This is my first post here although I have been lurking the forums for a couple of months.
Anyway, this is my first season out hunting. I have been bow hunting a small piece of private land (about 10 acres) out east on long island that backs up to a huge tract of land where hunting is not permitted. Up until last weekend I had only seen about 4 deer total after sitting 3 full days and all of those deer were 500 yards away on the land that did not permit hunting. Although I tried grunting them in, they would look up but not bother to pay attention and go back to eating.
Well this past Sunday, right before sunset, 7 deer, ran from the woods into this open field and I starting using my deer grunt. Almost immediately, this 4 pointer runs over to the land I'm on, right to this little junction on a deer trail before entering the woods and stops right in front of me 20 yards away slightly quartering toward me but with the vast majority of his broad side showing.
I couldn't believe it, and raised my bow and took the shot. It definately hit him and he ran 30 yards and stopped and looked at me and was like making a grunt/weeze'heavy breathing noise at me. Then he circled back around me and went up the hill behind me into the woods and as it was becomming dark I couldn't see him anymore.
When I retrieved my arrow, it was broken (with the back 1/3 and veins missing) and I could not find that back 1/3 either that night or the next day when I went back out and searched. The entire arrow was bloody, there was white hair on the broad head and and the broadhead tip was bent and missing one of the small bleeder blades.
I waited about 2 hours before I began to search and could not find a blood trail either where I hit him or where I last saw him. I searched the entire property I was on for about 2.5 hours in the dark and then called it quits for the night.
The next morning I went back out at first light and brought my cousin along with me and we still could not find a blood trail or the back 1/3 of my arrow. We searched for 3 hours, combed the entire property and found no trace and no deer.
I am pissed and feel awful that I shot that deer when I did not have an ideal shot and was unable to even recover it. It all just happened so fast. I have just been thinking about this for the past several days now and needed to get this off of my chest.
