Like many out there I try to video shots when hunting, whether it be with a bow or rifle. I enjoy reviewing the footage and sharing with friends and family. I’ve also seen, guided, and been around enough shots to know that what your eyes think you saw in the moment of truth, and what actually happened can be two very different things. I wanted to share an interesting situation I had recently with a management buck we called Troy Landry (CHOOT ‘EM
), where the video looked much different than the reality.
This deer was a known buck we have a lot of history with. 5 years of pics of him meant he was at least 7 at the very youngest this year. The past few years he was a deer that was around fairly regularly in early season, but then would move elsewhere for the rut and late season. I actually went to go shoot him last year but an older, smaller, buck came in, so I shot that one instead. Troy lived to see another year.
Although he wasn’t a protein deer, with the great range conditions he grew his best rack ever this year. He was a cool looking buck with a lot of character, but he just didn’t have what it would take to be a top end deer. His age, size, and attitude toward some of the better, younger bucks gave him a fast pass to the management list.
I headed to the blind early the day I shot him. With the cooler temps I figured the deer would be on their feet early. About 30 minutes before the feeder went off, I saw a deer working his way in. When he cleared the mesquites, I could see it was Troy. He milled around for a little bit and then worked his way in and started to eat hand corn. I let him feed for a little bit to calm down and to work into position so I could shoot him.
He eventually worked his way broadside and then quartered away. I started the camera, drew my bow, aimed, and squeezed off. Immediately, I knew the shot was higher than I wanted
. Fortunately for me, the direction he took off was through low scrub brush and meant I could watch him run for a bit. As he ran, I could see the arrow was still in him bouncing all around, and I could see good blood all over his side. He made it about 90 yards before I lost sight of him. He spun around right before I lost sight of him, and a few seconds later I heard the flop of a deer crashing.
When all was quiet I went to the camera to review the footage and was pretty frustrated with what I saw. The shot seemed much higher on the camera that I remember in my minds-eye. It seemed like it should have been a backstrap hit on the impact of the footage
. One of the next frames seemed like it might be ok in the high lungs. Right before he left the frame, there was a good squirt of blood too.
Shot sequence:
I went back and forth knowing that a backstrap hit wouldn’t have made the deer bleed that much, much less the immediate squirt of blood at the end of the video clip. You can see in the pics that he also dropped pretty significantly at the sound of the shot and through the impact, so I had that working against me as well.
All I had to go off was my recollection of what just happened and this poor-looking video clip. The camera was lower in the blind, and I videoed out of a different window than the one I shot from. I sent out a few texts of the footage to get some thoughts and the consensus was the same: some places it looks way too high, but others it seems ok and the blood squirt meant it hit something good.
I gave it an hour and then got out to look for sign. I was able to find blood pretty quickly for about 50 yards. It wasn’t heavy blood but it was bright red and easy enough to follow. I worked my way to where I lost sight of him and heard the crash, expecting to find a body, and nothing. No deer.
I checked a handful of the closest whitebrush thickets and did a grid in the direction of travel but didn’t turn up anything. No sign, no deer. The doubt started to creep in big time.
After looking for a bit with no luck I decided to send the video to Matt McWilliams. Matt has found a deer for me before and his dog is a rockstar. I knew if this was going to turn into a one-lung hit, Arkansas goat-rope deer chase, that dog would be one I wanted on my team. We talked about it for a bit, looked at the footage more, and he decided to head my way.
Lucky for me he was close, so it didn’t take long and we were back at the blind, dropped the tailgate, and let the dog do his thing. I think both of us were expecting to see the dog run all over creation, following this deer, but it hit the trail, ran just about to where I lost sight of the deer, took a big turn, and then just stopped. We headed that way.
When we got closer we could see the Nockturnal glowing and we knew the arrow was up ahead. I hadn’t been able to see it earlier, looking for the deer in the daylight. When we got even closer we realized the arrow was still in the deer, and he was dead as a hammer.
It was right around 3 hours from when I shot him to when we found him and he was stiff as a board. The flop I heard from the blind was definitely him crashing. He died right away after the shot.
As it turned out, he took a 90 degree turn right after I lost sight of him, and crashed 30-40 yards in a completely different direction, almost opposite the way he had traveled the whole time I watched him. I hadn’t looked at all in that direction, and just kept going the direction he had been taking.
Both of us were relieved we didn’t have to spend hours chasing a deer around all night. Tracking dogs are worth every penny when you need them. I might have potentially found that deer, gridding all night, but I wouldn’t have looked in that direction for a very long time, if at all. That dog found this deer in seconds.
The craziest part to me (and the ultimate purpose for this thread), was seeing where the arrow actually went into this deer, compared to what it looked like on the video. I’ve had a lot of bow shots impact a little different than they appear on camera, depending on angles, filming windows, etc., but this one is the most significant difference that I can remember. The shot was a grunt higher than I would have wanted but wasn't nearly as bad as it looked and was quickly lethal.
This pic is of the entrance side hole. Wasp Jak-Hammer was the random arrow drawn out of my quiver that day, so that’s what I shot him with. The autopsy showed the top 1/3 of the near side lung was cut off, with a small hole in the second lung. The broadhead bouncing around in there as he ran off cut things from the backstrap all the way down to some vessels above the heart. The liver, diaphragm, and all the groceries were untouched. That made cleaning him much more pleasant
.
The saga of Troy is over, but not without a bit of a crazy story and a cool looking euro.
