First opportunity of the year did't turn out so good.

Well there I was..debating why I was up the tree in the rain. But I figured I was already there so deal with it. About 7:20..I hear a noise to the right..."Oh this is a deer" I think to myself. It was two fawns...ran right under my stand! By now the adrenaline is gushing...! Then I hear another noise..here comes mama., then I get sight of her..she is as cautious as ever. I notice another deer to the right..out further away. It heads directly to the powerline...A whole herd almost. These are the first deer I have seen from the stand this year. I try to stand up..mama keeps lookin this way..I ease up and hold my bow out..release is clipped on..just waiting for an opportunity to draw...I ease the PSE back..and hold at full draw for what seems like hours. I try to take advantage of the letoff, but I am getting weak. Fawns are gone..only mama is left, come on turn broadside already!! There she goes. stepping to the left ever so slightly..I anticipate where she will be and let'er fly. Schpop! What the heck?! She runs to the right about 40 yds and stops. I hit the bleat can to calm her. I see my fletching sticking up like a flag( I was at about a 50 degree angle to her) What did I hit...she stands there a min or so. all the while I have another arrow nocked waiting to put another one in the air. Never happens..she trots across the powerline into the woods on the other side. I climb down, and go home for half an hour. I enlist my neighbors help to track her. Its dark now and raining..the blood trail will quickly dissolve. We looked where I thought she went in...no luck. Come back out, re-create it again. And bingo! A 10 inch circle of blood where she stood for a min after entering the woodline. We follow the blood forever, round and round, up and down the hill to the creek and we exit a well worn deer trail, where if it was a clock face, she could have gone in any direction from 9 to 3. We are on our knees now..searching every square inch of ground for blood..the rain isn't helping either. I give up..its been an hour and a half now....we are just pushing her. We mark where we lost the trail and are gonna go back at daylight. I hope I find her. I have never lost a deer..and the feeling is bad. Will she be ok to dress and process that long after a kill? If I find her? This sux..I shoulda waited on a better angle..or just not shot at all...

With the rain and depending on how long she was alive after the shot will tell you if the meat will be aight. It's iffy though.


Good luck finding her I know it sucks when you don't. Hopfully shell be right where talk stopped trailing and all wil be well.

suxs man....been there.....hope you find that old slick head without the meat being ruined!

backyard hunter?

Yep.

that is why I do not bowhunt in the rain, goodluck

When you say sticking up at a 50 degree angle it dosent say alot was it forward back low high shoulder? and if you found a 10 in circle of blood where she stood for a few seconds its probably a marginal hit cause she is bleeding so it should be only a matter of time, call a dog and take him and the handler to the spot where you found blood and let em work, yes it has been raining but a good dog can usually cut a trail as long as its within 24 to 36 hours and hasnt been contaminated to bad.

I spoke with a handler on here, I described the shot and we came to the conclusion that I stuck her in the hind quarter, maybe caught some hip bone. As long as we were trailing her last night she kept moving and bleedin out, but once we stopped for the night, the wound clotted up. And alot of times hits like that are not mortal..Well we searched this a.m and turned up nothing..I have learned an important lesson which is to not rush a shot, wait for good presentation..thinking back on it I would have been better off letting them walk..I still have 3 months to get one.

it sucks, but it will happen to everyone at some point or the other, so try not to beat yourself up too bad, at least you gave it a good effort and tried, there will always be another day and another deer

Good job.....I don't say those words lightly either. Play every part of the shot back in your head over and over. What could you have done differently to make the hunt successful? That experience is how you learn!!!! Tracking, what could you have done differently? That's why a lot of the diehards on here don't hunt in the rain.....They've been there and done that......it ain't fun!!!!! Learn everything you can from the experience and the hunt will become successful.