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Eventful day, sleepless night.

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Last week, I hunted a stand that I hadn't been in before. I realized I needed a couple more shooting lanes, so today I decided to get there early to give myself plenty of time to do this.
I headed into the woods around 2:00. As I was walking up a rise to where my stand is, I busted out a deer no more than 50 yards from the stand. Off to a good start.
I got my lanes trimmed, and was in my stand with what i thought was all kinds of time to kill. Checked TOO, texted a few people, just wasting time. About 4:00 I heard leaves rustling right behind me. My mind said "squirrel", but something else said "that's no squirrel".
I slowly turned my head and looked down to see a doe about 20 yards right behind me. After looking around a bit more i realized she was alone.
She was nibbling on leaves and the occasional nut from the ground, so I figured when she puts her head down again I'll see if I can get stood up with out getting busted. After i was up and got turned around so I could get a better look I realized she was a smaller doe, not a big nanny like i had joped, and I was almost hoping she would just go away.
She kept working her way directly to my stand! At one point, I was literally looking down between my feet at her as she was sniffing my steps, hoist rope, and the pruners I dropped earlier. I was like " well you're kinda dumb aren't you? maybe I should shoot you just to get your genes out of the pool." At this point i was still not sure I wanted to shoot her. But she made her way away from my stand right into a lane and turned broadside. Still quartering away a little, but offering a shot none the less.

I guessed she was about 20 yards, being at that kind of an angle I figured I would aim for 15. I drew, anchored, took aim, and as soon as the arrow left the string I said "shit"...The shot was high and I knew it long before it got to her. I was watching the red lighted nock and hoping it would either drop a little faster or sail completely over her, I definitely didn't like where it was headed.
No such luck, the arrow struck just below her spine. i was aiming for the off side shoulder, and the hit was great side to side, but way high.
She jumped and ran, not at a full sprint like you would expect, more like a labored run. She also seemed to be favoring her leg on the off side of the impact. Her tail was tucked and she gave a grunt as she took off. i watched her as she circled around behind my stand and veered off straight back. over a hill towards a creek and out of sight.

I lowered my bow and pack down, and went to inspect the shot sight. No arrow, no blood, no fur. I wanted to go look in the direction she ran, but last years experience told me to leave her be. Instead i went back to look more closely at the shot site. Still no clues. I looked at the time and realized Adam was getting off work so I sent him a quick text, responded to one from huck, and headed to the truck.
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Adam and his son Tyler arrived about an hour after the shot. We arrived back at the site about a half hour after that. We all looked over the site and after telling him the story, agreed she was hit and took the arrow with her. We walked the loop she took and when we got to where I last saw her we decided to fan out a little and start walking in the direction she was last going. This took us across a quad trail and down a hill to the creek. There is a blow down right there so we split up, Adam and Tyler went right I went left, around the blowdown across the creek and up the opposite hillside. We looked at all the brush piles, downed limbs and any other likely places she might have layed down. We made it to the opposite side of the woods at a cut bean field and saw no white belly, and no red lighted nock.
At this point it was looking like rain and was going to get dark soon. Adam called his wife to have her meet him at the road to pick up Tyler. I told him I was going to go back towards my stand, following a slightly different route. I suggested that after Tyler gets picked up, maybe he should go up a little way and come into the woods where the creek starts and follow that back. My thinking was that if i was a deer that had an arrow stuck in its rib cage, I don't think I would want to jump across the creek. maybe she turned and followed along the edge of it and he might find her coming in from that direction. No such luck.
When adam met back up with me on the creek bank, of course, it started to rain. We decided to go back to where the shot was, retrace one more time and maybe we will get some thought of what she might have done. As we were walking back to the shot site, I spotted a red light...

... My arrow.

20 yards from where I shot her. After the impact, She ran off. the arrow must have been hanging out the back side of her and came the rest of the way out shortly after. it just had to get dark enough to see the light.
It was covered from stem to stern in dark blood, liver. chunks of meat and fat, ribs. and both brown and white hair. One of the bleeder blades was also broken off. Our theory is that upon entry, the arrow glanced of the spine, angled down and exited behind her armpit. This would mean there is a good chance I might have caught a lung.
I replayed the whole thing in my mind again. After she ran off, I could hear branches and twigs breaking, and leaves getting kicked up. As soon as she got out of sight there was no more sound. Why?
Remember that quad path we crossed?
We went back to that path, and looked to the left.In that direction, the path curves back to the north which didnt make sense for her to go that way. if she wanted to go that way, there was no need for her to turn after she looped around my stand. maybe she went right. a few yards down the trail...

..One single little drop of blood, heading west.
And of course, it started raining even harder. I looked at the arrow in my quiver and could already see the blood was washing off. The direction she was heading would put her on a well used trail, that would head in the direction of where I was parked. I knew I had a liver hit deer, that neither of us thought we might have bumped. It was raining, and i had a fair idea of what direction she went. We decided to walk that trail, back to the jeep, and if we didn't see anything I would come back in the morning.

I'm going back in the morning.
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Be headed out in a bit. I'm a little concerned about how warm it was last night. Didn't shoot it for kicks I shot it for meat. Hope its still ok.
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
spent about three more hours this morning, No recovery.

I honestly thought I would find her this morning. That one drop of blood we found last night indicated she went in a different direction than we originally looked. The direction she went, there are limited spots she could have holed up, It's pretty open that way.
With the rain last night, and the wind blowing so hard this morning, I knew finding any more blood would be this side of impossible. The leaves were blowing around in swirls, and they were falling so fast, any blood that remained would have been covered or moved. My search was concentrated on finding that "white belly". I looked in every blow down and brush pile (no shortage of that after that storm a few months ago), In all the low spots I knew of, and along all the creeks.

I had to ask myself, "why am I trying so hard to find this little doe, that has laid for at least 14 to 16 hours, in 60 plus degree temps, with 80% humidity?" Odds are the meat would be spoiled. I chalk it up to a combination of ethics, curiosity, and pride.
Ethics. I shot that deer for a reason, it wasn't just for fun it was for meat. Even if the meat was no good, I still felt a certain amount of responsibility to find what I killed.
Curiosity. After replaying the shot in my mind, I cant figure out how there was white hair on the arrow. And what broke that bleeder blade? I really wanted to see the exit wound. The trajectory of the arrow and the entry would have indicated it should have exited about half way up her shoulder. The arrow had to have deflected off of something and angled down to find white hair on the other side.
Pride. I am always striving to improve my hunting skills, A poor shot is a kick in the nuts to me. Finding that drop of blood was a step in the right direction, but the recovery of a questionably shot deer would have been some sort of accomplishment to me.

I guess its all part of the evolution of a bowhunter. I learned a lot and will have to avoid the same mistakes in the future.
 

dante322

*Supporting Member*
5,506
157
Crawford county
Its possible she survived. The white hair is what maes me wonder. The exit should have been high enough to miss the lungs. But white hair says it came out lower.