Plan was to go spend the last weekend at the ranch but work and some other family commitments have gotten in the way. Haven’t spent much time there this year as my hunting has been more spread out than in years past, so I’ve had a fair amount of time afield it just hasn’t been at the home place. Last week we stayed for a few days and I shot over on one buck and the next day shot under another one.
Looking at the forecast for Sunday, I decided to go up yesterday to winterize the cabin and sit for the evening hunt. I get everything situated and then get in the blind. I had really only planned on shooting a doe, but as the feeder went off the place starts filling up with bucks. I had 6 bucks around the feeder, all young, when a mature cull-type 8 shows up. Thinking this is a perfect deer to shoot with trad gear, I let him mill about for awhile and work his way closer. After about 15 min, he gives me a good broadside shot at 17-18 yards. I draw back, hit my anchor and let it fly. Release felt good, I wasn’t overly nervous but my shot ended up going further forward of where I was aiming and I watch the arrow bury into his shoulder. Penetration looked decent, it appeared it had stopped in the offside shoulder and I thought even with the sh**** shot placement it may have been enough to get it done. He takes off running, obviously hit and is soon out of sight.
Wait about 20 min and go down and look for blood. Nothing, not one drop. Went on the trail he took when he left….still nothin, no arrow, anything. I was hoping he would kick the arrow running thru the cedar but didn’t find anything.
I looked north, south, east and west but had no idea where he went once he was out of sight and zero sign to go off of, so I started taking trails walking, hoping to find him. I looked until dark but never found him, never jumped him and have no earthly idea where he went once he broke out of that mott, and never did find a drop of blood.
Really disappointed in the way it turned out….this year has been a struggle with 4 misses under my belt for the year and now this.
The positive takeaway is I did learn a lot and have really fallen in love with traditional archery hunting. Gonna take the time in the off season to really dial in and get back at it next October.
Looking at the forecast for Sunday, I decided to go up yesterday to winterize the cabin and sit for the evening hunt. I get everything situated and then get in the blind. I had really only planned on shooting a doe, but as the feeder went off the place starts filling up with bucks. I had 6 bucks around the feeder, all young, when a mature cull-type 8 shows up. Thinking this is a perfect deer to shoot with trad gear, I let him mill about for awhile and work his way closer. After about 15 min, he gives me a good broadside shot at 17-18 yards. I draw back, hit my anchor and let it fly. Release felt good, I wasn’t overly nervous but my shot ended up going further forward of where I was aiming and I watch the arrow bury into his shoulder. Penetration looked decent, it appeared it had stopped in the offside shoulder and I thought even with the sh**** shot placement it may have been enough to get it done. He takes off running, obviously hit and is soon out of sight.
Wait about 20 min and go down and look for blood. Nothing, not one drop. Went on the trail he took when he left….still nothin, no arrow, anything. I was hoping he would kick the arrow running thru the cedar but didn’t find anything.
I looked north, south, east and west but had no idea where he went once he was out of sight and zero sign to go off of, so I started taking trails walking, hoping to find him. I looked until dark but never found him, never jumped him and have no earthly idea where he went once he broke out of that mott, and never did find a drop of blood.
Really disappointed in the way it turned out….this year has been a struggle with 4 misses under my belt for the year and now this.
The positive takeaway is I did learn a lot and have really fallen in love with traditional archery hunting. Gonna take the time in the off season to really dial in and get back at it next October.
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