DSGB
Senior Member
It's kinda long, but I am posting this to hopefully help someone to not make the same mistakes I did. Most of you have probably been there, so let it be a reminder to you and me both.
Wednesday was the opening day of archery season in Alabama. I was sitting in one of my favorite funnels at the corner of my Papa's pasture. I hadn't seen much, other than squirrels and it was getting late in the morning (10 am). The deer tend to come through here early, so I had about given up on seeing anything. A tree had fallen to my right, so I was re-checking yardages of the new holes it had made. I had already checked them earlier, but I got bored and wanted to be sure they were fresh in my mind before climbing down. I had planned to sit until 11:00.
As I was turning to sit back down, I heard the sound of hooves and looked to my left to see a rather large buck at 15 yards bounding away. He stopped at around 30 yards, but was facing away with his head turned in my direction. He started to slowly circle behind me to my left at the edge of some thick stuff. He stopped twice, wondering what he had just seen moving in the tree. The wind was in my favor. Already standing, I was able to grab my bow and draw as he stopped in an opening the second time. I put my 30 yard pin behind his shoulder and let it fly, only to see the arrow sail over his back. He took off in high gear and never slowed down.
I sat for a minute and made sure to get some good references as to where he was standing before climbing down to look for my arrow. When I got to where he was standing, I couldn't find my arrow. After a few minutes of searching, I saw my yellow nock laying on the ground, just beyond where he was standing. Strange, I thought, and continued to look for my arrow. After not being able to find it, I started in the direction he ran, only to find a couple drops of blood 10-15 yards down the trail. I had hit him, so maybe it was my nock I saw fly over his back. How does that happen?
I waited a few minutes, shed my long-sleeved shirt, and started looking for more sign. I continued to find small, dime-sized drops of blood every few yards. I stopped and called Papa to come help me look. 60-70 yards down the trail, I found my arrow with one blade broken off and blood on the first 3-4 inches.
Looking back, I should have backed out at this point and gave him several hours. In my mind, I had already convinced myself that I missed, but then found blood and figured he was just wounded. I was supposed to go into work after lunch and then had church that evening. I let myself get caught up in the moment and didn't use patience.
I stuck my arrow in the ground and walked to the edge of the pasture to meet Papa. He came along shortly and we took up the trail. It had been a little over an hour since I shot the deer. We continued to find small drops of blood as we worked our way through the somewhat thick woods along the edge of the pasture. We eventually crossed one of the roads on our leased land after about 200 yards. The way the trail was going, we had a pretty good idea where the buck was headed, as we had trailed several deer to this crossing before. As best as I recall, we found two and lost two at or near the crossing.
The woods were about the same density on the other side of the road, so it was slow going, but we never lost the trail for more than a few minutes at a time before finding another drop or two of blood (about the size of a shirt button, at this point). After another 150 yards, the trail crossed another road and into some thicker stuff. the trail turned slightly a couple times before we lost blood. We would mark the last spot and each follow a likely path a few yards searching. After a while, we decided to go to the house for lunch and then come back (it was around 1:00, so it had been three hours since I shot).
After lunch, we went to where we found the last blood and started searching to no avail. We were only about 200 yards from the creek crossing (also the property line), so we spread out and headed that direction. The crossing had a bunch of fresh tracks since it stopped raining around 3:00 Tuesday evening, but we didn't find the first drop of blood. The banks of this creek are pretty steep, so we figured if he was still bleeding we would find it either going into or out of the creek.
Here's a picture from one of the deer we previously found in the creek near this crossing.
We each walked the creek in different directions, checking any trails. After not finding anything, we went back to last blood, taking different routes. Once there, we started zig-zagging in different directions, but never found any more sign. I walked to the property line where it leaves the creek and walked the road looking for any sign with no luck, then back down another road to where he had last crossed (essentially made a circle around the last sign). Around 3:30-4:00 we called it quits. I had to go home and take a shower to get ready for church. We talked about calling a tracking dog, but both agreed he was either not mortally wounded or had left the property.
