And now we wait…

[Soonerlongbow]

Got an arrow missing. Unfortunately it looked like only 8-10” of penetration and maybe a little bit forward.After the shot he bolted out an additional 40-50yds and just stood there for probably 3 minutes. I grunted at him a few times and he’d look around back towards me and my Montana decoys. Then he slowly walked down the hill. A couple minutes later I heard what sounded like a limb break but no thrashing or anything, I guess it could have been the arrow breaking.

What’s really kinda funny about all this is that it’s in a WMA field next to the road we take to go drop our kids off at school. So as she was returning from that, she called me to say that as she passed me a good buck hopped the road onto my side. At that point I began grunting a little bit & after around five minutes I heard the crunch of leaves and moving fast from my left. He popped out maybe 12-15yds away behind some oaks. For what seemed like an hour he stared at the buck decoy, licking his nose. He then began that slow walk we’ve all seen on videos, hair all bristled out. As he got out from behind the branch of the oak I was standing behind, I came to full draw and loosed.

So now Im sitting here waiting at the house drinking coffee. The shot was at about 7:50.

[Roy from Pa]

Hope you find him, Albert.

[Soonerlongbow]

Hope you find him, Albert.

Thanks man. I’m drinking the second cup and then I’m gonna go back over there. Its only a quarter mile up the road then down another quarter and lil more to the spot.

[Soonerlongbow]

Red was my seat.
Yellow is the decoys.
Blue is the bucks route in then to where he stood after the shot.
Green is the wind direction.

[lt-m-grow]

You will find him.  Good luck.  Post back when you get in.

[Bvas]

Good luck!!

[Soonerlongbow]

Blood circles back to the East, then follows the horse riding trail towards the road and stops cold turkey. Circle pattern: nothing. Stepped out leg and right, nothing. Following the trail, nothing. Beginning to think I hit the near side humorous and the arrow stopped not getting anything vitals. Getting quite frustrating. If I lose this it will be 3 with a stick bow in a row.

[buckeyebowhunter]

It's tough man. Keep us posted. And good luck.

[Will Telluteyrd]

I don't know if this will help but I discovered tracking deer after being hit they will backtrack and bed down watching their trail to see if their being followed. I hear it a lot that their was a lot of blood and than nothing. Most hunters look ahead and don't look behind. Mark the trail where you found the last blood and go back 50 yards and see if he veered off. Hope you find him.

[George Tsoukalas]

I hope you find him. Jawge

[Soonerlongbow]

Yep, turned round and went backwards probably 50 to 75yds. West side is the thicket he came through the first time, east side is the lake. Had me stumped. Tried to replay it a few times and even grabbed an arrow and tried to estimate how much I saw sticking out. Starting to think that it hit bone and didn’t break it, thus nothing vital hit.

[ed lash]

Good luck. Been in your shoes. Prayin' for you.

[Kokopelli]

FWIW; You might try going in tomorrow  mid-morning and scan for crows or ravens. They may find it for you.
Hurts to lose one but it may survive the hit or at the very least the fact that nothing in Nature goes to waste is some small consolation. 

Good luck !!!

[SlowBowKing]

Man, that’s tough.

[David Phillips]

I don't know if this will help but I discovered tracking deer after being hit they will backtrack and bed down watching their trail to see if their being followed. I hear it a lot that their was a lot of blood and than nothing. Most hunters look ahead and don't look behind. Mark the trail where you found the last blood and go back 50 yards and see if he veered off. Hope you find him.

Yep the old back track trick. I’ve seen it several times blood just absolutely stops no tracks to be seen moving forward. Turn and slowly follow trail back looking to either side and you will sometimes find a side trail. I’d also add that most of these times the hit was not perfect and you will jump them from their bed. Solid hits in the vitals they don’t usually turn back just fall running. Good luck and keep looking  in a day or two the buzzards will show you were he’s at or he survived the hit.

[BrianC]

I hit a small buck in the shoulder on the 27th of October (afternoon).  He ran about 60 yds and stood there for 45 minutes.  With binocs, I could see the wound, perfect left and right, just high straight above the "elbow".  I did see a trickle of blood running straight down from the wound and down the back of his front leg.

I have cresting about 10" up from my broadhead.  7" of the broadhead end of my arrow was missing.  I did not see it sticking out of the deer.  I believe the deer actually bit the cedar arrow causing it to break and possibly pulling out the broadhead end of the arrow.

He finally walked off, limping, but his leg was definitely not broken.

We had a good amount of snow on the ground, so my dad and I waited to pick up the track till the next morning.  Hoping I got one lung and he would be dead in his bed.

We ended up tracking him 900 yds per my Onyx app.  Just a speck of blood every 10-20 yds.

On Nov. 1 he went by my same treestand hot on a doe's tail (trail cam video).

Definitely frustrating.  That was the 2nd deer I've shot w/ a recurve and not recovered.  The other one was shot at 0705 hrs in that "no man's land" spot below the backbone.  Waited 4 hours, tracked it about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile and lost sign.

Next morning at 0100 hrs, my buddy who is a deputy saw the same deer, a spike w/ faaaaat spikes, walking into my dad's property from the direction I had tracked it.  He could see the entrance hole where my arrow went in.   That one was at my dad's feeders all winter, no worse for the wear.

They are an amazingly tough animal!!!

Keep after 'em Soonerlongbow, as I will as well!!

Good Luck!!

Brian

[GCook]

I've refrained from posting on this for a couple of reasons.
First and foremost for me, a bad shot on an animal stays with me a long time.  I know it happens to every hunter at some point.  I also know with the number of animals I shoot every year my kill percentage is pretty high but instead of being satisfied with that I beat myself up over the ones that I made poor shots on.
Most times it's pigs.  Be it during spot and stalk in thick stuff and I tried to put an arrow through too tight of a hole in the brush, or from a stand and I do something stupid like not notice my limb clearance is lacking.
That one got me on my target buck a month ago.  Top limb hit roof of blind and I back strapped him.  Oh he healed up fine.  I've seen him twice last weekend and on trail cam pics.  So being peeved makes no sense right?  So the point is I don't like telling people it's okay, it happens, grab your bow and get back out there when that's not how I feel when it's me lying in bed going over and over it in my mind.
That said if you know what's wrong, what caused the errant shot, fix it, work on it until it's right, and go back and hunt again.


Second, I never know what most people's practice, shooting ability, tuning, head sharpness,  ect is so without knowing all that it's difficult for me to say, let it go and get back out there.

But you do know.  And you know if you had your ducks in a row or not and you know if you took a good shot or not. 

So I'll just leave you this.
It should feel like carp to wound and lose one.  That means you have a brain, a conscience and the desire to do it right.  So once you quit feeling sick, sit up, address any issues and get back in the dang stand.  We only get so many seasons before our Lord calls us home.  Make the most of it.

[buckeyebowhunter]

Dude I feel you. And i agree with every word you've said. As you know from my post about broadheads I've been there twice already this year as has my father. The ones that hurt the most are the ones where you feel as though you did everything right in your power and they still get away.  Sometimes bad shots happen, I get nervous/ excited/ worked up on every deer I shoot both before and after the shot. So things happen and we are NOT perfect. All you can do is your best and keep after it.  Once again sorry about your loss.

[Soonerlongbow]

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced that he’s still alive and kicking. Maybe that’s me having wishful thinking. I’ve seen deer heal from intestines hanging out (not me luckily). I’ll probably string up one of the bows later this week if I have time. Time is gonna be very hard to come by now as I finally get to go back to work      next week.