Doe down

[catman529]

Sat under a locust tree in the edge of a thicket by an open field where I cleared a couple shooting lanes the other day. Was about to get up and leave at dusk and she came in close and dropped to the ground with a shoulder shot. Followed up another shot just to be sure. The camera was already packed up so there's no video.

The catch is that this is the second one I shot. The first one left no blood at all, she's dead somewhere in a nasty thicket. Couldn't find a drop of blood except on the arrow which was covered. Hoping for the best when I go back in the morning, wish me luck.


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[RollTide88]

Congrats. Nice looking doe. How much she weigh?

 

[catman529]

Congrats. Nice looking doe. How much she weigh?

I dont know, about average size.

 

[TNGRIZZLY_]

congrats on her and hope you find the other one.

 

[redblood]

hope you find her

 

[AllOutdoors]

Hope you find the other one! Congrats on the kill.

 

[ROUGH COUNTRY HUNTER]

Congrats

 

[SMarshall]

Congrats Catman! That's a good hefty doe!

 

[Simpleman.2]

Good job bud

 

[Bone Collector]

Congrats!

 

[Jackman]

Congrats

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[Deerbuster1996]

Congrats

 

[easy45]

Congrats


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[wlf89]

congrats buddy hope you found the other one

 

[catman529]

2.85 miles walking, over 2.5 hours, finally found her not very far from the shot. Maybe 200 yards or so. But the coyotes really tore into her overnight, she's spoiled with guts everywhere. It was a liver shot and I'm not sure how the shot was off as far as it was, I took my time on this one.


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[Atchman2]

Great shooting!

 

[Deer Assassin]

congrats

 

[catman529]

Great shooting!

thanks, not so much on the first one.


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[catman529]

Here's the track job and the measurement of approx how far the deer ran. Obviously she didn't go as far as I did to find her.

I won't post a pic of the deer because the coyotes made a mess of her. I'm not too happy about it really

I didn't know where she entered the woods, so I had to comb the whole area with lack of any blood. This is what I had to search through:

I finally got a good feeling about where she went and then it didn't take long to find her. But it was a lot of guessing...it's times like these that I consider using a mechanical broadhead.

On the bright side, that other doe was cut up fresh, will be made into jerky, backstrap steak, and ground:

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[HuntNShoot]

What app is that you were using? Thanks

 

[catman529]

What app is that you were using? Thanks

Trimble

 

[TNReb]

Congrats on both... and good job not giving up on her.

 

[megalomaniac]

really strange you got such a poor blood trail with a liver shot pass through....

was enough of the carcass left intact to determine if she was extremely fat? was she dry? (reason I asked is the only explanation I could come up with for a poor blood trail after passthru liver shot would be an extremely fat doe (no fawn pulling on her this summer) and some tallow plugged the entrance and exit).

great job sticking with the tracking job and recovering the animal, even if it went to waste. A LOT of people would have just looked for 20 min and given up.

I'm sure there's something to be learned from this, but can't figure out what to do differently in the future, other than just don't shoot them in the liver ;) LOL

 

[catman529]

really strange you got such a poor blood trail with a liver shot pass through....

was enough of the carcass left intact to determine if she was extremely fat? was she dry? (reason I asked is the only explanation I could come up with for a poor blood trail after passthru liver shot would be an extremely fat doe (no fawn pulling on her this summer) and some tallow plugged the entrance and exit).

great job sticking with the tracking job and recovering the animal, even if it went to waste. A LOT of people would have just looked for 20 min and given up.

I'm sure there's something to be learned from this, but can't figure out what to do differently in the future, other than just don't shoot them in the liver ;) LOL

she was slightly quartered to me and the arrow pulled some guts through the exit hole. By the amount of blood on the arrow you wouldn't think that happened but it explains the lack of blood on the ground. Every year I hit one in the liver and I never try to do that. In the past I've rushed or shot a moving deer but yesterday was not the case, I'm not sure what went wrong.

Glad I found her but wish it had gone better.

Speaking of fat, the other doe I killed had a decent layer of fat for an early season TN deer. I was surprised when I gutted her and then later skinned her out


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[Bone Collector]

really strange you got such a poor blood trail with a liver shot pass through....

was enough of the carcass left intact to determine if she was extremely fat? was she dry? (reason I asked is the only explanation I could come up with for a poor blood trail after passthru liver shot would be an extremely fat doe (no fawn pulling on her this summer) and some tallow plugged the entrance and exit).

great job sticking with the tracking job and recovering the animal, even if it went to waste. A LOT of people would have just looked for 20 min and given up.

I'm sure there's something to be learned from this, but can't figure out what to do differently in the future, other than just don't shoot them in the liver ;) LOL

I liver shot mine this year and I know I pulled the shot. I had an arrow with blood on it and no blood trail. I just went with my gut and found a small drop on a obvious trail leading into thick cover. I just started following it and she was about 30 yds in. On the way out I found a spot where the trail split and I took the right fork and the left fork had some good blood, but that was it. Nothing was plugging the hole.

Cat and I have talked about this before. we both shoot thunderhead 100s and we have both noticed they are great for punching through just about anything, but the blood trails are normally not great. I just bought 2 packs of the Cyclone heads and have heard good things about them, so I'll try them out. They are a fixed head, but supposedly do a good job and produce good blood trails. I found them at $25 for 3 and they are normally $40 for 3. I just am not ready to pay $40 for 3 for broad heads.

 

[catman529]

Let me know how those work BC. I love thunderheads because they are cheap, well made and punch through bone. But I've started to think of other possibilities lately.


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[landman]

Congrats Catman

 

[FLTENNHUNTER1]

Congrats Catman and good job finding the second doe. Don't doubt the ability of the Thunderheads, if you do your part they will do their's. This is from the doe I shot last week. I hit too far forward and a little high, but it got one lung and tracking wasn't a problem. Who knows what happened to your shot; I stood where I shot her, recovered the arrow, and was amazed the arrow didn't (or maybe it did) hit a small branch on the way to her. What looked like a really open shot, when standing where I shot her and looking back at my stand, was actually a thread the needle shot that could have been easily deflected. Here are some of the pictures:

Entrance wound:


Exit wound:


Exit wound:


Blood trail:


She went maybe 50 yards. I waited about 30 minutes and followed the trail. I have double lunged deer that have made it only 30 yards and bled out rapidly. Thunderheads have been around as long as I have been bow hunting for a reason. They work, and as you stated, they smash through bone and I would not hesitate to shoot an elk with it.

 

[catman529]

Yea it's shot placement for sure with smaller diameter broadheads.

Does anyone think a tall stem of fescue can deflect an arrow? I figured they would have no effect but I did shoot through a blade or two of tall fescue that the tractors had not cut. This pic quality is poor but you can see the grass.

I think I will knock it down before next time I hunt there just to be safe. Still could just be me pulling the shot, historically I have pulled shots to the left for some reason


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[Remington742]

Congrats