is if I dont see the shot impact or the buck go down I alway give em at least 1 hr to go check my arrow, then I make a decision based on my arrow. Best of luck, keep looking.
Generally, I totally agree. But I never would have found the first bed if I had waited. The snow would have covered up, and then melted out any trail. I'll be more patient with my shot next time. Two more seconds of breathing and settling down and I would have put the arrow in the vitals and not spent the day tracking a deer who now I'm hoping might survive. I did find a lot of cool sign on my travels. I even had a young buck grunting at me and coming through the brush to stare at me from ten yards while I was tracking. Aim smaller miss smaller. Check your gear. Don't rush the shot. Lessons learned As far as tracking goes, I learned that you can find blood droplets under snow by compressing that snow with your hand or boot, and looking for a red blush as the snow crystals melt together. Helped me out several times.
How long do I keep looking? What are everyone's opinions? I'm guessing I got one lung. There are two areas of forest I'll search today, but they are thick spruce and cedar with visibility under ten yards in most of it. Do lung hit deer go to water? It's a lot of swamp anyway, so that probably won't help.
Well I followed every hunch and idea I had about where that buck could go, grid searched two more areas. No sign of him. I did see a lot of deer on their feet at 11-12. I also shot my bow at home, it turns out the axis arrows I recently switched to place consistently high and right, by about 4 inches. That's the difference between double lungs and shoulder. I shot my accs and they still placed a little right, so I adjusted my sight and now I'm back in the ten ring. I got back in the stand tonight and mouth grunted a buck with a scrub rack into range. I'm holding out for a big buck through the rut!
