Copying this post over to kick off my journal since it was on Sit 1 of the year.
This is a weird one to write up. I'm still not exactly sure how to feel about it. Things went right, things went weird, things went wrong. I hunted private ground where I have a feeder on opening night because I had a large number of does using the area in shooting light. I got settled in the saddle early, around 3PM. About 6PM, I had does working my way. They bypassed the feeder and skirted me for the field edge above me. I passed up a shot chance at 28-30 yards. The woods were dead calm and she seemed a little edgy, I waited it out.
They worked their way, ironically, right towards my Jeep on the field edge (it's a small property). They got a little nervous and single-file walked back almost exactly the route they came from. A few minutes later, three more does came down through the field coming right to me, two adult does and a fawn. I had the fawn nearly under me, and I held out for a shot at one of the bigger ones. One bigger doe finally gave me a slight quartering-to shot at about 14 yards. I inched the bow back, anchored, and released what I thought was a really good arrow. I watched the arrow impact her just behind the lead leg and bury to the fletchings. In my head I said "she's dead."
I did not see her fall, and I couldn't hear her after she sprinted just out of sight. Confident she was hit hard, I slowly put my gear away and climbed down. I gave her 20 minutes or so and took up the trail as light was fading. Blood was easy to follow at first, but not obscene by any means. As she slowed down, it got better. I found the arrow, it had been snagged on brush and pulled out the exit hole. The arrow was not painted, and that gave me my first concern. I'm thinking one lung, liver, exit through guts possibly. The blood kept getting better, then it just stopped.
I marked last blood in fairly thick cover, and tried to grid slightly out in the direction she was headed. Nothing. Now I'm thinking maybe the hit wasn't as good as I thought and I don't want to bump her. At that point I had not jumped her. I backed out and decided to come back in the morning. I went to where I marked blood, continued to grid out in the direction she was headed, still no sign. The only thing I hadn't checked, what if she doubled back? Sure enough, I found blood.
It was fairly easy to follow, and I went maybe 25-30 yards and thought "I smell her." I smelled deer. A couple more steps, and I found her. One issue, someone else had found her first. Several someone else's, from the looks of it.
Coyotes did that in less than 12 hours. I was shocked, she was GONE. No meat was to be found or saved. You can see the entrance hole on the rib cage there. I hit her about where I thought I did. When she doubled back, I just couldn't figure that one out in the dark. I walked maybe 25 yards from her leaving the woods last night, and she died inside 60 yards from my Jeep. I spoke to the Athens County game warden because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to tag her or not. He said I was fine not tagging her because nothing was able to be saved from her.
So it's a weird start to the season. My setup was good. I got close, got drawn, executed a pretty good shot, did the smart thing (I think) when I lost blood, did find the deer...but come home empty handed. The song dogs ate well last night, that's for damn sure.
This is a weird one to write up. I'm still not exactly sure how to feel about it. Things went right, things went weird, things went wrong. I hunted private ground where I have a feeder on opening night because I had a large number of does using the area in shooting light. I got settled in the saddle early, around 3PM. About 6PM, I had does working my way. They bypassed the feeder and skirted me for the field edge above me. I passed up a shot chance at 28-30 yards. The woods were dead calm and she seemed a little edgy, I waited it out.
They worked their way, ironically, right towards my Jeep on the field edge (it's a small property). They got a little nervous and single-file walked back almost exactly the route they came from. A few minutes later, three more does came down through the field coming right to me, two adult does and a fawn. I had the fawn nearly under me, and I held out for a shot at one of the bigger ones. One bigger doe finally gave me a slight quartering-to shot at about 14 yards. I inched the bow back, anchored, and released what I thought was a really good arrow. I watched the arrow impact her just behind the lead leg and bury to the fletchings. In my head I said "she's dead."
I did not see her fall, and I couldn't hear her after she sprinted just out of sight. Confident she was hit hard, I slowly put my gear away and climbed down. I gave her 20 minutes or so and took up the trail as light was fading. Blood was easy to follow at first, but not obscene by any means. As she slowed down, it got better. I found the arrow, it had been snagged on brush and pulled out the exit hole. The arrow was not painted, and that gave me my first concern. I'm thinking one lung, liver, exit through guts possibly. The blood kept getting better, then it just stopped.
I marked last blood in fairly thick cover, and tried to grid slightly out in the direction she was headed. Nothing. Now I'm thinking maybe the hit wasn't as good as I thought and I don't want to bump her. At that point I had not jumped her. I backed out and decided to come back in the morning. I went to where I marked blood, continued to grid out in the direction she was headed, still no sign. The only thing I hadn't checked, what if she doubled back? Sure enough, I found blood.
It was fairly easy to follow, and I went maybe 25-30 yards and thought "I smell her." I smelled deer. A couple more steps, and I found her. One issue, someone else had found her first. Several someone else's, from the looks of it.
Coyotes did that in less than 12 hours. I was shocked, she was GONE. No meat was to be found or saved. You can see the entrance hole on the rib cage there. I hit her about where I thought I did. When she doubled back, I just couldn't figure that one out in the dark. I walked maybe 25 yards from her leaving the woods last night, and she died inside 60 yards from my Jeep. I spoke to the Athens County game warden because I wasn't sure if I was supposed to tag her or not. He said I was fine not tagging her because nothing was able to be saved from her.
So it's a weird start to the season. My setup was good. I got close, got drawn, executed a pretty good shot, did the smart thing (I think) when I lost blood, did find the deer...but come home empty handed. The song dogs ate well last night, that's for damn sure.