Swintonator
Member
Well my friend rc10pt posted my situation while I was hunting and thought I'd wrap it up as it spurred on some passionate debate. It was Halloween night 3 hours into a 10 day hunt in southern Iowa. It had been raining to this point but now the sun had peaked out and it was a nice sunset. A doe ran by my stand at 15yds. Soon after I seen a good buck standing on the road. First night and all I enjoyed watching him but didn't think I'd take him. As he got to 80yds I changed my mind and when he went behind a big limb I drew back. I held for probably 40 seconds and when he came into sight he was 30 yards with his nose to the ground on a fast trot. I bleated twice and finally yelled "HEY" to stop him as he almost was out of my last shooting lane. He was broadside at 16 yards I put my pin right behind his shoulder and on the lower half of his body and I hit him forward. He ran 40 yards, stopped and looked around, walked 20 more yards looked around again then with a slight limp continued after the doe. I waited a half hour and climbed down to check the arrow which was laying not 10 feet from where I hit him. It had hair 2" back but no blood. Some meat and fat on the broad head was all there was. I got down face to the ground and slowly followed the trail to where he went out of sight finding no blood. I then backed out. Showed the arrow to my dad and called a couple others to get there opinions.
The general consensus was he was just fine and I chose to not search further. This is the first arrow I've let fly at a deer and would've been my first buck. The next day I wouldn't of shot a deer if it came in as I was sick to my stomach for wounding an animal and mad at myself. Hunted the next 9 days, 8-15 hours on stand each day. Results were lots of does and smaller bucks underneath me. Grunted in a nice 8pt but decided to pass on it. Almost grunted in a big 10 and seen the biggest deer of my life at 60yds which was an incredible encounter. Did not fill my early muzzle tag as I held out for one buck that didn't shown. Didn't fill my bow buck tag and didn't try to fill my doe tag yet and am very ok with it. I feel idiotic for trying to squeeze a shot in behind the shoulder. A friend of my dads who bow hunts said to aim there and I questioned it and he told me that was the spot. Later I started doubting that advice again but in the heat of the moment with the deer not stopping easily and making a fairly quick shot I defaulted to that aim point, drifted a measly 2" forward and that was that. I got my bow a year ago and I've practiced weekly for 6 months and on targets can easily and consistently make a good shot to 50 yards which makes blowing one at 16 all the harder but it was a great lesson learned and a mistake I will be careful to avoid in the future.
I will not say I did the right thing in not doing a grid search. I made a decision based on the information I had and wrestled with it the whole week. Last night my dad seen the same buck in a food plot ears laid back chasing 3 different bucks all over the place. Limp was barely noticeable so at least it was a happy ending. Look forward to hitting the stand again this weekend. Though very new I'm basically obsessed with bow hunting and am trying to do everything the best was possible, hopefully future post on here will be in a much better context. I have one picture only of the deer I hit. It's not great but I'll try and post it.
-Andy
http://iowawhitetail.com/forum/album.php?albumid=1616&pictureid=15691
The general consensus was he was just fine and I chose to not search further. This is the first arrow I've let fly at a deer and would've been my first buck. The next day I wouldn't of shot a deer if it came in as I was sick to my stomach for wounding an animal and mad at myself. Hunted the next 9 days, 8-15 hours on stand each day. Results were lots of does and smaller bucks underneath me. Grunted in a nice 8pt but decided to pass on it. Almost grunted in a big 10 and seen the biggest deer of my life at 60yds which was an incredible encounter. Did not fill my early muzzle tag as I held out for one buck that didn't shown. Didn't fill my bow buck tag and didn't try to fill my doe tag yet and am very ok with it. I feel idiotic for trying to squeeze a shot in behind the shoulder. A friend of my dads who bow hunts said to aim there and I questioned it and he told me that was the spot. Later I started doubting that advice again but in the heat of the moment with the deer not stopping easily and making a fairly quick shot I defaulted to that aim point, drifted a measly 2" forward and that was that. I got my bow a year ago and I've practiced weekly for 6 months and on targets can easily and consistently make a good shot to 50 yards which makes blowing one at 16 all the harder but it was a great lesson learned and a mistake I will be careful to avoid in the future.
I will not say I did the right thing in not doing a grid search. I made a decision based on the information I had and wrestled with it the whole week. Last night my dad seen the same buck in a food plot ears laid back chasing 3 different bucks all over the place. Limp was barely noticeable so at least it was a happy ending. Look forward to hitting the stand again this weekend. Though very new I'm basically obsessed with bow hunting and am trying to do everything the best was possible, hopefully future post on here will be in a much better context. I have one picture only of the deer I hit. It's not great but I'll try and post it.
-Andy
http://iowawhitetail.com/forum/album.php?albumid=1616&pictureid=15691
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