Brujah12

I dont know about the rest of you...but the opening of this season has been unusually dead. Opening day was the quietest I've ever heard. I did hear a number of shots Sunday evening though I didn't see anything come through my 60 acres. Monday and Tuesday were also extremely quiet. This morning I hunted a funnel that connects the property across the road with mine and almost always has some either bedded down in the brush or moving through....but nothing. I only heard 1 distant shot the whole morning. My property is usually packed with deer. I've kicked up a few still-hunting but the cover is so thick it's extremely difficult to find a safe shot. How are the rest of you doing? The only explanation I can think of is that I've either over-pressured my land (which also has people hunting the properties bordering 3 of the sides) which has caused the deer to go deep into hiding, or they've simply moved off the property. There are a lot of rubs out in the bush but it's hard to tell how fresh they are. The last few days I've seen very few fresh tracks...which is surprising as some of my trails usually look like 4 lane highways. All I can say is that it's been a real bummer so far.

Thank you everyone for the replies. Unfortunately I don't own the bean field and haven't been able to get in contact with the land owner. UPDATE: I found the arrow that hit the deer. It was only about 10 yards from where I shot him in the brush. Upon careful inspection of the arrow I noted a few key things: - the very tip was bent - one of the blades was bent considerably and two were very chipped and dull - there was a bit of bone or possibly shoulder blade on the side of the point - there was only blood on the arrow about 2 1/2 inches passed the broadhead Originally I had thought the high penetration point was why I wasn't seeing a lot of blood initially. Now I'm thinking I bounced it off the upper leg, shoulder or spine. I tried taking some pics of the arrow but my camera is retarted and couldn't get them to turn out. Based on these observations, what do you guys think? Without seeing the deer I'll never know for sure but does it sound like this guy is going to live to see another day, or is he going to the crows.... Thanks for the feedback guys. Glad to be on the forum. Long time lurker second time poster.... :-X Let me know what you think.

This year is my first time bow hunting. I own my own land and have no friends that hunt so as of this season I'm a loaner. Anyways, got in my stand before dark today. At about 9:30am I see a buck in the brush about 40 yards out eating away. Being new to bowhunting I knew I had to let him get closer. He roamed around nibbling here and there, tending a couple rubs and finally after about 20 minutes walked within 10 yards of my stand. I pulled back and let an arrow fly. I saw clearly that it wasn't a pass-through and could see the arrow sticking out as he darted off. I got a good look at him broadside as he ran away and it looked like it was a couple inches back from the shoulder. I'm concerned it may have hit a little too high. Anyways, I marked his direction, gave him some time, then got down and went after him. I didn't see any blood at the point of impact. Just a small tuft of fur. I followed his path about 50 yards through the brush and still no blood. Just where the brush meets the hardwoods I found some blood...about 8 or 9 drops grouped together. This was just where the brush met some hardwoods and entering the wood I was able to follow a small blood trail. It wasn't much. Usually just a few drops at a time. As I got into the woods I saw the flash of a tail and a deer take a few steps, hop a log and disappear. I cannot be sure it was the same deer but I'm guessing it's likely. About 20 yards into the woods the blood trail vanished. Not only that, but an hour later the wind picked up and scattered the leaves and sent new ones coming down. Anyways, I searched from then until about 5:00pm. Didn't see the deer, any more blood or a single sign. The woods is only about 20 acres and I went back and through it several times. On the other side is a bean field that I don't think he would have crossed as it's so open? On the one side of the woods, closest to where I saw the deer, is an overgrown field with 4 to 6 foot brush. The opposite side of the woods is an apple orchard. I found several bedding spots at the edge of the overgrown field small enough for a single deer. I didn't see any blood though nor any footprints big enough to match the ones I had tracked along the blood trail. I made countless rounds all through the woods hoping to pick up the trail somewhere with no luck. I searched as much of the field as I could but much of it is full of prickers and spots so thick you'd have to crawl to get through. I'm super bummed. The day started great and just got progressively worse. Ohh ya, and I lost another arrow during the search that had dropped at some point without be noticing :'( What a downer. The wind has pretty much wrecked what trail there was although I noticed several landmarks. Don't know what to do at this point. I doubt the wife will let me get away with spending the whole day searching again.