Duckmastor2

Went bow hunting this afternoon at the leased place. 2:40 this doe starts heading my way. At 3pm she on the corn pile 15 yds away. The problem is she's facing me. I know some might try shots down through the back, but i'm not comfortable with that shot so I'm waiting for her to turn. She also has to look away from me so I can come to full draw. About 5 mins goes by when she finally looks away. I come to full draw, but she doesnt turn. After 2 mins i'm starting to lose it. If I let down she'll see me. Well, im just about to let down and she pivots left and gives me the vitals.

Well, I shot high. Put the arrow about 1 inch below the spine right up to the fletching. She trots off. I gave her an hour before I got down. I was praying for lung blood, but nope, as I feared, I hit nothing vital. I fould my arrow about 100 yds away. Its covered with blood, but in perfect shape. She probably pulled it out. I followed the trail about 250yds before I lost it for good. I also lost light.

My dad and I going back tomorrow in the AM, but I dont have much hope. There wasnt much blood. I lost the trail 4 times and had to crawl multiple times to fine it again. And, where I last lost it, the woods gets very open and you can see a long ways. I circled around twice after dark and found nothing.

Well, I feel sick, but must now put a good face on for my wife since its new years. There's no excuse, I just phucked the shot and shot high. Im snake bit.

I hope everyone else has a good night. I wont.

djdkman

You never know Duck, she could be bleeding inside pretty good. Kinda like when you hit a deer thru both shoulders with a slug...they fill up with blood inside the chest cavity but dont show much of a blood trail. Hope you find her, you damn well deserve a deer after all the time you have put in this year.

Duckmastor2

Went back this morning and searched for about 2 and 1/2 hours. We didnt find another Speck of blood from the point I lost the trail last night. So we began to grid searches from the last spot of sign. Nothing. Then we decided to walk the entire woods all the way up to the road, then back again. We even looped back towards the stand and beyond just in case she slipped by me and doubled back. The woods is pretty thin and if she was down we would have spotted her.

I know I hit nothing vital and given the fact she stopped bleeding pretty quick leads me to believe she'll live. I just HATE wounding deer. Its also rare to get an opportunity like that this late in the season where we hunt. Makes me sick inside.