That word best sums up my season as a whole, along with putting an exclamation point on the cap to my season last night...
Yesterday afternoon, I decided to visit a farm I only hunted once this year in hopes I could get something moving. The plan was to stalk some of the standing corn, then let the wind push my scent in to a few draws and south facing slopes. I killed my first big buck with this technique and figured it was worth a try since I had nothing to lose. It didn't work. Major shocker... :smiley_boos:
I decided to scramble back to my parents place in hopes of using the same technique to get the deer up we had jumped all three days heading to the stand. The first attempt was a fail, as was the second. While I was contemplating what to do next, I took two steps around a big red oak and saw a tail fly in the air. A big doe had been working her way down the four-wheeler trail towards the bottom when I disrupted her journey. She took two big bounds and stopped in an opening 100 yards across the holler. I let the Optima bark and she hit the dirt like a ton of bricks.
As she floundered in the leaves, I reloaded the muzzleloader to take a follow up shot. Before I could finish, she was to her feet and off to the north towards a huge thicket. I knew before I even got to the impact site that I was in for a shitty evening. Sure enough, no blood or hair where she went down and next to no blood for the first 100 yards. I jumped her 200 yards in after finding very spotty muscle blood with no signs of bubbles. She didn't give me another shot before mixing with more does, leaving me with no real option to shoot again. The blood dried up once she left the thicket and after an hour and 400 yards of tracking, I turned back towards the house. Textbook high shoulder hit... :smiley_blackeye:
This is only the second time I have wounded a deer in 20 years of hunting, and the first time in a decade. I have never wounded a deer with a gun before yesterday and I've killed 20+ deer since the last time I wounded one. I've come to expect that when I pull the trigger or touch off the release, I'm taking home a deer. I have had a HORRIBLE season and it made a swift kick to the package hurt even worse. I'm done for the year and it left an even nastier taste in my mouth than I already had. I need a new hobby...
Yesterday afternoon, I decided to visit a farm I only hunted once this year in hopes I could get something moving. The plan was to stalk some of the standing corn, then let the wind push my scent in to a few draws and south facing slopes. I killed my first big buck with this technique and figured it was worth a try since I had nothing to lose. It didn't work. Major shocker... :smiley_boos:
I decided to scramble back to my parents place in hopes of using the same technique to get the deer up we had jumped all three days heading to the stand. The first attempt was a fail, as was the second. While I was contemplating what to do next, I took two steps around a big red oak and saw a tail fly in the air. A big doe had been working her way down the four-wheeler trail towards the bottom when I disrupted her journey. She took two big bounds and stopped in an opening 100 yards across the holler. I let the Optima bark and she hit the dirt like a ton of bricks.
As she floundered in the leaves, I reloaded the muzzleloader to take a follow up shot. Before I could finish, she was to her feet and off to the north towards a huge thicket. I knew before I even got to the impact site that I was in for a shitty evening. Sure enough, no blood or hair where she went down and next to no blood for the first 100 yards. I jumped her 200 yards in after finding very spotty muscle blood with no signs of bubbles. She didn't give me another shot before mixing with more does, leaving me with no real option to shoot again. The blood dried up once she left the thicket and after an hour and 400 yards of tracking, I turned back towards the house. Textbook high shoulder hit... :smiley_blackeye:
This is only the second time I have wounded a deer in 20 years of hunting, and the first time in a decade. I have never wounded a deer with a gun before yesterday and I've killed 20+ deer since the last time I wounded one. I've come to expect that when I pull the trigger or touch off the release, I'm taking home a deer. I have had a HORRIBLE season and it made a swift kick to the package hurt even worse. I'm done for the year and it left an even nastier taste in my mouth than I already had. I need a new hobby...