15 damn yards and you can not put a doe down with a bow? Tony, I am beginning to think your nutz))) Also your little Jedi GUN hunter tricks have no affect on me. Dave
Alright guys, so I don't have to respond to all the texts I just got, I will fill you in here. Around 4:15 I shot a buck. My initial guess was a mid 130's 9 point. He could be bigger, he could be smaller, hell he could even be a 10 pointer. What I'm saying is once I saw his width and his G-2's I quit looking at the rack, and went into kill mode, so I'm not really sure how big he was. He came downwind of me, and I drew as he neared. I held for about a minute as he was stopped behind a tree smelling. I finally couldn't hold it anymore and let down. As I did, he spotted me, and turned to take off so I drew again. 20 yards or so, and I had a small window so I shot. I was about 20 feet in the tree, but he was down the hill from me a bit, so overall I was about 25 foot above him. He was slightly quartering towards me, and the shot was high, but I think it was good enough in the vitals. I think I may of got 12-15 inches of penetration, but I only got a quick glance of him as he ran off and over the hill. His tail was tucked, and no blood where he was standing. I listened to him run over the hill then nothing. A few seconds later I heard some thrashing, so I don't know if he bedded, crashed, or took off again. I'm sick to my stomach. My shot should of been SO MUCH BETTER!!!!!! I'm literally kicking myself in the ass right now, for not hitting where I should of on such a close shot. Buck fever was definantly getting the best of me. I had to tell myself several times as he walked towards me to quit shaking, it took me several minutes after the shot before I could send out the first text, from shaking so much. My cousin is over skinning a doe he shot yesterday, so he said he would stay and help me later. We have heavy rains moving through around midnight, so I think we may go back out at 10. I'm praying I caught at least 1 lung. I'm actually fine with the shot placement, but the penetration scares me. I'm really hoping I saw the arrow in as deep as I think I did..... I'll keep you posted as I know more...
12 to 15 inches of penetration is enough for a vital shot Scott. I am confident you will find him. Text me when you do, I may be in Bed watching T.V or sleeping but text me anyways. Here is wishing you all the luck in the world on a successful recovery. This is just the spark we needed to finish out the contest in style. Dave
Sounds like a dead deer to me. I bet the thrashing was his death roll. Congrats can't wait to see him. Text me when you find him, my guess is he is dead where you heard the thrashing. Let me know what you find. I'm traveling to a meeting tonight so let me know what you find. Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk
Good afternoon in the stand, I saw a total of 20 deer but only does close. My buddy had good one come in at last light but couldn't get a shot off. I'm going to try to get out again tomorrow afternoon if work doesn't get in the way. Good luck Scott!
I looked at my first text out, and I would say that I shot the buck at 4:30 from time of that text, so it was a little later than I had thought. Right now that would be 2 hours and 45 minutes ago. My cousin ran home to change, get some good flashlights, and is going to meet me back at the farm at 8. By the time we get everything ready, and get back to the stand I shot him at, it will probably be 8:30-8:45. My gut is telling me we are going to walk up on a dead buck, but I've had that feeling before and been wrong. Again, I'm not sure how big he was. I just took a quick glance at the rack, and decided he was good enough.
Good luck Scott let us know when you find hun sounds like a dead deer Sent from my ADR6350 using Tapatalk
When you find him we need text pics))) Old men need their sleep so do not make me sit up all night))) Just kidding. Goodluck Scott, I am sure you will find him. Dave
If the arrow is in him as far as I think, he is dead. I'm sitting here completely sick. 20 yards, and I can't hit my mark......
Scott, I practice out to 60 yards eventhough I know I will never see a shot over 40 in the thick woods I hunt. I made a 27 yard shot at that small buck this year and he survived. Stepped forward as I released and ducked a little. It happens buddy, do not beat yourself up about it. Get out there and find your buck. Dave
I just got back in. We searched for nearly 4 hours, before the rain kicked up. We didn't really cover a lot of ground, as we were mostly doing circles. We went to where I shot the buck, and from there followed the best used path for 30-40 minutes. After going about 150 yards and doing plenty of branching off, we didn't find any blood. We went back to the stand, and I went on farther up the hill, and found a pin size drop of blood. From there, we slowly followed the blood trail for about 100 yards. Blood was bright red, with the larger drops having bubbles in them. My initial thought was I hit high, and caught the lung on the opposite side. Finally the blood quit. We did circles, and were able to advance it a few more yards once in a while and then nothing. I did jump a deer right before we quit, but I don't think it was the buck. It jumped up and circled around me about 30 yards, and I could see it fairly well with my flashlight. I did not see a rack, and the bed had no blood in it. As we were walking out a pack of coyotes started in less than 100 yards from us. We went right over there, but the area is CRP about shoulder high. We are on the neighbors at this point (good friend of my uncle's, so we have permission). The coyotes took off, and we did our best to try to locate where exactly they were, but in the dark in this stuff it was impossible. About this time the rain started to move in, and I decided it was time to call it a night. I have to work tomorrow, but I am going to leave as soon as I can. I told my cousin to go ahead and go duck hunting, and then he said he would start walking and looking for a deer. We are going to get 1-2 inches of rain tonight, so any shred of a blood trail will be lost. We have the trail marked out that we found tonight, so we have a general direction of where he was headed. We did not find any piece to my arrow, which really surprised me. I won't sleep at all tonight.....this feeling sucks....
Scott, It happens to the best of us and I consider you one of the best. Trust me, I know that feeling of not being able to find a deer, I think we all have experienced this. With daylight you will be able to see further and hopefully locate the buck. Goodluck out there looking and be safe. Dave
With that kind of blood you got lung. He is laying out there waiting for you to come get him. What time do you get to go look? What time will your cousin be able to start? I'm guessing he's dead in the CRP. Good luck finding him can't wait to hear the outcome.
Pulling for you Scott! I hope you can find him. Looks like things are in lock down around here, I'm going to sit as much as I can the next 4-5 days and hope that I can catch a big boy cruising for his next lady. I didn't really say much before but I learned that I have a giant on the farm on Saturday morning, so to say I'm motivated to be out there is an understatement. When I say giant I mean it, I think I know the deer from the 2009 season he was around 150 then so you can imagine what he looks like now. I had no pictures in 2010 or 2011 of this deer so chances of me seeing him are slim and none but I'm going to do what I can to make it happen. With that said the first mature deer over 120 is going to get it but they seem to be sparse, he might explain why.
I'm trying to leave at noon. It's raining pretty good here, but I won't melt. Hopefully I'm back there by 1 if the boss let's me out of here. Matt good luck. The bucks are just coming out of lockdown IMO here. This guy was looking for love or a fight when he came in to me.
Scott hope you find him buddy. Matt sounds like Nebraska should be promising. Can't wait to get there friday. Unless Will leaves me since he hasn't been on all week. Wait its only Tuesday. Nevermind. Anybody heard from Will and how his Missouri trip went? I hope he made it back safely haven't heard from him since he left.
Quick update- Getting ready to head out here soon. Rain has quit for the time being. My cousin and one of my friends are going to meet me back there when they can. The blood will all be washed away, so it is simply just a walk and hope to find a buck mission.....
