So back on October 5th i was fortunate enough to have a great encounter with a nice 10 point and sent an arrow through him. I was sure that it was a good shot and watched the deer from my stand for 45 minutes after the shot. He was breathing heavy and having trouble getting around even though he was acting very calm.
Just before dark i got down from my stand to retrieve my arrow and look at the blood trail. The arrow and initial sign showed great promise so i tracked him to where i first saw him lay down. When i was almost to his first resting place he spooked out of his second resting place and took off up a hill. There wasn’t a significant amount of blood where he initially laid down so i opted to back out and come back in the morning to look for him.
I brought along Tex from the FLG Team the following morning to help me track him but when the blood trail was completely non existent. We spent the rest of that day scouring the woods looking for the buck with no success. I was extremely disenheartend having never wounded a deer without recovering it before. Needless to say it kinda put a damper on my season and confidence…until last night.
Tex and I went out last night to video a hunt on the same property in the hopes of getting a monster 12 point that i have seen down on film. While choosing a tree to set up in i just happened to look under a thick patch of brush only to be amazed by seeing my 10 pointer laying there. He had died less than 100 yards from where i had jumped him. While initially tracking him we had walked past him at less than 5 yds in the thick cover multiple times. We were so close.
Needless to say I am exstatic to have finally found him as i have been looking for him every time i’ve hunted that piece of property. Still bummed that the resources of the deer were wasted but i am grateful that i was able to find him.
Shoot Straight,
Opie