Here's a map of the area. Red dot is stand location, purple is blood trail. Grey lines are the roads, blue line is the creek, green lines are crossings (green X is the main crossing), and the yellow line is the property line (creek is also).
I ran the whole scenario through my head over and over trying to figure what I had done wrong. Did I rush the shot? How/why did my nock come off? Where was he hit? Not give him enough time? Is he dead? Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.
I had taken the the next day off, as well, but almost stayed in bed when the alarm went off. I was mentally exhausted and not really in the mood to hunt. I got up anyway, knowing if I didn't I would wish I had. I decided since we had walked over most of that side of the property that I would go back to that stand. Maybe he would come back? (highly unlikely)
As I got settled in, I thought of what someone posted in the LFTT thread about their nock coming loose, so I decided to check my others. I was surprised when three of the four in my quiver pulled right out! I put the one that didn't on my string and planned to glue the others after the morning hunt. Didn't see anything, so I went and ate lunch and got out the glue. I tried and tried and couldn't get any of the nocks to budge!?! The only thing I can figure is that once it warmed up, they expanded enough to stick in there. That would explain why I've been practicing with them all summer and haven't had a problem. When it was cool both mornings, they were able to come out.
Thinking about it some more, I'm wondering if the nock pulled out as it left the string, which put enough force on the arrow to slow it down, causing the poor penetration. But then, what did I hit that caused my blade to break? I watched what I thought was the arrow sail over his back and it never deflected or changed direction in any way, from what I could tell.
Now I'm at the point where I'm not so much upset with myself at the shot, but more so for how I handled it after. If I would have given him more time, would he have laid up and died? I should've waited and called in a tracking dog once I found the arrow and saw that the hit was marginal, at best.
The arrows I was using were from a half dozen I bought when they went on sale after last season. Since I was unable to pull the nocks and glue them, I decided to get out the three I had left from the last batch I bought and use them. I was able to put a nice shot on a doe that evening and she only went 50 yards - no tracking required. (I'll start another thread about that)
What would you have done different in my scenario, other than backing out and/or getting a dog?
When in doubt, back out!
Wednesday was the opening day of archery season in Alabama. I was sitting in one of my favorite funnels at the corner of my Papa's pasture. I hadn't seen much, other than squirrels and it was getting late in the morning (10 am). The deer tend to come through here early, so I had about given up on seeing anything. A tree had fallen to my right, so I was re-checking yardages of the new holes it had made. I had already checked them earlier, but I got bored and wanted to be sure they were fresh in my mind before climbing down. I had planned to sit until 11:00.
As I was turning to sit back down, I heard the sound of hooves and looked to my left to see a rather large buck at 15 yards bounding away. He stopped at around 30 yards, but was facing away with his head turned in my direction. He started to slowly circle behind me to my left at the edge of some thick stuff. He stopped twice, wondering what he had just seen moving in the tree. The wind was in my favor. Already standing, I was able to grab my bow and draw as he stopped in an opening the second time. I put my 30 yard pin behind his shoulder and let it fly, only to see the arrow sail over his back. He took off in high gear and never slowed down.
I sat for a minute and made sure to get some good references as to where he was standing before climbing down to look for my arrow. When I got to where he was standing, I couldn't find my arrow. After a few minutes of searching, I saw my yellow nock laying on the ground, just beyond where he was standing. Strange, I thought, and continued to look for my arrow. After not being able to find it, I started in the direction he ran, only to find a couple drops of blood 10-15 yards down the trail. I had hit him, so maybe it was my nock I saw fly over his back. How does that happen?
I waited a few minutes, shed my long-sleeved shirt, and started looking for more sign. I continued to find small, dime-sized drops of blood every few yards. I stopped and called Papa to come help me look. 60-70 yards down the trail, I found my arrow with one blade broken off and blood on the first 3-4 inches.
Looking back, I should have backed out at this point and gave him several hours. In my mind, I had already convinced myself that I missed, but then found blood and figured he was just wounded. I was supposed to go into work after lunch and then had church that evening. I let myself get caught up in the moment and didn't use patience.
