Bucks, Big Bears and a Blood Trial... all in the last 3.5 hours

ChromeArty

ChromeArty

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Sunshine Coast (PR)
At about 5pm I spotted the nicest buck I've ever seen in person. I lift my crossbow and carefully take aim and squeeze the trigger. I hear the "thwack" of the bolt hitting home, and he takes off. Wwhhheeeww. I take a breather and load up another bolt. I should mention now this is my first shot on a dear with a crossbow, and I aimed 2/3 of the way up the boiler room "compensating" for my guess at the bolt drop. Well, the deer was closer than I thought and I am sure I hit high.

So now I go to look for blood... there is none, I can't find my bolt either... uh oh. I walk around in the direction the deer went hoping to find some blood... nothing! I'm devastated now... I'll never find this deer! This is my 3rd season hunting and I've killed 4 deer without having to track one yet... so I'm a complete greenhorn.

I call my hunting guru buddy who says "don't track it now! You'll bump it, I'll be there after dinner". So I drive home (only 10 minutes away) and get some dry clothes on and some waterproofs for the wet grass and such and head back out. By now it is good and dark and super misty, making the headlamp almost a hindrance. I walk back to where the deer was standing when I shot him, while I wait for my buddy I may as well look for my bolt. I end up not being able to help but check an area about 30-40 yards in diameter. Well!! I see some eyes looking back at me YES!! that's gotta be him! I sneak closer and closer, crossbow at the ready... it looks like he crawled into a culvert! The eyes are coming from the center of a dark 3 foot diameter circle. When I'm 20 fricken feet away it moves (keep in mind the mist is making it very hard to see). Well F*** me!!! It's a massive black bear, he didnt seem keen on moving but did after I asked him to piss off. He must smell some blood that I can't see!

Shortly after that encounter my buddy shows up with his son, both of these guys are experienced hunters that are telling me "no big deal man, stop beating yourself up. Anyone who says this hasn't happened them is full of shyte or hasn't hunted much". Well thanks lads... but I still feel like an R Tard for aiming high!

We begin our search as a group. Shortly after we begin our search I decide to pop my head into a hole in the brush where animals have clearly been coming and going. Bingo! Blood! Man the relief of seeing that blood, I cannot tell you!

So we follow it, these two guys are blowing my mind at their ability to find the blood and predict the path the deer is taking. I am learning an incredible amount here in a short period watching this process. The deer crosses a creek, we manage to stay on the blood trail... shortly afterwards however the blood trail dries up and we are left with spending the next hour or so searching the surrounding area almost at random. One good thing is, the lads noticed that the blood had to be coming from the left side of the deer. Meaning an exit wound. So that's damn good news.

However, we could not find this beautiful buck tonight. I will have to try and sleep well and go back out at first light and try again.

Wish me luck out there! I hope a bear hasn't eaten it already.
 
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Good luck!! Take your time.. try to avoid tromping around aimlessly, step very deliberately and really scrutinize the brush & floor.

Most of my tracking has been in snow conditions...makes life SUPER easy, blood stands out like a stoplight. This year I shot my first animal in Sept and it was pouring rain and I was really worried about the blood getting washed away. Plus everything looks looks dull when it's wet and I also found fall colours can really mimic/mask evidence of blood. Great learning experience though and yes it is so relieving when you finally find blood.
 
Good chance he lay down somewhere not far away. Hopefully he bled out there. Remember animals bleed inside as well as outside. Just because you are not finding his blood trail does not mean he's not bleeding internally. Hunt slowly, and methodically, Look for something that resembles a downed beech log. Don't forget to turn around and look behind you. You may have walked right past him. A different viewing angle can make all the difference.

I got one of those UV blood tracking lights given to me. Tested it under a hanging moose at camp. Makes blood glow in the dark. Hope I never need it in future, and wish I'd had it years ago.
 
Thank you lads... I'm still at it. Starting to lose hope here. First thing this morning a spike dogging a doe walked right in front of me (25yds) will I had a loaded crossbow in hand... had circumstances been different.

Heading back to the last known location now.
 
It is never a good felling to have that happen but it happens to us all at some point and trust me it will be on your mind every time you get another chance at a shot on a game animal. That's a good thing that is what helps make us better hunters.
Cheers
 
ChromeArty said:
Packed her in.... this is the story of the one that got away.

I learned a lot about tracking though. And also, next time I'll aim lower
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Practice and learn your trajectory and also practice range estimation, it is a critical skill in the archery game. Too bad on the deer... that always hurts... at least it should if you have any character.
 
john-brennan said:
It is never a good felling to have that happen but it happens to us all at some point and trust me it will be on your mind every time you get another chance at a shot on a game animal. That's a good thing that is what helps make us better hunters.
Cheers
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100% my friend! I will always caution on the side of a low shot vs a high one after this.

Thanks for the kind words.
 
hoytcanon said:
Practice and learn your trajectory and also practice range estimation, it is a critical skill in the archery game. Too bad on the deer... that always hurts... at least it should if you have any character.
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It hurts plenty, heading out again in an hour or so. It is raining now, so the deer will be out and their heads down... maybe he is out there waiting for my return
 
ChromeArty said:
100% my friend! I will always caution on the side of a low shot vs a high one after this...
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I had a very similar thing happen to me once. For me, the lesson wasn’t caution on the side of a low shot vs a high one, it was more like finding out exactly where my crossbow hits at various distances and if shooting from a fixed position like you were, knowing the correct/actual distances....like what Hoytcanon suggested.
 
Runningfool said:
I had a very similar thing happen to me once. For me, the lesson wasn’t caution on the side of a low shot vs a high one, it was more like finding out exactly where my crossbow hits at various distances and if shooting from a fixed position like you were, knowing the correct/actual distances....like what Hoytcanon suggested.
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Yup. I know when i am in the stand with my xbow i always have my range finder with me checking landmarks for ranges. Even tho my excalibur is barely an inch or 2 off at 10 yrd increments getting out to 40yrds.

Ideally you could check it while the deer is standing still and looking away but obviously that would be to much to ask for lol
 
When I hunted with my x-bow I put small flags (the ones the construction guys use to mark gas line and power line etc) in the ground at 10 20 & 30 yds so I knew when I saw an animal how far away it was by the flags.

I thought it worked pretty good
 
Bigbubba said:
When I hunted with my x-bow I put small flags (the ones the construction guys use to mark gas line and power line etc) in the ground at 10 20 & 30 yds so I knew when I saw an animal how far away it was by the flags.

I thought it worked pretty good
Click to expand...

I like it.

This bad shot was all on me. I should have aimed lower... I don't have a rangefinder yet. Gadgets seem to be something that us Hunters are always ready to fall for... but I can truly see the purpose in a rangefinder and a crossbow scope being tuned to one another (or a set of pins on a compound)
 
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