FrontSight
New member
What can I say, it's just a terrible feeling, like I really committed a sin, and I'm not even religious...
So I went bowhunting in NY on Saturday, and shot a doe. This was, mind you, the first deer I've ever shot with a bow. This was also the first deer I can say that I truly hunted instead of just saying "um, sure, this looks like an ok spot to hunt..." I mean, I read books and articles, I went scouting, I looked at maps, I looked for funnels, food sources, water sources, bedding, etc, etc.
I went a week ago, and saw these two does THREE times about 40 yards away from my stand, morning, afternoon, and evening. So I KNEW that had to be their bedding area, and decided I would move my stand closer this week, where I could get a shot. They were mine, ya know? I did the work, I was actually hunting them, not just relying on luck and hoping it was a good place to be...
So not only was I able to get a shot, I had these two does right under my tree - I couldn't get the bow in the angle I needed for 3 minutes because they were so close under the tree.
I planned my shot, drew back carefully, took perfect aim on the much bigger one (probably the mother), dropped the string on her at 11 yards, watched the arrow hit perfectly, dissappear into her, and almost bury itself in the ground behind her. Doesn't get much better than that, right?
Well, it was perfect, except for one thing. Rain. Heavy rain, actually. I couldn't see her drop because of cover, and it was raining hard, so I decided to follow the blood trail before it got washed away, rather than wait an hour and let her die.
Of course, I wound up pushing her again & again, never able to get off another shot. Last time I saw her, she was in the thickest of thickets you can imagine - 6 feet high, and even the thorns had thorns. I decided to wait an hour and then go back to try to follow where I saw her last.
After an hour of that rain, every trace of her was gone - the whole blood trail was washed away. I looked for as long and as hard as I could, but could find nothing whatsoever. Wound up ripping up my clothes, too, trying to look through those thorns.
What a terrible waste, as I know she did not survive that hit...
Advice, please - what would you have done differently? Should I have waited, even tho the blood trail would have been washed away by the rain, and I don't think I would have found her anyway?
I'm having a tough time dealing with this, strange, as I never thought a lost deer would have bothered me much. Guess I'm getting soft as I get older...
So I went bowhunting in NY on Saturday, and shot a doe. This was, mind you, the first deer I've ever shot with a bow. This was also the first deer I can say that I truly hunted instead of just saying "um, sure, this looks like an ok spot to hunt..." I mean, I read books and articles, I went scouting, I looked at maps, I looked for funnels, food sources, water sources, bedding, etc, etc.
I went a week ago, and saw these two does THREE times about 40 yards away from my stand, morning, afternoon, and evening. So I KNEW that had to be their bedding area, and decided I would move my stand closer this week, where I could get a shot. They were mine, ya know? I did the work, I was actually hunting them, not just relying on luck and hoping it was a good place to be...
So not only was I able to get a shot, I had these two does right under my tree - I couldn't get the bow in the angle I needed for 3 minutes because they were so close under the tree.
I planned my shot, drew back carefully, took perfect aim on the much bigger one (probably the mother), dropped the string on her at 11 yards, watched the arrow hit perfectly, dissappear into her, and almost bury itself in the ground behind her. Doesn't get much better than that, right?
Well, it was perfect, except for one thing. Rain. Heavy rain, actually. I couldn't see her drop because of cover, and it was raining hard, so I decided to follow the blood trail before it got washed away, rather than wait an hour and let her die.
Of course, I wound up pushing her again & again, never able to get off another shot. Last time I saw her, she was in the thickest of thickets you can imagine - 6 feet high, and even the thorns had thorns. I decided to wait an hour and then go back to try to follow where I saw her last.
After an hour of that rain, every trace of her was gone - the whole blood trail was washed away. I looked for as long and as hard as I could, but could find nothing whatsoever. Wound up ripping up my clothes, too, trying to look through those thorns.
What a terrible waste, as I know she did not survive that hit...
Advice, please - what would you have done differently? Should I have waited, even tho the blood trail would have been washed away by the rain, and I don't think I would have found her anyway?
I'm having a tough time dealing with this, strange, as I never thought a lost deer would have bothered me much. Guess I'm getting soft as I get older...