I have to confess

[LiveFree1776]

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.

 

Edited October 30, 2013 by LiveFree1776

[Geno C]

and w?

 

whats the rest of the story? quartering to shots are ill advised for most hunters, especially one who just started hunting.

 

did you find blood? arrow? deer?

[LiveFree1776]

sorry geno, I accidentally posted it before the whole thing typed.

[Geno C]

1 of the problems is its only about 10 acres, with a hit like that you might not find blood until you are on the next property over.. hard to be in your shoes and try and put a scenario together based on what you said but the white hair you found on the head could be from exiting out of the belly area low or even near the chest depending on how much or little he was quartering. the fact that you found the first part of the arrow could be from the arrow mostly sticking out the off side of the deer and either 1) breaking off from a limb as he ran or 2) his off shoulder broke it off as he began to run.

 

these things happen, but learn from it... a lot of hunters have a hard time letting a deer offer another shot or even watching it walk off with out an arrow in it. sometimes watching them walk or waiting is the name of the game. focus on making clean shots, especially since your only hunting 10 acres. with 10 acres they can run 150 feet either way and be completely off the property you hunt. 

[thphm]

When I lived on L.I. and just joined Deer Search, going out looking for deer as a trainee with a well seasoned person and dog, most deer that were recovered and most the next day bled out but most were from Bad Shots.

[Vince1]

Call deer search

[CuseHunter]

I'd go and look again, ask the adjacent land owner if you can recover a deer on their property and look. Find thick areas where they would bed down after being shot. Look hard, you still might find him. Next time, pay attention to the deers reaction when they get hit, depending on the placement there will be tell tale signs on their reaction.

[Ihunt]

Don't let it get you too down lots of people get deer fever and arrows don't go exactly where you wanted it I'll put money on that most of the people on the site have lost one I'll be first to say I have last year 8pt 22yards bradside in a new 25 foot tall stand looked a little high only hit one lung and I don't think my grim reaper open on I'mpact no blood for 60 yards then it looked like some one took a paint sprayer with red paint on top of the golden rod 300 yards in to the blood trail went dry did a 100 yard square with 4 people and I was done he was no where to be found ... Next time call deer search !

[Doc]

Next time, here are few questions that you should try to figure out the answers to:

 

1     What was the color and consistency of the blood on the arrow?

2     Was there any green foul smelling material on the arrow?

3     was there any hair exactly at the spot the deer was standing?

4     If so what color was it?

5     Exactly where did the deer go? ... Where was it the last time you saw it? This can help find the first blood.

 

That white hair on the broadhead is never a good sign. Were you in a treestand shooting down at the deer or on the ground shooting relatively level? What type of search pattern did you use? That is, was it ever-increasing concentric circles, or some form of grid pattern? It is important that you keep any blind searching as organized as possible.

 

The amount of arrow that went into the deer sounds kind of lethal. The bent broadhead tip sounds like a bone deflection. These things sound like you should have been able to have found him on the property somewhere. But he white hair on the other hand adds some doubt. Also a 2.5 hour search that night and a 3 hour search the next day with no blood spotted really makes you wonder. Normally that much searching without finding any blood means that the hit was not mortal.

 

Hopefully this unfortunate experience will not sour you on bowhunting. Sometimes things just don't always work out well.

 

[LiveFree1776]

Just to add, the property I was on is bordered on two sides by water and the deer ran back onto the property behind me.

 

1     What was the color and consistency of the blood on the arrow?

       I got to the arrow about 2 hours after I shot it so the blood was dry, but is was dark and kind of thickish blood, there were also small chunks of meat on the broad head and arrow shaft

2     Was there any green foul smelling material on the arrow?

        no

3     was there any hair exactly at the spot the deer was standing?

       Not that I recall but I also did not specifically look for that

4     If so what color was it?

       n/a

5     Exactly where did the deer go? ... Where was it the last time you saw it? This can help find the first blood.

       The deer ran 30 yeards north of me after I first hit it and was staring at the area I was in for a minute or two making a loud breathing grunt/snort. during that time I continued to call him because I was unsure at that point if I hit him or not.  Then, he circled around and went slightly uphill 40 yeards behind me to the south and continued to look at me and breath/grunt snort.

        I started the search the next day at the last spot i saw him.... if he went to the south or the east of me he would eventually hit a bay. if he went west, he would hit peoples houses, and unless he went back around north west of me he could not have gotten back onto the land that I can't hunt on.  I was specifically listening for this during the two hours I stood and waited to search in the quiet dark woods.

[LiveFree1776]

I did not see any blood where I last saw him so then I went to the spot where I hit him and the first spot he stopped.  Still did not see any blood.  After this I combed the entire property and still found nothing.

 

[LiveFree1776]

And I appreciate all of the feed back guys, I am definately not soured on bow hunting, I actually love it, but I really am pissed and upset about wounding and possibly killing a deer and having nothing to show for it, what a waste and a needless death.

[Renegade Hunter]

With what you are describing, arrow covered in blood, found the front half, I would say there is blood on the ground somewhere. You guys are just missing it. I have had a time where I didn't see any blood. Brought six buddies into the woods to comb for it. Guess what? We found blood and tracked it to the deer. Good luck I hope you find it.

[accman]

That's okay, say 2 Our Fathers and 3 Hail Mary's and say a little prayer to Saint Anthony.  When you can't find blood, and it's a running deer, look for the hoof imprints.  A lot of times they won't bleed, but just tracking the prints, even with tons of prints around, a running deer will leave deeper imprints, and take longer strides.  The only deer I shot at had the arrow in him the whole time he ran off, he ran for 200 yards over a knoll and into the swamp.  Not a single drop of blood, but I was able to follow him by his stride.  Unfortunely, I was not able to recover him, never found the arrow, even after I went home and got my waders to try to follow.