Doing The Right Thing

[big rockpile]

Yesterday evening over on Goverment Land I shot a Small Doe at about 20 yards.I knew I hit her and just set there listening,could hear her going up through the brush.

Well went checked my Arrow.No Blood,smelled of rotten Weeds Gut shot.

I went back to the Pickup and went Home.Now I know lots of Guys would have got the Flashlights and been looking for this Deer.If you say no,they would be saying the Coyotes will get it.But I spent the night waiting.

Got up ate Breakfast,got my Coffee.Went over there.Started looking no Blood,but could see where she was walking in the Leaves.Finally found a very small speck of Blood.Thats the way it was no Blood to speak of,just following the Leaves.She didn't go but 80 yards before laying down and dieing.But no telling how far she would have went if I had pushed her.

big rockpile

[poorboy]

You did good and Legal, me, I would have probably went home and got my dog and put after her( an had a stressed dead deer on my hands but no coyote worries). Congratulations on having the patience to do it the Right way..:-)

[Bret]

Good recovery.

Did you every take pictures of your cabin?

Bret

[tuvold]

Hey,

Its hunters like you that show the true ethic of hunting. These caring, conscientious qualities are often missed in the commercially driven hunting messages of today.

My 2 coppers,

tuvold

[MELOC]

i did the same thing with a doe several years ago. i knew i gut shot her. it happens sometimes. i found her the next day 30 yards from where i hit her. i didn't track her that evening because i felt i would push her too far away.

[dagwood]

That's the way to do it rockpile! Good on you. And ya prolly spared yerself burning off a few pounds chasing her as well.......

[shadowwalker]

You done everything just right. And have the backstrap to prove it!

When I was a young one I would gut shoot one every once in a while and would search and search, jump and jump, till I would completely lose them. Even tho I knew I should be patiently waiting for a few hours before searching, I would get in a hurry and end up losing my wounded deer.

Then one day, while bowhunting in a treestand, I gut shot a small buck and it didn't run but maybe 20 yards and stopped. It turned around to see just what happened and stood there for a long time trying to figure out what happened. Finally it started walking perpendicular to my treestand and I could see it the whole time. It just walked maybe another 30 yards maybe and then it stood still for a long time. Then it layed down.

I watched it lay there for over 3 hours. Waiting to see what happens to it. Finally after 3 hours it tried to get up and it couldn't get back on it's feet. After seeing that I got down from my treestand and sneaked over to it and killed it with another arrow.

That day taught me a valuable lesson. Be patient on a bad shot.

[Bearfootfarm]

You did everything just right Congrats!!

[bargarguy]

I have done the same, and lost most of the meat to yotes, they ate almost all of the hind quarters, as a matter of fact it was reccomended to me not to eat it at all, but I carefully butchered the areas that were not touched at all and got a few lbs. of meat. I think next time I will not wait all night maybe give it 3 or 4 hours and hope for the best. I now have a million candlepower light for tracking at night, hope I never have to use it. The yotes are getting pretty bad around here, the neighbor left his heater seat up in the tree and after gutting and dragging a deer out he went back to get it and there were already yotes on the pile.

[shelljo]

One of my hunting buddies had a bad shot saturday. He's not sure what happened, but shot the deer through the nose. Yep, the arrow went down through the nose, split the tongue, out the bottom of the mouth and poked the neck. He's not sure if the deer turned to scratch his sholder or what, was just a freak shot.

We tracked that deer for 3 hours, after waiting over an hour. He didn't stay in the river, but took off through an alfalfa field and into another creek bed over a mile away. Tracking drops of blood through that alfalfa was lots of fun.

But, we finally found him. He was laying in the water, bled out. His lungs were white. Probably weighed a good 200 lbs. Big guy. Can't believe we found him, but glad we took the time to do so.

We usually wait a good hour or more before tracking, but we live over an hour away from where we hunt, so haven't left anything overnight--so far.