Shout out to Matt for the recovery assistance, David for the pics and skinning help, and Chad for the mount. If you’re in the San Antonio area, hit up TBH sponsor cwbrown for any of your euro needs.
), where the video looked much different than the reality. This deer was a known buck we have a lot of history with. 5 years of pics of him meant he was at least 7 at the very youngest this year. The past few years he was a deer that was around fairly regularly in early season, but then would move elsewhere for the rut and late season. I actually went to go shoot him last year but an older, smaller, buck came in, so I shot that one instead. Troy lived to see another year.
Although he wasn’t a protein deer, with the great range conditions he grew his best rack ever this year. He was a cool looking buck with a lot of character, but he just didn’t have what it would take to be a top end deer. His age, size, and attitude toward some of the better, younger bucks gave him a fast pass to the management list.
I headed to the blind early the day I shot him. With the cooler temps I figured the deer would be on their feet early. About 30 minutes before the feeder went off, I saw a deer working his way in. When he cleared the mesquites, I could see it was Troy. He milled around for a little bit and then worked his way in and started to eat hand corn. I let him feed for a little bit to calm down and to work into position so I could shoot him.
He eventually worked his way broadside and then quartered away. I started the camera, drew my bow, aimed, and squeezed off. Immediately, I knew the shot was higher than I wanted
. Fortunately for me, the direction he took off was through low scrub brush and meant I could watch him run for a bit. As he ran, I could see the arrow was still in him bouncing all around, and I could see good blood all over his side. He made it about 90 yards before I lost sight of him. He spun around right before I lost sight of him, and a few seconds later I heard the flop of a deer crashing. When all was quiet I went to the camera to review the footage and was pretty frustrated with what I saw. The shot seemed much higher on the camera that I remember in my minds-eye. It seemed like it should have been a backstrap hit on the impact of the footage
. One of the next frames seemed like it might be ok in the high lungs. Right before he left the frame, there was a good squirt of blood too. Shot sequence:
I went back and forth knowing that a backstrap hit wouldn’t have made the deer bleed that much, much less the immediate squirt of blood at the end of the video clip. You can see in the pics that he also dropped pretty significantly at the sound of the shot and through the impact, so I had that working against me as well.
All I had to go off was my recollection of what just happened and this poor-looking video clip. The camera was lower in the blind, and I videoed out of a different window than the one I shot from. I sent out a few texts of the footage to get some thoughts and the consensus was the same: some places it looks way too high, but others it seems ok and the blood squirt meant it hit something good.
I gave it an hour and then got out to look for sign. I was able to find blood pretty quickly for about 50 yards. It wasn’t heavy blood but it was bright red and easy enough to follow. I worked my way to where I lost sight of him and heard the crash, expecting to find a body, and nothing. No deer.
I checked a handful of the closest whitebrush thickets and did a grid in the direction of travel but didn’t turn up anything. No sign, no deer. The doubt started to creep in big time.
After looking for a bit with no luck I decided to send the video to Matt McWilliams. Matt has found a deer for me before and his dog is a rockstar. I knew if this was going to turn into a one-lung hit, Arkansas goat-rope deer chase, that dog would be one I wanted on my team. We talked about it for a bit, looked at the footage more, and he decided to head my way.
Lucky for me he was close, so it didn’t take long and we were back at the blind, dropped the tailgate, and let the dog do his thing. I think both of us were expecting to see the dog run all over creation, following this deer, but it hit the trail, ran just about to where I lost sight of the deer, took a big turn, and then just stopped. We headed that way.
When we got closer we could see the Nockturnal glowing and we knew the arrow was up ahead. I hadn’t been able to see it earlier, looking for the deer in the daylight. When we got even closer we realized the arrow was still in the deer, and he was dead as a hammer.
It was right around 3 hours from when I shot him to when we found him and he was stiff as a board. The flop I heard from the blind was definitely him crashing. He died right away after the shot.
As it turned out, he took a 90 degree turn right after I lost sight of him, and crashed 30-40 yards in a completely different direction, almost opposite the way he had traveled the whole time I watched him. I hadn’t looked at all in that direction, and just kept going the direction he had been taking.
Both of us were relieved we didn’t have to spend hours chasing a deer around all night. Tracking dogs are worth every penny when you need them. I might have potentially found that deer, gridding all night, but I wouldn’t have looked in that direction for a very long time, if at all. That dog found this deer in seconds.
The craziest part to me (and the ultimate purpose for this thread), was seeing where the arrow actually went into this deer, compared to what it looked like on the video. I’ve had a lot of bow shots impact a little different than they appear on camera, depending on angles, filming windows, etc., but this one is the most significant difference that I can remember. The shot was a grunt higher than I would have wanted but wasn't nearly as bad as it looked and was quickly lethal.
This pic is of the entrance side hole. Wasp Jak-Hammer was the random arrow drawn out of my quiver that day, so that’s what I shot him with. The autopsy showed the top 1/3 of the near side lung was cut off, with a small hole in the second lung. The broadhead bouncing around in there as he ran off cut things from the backstrap all the way down to some vessels above the heart. The liver, diaphragm, and all the groceries were untouched. That made cleaning him much more pleasant
. The saga of Troy is over, but not without a bit of a crazy story and a cool looking euro.
Shout out to Matt for the recovery assistance, David for the pics and skinning help, and Chad for the mount. If you’re in the San Antonio area, hit up TBH sponsor cwbrown for any of your euro needs.
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