When in doubt back out?.......NOT in So. TX

[Guru]

Originally posted by joevan125:
I shot a deer this year at 15 steps and he was guartering toward me just a little bit.

Lesson learned i will always wait at least a hour like i have done for years when i was shooting wheel bows.

Well since we're all trying to learn things here...

Joe, I would say the "lesson learned" in your scenario is that you took a shot at a bad angle in the first place....and not so much that you didn't wait(which I agree with also).

Lets remember, it all starts with shot selection in this sport fellas    

[amicus]

Thanks for the picture. Im glad you found your buck. We have a bad yote problem where im hunting as well.

If only every shot could be perfect.   :(  

Take Care

Gilbert

[Guru]

Posting this for Jim Curlee.....


Deer left overnight in Minnesota....

•  

"Coyotes snack on deer, Wolves eat them!"

[Aggie1993]

Not so sure about that Curt. There was nothing but bones left from the neck down on my deer.  No internal organs or trace of anything except fur, hooves, and bones. Enough ravenous coyotes will surely EAT a deer.

[hayslope]

I think many of us can relate and testify that the problem is not just South Texas (note the "yote issue" photo in Greg's (Skipmaster1)post from NY.

Southern NY is inundated with yotes.  While I had no issues this year (thankfully all fell within sight of my stand), last year on the same property, I shot a doe (not a marginal hit).  I walked in the direction of where she entered some thick timber and jumped her.  I decided to back out, go home to eat something and come back after dark.  I was gone no more than 2.5 hours and walked straight to the deer or more precisely what was left of her.  Everything was gone up to the head on the side facing up and amazingly, quite a bit eaten on the side on the ground (curious how they do that).  Now I have been hunting on this property for about three years now; it is essentially in a limited housing area (6 houses on about 120 acres).  In all that time, I have seen 1 yote.  This was last year and it was a mange-ridden young of the year.  I have never heard a single howl or yelp in the evening.  But I can tell you one thing.....it took more than one to eat a huge portion of that doe in the matter of 2.5 hours.

[Jerry Wald]

Hey the meat wasn't wasted really - nature does what nature does...how many hungry nights do the predators have..hmm.

You gotta give yourself a break and you need to know the country you live in. Up here in the Yukon you never know..

You can shoot something and get attacked by a big grizz that wants to take it over (yes it's happened here).

If you shoot something better have a rifle - scatter gun (I would love to have a revolver, but it's friggin illegal here  :rolleyes: )because you could have something coming after hearing the shot (if you gun hunt) they have to smell it if it's a bow kill.

We have taken hinds from moose on the first trip - setup up the tripod with flagging and came back within 4 hours and a grizz or a friggin wolverine is on it and if a wolverine is on it or has been anywhere near it...you can kiss the meat goodbye...they urinate on it..welll it's over

So what I am saying I guess is that be prepared to loos some game to predators at some point in your hunting career.

Cheer up maaan...there are lots of chances out there...hey hunt predators...hmmm

Jer Bear

[joe ashton]

E.D. Thomas said, "It's not meat until it is in the freezer."  He got that right.... Joe

[Bonebuster]

If the deer was doing strange twists and turns right from the get go, and it was not pushed by the bowhunter, it`s very likely the coyotes were on it`s trail immediately.

[rightminded]

One time i shot a doe too high.  Spinned her.  You know what that sounds like.  Yotes got within sight by the time i could get down from my tree to make a finishing shot. I think the country is overrun with yotes.  Bill Mc

[Cyclic-Rivers]

Nothing wrong with sharing if it means having more chance of recovery.  If all the meat is gone you can keep hunting.  I know it sounds selfish but coyotes are a part of nature.  I hear a lot of guys complain about them but very few actually hunt them, they only take shots if lucky enough to see one in range while hunting deer.

I'm sick of hearing people complain about coyotes, if you want to rant then go hunt em and make a few bucks. (done venting)

Who wants to go coyote hunting with me?  

[LKH]

Actually, until this century coyotes were only part of nature for the southwest.  

If you're not afraid of the dark, wait in the dark as long as you can.  If the yotes find it, they always howl and you can move in.

Every bow hunter should have a coleman gas lantern and if possible one of the metal reflectors that attaches to the lantern to put the light forward.  Then you can trail in the dark.

Don't forget to put tissue on the blood trail as you go so you can find your way out in the dark.

[TxAg]

I'm headed to Cotulla for some coyote hunting next weekend. Can't wait!

[Lund Tyee 1]

While Bear hunting in Ontario some years ago I shot a bear and waited for app. an hour before getting down. As I was following the trail down hill through the Canadian bush, And I mean BUSH. if you've hunting in Canada you know what I mean...it can get thick! after hearing it moan and not being able to judge just how far away it was. I ended up waiting for a buddy to help track it.  Just as we picked up the trail again it started to rain Very hard. We backed out and waited to the next morning. Once we found it the Wolves had eaten the entire hind quarters up to the lower shoulders.  No bear skin rug but a nice head/shoulder mount.  The same trip a buddy shot one and we went to help him after only 45 min. something had eaten the hind quarters out of it too! It was laying 50 yards from where he shot it. We heard something run off as we approached the bear. He never heard or saw a thing while on stand after the shot.  To this day he's still glad he waited for us.

[dpowers311]

I have hunted in Indiana and remember hearing the coyotes just after my shot. had to run them of as I was dressing out the deer.

[Gun]

I've said this before on here and some may contradict me..... I leave a sock or T-shirt hanging out if I have to leave a marginal hit out overnite. Haven't lost one yet while doing this, and thankfully not very often.
I've seen a doe carcass stripped to nothing but a spine in 6 hours. We have a lot of the dirty rotten fawn eating %#@*+'s.
I'm watching about a dozen Bucks feeding on my neighbor's horse hay. Only seen two does and one fawn so far. Is our herd out of balance?  :(

[ishiwannabe]

I got a buck with the wheels years ago. Double lung hit, watched him run 30 yards and lay down. I backed out a bit, called my bro and had him come with a latern. The blood was profuse. Both sides of the trail, like someone was trying to run with a filled 5 gallon bucket. Then, after about 200 hundred yards, nothing. Not even a drop. We heard leaves crunching now and then while trailing, and didnt give it much thought. After a solid hour of looking, no more blood. Backed out, called a dog search guy and I waas amazed at how quickly he responded. Within an hour of backing out, we were all back in there, and found my deer. It had run straight up a very steep hill leaving not a single drop of blood.

We found his skeleton. The shoulder he was laying on and the head were about the only things left. I called DEC in and was bluntly told I needed to kill coyotes, and sorry about your tag.

The best I can figure is that the yotes jumped him out of his bed and ran him until he fell over dead, about 300-350 yards from the shot, mostly UPHILL.

Moral of the story, sometimes the coyotes get the deer, even when the shot is perfect. They capitalize on every meal they can, and a mortally wounded deer is easy pickings for them.

[John3]

An old pic of the only time this has ever happened to me.  I think 1991'ish.  Drove home quick from college on a Friday evening and ran for the woods. As I was pulling up my bow here he came. Got the shot off and hit him perfectly broadside. I was using those newfangled Puckett's broadheads. I can't blame them because they opened but this is the ONLY deer I've ever killed that I did not have a pass through shot on.  

He ran off and I couldn't hear him go down. Looked a while in the dark then backed out and came back first light to find this....


 

To this day I still and only use Zwickey Eskimos.