2010 Archery Buck

44fordy

44fordy

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Location
Wrongtario
Thought I'd share this with you. A milestone in my hunting career, left with some disappointment...

Here's the story.

This weekend I decided to move my treestand a little closer to home, so Saturday I relocated it to the hardwood bush that's walking distance from my house. (Strictly for bowhunting as it's close to town)

Sunday morning I got up and headed to the stand at around 6:30am, it was cloudy and sunrise wasn't until 7:22am.

Climbed aboard my treestand (7am) with the intentions of seeing nothing as I had laid enough human scent in the area moving the stand, I figure it would take them a little while to come around.

7:08 I notice somthing about 30-40 yards away. It's brown - It's a stump. 2 seconds later, I see it move!

It's a deer!! (Bear in mind I only have a buck tag, and cannot see head gear from this distance as it's still pretty dark)
Nevertheless - Adrenaline starts NOW!!!

At this point, I'm sitting down, but have an arrow chalmbered.

As I'm watching the deer (whom is completely unaware of my prescence) he starts moving towards me. At one point, he's behind a couple maples. I take this moment to stand up, bring up my bow and pull back.

The deer stops for a second and then continues to walk out in full view, no more than 20 yards....broadside!!! (And it's a BOY!!) Not a record breaker, but what looks to be a solid deer with a nice basket. Can't tell exactly, but I'd guess him an 8pointer, 12-14inch spread with tines 3-5" tall. Weight, about 200lbs.

My sites were already on him. (I'm actually suprised I wasn't shaking, my insides were!!!) I've been through this many times with a gun, but I must say, it just feels differently when using a bow. Just the fact that you have to pull back makes it that much more intense.

I release, and hear the thwack!! The deer jumps jittering and takes off faster than a drag car at Cayuga Speedway - straight through the forest.

I take a deep breath and say "Holy ****!!!!!" I can't believe this just happened!"

I took the next hour to sit quietly in the stand, let the adrenaline calm down, and let the animal gain a feeling of safety and lie down close by.

After my "seemingly forever" wait in the stand, I climb down and go have a look at where I shot him.

The ground is covered with autumn leaves, and I find blood immediately where I hit him. Good sign!! (No arrow, so it's still stuck in him.)

From this point, I start tracking. I follow the blood trail with ease. It's massive, he was bleeding a LOT. I find lots of pink lung butter and foam, revealing to me that he was lung shot. PERFECT!!

My friend comes out to help me find the buck. We continue to follow the blood trail, and find 2 spots where he lied down. Both spots with a healthy blood puddle!

We continue the tracking and sure enough, he heads for the thick stuff. We get into a mess of cedars and lose the trail, and his prints seems to vanish at the same point?? We start to do a perimeter search from the last point we tracked him. Nothing.

After a couple hours, my friend had to split and I had to go home to get the kids as the wife was going out.

So, I got the kids, and the dog, and continued searching for the next couple hours. (Even after promising the dog a half tenderloin and whatever other cut of meat he chose, we came up emptyhanded.) I countinued my search throughout the rest of the day, and half of the next day.

I covered massive intense terrain; field, swap, bush....everything.

There is no doubt in my mind that the animal died, and not far from where it was shot, but after more than a 14hr search with help, dog, quad and a lot of humping, I had to face the harsh reality that I'm not going to find the animal.

At the end of my search, I was satisfied that I have done all I can to find this deer. It's a saddening thing, but unfortunately...it's part of hunting, it happens. We can not always retrieve our quarry, but we must do everything humanly possible to try.

Although disappointed, I know that I did all I could plus 10%. (I'm sure the coyotes would thank me if they could)

This was my first big game with the bow, and I must say....it's a truly unique feeling for a hunter. Mixed emotions of course because I don't have him hanging in my tree right now.... but I feel that I have "popped my cherry", and take pride in it.

Anyway, that's the story. I'm going to be back in my stand very soon, and hopfully I'll have similar story for you next time, with the exception of a steak dinner at the end of it. ;)

That's all folks, I just wanted to share this experience.
 
Demonical said:
That sucks. Do you know where the shot hit him? What was the angle?
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He was broadside when I shot. About 17 yards. (Vitals) The blood trail revealed blood / foamy pink with lung debris. (There was blood splatter exactly where I took my original shot, and throughout the trail it was spurting out....a lot)

The only thing I can think of is that based on the angle, I might have only got the one lung.

Now, about 80 yards away, he lied down. (About 10 yards away from another trail.)

When my friend came to meet me, he bumped into a lady walking her dog. I'm thinking that it might have been them who scared up the deer after he lied down. If nothing scared the animal, he should have stayed there.

Very unfortunate.
 
Without a pass thru, you likely only got the one lung. $hitty deal.

Once a deer lies down, it usually won't get back up unless spooked.

Watch for crows, ravens, vultures. You can still find it, although it will be no good.
 
A good friend of mine lost his first mule deer buck like that. Two months later he was at his new friends house after school and recognized his mule deer on the wall. He told hid dad when he got home and his dad was pissed. He drove staight over there and asked for it. The new friends dad gave it up and even confessed that they found it dying and finished it off and butchered it. When they compared notes they were only about half an hour apart from arrow release to discovery.
 
