totally disheartening opening weekend.

[johnnyk71]

so, the long awaited opening weekend finally arrived, along with the dreaded East wind. our prevailing winds are northwest or west, so none of my established setups were going to work. no problem. i figured i'd just climb a tree.

i found a good pine tree with some dogwood cover around it, and climbed up to about 15 feet. about 5:30, here they come, on a string. first was a pretty decent 6-point, who passed by out of range at about 40 yards. then, two yearlings and a big momma doe are coming, and they are going to pass by at about 12 yards. i let the smaller two go by, and momma is about to pass by broadside, facing to my right. she was calm. i was calm. i picked a spot, right behind her shoulder, got to full draw, and released. a hit!!

i saw her spin and turn away, running straight away from me, and into the woods, with my arrow sticking out. i marked the spot exactly in my mind, and waited the 30 minutes until it began to get dark. after replaying the shot in my mind, i noticed that the arrow seemed to be flopping a good bit, and was angling towards her head. i then climbed down, expecting to find decent blood…

there was nothing at the spot where i hit her, so i figured high lung shot. no worries, because i knew exactly where she ran into the woods about 75 yards away. i walked and looked, and no blood. i went to the area where she entered the thicker stuff, and no blood. by now it's dark. i continued down the trail, and not ONE  DROP of blood! now, i'm feeling kind of sick. it's impossible to track a deer on pine straw with no blood.

after over an hour of looking, we did not find the first bit of sign. all i could figure was a high spine shot that did not penetrate the vertebrae enough to drop her. i was totally, completely bummed.

and to add insult to injury, i had another opportunity the next evening, but blew a shot on another doe when i shot under her. it was a steep angle, because i had to get pretty high up in the tree, and she was about 10 yards from my tree. i was concerned about shooting over her, and over-compensated, ending up shooting just under her.

you don't get too many shots at relaxed deer where i live, because the season is so long, and i blew my first two opportunities. i am about as low as whale poop right now, but it happens to the best of us when trad hunting. hope i get another chance to connect soon.

[ranger 3]

Hang in there

[9 Shocks]

Keep your chin up.

Yesterday morning I shot a doe at a steep angle.  When I released the arrow I felt like it was the best shot I had ever made...and for 120 yards the blood said so.  The arrow was covered broadhead to nock.  I had GREAT blood and then nothing.  The blood stopped and I did a body search for the next 6 hours.  I could not find the deer or any indication of where she went.  It was like she disappeared.  I did not recover her and was perplexed to say the least because this deer bled better than my last 2 bowkills that were both dead in 60 yards. I still feel horrible about it, but unfortunately that is part of bowhunting and these things happen.  Best thing to do is get back in the saddle and go get em!

[johnnyk71]

thanks guys. i just read Linda Steiner's article in "Traditional Bowhunter" about blood trailing. it just reminded me further that things happen, in all kinds of hunting. i'm just bummed because it has been a while since i connected. appreciate the encouragement, and good luck to you all!

[Crittergetter]

I feel your pain! For me personally I'm gonna commit to practicing more from an elevated position! Just keep at it!

[arrowlauncherdj]

Hey, at least you got shots. My first day, as you know, a dinky buck and a questionable one ran off an old doe that i had my heart set on shooting. Then the next day all I saw was dinky bucks.  It looks like that stupid east wind, or worse south wind is going to be with us this weekend again bro. Looks like you picked a good weekend to be out of town.