Opening weekend LI

[ny hunter]

Goodluck with the search hope you find him....

[virgil]

Good luck. Hope you find him before the rain starts. Don't beat yourself up too much. If you didn't feel bad about it, you shouldn't be hunting. We've all had these situations happen to us. Keep at it, you'll find him.

[pistolp71]

Certainly nothing "unethical" about what you did. You absolutely made the right choice by backing out and going back the next day. Was the shot a complete pass through? Maybe you just caught one lung. They can go a long long way on that shot. A liver shot, if you did what you said and immediately backed out, let him lay the night and went back 23 hours later he should be dead not very far from the shot.

Nobody wants to lose the meat, but if you push the deer you highly risk not finding him at all. I know exactly what you feel like, I had a similiar situation happen last season on a big deer. All I can say is don't give up, keep looking. It took me 6 days of hard looking but he's on my wall, so keep at it. They are calling for lots of rain the next couple of days. You may have to do grid searches. Big deer die hard you may have to look further than you thought. GOOD LUCK!

[StripedBuck]

L.I.B.H.

You did nothing wrong and are continuing to do everything right. I do know that feeling of not finding your deer it just eats you up inside. Hopefully today you will find him, most likely laying up in that water, squeezed inbetween some blow downs and as Dave6X6 said in the thick stuff.

Keep up the search and keep your head high!

Good luck!

StripedBuck

[BizCT]

Good Luck....definitely look for water and downhill. In my experience, deer run downhill when pushed and towards water, sometimes go in the water and then die. Also, someone mentioned the deer tracking thing. It is legal in NY, and I think the DEC even has info on it, I never used it, but heard great things about it. Maybe worth a shot?

[ANTLERS]

I arrowed a bear in 2000,Searched for 3 hours.I felt the way you do right now.However,I didnt give up the search and found that bear less than 80 yards from my stand,Buried in thick mountain laurel.Must have walked past him 3 times,Good luck

[sssurfertim]

I lost a 7 point last season, was sick to my stomach it was not a big deer BUT it was my personal best. Got in touch with Matt Sasso but he could not search on public land with his dog (understandable) Don't worry about other guys knocking your decisions, everyone thinks they are pro's on the internet and have all the answers. Im young too ( 22 ) and its hard to have older guys take you seriously. Losing a deer happens if you hunt long enough. Just get back in that treestand!

[First-light]

I shot a big deer in the liver a few years ago. He acted as if it didn't hit him. He bedded down a 100 yards from me and I bumped him on the blood trail. Took another 7 hours to find him after a 5 hour wait. Only found him because the crows were pecking at the wound and making a racket. Look to the skies when all else fails LIbowhunter.

[steve863]

Im young too ( 22 ) and its hard to have older guys take you seriously. Losing a deer happens if you hunt long enough. Just get back in that treestand!

Well, I am one of the older guys, but what you say about losing a deer if you hunt long enough is very true. Actually I've heard many more of the older guys boast that they never lost one, which can be very hard to believe. I bet they hit a couple along the way(especially in gun season), that they never realized they even hit. It can happen even when you think it's a slam dunk kill. It's an unfortunate part of our sport I guess. My only advice would be is to never consider that animal dead until you are standing over it, ready to gut it. I think people sometimes are premature in thinking that the deer will be laying dead over the next hill and then find out otherwise.

[NY-Archer]

I've been down this path before many times. I hunt with a great group of experienced guys that all have been through this experience. It has happen to us in NY, Ohio, etc... What we all have to remind ourselves is that this is the reason why we hunt. It is because of the challenge and the dedication involved to succeed. I also feel it is why we all choose to use a bow over a rifle. We want that feeling that is like no other when we send that arrow in the right direction. An article I once read described it as being better than any "high" he's ever felt.

I respect all of the above responses. However, we never thought to consider the "will" these deer have to live. Considering the size LIB describes this deer to be, we have to assume he wasn't or hasn't gone down easy. The best advise would be is to keep searching. One of our other fellow hunters searched for 6 days and cover a lots of ground before he found his deer.

Pete Cuervo had an incredible day on the Island on November 7th.

Pete only had one trail cam picture of the ” Freak” from October and of course, it was a night shot.

Pete hunted every day of the rut and finally had his chance on the morning of November 7th.

When Pete let the arrow fly he saw the buck kick his legs back and then hunch up and run off – signs of a gut shot. Not the shot you want on any deer, much less the buck of a lifetime.

There was no giving up on the search for the Freak and six days and 2/3 of a mile from where he was shot the Freak lay dead.

This massive non-typical had 24 scorable points and green scored 201 2/8″ . According to Pete, the DEC aged this buck at 7 1/2 years old.

