Two years ago, October 2020, I had a weekend free. Wife and kids were out of town, so I went to the ranch after work on a Saturday. I hunted Sunday morning and slipped and fell about 6 feet off a ledge and landed on my bow with the sight taking a pretty good hit. After collecting my self, I walked the mile and a half back to the cabin and proceeded to sight my bow back in. I was consistently and confidently placing arrows in a 2" group at 40 yards. I decided to hunt that evening. Get to the feeder an hour before it goes off and end up pushing deer off as I crawl into a brush pile about 25 yards from the feeder. After 30 minutes deer start to show back up. The feeder goes off and the deer are settling in. All at once the entire group becomes uneasy. Out walks the boss. A mature 9 point that parks under the feeder making sure to keep the other deer scrounging for corn morsels at the outskirts of the feeder throw. I can't get a shot for all the reasons typically associated with this problem. Finally the other deer move behind the feeder, and I am out of their sight. The boss walks towards me and is on his way out. I stop him in a clearing and let it fly. Looks good, double lung arrow lodged in off side shoulder not a complete pass thru. I see him lay down. Fast forward an hour and I haven't seen him get up. I go find blood at the shot and where he laid down was a pool of blood but no deer. I trail him until dark and run out of blood. I had to work the next day but my FIL went on horse back to look for him based on my description 3 of the next 5 days and had no luck. I watched trail cams for the last 2 years hoping to see him again. Nothing. This July, we were running jug lines on the river that is our North border, I spot a set of antlers sticking out of the water. Not thinking much of it we proceeded to pick up the rest of the jugs and then grab the skull. As soon as my BIL picked it up out of the water I knew it was my 9 I had lost. It is now hanging in the meat room at the ranch and is being referred to as the mossy oak buck due to it being mostly covered in moss. Glad to get some closure on a hunt. Not the way I like to do things, glad I found him though.
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