TheCoachZed
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
After five weeks and change of frustration (weather, work and other responsibilities interfering with prime hunt opportunities), finally connected with an 8 point yesterday morning. He came in to the apple tree all hot, pushing away Mama and her fawns. I chunked him with an arrow from the Barnett at about 15 yards. Arrow sounded good, looked like a good hit, lots of blood in the immediate vicinity, puddles the size of my open hand and evidence of stumbles. Dead deer, right?
Wrong. Ended up tracking him about 500 yards, as the blood trail got weaker and weaker and he started pulling stunts like running over rocks where I couldn't track him (snow on the ground made it easier at first). Eventually, blood trail became very infrequent, and drops the size of a pencil head.
Did some thinking, called a buddy who said it sounded like a liver hit. Sure enough, it looked like the last deer I hit in the liver, but that one had a chunk of lung taken out as well, and certainly hadn't made it 500 yards.
Did some more thinking, looked at the lay of the land, figured where he was probably headed, and circled around overhead to see if I could spot him laying down. Sure enough, he stood up all stiff-like, 50 yards away, so I got out of there as quick as I could. He wasn't close enough for me to do anything, and he was behind brush.
Waited an hour and a half, looked very carefully and saw no sign of him. Moved a little closer, and he didn't stand up again. Well I figured he was either dead or gone. Wrong, I almost stepped on him and he took off, with no visible blood trail or pool where he'd lain. I was sick to my stomach. This was now a good 4.5 hours after I'd shot him, and I thought he'd be at least staggering hard, not running away all spry.
But I knew that if I lost him now, I'd lose him for good--he was headed in a direction where if he got away, he was gone, with no way to track him. But I also knew there was a fence, a marsh and a cliff that might slow him down. I grabbed the bow, followed him into a cattail marsh and almost stepped on him again. Seems he was hurting worse than I thought. He got up to move off, I put the crosshairs and chunked him high lungs at point blank range. He kept moving away, and I grabbed the arrow off the ground, reloaded the bow, shot him again. I was taking no chances. He fell over, with two sets of holes in the lungs, and died quickly.
Post-mortem revealed a rib had deflected my first shot, pushing it out high through his liver. It was a bit far back, and the rib didn't help that either. Was very fortunate I found him. I definitely shouldn't have pushed him to the point of bumping him, but early signs looked like a dead deer, and I waited before I even looked at that. His blood trail was on melting snow, and vanishing towards the end of it all. If I hadn't pushed when I had, I don't know that I would have found him very easily. Hard to say, but no point second-guessing a decision that worked out in the end.
It also turned out there was a hole on his left side from a previous encounter, maybe with a hunter or maybe with a deer. The wound on his side from this previous encounter was the size of a softball, and had to hurt bad. I had photos of him with this wound for the past two weeks.
Anyway, he's in the cooler now. A nice eight point, no smasher but my second-biggest ever. I'll try to get a pic up later.
Wrong. Ended up tracking him about 500 yards, as the blood trail got weaker and weaker and he started pulling stunts like running over rocks where I couldn't track him (snow on the ground made it easier at first). Eventually, blood trail became very infrequent, and drops the size of a pencil head.
Did some thinking, called a buddy who said it sounded like a liver hit. Sure enough, it looked like the last deer I hit in the liver, but that one had a chunk of lung taken out as well, and certainly hadn't made it 500 yards.
Did some more thinking, looked at the lay of the land, figured where he was probably headed, and circled around overhead to see if I could spot him laying down. Sure enough, he stood up all stiff-like, 50 yards away, so I got out of there as quick as I could. He wasn't close enough for me to do anything, and he was behind brush.
Waited an hour and a half, looked very carefully and saw no sign of him. Moved a little closer, and he didn't stand up again. Well I figured he was either dead or gone. Wrong, I almost stepped on him and he took off, with no visible blood trail or pool where he'd lain. I was sick to my stomach. This was now a good 4.5 hours after I'd shot him, and I thought he'd be at least staggering hard, not running away all spry.
But I knew that if I lost him now, I'd lose him for good--he was headed in a direction where if he got away, he was gone, with no way to track him. But I also knew there was a fence, a marsh and a cliff that might slow him down. I grabbed the bow, followed him into a cattail marsh and almost stepped on him again. Seems he was hurting worse than I thought. He got up to move off, I put the crosshairs and chunked him high lungs at point blank range. He kept moving away, and I grabbed the arrow off the ground, reloaded the bow, shot him again. I was taking no chances. He fell over, with two sets of holes in the lungs, and died quickly.
Post-mortem revealed a rib had deflected my first shot, pushing it out high through his liver. It was a bit far back, and the rib didn't help that either. Was very fortunate I found him. I definitely shouldn't have pushed him to the point of bumping him, but early signs looked like a dead deer, and I waited before I even looked at that. His blood trail was on melting snow, and vanishing towards the end of it all. If I hadn't pushed when I had, I don't know that I would have found him very easily. Hard to say, but no point second-guessing a decision that worked out in the end.
It also turned out there was a hole on his left side from a previous encounter, maybe with a hunter or maybe with a deer. The wound on his side from this previous encounter was the size of a softball, and had to hurt bad. I had photos of him with this wound for the past two weeks.
Anyway, he's in the cooler now. A nice eight point, no smasher but my second-biggest ever. I'll try to get a pic up later.