.

Edited October 12, 2011 by NY-Archer

[steve863]

Don't know if that's the same buck that was discussed here last year. Some of us wouldn't exactly call it a recovery if it took us six days to find the deer. If the meat is not edible when you recover it, than it was not a recovery. More like a salvage operation of the antlers.

[JCTheGC]

Don't know if that's the same buck that was discussed here last year. Some of us wouldn't exactly call it a recovery if it took us six days to find the deer. If the meat is not edible when you recover it, than it was not a recovery. More like a salvage operation of the antlers.

More I read your posts the more I wish there was an ignore feature to hide all posts from a user.

[Geno C]

Pete chimed in up top a few posts up. hes been there before, heck we all have... Its a learning curve when something like this happens. Taking the initiative and not giving up is what matters, regardless the size of that animal. That arrow flew hit the deer and thats your deer. For some it would be easy to give up and climb back in another tree and for others, they will do what it takes to recover that deer... will you always find them? no. but we can hope and try.

there are guys that will take a shot and the shot is marginal, they will little time into the recovery and continue to hunt, now thats a scary thought. But guys like Pete and LIB are prime examples of making the best of marginal shot.

i lost a 4point a few years ago, great blood. played the shot back in my head thought it was a lung hit gave the deer an hour. bumped him spent countless hours and never made the recover... sucks

[Geno C]

Don't know if that's the same buck that was discussed here last year. Some of us wouldn't exactly call it a recovery if it took us six days to find the deer. If the meat is not edible when you recover it, than it was not a recovery. More like a salvage operation of the antlers.

i agree to a certain extent Steve but its a recovery none the less... Had it been a 6 point we can only wonder howmuch effort would be put into the search but a 200 class deer im sure MOST will continue that search for quite sometime. Im not knocking how things panned out for Pete, i have spoke to him on here a few times and he seems like a great guy so i can not judge...

[pistolp71]

Don't know if that's the same buck that was discussed here last year. Some of us wouldn't exactly call it a recovery if it took us six days to find the deer. If the meat is not edible when you recover it, than it was not a recovery. More like a salvage operation of the antlers.

You are entitled to you opinion, as ridiculous as it may be. I really could care less if you consider it a recovery or not.

[steve863]

I am not knocking him, at least he confirmed that the deer did indeed expire. Obviously some others here can't begin to fathom where some of us are coming from when we say that we wouldn't consider it a recovery, which is quite sad actually. Some of us hunt for meat, some for horns. All is fine really, but I think the criteria for a clean recovery is meat fit for consumption for many people be they horn hunters or meat hunters.

[steve863]

You are entitled to you opinion, as ridiculous as it may be. I really could care less if you consider it a recovery or not.

I can assure you that I am not the only one in the hunting world who feels this way. So get ready to back up YOUR positions on the topic other than only calling ours ridiculous. LOL

[First-light]

This is where this whole topic may go askew. Salvage recovery who cares it was found. We all like the perfect shot but sometimes that don't happen.

Finding you deer, putting closure to the story matters.

[ny hunter]

Guys no need to start an argument we are all cheering the kid on!!!!!!

[pistolp71]

I can assure you that I am not the only one in the hunting world who feels this way. So get ready to back up YOUR positions on the topic other than only calling ours ridiculous. LOL

And I can assure you, again, that I could care less if you or anybody else for that matter considers it a recovery. I don't need to "back up" my position. Anyway, this isn't about me. I sure hope the kid finds his deer, no matter when...

[pistolp71]

Guys no need to start an argument we are all cheering the kid on!!!!!!

You are very right. Wish I could help the kid. I hate the feeling he is having. We all do.

[JCTheGC]

I can assure you that I am not the only one in the hunting world who feels this way. So get ready to back up YOUR positions on the topic other than only calling ours ridiculous. LOL

No one cares, go hijack another thread with your BS, good bye.

Edited October 12, 2011 by JCTheGC

[Geno C]

I am not knocking him, at least he confirmed that the deer did indeed expire. Obviously some others here can't begin to fathom where some of us are coming from when we say that we wouldn't consider it a recovery, which is quite sad actually. Some of us hunt for meat, some for horns. All is fine really, but I think the criteria for a clean recovery is meat fit for consumption for many people be they horn hunters or meat hunters.

i agree with you totally... i dont shoot for horns per say but if i did shoot something of drastic size and put a crap shot on him id do anything i can do to find him. Even if the meat has spolied, that would be on me. But it is my deer and still gets my tag. but i understand you

[Geno C]

man been thinking of his deer today. i am pulling for him! hope he can come up with some closure on this...

[LIWaterman]

Really hope he finds him. Terrible to hear.