NEVER HAD THIS HAPPEN BEFORE!!!

[ROLL TIDE 33]

I have hunted all my life and been blessed with some very intelligent hunters who have taught me to read sign and believe what your eyes tell you. I normally don’t post anything very long but thought this could help a fellow hunter out. At about 6:10pm yesterday evening I had three deer enter the small field I surrounded by hard woods I was hunting. The first doe in spooked a little and I thought the show was about to be over. I drew my bow and took a hard quartering away shot with the doe running out of the small field into the timber with guts showing on the entry side. The other two ran in behind me from the way they all came. I never heard the deer I shot crash but felt good about the shot. About 40 Minutes later I see a deer walking in the middle of the river left and behind me. She is obliviously sick weak in her rear end and struggling to walk. I cannot see an exit wound which would be the side facing me but assume this is the deer I shot. I immediately get down in hopes of she might be bedded down in the river and I can get another arrow in her. I get down get to a place where I can look up the river where I lost sight of her from the stand and see nothing. I walk down the river see a place I thought she could have crossed ease in the woods and see nothing. I decide to back out cool temperatures deer will be fine over night and I do not want to jump her! I get up this morning walk both sides of the river walk deep walk all over no blood nothing. I’m thinking there is no way this deer traveled that far. I cross both sides of the river looking for her nothing. I decided to look in the area the deer enters the field last night still nothing. So at this point I am back in the small field at my truck and decided to just walk in the direction the deer I shot ran just to see if I could pick up blood and get an idea of where I hit the deer. I don’t walk 40 yards in to the woods the way my deer ran and there she lays. I was shocked!!! With all the hunting I’ve done and seen all kinds of things deer can do this was crazy. Apparently the deer I seen cross the river was sick maybe shot or hit by a car but not the deer I shot!!! Lesson learned always check the area your deer went to first unless you absolutely know it was your deer you shot coming back by you. I was fooled on this one boys!!! But I found her and GOD IS GOOD!!!

 

[Gadestroyer74]

Glad you found her. You been stacking them up like cord wood this year ! Good shooting Tex

 

[Silver Britches]

Glad you found her. And glad you didn’t give up looking for her. Never give up! Some just don’t want to put the effort into looking for them, and that’s really a shame. I’ve always been happy to help others look for their deer and have successfully found most of them. I’ve even found deer after the hunter told me he was positive that he‘d missed it. Always go look after a shot, even if you think you missed.

 

[ROLL TIDE 33]

I will relentlessly look for a deer I’ve shot. I just cannot stand the thought of a deer not being recovered that has been Shot!!! Doe or Buck you pull the trigger and connect you exhaust every effort to find the animal you shot at!!!!

 

[HavocLover]

So just because you saw a deer walking funny you assumed it was the deer you shot and never thought about going and checking in the direction you know the shot deer went?

 

[ROLL TIDE 33]

I did initially look but found no sign leading me to believe I had hit the deer differently than what I thought.