I was thinking about the blood trail on my last deer the buck, it was a very learning experience. So the buck comes in and presents a 17 yard quartering away shot ( marked by pink circle where I shot him and blue arrow was his direction of travel ) I aim a little farther back because he is quartering away ... Arrow impacts and I could see the arrow hit farther back than I really wanted, as he runs away I can see my arrow fletching and firenock just barely sticking out of him on the arrow entrance side and the arrow & broadhead sticking out the exit side. So I watch him run uphill and I took a phone pic of the last spot I saw him up the hill before he disapeared into the thicker stuff ( marked by pink circle ) I take these photos from the tree because it all looks so different when you get down out of the tree onto the ground & I find it very helpful in tracking deer. Once I got down I marked the impact site since I believed I had hit stomach or gut shot the buck and was gonna have to wait many hours before tracking him. This is the shot site So I look at the blood trail for the about 40 yards and to my suprise the blood is really good and I have bubbles in the blood on the trail on the side the arrow exited the buck and blood was sprayed ( which told me I got some lung ) So I then began to think he was quartered away when I shot him a little better than I thought originally ) I then made the decision to continue the tracking which usually I wouldnt do on a deer hit where I hit him. As I continue the blood tracking, the blood is getting even Better ... NOT worse which was a determeing factor to continue the track. As I blood track him uphill now Im still on alot of really good blood, Untill what I thought was a disaster happens ... I come upon a empty bloody deer bed ... Im now thinking I am a moron for trailing this deer to soon & I must have jumped him and didnt see him run away but all the sign was telling me other wise. Ive been tracking deer alot and even with my blood tracking dog and this track said to me this is a dead deer soon. So I decided after mulling over the facts to continue the trailing and quickly find the back half of my arrow and this blood sign close to the bloody bed he exited So I continue on really good blood but its heading out to an open CRP field towards my SUV, As I step out into the open CRP field I look to my left and there to my suprise he is lying dead Now I never did find the front half of the arrow but I will go back and look for it, I know I wouldnt like to step on it or have someone else suffer by stepping on it ( Public Land ). Turns out the buck was already stiff by the time I got to him so I didnt jump him from his bed but there was another hunter in the general area that morning and his/her track in in the dark my have been his/her same track out in the light took him/her not to far from where the buck was bedded so he/ she may have jumped him. I had hit center liver on the arrow entrance then stomach and one lung on the arrow exit and that center hit liver is what caused him to bleed out. So my take away from this blood trail is .... READ THE SIGN and when in doubt like they say back out, LEARN AND STUDY BLOOD TRAILS ... Know the difference in a good blood trail to follow and a iffy one where you need to wait. What we see in the tree isnt where we always actually hit the deer
I finally had two days off this weekend. But not seeing my prego wife and kid for a month only gave me one afternoon to hunt yesterday. I didn’t see anything but I founf out we’ll be home thanksgiving thursday through the weekend so I put some bait out tonight and hopefully i’ll be able to at east tag a doe to help the score. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
So I am finally ready to talk about it... Friday, November 27th was an absolute perfect day to hunt. I skipped the morning and got on one of my favorite stands around 2pm that I had been avoiding all season just waiting for the right wind. Saw a lot of deer that afternoon and into the evening and was pretty content with the day. The sun had set and I decided to let out a grunt, about 60 yards behind me I hear a buck grunt back and can hear him making his way to me in a hurry. Before he came out of the woods he snort wheezed and when he stepped out in front of me he was all kinds if puffed up and looking to kick some tail. He was twenty yards away with his backside facing me. I drew my bow back and let out a little snort wheeze, he jumped out to 30 yards did a little figure 8 and was broadside. I leveled my 30 yard pin on him and released. I was lined up perfectly but the arrow just went right under him. I was struggling to find him in my sight and misjudged the distance, he was at 38 yards. Clean miss which I am thankful for but still pissed I missed. Why am I pissed? I've never seen this buck before and he was easily over 170". I damn near shat myself when he came out into the field. I went out the next morning and double checked for blood and hair, nothing. Had I decided to carry the rifle out that day, different story but that is bow hunting at its core. I ended up shooting g a nice little 8 that morning with my rifle, maybe a 2.5 year old that'll eat real nice. I think I've let the place cool down enough so I am planning on hunting Saturday and Sunday. So, that was my black Friday. Nothing more to do than keep your chin up and get back in the saddle.
Yeah, with one deer and an elk in the freezer, and such mild temps, I'll probably be sitting with the bow this weekend. Christmas week I'm taking vacation, so there may be some time in the woods then too
I want to start off by saying sorry for not being more active on this thread. I have been swamped with work and of course I have been hunting hard. I am fortunate that I have been working remotely, which has allowed be to get into the stand or saddle somewhere around 40 times this fall. Although I still haven't connected on my first buck, I have had some close calls with shooters on both public and private land. Below is some footage of the more noteworthy encounters I had. First up is a buck we call Lewis and Clark. I posted a question earlier this fall asking what everyone's opinion on this buck's age. I think the consensus is somewhere between 2.5 and 3.5. I personally think he is just a great 2.5 year old. This buck is the most photographed/filmed buck on the property and pretty much lives on our farm. We decided to give him a pass this year, but I have to admit there have been a few times I have debated shooting him. Here he is back on September 30th. Some really good pre-rut action with him working some scrapes: . He eventually worked his way into about 5-7 yards from my stand and last light. This is the only shooter buck I have encountered on public land in Minnesota. The closest he gets is about 40 yards, which is just a hair too far for my comfort level. Hunting public land in MN has been way more challenging than I had anticipated. The combination of pressure and my own (now apparent) lack of scouting has made for a long season. I also had a couple of encounters with my #1 hitlist buck. I'll let the footage below speak for itself. He was walking in to check out a mock-scrape to my right. I was surprised both he and that smaller buck were both coming in near up-wind of the scrape. If I wasn't filming, I am about 95% sure he would be dead and at the taxidermist right now. Lesson learned. He never really spooked too hard, and we had him on camera several times after this, up until Missouri's rifle season. We haven't had him on camera since, which is definitely making me feel like he has been killed because we were getting him on camera every two or three days throughout the last few falls. I will still be hunting hard until the Missouri season ends in January. We have about 2 acres of standing beans and the only late season food sources within a few miles, so I am confident I will get another opportunity at a shooter buck. I've been bowhunting for about 6 years and have only released one arrow at a deer. I definitely need to get this monkey off my back. I'd obviously also like to help the team out. I'll try and be a little more active on here as the season and contest comes to a close. Good luck everyone!
Going to be out tomorrow after the snow, have had a ton of does on trail camera in daylight and a few bucks coming through at night, hoping the snow has the bucks bedded down through the night so they get up and move tomorrow morning! I’ll take a doe or two though!!
