So yesterday was the last day of Ky bow season, and I don't think it could have gone any worse. It took place yesterday afternoon around 4:45 pm, there was only about 30 minutes left until season was officially over. A nice size doe came in to about 30 yards and stopped and stared at me for 3 minutes. The doe turned around and gave me a nice, slightly quartering away shot. I quickly drew back and bleated at her as she was walking away. The doe stopped and I fired. As quick as I hit the trigger, the arrow clipped a branch and started to spiral toward deer. From what I was able to tell, the arrow seemed to hit the back side of the deer. I came back 7 hours later to look for blood. For about 40 yards there was nothing. After a while I found just a splash of blood, and a little bit ahead was the arrow. The arrow must have clipped the guts because it had that odor to it. I continued my track job and was only able to find a couple drops of blood every 50-75 yards. After about 225 yards of tracking, the blood trail vanished.I left last night and came back this morning. I searched for hours on end and wasn't able to find anymore blood, or any sign at all of the deer. The only thing that could have made this worse was if it was a big buck. I think I'm going to have nightmares about this until I can redeem myself next season.
Jimmany, that is a tough way to end the season, but it sounds like you did your part in trying on two different occasions to find the deer. As far as the redeeming yourself goes, I totally get that. It seems like every year I have a missed opportunity, get blown, or lose a deer and it haunts me until the next successful shot happens. I like to take those haunted experiences and let them inspire me to become a better hunter. For example if I miss a shot, I will analyze it and determine what caused the miss. Was it a tree limb, misjudged yardage, or pure excitement on my part. Once I think I know what caused it I focus on this aspect during the off season. It seems a bit silly but when I am at work, the store or anywhere where I will be doing some walking I pick out an object guess how far it is and then step it off to see if my yardage is right. This has helped me with guessing my yardage, which happens to be my biggest challenge. Just some food for thought. Don't beat yourself up to much, we've all been in your spot before.
that's a bummer, but at least you were still hunting and got to shoot at something. I didn't see a single deer after gun season started by us on Nov 17th all the way till Jan 6th.
That blows. Tough way to end for sure. Wouldn't hurt to check back in a day or so. Crows & ravens might lead you to her?
stinks.... And thanks for reminding me this is the first time in a couple years I have not gone up to KY for a late season doe hunt.. usually go up and help my buddy out because none of his clients want to shoot doe's.
That's hunting... Sometimes things don't go how we intend them to. Worst way to end a season is to never come home.
That happened to me earlier this season. I had a 40yd shot and clipped a branch 10yds out which sent my arrow into a nosedive, falling about 15yds short of the target. It was embarrassing because a guy who was about 200yds away from me at the time had the first shot at her and he missed, then I missed 30 seconds later. That dear was touched by the hand of god. I know it's important to have good cover when you're hunting, but I went out the next day and hacked every limb from around my stand to ensure I never did that again.
its the stomach intestins covering the wound that makes blood tracking harder. its a dead deer. But it happens.
