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Tough lessons...

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I've had a full day for the weight of my mistakes to settle in and I'm more bummed out this morning than I was yesterday. Honestly felt like crying this morning when I was telling my dad about it; not out of sadness, but pure frustration. It will be the last time I ever sandbag it like that in the deer woods...

Preparations for Saturday evenings hunt started two weeks ago when I set up a blind in a blow down at the end of a ridge. I set it up looking down the ridge at an opening in the trees/brush about 65 yards away. After that came the corn, which I spread out over a 40' x 60' area in hopes of drawing in deer for Tracie. We went in with intentions of taking either a big doe or Captain Jack. After the miss on her first hunt of the year, she was hell bent on redeeming herself. I knew we'd see deer, it was just a matter of how many and who.

This weekend was also the first time I've had people come in and hunt with me this year. I was treating a couple of buddies to a waterfowl/muzzy hunt combo. Things started out rough and just kept going that way all weekend! First the Buckeyes lose, then Ben wakes up my kid on the way to bed at midnight and she proceeds to keep me up ALL night (first time we've ever had this problem) until I get dressed at 4:30 for our duck hunt. Drive an hour, walk 600 yards through 4" snow carrying gear and dressed like the Michelin Man in 8 degree weather AND... I promptly fell in the river and soaked both arms up to my shoulders, as well as my chest clear down to my knees. Thankfully we were prepared, but I was flat ass wore out by the time we got back to the truck at 11AM. Eat lunch, don't get a nap, then head to the farm and walk 700 yards to our blind with the last bit being a nasty hill we both struggled to get up in the snow. So by the time we sat down in the blind, I was running on no sleep for 34 hours and had been outside in the cold all day. Ultimately, this is what lead to the mistakes that followed.

At 4:00, I spotted two fawns coming in exactly as I had expected. We watched them feed for a bit when I caught movement 150 yards S of us where a big doe and her fawns were getting out of their beds. After glassing them, I determined the big doe had an injured front leg and that we'd kill her when the shot was presented. A few minutes later, she strolled in to plain view at 62 yards quartered away and put her front leg forward...

I was settling my binos in on the kill zone when the smoke clouded my vision. She ran off a short ways and both of us thought she stopped a short ways away. Knowing how thick that area was with briars and old tops from the timbering, I figured she stopped in there if she was hit. I thought she was hit based on what I saw, but wasn't sure. The other 4 deer that were standing there, stayed put and caused some confusion as we all tried to determine what just happened. For 15 more minutes, I glassed the 4 deer and was certain the other one had ran off, but then I scared them off so I could get out to look for blood at last light and 7 tails took off. Once again, we were confused.

When I got to the impact sight, I saw a few drops of blood and followed them about 15 yards before I lost them down a trail going the same direction we both thought she ran. I was having trouble telling dirt/bark and other debris on the snow from the blood. I walked 30 yards and stopped, looking towards the two biggest tree tops and thought I heard a little rustling, but quickly wrote it off as a squirrel. With doubt in my head over the shot based on her last miss, the number of tails we saw, and the "lack" of blood, combined with how tired and wore out I was, we headed back to the truck.

Now the frustrating part. I had help. Plenty of it. We were all tired and the prospect of warm showers, food, and rest clouded my judgement and I said we'd just come back in the morning. We'd be rested and it would give us something fun to do in the morning. So we did just that and when we came back in the morning, we found this less than 50 yards from the shot...



The deer that kept milling around, destroyed what was a decent blood trail right in the immediate area of the shot. My flashlight did not help me determine what was on the snow in places and as it turned out, a lot of it was a fine, misting blood trail. The rustling I heard, was her death kicks as she laid inside the biggest tree top less than 20 yards from where I stopped. The shot was just a touch back, but wiped out the liver and lungs, but it had nicked the diaphragm, so not a lot of blood escaped. Pure laziness on my part cost her the chance to have her picture taken to commemorate the occasion. I let being tired influence me to make a decision I knew wasn't the right one. That really pisses me off. This is also the first deer I've lost to yotes.

On the bright side, Tracie did her job and my failure to do my job doesn't take away from her job as my favorite trigger woman! This is Tracie's 10th deer in 10 hunting seasons. She's taken 12 shots and killed 10 deer, and I have never had to track one of her deer over 100 yards. The last 2-3 seasons have been rough in terms of deer sightings for her, so she was losing interest in hunting. I took her on one bowhunt this fall and we had a lot of fun while watching a few does filter through the oaks. Our first gun hunt was textbook, except she missed for the first time in 10 years! Then we saw 9 deer total Saturday night. She's got her love back for hunting and took this whole situation very well. So while we miss out on the meat, this doe won't have died in vain.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
I see 4 decent quarters still left. Burger doe.

They had eaten on the back hams from inside. I know some guys would have salvaged what they could have, but she stunk to high heavens already. I'm fairly positive her gut was busted with the shot and they ate most of everything else on the inside. It wasn't a deer I was salvaging.
 

DXT

Junior Member
138
31
Sorry to hear that. We all have bad days. Damn them yotes. I kill every yote that gives me a shot opportunity.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
That sucks man. Don't beat yourself up about it too bad. You still found the deer. Now you need to find the yote so next time they won't beat ya to the body if you have to leave one overnight again. Get ya some snares and use that doe to capture them. That is turning a not so good outcome into a good thing.
 

CJD3

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
14,630
201
NE Ohio
Lessons learned and shared Jess.
Sad turn of events but thanks for the post.
 

Curran

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,971
172
Central Ohio
Tough call Jesse. Don't beat yourself up too badly. Many of us have been there & done that before. Losing deer to yotes sucks.
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
Supporting Member
31,856
260
SW Ohio
Lots of sound advise here Jesse! Sounds like you've owned up to it and learned from it. Like Jim said, thanks for posting this so we all can take something away from your situation. Glad to hear Trace has gotten the itch back to getting back after em!

That carcass would make for a nice bait pile for yotes...
 

buckbuster217

*Supporting Member*
3,136
85
Byesville, Ohio
Sorry to hear this Jesse, but it sounds like you have learned from your mistake so don't beat yourself up, now use that doe to your advantage and snare ya some coyotes to lessen the chances of this happening again and to get back at them!
 

GoetsTalon

Senior Member
Supporting Member
4,294
128
Walbridge oh
Thats the worst thing for me when i dont get sleep!!!! Other than that you had a day of hunting with friends and loved ones and not getting the deer that night is a small price to pay for that!!!! No reason to beat your self up at all!!!!