I stuck my arrow in the ground and walked to the edge of the pasture to meet Papa. He came along shortly and we took up the trail. It had been a little over an hour since I shot the deer. We continued to find small drops of blood as we worked our way through the somewhat thick woods along the edge of the pasture. We eventually crossed one of the roads on our leased land after about 200 yards. The way the trail was going, we had a pretty good idea where the buck was headed, as we had trailed several deer to this crossing before. As best as I recall, we found two and lost two at or near the crossing.
The woods were about the same density on the other side of the road, so it was slow going, but we never lost the trail for more than a few minutes at a time before finding another drop or two of blood (about the size of a shirt button, at this point). After another 150 yards, the trail crossed another road and into some thicker stuff. the trail turned slightly a couple times before we lost blood. We would mark the last spot and each follow a likely path a few yards searching. After a while, we decided to go to the house for lunch and then come back (it was around 1:00, so it had been three hours since I shot).
After lunch, we went to where we found the last blood and started searching to no avail. We were only about 200 yards from the creek crossing (also the property line), so we spread out and headed that direction. The crossing had a bunch of fresh tracks since it stopped raining around 3:00 Tuesday evening, but we didn't find the first drop of blood. The banks of this creek are pretty steep, so we figured if he was still bleeding we would find it either going into or out of the creek.
Here's a picture from one of the deer we previously found in the creek near this crossing.
We each walked the creek in different directions, checking any trails. After not finding anything, we went back to last blood, taking different routes. Once there, we started zig-zagging in different directions, but never found any more sign. I walked to the property line where it leaves the creek and walked the road looking for any sign with no luck, then back down another road to where he had last crossed (essentially made a circle around the last sign). Around 3:30-4:00 we called it quits. I had to go home and take a shower to get ready for church. We talked about calling a tracking dog, but both agreed he was either not mortally wounded or had left the property.
Here's a map of the area. Red dot is stand location, purple is blood trail. Grey lines are the roads, blue line is the creek, green lines are crossings (green X is the main crossing), and the yellow line is the property line (creek is also).
I ran the whole scenario through my head over and over trying to figure what I had done wrong. Did I rush the shot? How/why did my nock come off? Where was he hit? Not give him enough time? Is he dead? Needless to say, I didn't get much sleep that night.
I had taken the the next day off, as well, but almost stayed in bed when the alarm went off. I was mentally exhausted and not really in the mood to hunt. I got up anyway, knowing if I didn't I would wish I had. I decided since we had walked over most of that side of the property that I would go back to that stand. Maybe he would come back? (highly unlikely)
As I got settled in, I thought of what someone posted in the LFTT thread about their nock coming loose, so I decided to check my others. I was surprised when three of the four in my quiver pulled right out! I put the one that didn't on my string and planned to glue the others after the morning hunt. Didn't see anything, so I went and ate lunch and got out the glue. I tried and tried and couldn't get any of the nocks to budge!?! The only thing I can figure is that once it warmed up, they expanded enough to stick in there. That would explain why I've been practicing with them all summer and haven't had a problem. When it was cool both mornings, they were able to come out.
Thinking about it some more, I'm wondering if the nock pulled out as it left the string, which put enough force on the arrow to slow it down, causing the poor penetration. But then, what did I hit that caused my blade to break? I watched what I thought was the arrow sail over his back and it never deflected or changed direction in any way, from what I could tell.
Now I'm at the point where I'm not so much upset with myself at the shot, but more so for how I handled it after. If I would have given him more time, would he have laid up and died? I should've waited and called in a tracking dog once I found the arrow and saw that the hit was marginal, at best.
The arrows I was using were from a half dozen I bought when they went on sale after last season. Since I was unable to pull the nocks and glue them, I decided to get out the three I had left from the last batch I bought and use them. I was able to put a nice shot on a doe that evening and she only went 50 yards - no tracking required. (I'll start another thread about that)
What would you have done different in my scenario, other than backing out and/or getting a dog?
When in doubt, back out!
