I went to my hunting cabin Friday at noon until just a few minutes ago....Friday afternoon, I get in a stand I hung in early march in a spot I knew deer traveled through leaving/going into their bedding area....it was the 2nd sit in that stand first sit I saw a small doe, just out of bow range ....I saw 5 does this time same spot.....Note to self ...move stand north 20 yards..... Saturday, I'm hunting in a new stand at the fork of two logging roads....at 8:15 a.m. someone shoots a rifle...they are either on my line or poaching...8:20 I see a group of does heading toward me at a trot from the direction of the shot....I stand, nock my arrow and get in a shooting position....when I first saw the deer they were at about 75 yards...the lead doe stops at the edge of the logging road, I draw my bow and wait...about 5 seconds she walks quickly into the center of the road and stops quartering away from me in the wide open..she is at 35 yards....I put the pin behind her ribs slightly so that the arrow will go thru her lunfs and into her opposite shoulder...I squeeze just as she turns completely broadside and starts to go forward at the same steady gate...too late..my brain had given the signal...WHAPPPPPP... I see the fletching go thru her high and back, she hunches up and runs as the 4 others follow her... I watch her run braring off to the left about 100 yards before I lose sight of her....I wait an hour and then go look for the arrow... The arrow is on the road about 10 yards passed were she was standing....It is covered in Hair and small pieces of meat...the whole length of it has a thin coating of meat...no blood, no guts or fecal matter....red meat and hair. I follow the trail for the length of the 100 yards i could see her on...no blood...not even a spot.....I go back to the cabin and wait till 12:30 and go back and search until I find were a group of deer had followed a trail that forked off to the right )I thought the deer had gone left...I follow the trail...still no blood....I find were they crossed a big food plot went into a cane brake, slid down the bank, crossed the creek and came out the other side into a swamp consisting of bever dam ponds, cane brake and thickets so thick you can't get through... What can I say I'm Bummed. I looked until dark....but never found any blood.... So THis morning I get in the same stand....at 8:30 I see a nice buck walk across a food plot at about 150 yards....then at 9:10 I see two deer heading towards me through the woods on the same line the deer from yesterday were on...I nock my arrow and stand....the next thing I know about 20 does are standing in front o my stand under the cover ov overhanging brush at less than 10 yards...they stand their looking aroubd before they cross the road....after about 5 minutes the lead doe puts her head down and takes a step forward...2 steps and she will be in the open in the logging road at under 15 yards...I think about drawing and the whole herd does a 180 and flags off .....I wait till 11 and go back to the cabin load my trucks and come home. If I using a smoke pole I would have filled my freezer and the neighbors....instead I'm contemplating that I need some light weight climbing sticks so I can move quickly and quietly.... SB it's a disease
sounds like a great weekend! Looking that first 100yds probably wasnt the best idea but whether it changed the outcome or not, nobody will ever know.
Yeah I know But when I got to the arrow I was suprised at the lack of blood...the deer were heading up and over a hill, so I knew they were well past were they could see me..and I was concerned about the lack of blood.... Not a drop....I'm still confused about it... SB
bowhunting is work my friend..it's frustration, let down, and excilleration all in one day sometimes or a season...it's all in what's important...the kill? or how you hunt and kill?
It's the how for me....I had quit deer hunting with firearms....I'm not opposed to it and will do it again...but I'm challenged by the bow....I'm digging it...but I hate losing a deer...I think that is #3 I've lost in my lifetime; I've killed a gazzillion but only one with a bow and now I'm lost one with a bow... SB
I think everyone loses one early in their bowhunting career because of inexperience in shooting deer with a bow. There is a world of difference between shooting at a target and at a live deer, because there is always that feeling in the back of your head that the deer controls the time of the shot, not you. So you tend to feel a little rushed in your shot, and I think it takes some getting used too. (not to mention getting excited) But even experienced bowhunters will have a bad shot, because unfortunately the deer taking a footstep or an unseen twig at dusk can turn a perfect shot into a poor one.
I have lost one this yr....this is my 19 th season of bow hunting....it does happen, even to those who have experience.
The same thing happen to me .I would have been my second deer with a bow.The shot looked a little high and back.Not one drop of blood and the deer ran away with my arrow.
