Planter

It's now 8:25. At 7:25 I whacked a really nice buck (by my standards) and am not sure if he is an 8pt or a 10pt.
I set up some scent (Doe in heat) and fired off a buck bomb. Five minutes later I heard him working a scrape behind me but it was still pitch black out. He was still there when shooting light arrived but just did not cooperate and came in on my back side. I had a nice 15 yd shot on him and took it. BOOM!!! the limb of the Pheonixhits the tree I'm in and I miss. He takes off to about 50 yards away and I let him settle down before I recocked the bow and broke out the can. He came right back in to the can and gave me a 25 yard shot.He was slightly quartering to me but I thought I could get both lungs. I didn't! Instead I hit him square in the shoulder and watched him take off with the arrow inhis shoulder. Looked like I got pretty good penetration even though it was a shoulder shot so I am going to give him some timebefore I look but I'm praying and hoping he did not go far.
Say a deer hunters prayer for me as I really HAVE to recover this guy.

Gonna give him a couple of hours but I know I got some lung. I just wish I had an exit wound so I could count on more blood...This will really tell the story of HOW good my Rocket Steel Heads are...

Hotburn76

Give it plenty of time! We are rooting for ya and keep us up to date on how it goes.

Dnk

Good luck John, you are going to need more lots of time and patience.

awshucks

Hope you recover him, John. Good luck, stuff happens, don't it?

Buckhunter46755

Good luck on recovering him....! I said a prayer for you.. seriously. You'll find him. As I'm sure you already know... he mighta headed downhill or towards some water if there is any around.



chris

newguy23

I always pray to Saint Anthony (patron saint of lost things) when I am looking for my deer!

FYI - Of course before I get my deer I pray to Saint Hubert (patron saint of hunters - pretty cool story too). The symbol for Jaegermeister (master hunter in german) is derived from this story.

BuddyBo

You'll get him Planter, you had two chances so it's ment to be. Just don't push him and wait a good while and look in the thickest stuff there is around there. That's where he is! I saw him walk in there with my minds eye. Really! Good luck bud.
BBO

ranger56528

Iam rooten for ya.....

Planter

Sick, broken hearted, ashamed, depressed.... My wife thinks I take this hunting crap to seriously.

The Buck I buried an arrow into has not been found. Sure not due to a lack of effort. I did hit him very square on the shoulder andthat is not where I was aiming. I was so certain the deer was dead I called my pals before I even climbed down. I figure I put 10 or 12 inches of arrow though his shoulder and can't beleive heis with the missing.

Ispent 6 hours on monday looking and had a great blood trail to follow for awhile. He then started dropping big clots and the trail just plain dried up.
I was hoping the arrow would have been found to open up the bleeding but it was not and I think that with the shot square thru the scapula the hole isstill plugged WITH arrow.

I also spent 8 hours yesterday grid seaching and found where he had bedded down. He spent some time there because there were three beds within a 10 ft area. Problem was the only blood in the beds was a little bit of clear pink and not much of that.

I like to think I am an ethical hunter who takes high percentage shots and frankly I just messed up. THREE inches to the left and I would be eating backstrap.

I am hanging my head in shame and having difficulty motivating myself to get back on the old horse. I should have gone out this AM but it just don't feel right.

GrumpyTom

Planter you have proven yourself to be totally ethical with your actions after your shot. You did not give up easily and tried your best to find the animal (many hours searching). It is very unfortunat but these things will happen once in a while, but us as hunters have to try our best to recover the animal the best that we can (which you did). Yes the deer will suffer some, but nearly as bad if it was a wolf that had almost captured it, and it got away. The trouble is that there could have been a small twig (that you could not even see) that deflected your arrow, the deer could have moved, or your aim could have been slightly off. Hold your head high, you have proven yourself ethical and did a more then admirable job in trying to recover the buck

Tom