A fellow I work with had a similar experiance this weekend with a moose. The majore differnce here is he taged it went for help and came back moose gone. Went back the next day in the light and found what was left of the moose several hundred yards from where it was left. It was also his first archery big game animal
 
Jeepguy said:
A fellow I work with had a similar experiance this weekend with a moose. The majore differnce here is he taged it went for help and came back moose gone. Went back the next day in the light and found what was left of the moose several hundred yards from where it was left. It was also his first archery big game animal
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That really sucks!

That's the one thing about hunting alone I always worry about. Getting the game, and then coming back and it's gone.

That's a whole different kind of wrong.

It's one of the unfortunate things about hunting. Not a perfect science.

But we persist.....and sometimes, the scavengers beat us.
 
Tough break 44Fordy. Sh!t happens. Sometimes they die in places you could not imagine...

I've found deer weeks after that we lost that were right where we were looking, but couldn't see the damn thing for whatever reason.

Thanks for putting in a good effort to find him.
 
Thanks for the input guys.

I've been back out to my stand twice (this weekend)

Saturday morning...the deer beat me to the stand!! It was still pitch black, but there were 4 of them all snorting like crazy!! I was about 80 yards from my stand and couldn't get to it because they were so close. I have to freeze and wait them out.

One VERY large one heard me come in and came to find me, snorting every 5 seconds and snapping everything he walked on. Honestly, it sounded like a bull moose coming in!!
I had an arrow chalmbered...being almost completely dark, it was more for self-defence at that point! :D

SUNDAY : back at it, and I saw 2 of them!! 8:20am they came by, within 35 yards. Both 10 pointers with at least a 24" spread!!

I watched them, unfortunately, they didn't give me the shat I wanted. Too many branches between me and them....they were smart enough not to pop out in full view.

What a weekend. I'm UBER-happy to see all this action!! I'm the only hunter on this 60acre parcel of land, and have it restricted to bow-hunting as to not upset the tranquility!

As I can see....it's only a matter of time.
 
What is your set-up?

Draw length?

K.E?

Arrow weight?

What type of broadhead.

Too bad about losing the deer, but it does happen eventually to everyone that hunts so don't get too down on yourself, as long as you tried hard to find it that is the best you can do.

By the way....you don't chamber an arrow....you nock it.:evil:
 
always carry some orange trail marker tape. Soon as you climb down from the stand after the shot you mark where you shot him. If you don't see the deer drop, wait AT LEAST an hour, wait two hours if possible. Next mark where you see blood every 20 yards or so until the last spot you find blood. then do grid search in that immediate area until you find which direction he is heading. I bet he's dead somewhere in the thick cedars not too far. Watch for ravens/crows sitting in the tree tops and search that area. They will find him first.


Like Waterfowler said, Deer will usually lay down and stay there when wounded until they get bumped. Best is to let the deer lay down for a while and lets its adrenilien calm down and bleed itself out.

you did all you could, hope you learned a lot from it and make the next one count.

Goodluck.
 
DVXDUDE said:
always carry some orange trail marker tape. Soon as you climb down from the stand after the shot you mark where you shot him. If you don't see the deer drop, wait AT LEAST an hour, wait two hours if possible. Next mark where you see blood every 20 yards or so until the last spot you find blood. then do grid search in that immediate area until you find which direction he is heading. I bet he's dead somewhere in the thick cedars not too far. Watch for ravens/crows sitting in the tree tops and search that area. They will find him first.
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Did exactly that. (With the exception of the tape) The blood was very pronounced. I waited an hour until I got out of the stand. I like the idea of 2 hours however, that much more assurance that he won't get up after he lies down.
 
44...depending on where you are, if it ever happens again, get a hold of me. I've got Ruger cold tracking deer now....and he is PHENOMINAL. I Dragged a hide about 1 KM yesterday afternoon and he tracked it this afternoon like he was on a string :)

Of course, you'll have to let me use your stand after we find your deer.....slim pickins in my area right now.
 
That sucks that you lost the deer- good of you to put in a solid effort searching though.
The flagging tape trick works well to give you a real sense of the path they took over a long distance. Its nice to be able to look over your shoulder and get a hint of which way to look. One of the best techniques I have learned is to get down on the ground when searching for blood. For some reason blood trails can go from gusher to nothing and back to gusher but the common thread is that the blood is always down low. Crawling around has helped me find more than one trail that we thought was lost. Last thing is that animals often jam themselves under brush and crap in spots that don't look big enough to hold a full grown animal.
As they say, crap happens and tracking is often harder than finding the game in the first place. Every experience is a chance to learn to do it better the next time. :cheers:
 
Wrong Way said:
44...depending on where you are, if it ever happens again, get a hold of me. I've got Ruger cold tracking deer now....and he is PHENOMINAL. I Dragged a hide about 1 KM yesterday afternoon and he tracked it this afternoon like he was on a string :)

Of course, you'll have to let me use your stand after we find your deer.....slim pickins in my area right now.
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You're a negotiator eh?!! :D

I'm south of Ottawa. Where r u at?
 
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