Opening weekend Archery season.... Not the report I had planned

[338375]

Saturday was opening day here for Archery. Once again we hunt the same area as we have for quite a few years now...

We can hunt deer and elk for the entire season, but it is still early for elk, so we won't get serious about it for another week or so.

The weather this weekend was unlike any I have ever seen here. Horrific wind, rain, lightening and hail storms. First thing Saturday morning I spotted a couple decent small bucks, but never got a shot. Saturday evening about 7:15, I spotted the largest buck I have ever seen in that area. A very big 4x4 Mulie. I have a 30 inch 4x4 hanging on the wall, and this deer was every bit as big, or bigger.

The shot should have been easy. 30 yards and slightly downhill. I compensated a little for the wind, but just as I let the arrow go, I felt a change in the wind.
It looked like the shot was going to be perfect, but when it hit, it looked a little high. The arrow was still in him as he took off. My guess was it went into the off side shoulder and didn't go all the way through. The arrow must have just missed the top of the lungs.

I waited a few minutes and started trying to track him down into the canyon. It was so wet, and raining so hard, it was hard to see any blood. My friend I hunt with, and I stayed down in the canyon past dark, and figured it was time to head back to camp. I got up the next morning and went back. I covered every inch of the canyon, side hilled and zig zagged until I was back up to the area I had shot him. Nothing
I told my wife, I went a long ways past where I had last seen him. I kept thinking, just a little further and I may find him. The thing that will haunt me is, always thinking if I had gone another 100 feet or so, I may have found him. Then again, I could have kept going for a mile and still never found him...

I started hunting when I was 13, and this is my 39th season. I have never wounded, or lost an animal. Until now.
This is the worst feeling I have ever experienced. It doesn't matter that it was a big buck, I wouldn't have felt any different if it was a small buck or a doe.

 

[Mack]

I hope he ran off and piled up in front of the luckiest hunter in the area.
It happens. You took the best shot you could.

 

[mewolf1]

Dang!! I've lost one myself, and it ain't easy to shake. One thing is for sure, it was nothing you did wrong and there will be some happy critters if he dies. That being said, a buddy of mine shot a monster buck during the fire arms season once, and while processing found a broad head in his spine with bone growing around it. Buggers are tough!

Glad the heat went down with a weather change.:thumbup:

 

[338375]

I hope he ran off and piled up in front of the luckiest hunter in the area.
It happens. You took the best shot you could.

If that did happen, someone is very happy.

Dang!! I've lost one myself, and it ain't easy to shake. One thing is for sure, it was nothing you did wrong and there will be some happy critters if he dies. That being said, a buddy of mine shot a monster buck during the fire arms season once, and while processing found a broad head in his spine with bone growing around it. Buggers are tough!

Glad the heat went down with a weather change.:thumbup:

It is going to haunt me for a long time. I would have rather missed, but I can't take back the shot.
I have heard stories of people finding broadheads in deer and elk. I would hate to be working over an animal, and find a broadhead the hard way.
The weather here is suppose to cool down dramatically this weekend. It should make for good hunting. Hopefully we don't have the wind, rain, hail and lightening though.
For the first time since last winter, I heard them mention on the radio today, that the snow level will be down around 8,000 feet

 

[RWT]

Been there done that and had the same feeling. Surprisingly I found my animal later in the year. Amazing how tough they are and how easily they could hide. We spent 6 hrs looking for my buck last year between two guys. I went back alone the next day and got lucky as I saw an old hog skull about 10 yrds in the brush so I wet to check it out. My deer was 5 ft away. We had both walked by the deer at least 4 times between us and never saw him or the hog head. Amazi g how nature works.

 

[338375]

Been there done that and had the same feeling. Surprisingly I found my animal later in the year. Amazing how tough they are and how easily they could hide. We spent 6 hrs looking for my buck last year between two guys. I went back alone the next day and got lucky as I saw an old hog skull about 10 yrds in the brush so I wet to check it out. My deer was 5 ft away. We had both walked by the deer at least 4 times between us and never saw him or the hog head. Amazi g how nature works.

Nature is definitely on their side. I have always wondered how many animals I have walked by, and never knew they were there.
I called my grandmother when I got home, and told her what happened. She is 97 years old now. I started going hunting with her and my grandfather, before I was old enough to hunt.
She said the same thing. It happens. I have just been very fortunate to have never had to deal with losing an animal.

 

[Crewdawg]

There's them that have and them that will. Had the same thing happen to me for the first time 2 years ago. It is haunting - that you feel that way means you are and your ethics are in the right place. Maybe you'll see him again, walking past you.

 

[ghostguy6]

Ive also lost a deer so I know your pain, although I was able to trace the problem to a faulty scope. As long as you made the effort to retrieve the animal then you did your part as a hunter. Mother nature will take her course and the deer will go to some use if it expires.

 

[338375]

There's them that have and them that will. Had the same thing happen to me for the first time 2 years ago. It is haunting - that you feel that way means you are and your ethics are in the right place. Maybe you'll see him again, walking past you.

Thanks. It is hard to explain to people that don't hunt, but most of us that hunt, truly do care about the animals, and don't want them to suffer.
I would gladly take a clean miss, and go home empty handed, then to make a poor shot and have the animal suffer

Ive also lost a deer so I know your pain, although I was able to trace the problem to a faulty scope. As long as you made the effort to retrieve the animal then you did your part as a hunter. Mother nature will take her course and the deer will go to some use if it expires.

That is true. If the deer wasn't recovered by someone else, it won't go to waste

 

[dannyp]

Sorry to hear this, Mike. I've never lost one that I personally shot, although I came close once. It's definitely frustrating and you do feel bad for the animal's suffering. Since then I've always made sure that I take the time and not rush a shot.

The worst tracking experience I was involved with when a buddy shot one just before dark. Everybody at camp pitched in and helped to look. We did find it, but stupidly the only gun we had out in the woods with us was accidentally left in the ATV scabbard. There was so much blood that we figured it was laying dead somewhere. Unfortunately it wasn't. It got up and took off. By the time somebody walked back to the ATV and got the rifle it was gone and we were never able to find it. That one still irritates me and it is a foolish mistake we will never make again.

 

[fast14riot]

Just terrible news. I have been lucky to not have lost any game animals, but I have had to look long and hard for a clean kill that piled up in thick cover. Never a good feeling. Just take the fact that you expended every effort to recover the animal as a sign of being a responible hunter. I do respect you for that.


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