Lessons From A Buck

[Whip]

Originally posted by BradLantz:
is that blood in front of his mouth in the one photo?

nice buck, very nice photo's btw .... you didn't clip the doral artery did you?

The blood by the mouth is from the finishing shot through the lungs.  No artery was hit - there was very little blood loss at all that I could tell other than from that final arrow.

[Missouri Sherpa]

The first bear I shot with a longbow was hit in the spine.  I was shooting a 75 pound draw martin mountaineer.  I knew nothing about tuning a bow then and that bow would jar the fillings out of your teeth if you shot it very much.   I have always liked heavy arrows and it was a good thing.  I shot the bear and had good lung blood but not much penetration. I only took out the top of one lung. The bear only went about 100 yards and laid down.  As is customary in northern Alberta, the bear was not even looked for until the next morning. The bear was found laying down where he stopped the night before.  He was paralyzed from his shoulders down. He was one angry bear and still able to take a swipe and bite at you.  Luckily he wasn't able to charge. I used a 190 gr grizzly and it plowed deep into the vertebral body, so deep I was not able to extract it.  Spinal trauma will catch up with them if given a few hours to work.

[JC]

Outstanding Whip! Very, very proud for you brother...that is an excellent animal and quite the memory of a lesson learned/re-learned.

Another explanation...maybe it's just good clean living Joe. Cashing the "Karma Check"? I have no doubts your account was full and you were due for a withdrawl.  

One of these days I'm gonna have to teach you how to tell a story though...you could have stretched this to 3-4 days easy  

[jcar315]

Whip, Congrats on the buck!!!

Thanks for sharing the story and all the details of the shot along with the pics. Sage advice in regards to shot follow up to say the least.      

Post shot follow up has so many moving parts that any one could be a potential pit-fall. You are spot on that going the extra mile pays off.

You are a true sportsman and I appreicate all you taught me last week and you continue to help teach from afar with this thread.

Thanks again and congratulations on a super deer.    

Is this one going up on the cabin wall or going home?????

[PA Bones]

Congratulations.  Thanks for sharing that...

[KentuckyTJ]

Very interesting, great deer Whip and good job on keeping the faith.

[turkey522]

Thanks for sharing,congrats on a nice buck.

[Whip]

quote:Originally posted by JC:
One of these days I'm gonna have to teach you how to tell a story though...you could have stretched this to 3-4 days easy  

[Steve O]

Sure, sure, more company...

I have another question; when Favre crushes the Packers is it easier to take because he is St. Brett?  At least you HAVE a professional football team, unlike Detroit  

[Fritz]

Good stuff!  Congrats on a fine deer and excellent decision making.  I, like you, try not to envolve the Lord in trivial things, but this situation definitely was not trivial.

[Kip]

Congrats Joe You are having a great year I am kinda jealous.Joe enjoyed your story especially about prayer.My mom told me to never pray or ask God for material things,save that for important things.I have done that and been blessed all my life but sometimes I may slip and ask for a deer on a slow day.    Congrats again and great story.Kip

[JC]

Originally posted by Whip:
Yeah, but Tom and Paula Phillips and Fred Gimbel are due to pull in on Saturday.  Catch up from last week and get ready for next leaves little time for lolly gagging.... There's more hunting to be done

Tom, Paula, Fred and you all in the same camp? There'll be more yarn spinnin than you can shake a stick at amongst that group. Looking forward to seeing the results of that get together fo sho!

[Walt Francis]

Joe, Congratulation on the nice buck!

Way to follow up after the shot and stick with it.  Thanks for posting; hopefully others can learn from your experience to take their time when following up their shots.  It is my belief that most unrecovered animals are a result of the bowhunter following up after the shot too soon.  

John's theory of the pinched/severed spinal nerves makes sense and could explain what happened to a cow elk I shot in 1993.  I hit the elk high in the spine with a broadhead and it walked away like nothing had happened.  Thinking it was a minor wound and the elk would be fine I gave it four hours before following up on the shot and busted it out of its bed seventy five yards from where it was hit.  It staggered out of its bed, crossed the Gallatin River (out of the hunting unit), and into a stand of pine trees.  We figured it was in bad shape and backed back out for another three hours before resuming the trail.  Because the elk was out of the late season hunting unit we had to leave our bows on the other side of the river and pursue the elk without them, hoping it was dead, or if not dead hope we could herd it back to the other side of the river for a finishing arrow.  The elk was about fifty yards into the trees, and like your deer, it was unable to get up and run but could lift its head and watch us.  Brother Bob went back to the car, got his lasso, returned, lassoed the elk, and then finished the elk with his knife while our friend Roy kept it distracted.  (Note: I wasn't in on the final part of the kill as I had started tracking another friend's elk after we busted mine out of its bed.)  The elk was about gone by the time Brother Bob finished it.  Until reading John's thoughts regarding pinched nerves I hadn't figured out why we were able to recover the elk because its spinal cord hadn't been cut.

One other thought, if you are having trouble reaching full draw, I recommend trying a clicker.

[Fritz]

Great deer, great follow-up!

[Bone lake]

Nice buck Joe, thank for sharing your story.

[Apex Predator]

Great story, and a good lesson for all of us.  Spinal tramau huh?  It's as good a theory as any.

[northener]

Thanks for the lessen, a great reminder to stick with it no matter what.

I also hit a deer in the spine a few years back, came back 1 hr later, dead, 100 yds from the stand. I was lucky I guess.

[rastaman]

Thanks for sharing Joe!  i like the "karma" theory better!  Regardless, way to stick with it!

[pitbull]

Some things are meant to be, Congrats on a nice buck.

[Tom Phillips]

Joe,
 YOU rascal what a dandy buck !!!! Outstanding effort on following up after the shot and a lesson for all of us to keep in our memory banks.
 Does that buck have a brother,uncle,father or grand-dad living on your grounds ???