My son and I went to a new spot neither of us had ever been. BRAND new area and County.
We scouted, found busted hulls, and set up for a hot evening hunt.
(BTW, this weather has been too hot to enjoy bow hunting. And for me...that is REALLY hot.)
At prime time, about 30 minutes before dark, deer started coming out of the thick stuff headed toward the acorns.
I was ready. But honestly, the mosquitos were terrible. Worst I have ever seen. And with sweat dripping off me like a water faucet, I was anxious to get down. A long dead deer drag did not seem very appealing to me at the time. Besides, my son was a half mile away and I was ready to pick him up and head home.
I was actually relieved when I got his text. He had just shot a doe.
We knew we had a lot of work ahead so...with deer headed my way, and good light left, I did the unthinkable.
I kicked out.
Deer blowing all over. Really kinda funny.
Glad I did.
It took a while but I found his arrow. NOT GOOD.
The Rage penetrated about 8 inches and then stopped. It was covered with feces for all 8 inches then the rest of the arrow was clean.
Based on his description of his shot, I felt confident he had hip shot this doe.
Intestinal gut shot.
It was 9 PM and HOT.
We knew what to do.
We left for home.
Here is where experience comes in handy.
I was confident this doe was still alive.
I also knew she would leave little or ZERO blood to follow.
I also knew she would not go far and bed down for the night.
I also knew if left undisturbed, she would be nearby in the morning.
I also knew that the meat would SPOIL.
Unless she lived all night which I felt she probably would.
Poison blood from a gut shot takes a long time to kill.
It is a horrible, painful, slow, death.
There is nothing good to say about this kind of wound except it is a huge mistake to shoot a deer or anything else in the guts.
The only redeeming part about this story is that if one makes the right decisions AFTER screwing up the shot, meat and horns can be salvaged.
The next day, at about noon, the two of us went back to the area and set up a grid search. We found her in the first grid.
A second arrow killed her cleanly.
Suffering over and fresh meat minus inside tenders.
She was only about 80 yards from where she was shot.
Had we pushed this deer the eve before, she could have run to an area we did not have permission to search. Lost doe.
Even though it was hot, the meat is fine because she had blood pumping through her body.
Had we pushed this deer, not only would we have probably not found her, but also we would never have found out what happened with the shot, or learned anything from her death.
Lesson learned (AGAIN).
We scouted, found busted hulls, and set up for a hot evening hunt.
(BTW, this weather has been too hot to enjoy bow hunting. And for me...that is REALLY hot.)
At prime time, about 30 minutes before dark, deer started coming out of the thick stuff headed toward the acorns.
I was ready. But honestly, the mosquitos were terrible. Worst I have ever seen. And with sweat dripping off me like a water faucet, I was anxious to get down. A long dead deer drag did not seem very appealing to me at the time. Besides, my son was a half mile away and I was ready to pick him up and head home.
I was actually relieved when I got his text. He had just shot a doe.
We knew we had a lot of work ahead so...with deer headed my way, and good light left, I did the unthinkable.
I kicked out.
Deer blowing all over. Really kinda funny.
Glad I did.
It took a while but I found his arrow. NOT GOOD.
The Rage penetrated about 8 inches and then stopped. It was covered with feces for all 8 inches then the rest of the arrow was clean.
Based on his description of his shot, I felt confident he had hip shot this doe.
Intestinal gut shot.
It was 9 PM and HOT.
We knew what to do.
We left for home.
Here is where experience comes in handy.
I was confident this doe was still alive.
I also knew she would leave little or ZERO blood to follow.
I also knew she would not go far and bed down for the night.
I also knew if left undisturbed, she would be nearby in the morning.
I also knew that the meat would SPOIL.
Unless she lived all night which I felt she probably would.
Poison blood from a gut shot takes a long time to kill.
It is a horrible, painful, slow, death.
There is nothing good to say about this kind of wound except it is a huge mistake to shoot a deer or anything else in the guts.
The only redeeming part about this story is that if one makes the right decisions AFTER screwing up the shot, meat and horns can be salvaged.
The next day, at about noon, the two of us went back to the area and set up a grid search. We found her in the first grid.
A second arrow killed her cleanly.
Suffering over and fresh meat minus inside tenders.
She was only about 80 yards from where she was shot.
Had we pushed this deer the eve before, she could have run to an area we did not have permission to search. Lost doe.
Even though it was hot, the meat is fine because she had blood pumping through her body.
Had we pushed this deer, not only would we have probably not found her, but also we would never have found out what happened with the shot, or learned anything from her death.
Lesson learned (AGAIN).
