The deer hunting hasn't been much better!
So far it’s been a very discouraging season. Shot one nice buck, was unable to see the hit but started on a good blood trail which soon dried up? No deer, but no scavengers in the area in following days, so an uncertain outcome on that shot.
A couple of days later a really nice 8 pointer was within less than 20 yards, but never offered a decent shot angle. I was so frustrated I decided to put the next decent meat deer in the freezer, and a fat young doe made the mistake of offering a perfect broadside pose about 10 minutes later.
OK, meat in the freezer, now look for a decent buck. Monday evening (one week later) a fair 7 point gave me a good broadside pose at 20 yards. Not a great rack, but decent, and plenty of meat on his bones. I was squeezing the trigger and he decided to take a step forward. Too late to stop the shot, and I watched the fletching disappear right behind the diaphragm! Checked the watch, 6:10PM. Lowered the Exocet quietly, sat back and had a cigarette to calm myself and replayed the shot in my mind. I couldn’t have stopped, and he was fatally, but poorly hit. It would be a long tracking job, but it was supposed to be in the 40’s (F) that night. Went to the truck and got my flashlight, cellphone, and led headlight. Called my wife to tell her I’d be late, probably very late, and called the landowner’s house. He’d be home a little after 8:00PM, so I asked his wife to have him phone me as I could use help tracking. I went back to the shot site about 7:30PM and had a look at the arrow to confirm my fears - a gut shot for sure. I found no blood, so I quietly made a sweep of the trails in the direction he headed. 10 yards out nothing. 20 yards, 30, 40, this wasn’t going to be easy, but I knew he was fatally hit. Finally hit a blood trail at about 80 yards from the shot site. The landowner phoned and I told him I gut shot one, had a blood trail, and needed more light and good eyes. I told him my location, and he joined me in about 20 minutes. We took up the trail, but it was tough at times. Good blood for a few yards, then a search for which trail he took. Disturbed leaves, a fresh footprint, and sometimes SWAG (scientific wild a** guess), but we kept on the trail for almost half a mile. Through a woods, across a field, through a creek, across an overgrown field, and into another woods where we were flushing turkeys off the roost every step it seemed like. Finally he crossed onto another property (where we have permission to hunt) and into a logged off forest thick with undergrowth. We were following a decent blood trail, hit a bed with plenty of blood on both sides of where he was laying, then nothing! It was past midnight, the lights were dying, the temperature wasn’t dropping like predicted, but we decided to give it until morning.
Picked up the trail again as soon as we had good light (8:00 - 8:30AM) and finally found the blood trail again. He hadn’t bled for about 40 yards after leaving the bed. We lost & found the trail several times, and he finally crossed another creek and headed along the edge of a soya bean field in the direction of the nature conservancy land (a nature preserve with a no trespassing policy). We followed the trail for about 100 yards, then we lost it again. Found it 30 yards further and then caught the odor of dead deer! There he was, and he was bloating. I slit the skin along the back, and the meat was white & already tainted. Sawed off the antlers, and had to leave the rest for the buzzards that were already circling. At least I know the outcome of that shot! According to my GPS track of the route he traveled almost a mile after the shot.
Went to Shawnee Forest that evening but conditions were hot & dry, and we found no good deer sign in the area we usually hunt. Wednesday morning I slept in, then tried to get work caught up some. Wednesday evening I returned to the stand I shot the buck from, and had a 6 pointer within 25 yards, but no clear good shots, so I just watched him until a fragrant breeze convinced him he needed to be elsewhere
. Today I had to work until later in the evening, but I took a load of corn in for the feeder before dark and spent about an hour in the stand, but nothing was moving. There’s plenty of time left in the season, but for a person that has been deer hunting for 30+ years with never a lost deer before (out of probably 25 or 30 deer with all seasons & methods of hunting) this one sure has been frustrating!
I’m going to be especially picky about the shots I try from here out, but I’m not going to quit until I fill the freezer!