# No Guarantee



## A Draper (Aug 14, 2007)

Yesterday was great. The front blowing in had the wind perfect. The bucks are still showing up on camera only at night, but I had decided to take a doe before the rifles start popping. Early evening six does came to the feed. One positioned herself perectly at 12 yds angled slightly way. Honestly, this is the first time I can ever remember letting a deer get perfectly positioned and then stepping through the entire shot process. Usually I get excited and just remember shooting the deer. Yesterday, I was dead calm for some reason. I eased the bow back, picked a spot, envisioned the offhand shoulder and thwack, perfect should be dead center of the heart. 5 deer ran one way. One deer ran the other. After letting things calm down for a while, I eased out of the pop up blind and back down the trail to my folks house, a walk of about 200 yards. We had dinner, looked at pictures from game camera for the past couple weeks, found us a couple lanterns and headed back to get me deer about an hour later. We found the arrow. It was covered in thick red blood with a few bubbles here and there. We found a blood trail that had puddles the size of a large apple ever 15' or so with a lot of drips in between. We followed it for about 50 yds with the trail getting heavier. Then we found a puddle about the size of a dinner plate. That's when things got odd. We didn't find 1 additional drop of blood. We looked for over two hours last night and started back at daylight this morning and found nothing. This stand is set up on a unique area about 20 acres that is bounded by a county road, an open field, and a steep flowing creek. We have been all over it. The deer just isn't there.......


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## 11andy11 (Aug 12, 2004)

did you see where you stuck her? A non fatal injury can bleed a ton. The dinner plate size was probably where she stopped or bedded down. May have been some type of predator too that approached during the night and ran her off hard.


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## rcortinas (Oct 10, 2009)

I've been told that if the deer sits still long enough and is not fatally hit, the blood will clot and not bleed anymore.


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## A Draper (Aug 14, 2007)

The shot looked perfect. The arrow passed clean through. Unfortunately we will find her tomorrow when the buzzards show up.


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## Screeminreel (Jun 2, 2004)

A Draper said:


> Yesterday was great. The front blowing in had the wind perfect. The bucks are still showing up on camera only at night, but I had decided to take a doe before the rifles start popping. Early evening six does came to the feed. One positioned herself perectly at 12 yds angled slightly way. Honestly, this is the first time I can ever remember letting a deer get perfectly positioned and then stepping through the entire shot process. Usually I get excited and just remember shooting the deer. Yesterday, I was dead calm for some reason. I eased the bow back, picked a spot, envisioned the offhand shoulder and thwack, perfect should be dead center of the heart. 5 deer ran one way. One deer ran the other. After letting things calm down for a while, I eased out of the pop up blind and back down the trail to my folks house, a walk of about 200 yards. We had dinner, looked at pictures from game camera for the past couple weeks, found us a couple lanterns and headed back to get me deer about an hour later. We found the arrow. It was covered in thick red blood with a few bubbles here and there. We found a blood trail that had puddles the size of a large apple ever 15' or so with a lot of drips in between. We followed it for about 50 yds with the trail getting heavier. Then we found a puddle about the size of a dinner plate. That's when things got odd. We didn't find 1 additional drop of blood. We looked for over two hours last night and started back at daylight this morning and found nothing. This stand is set up on a unique area about 20 acres that is bounded by a county road, an open field, and a steep flowing creek. We have been all over it. The deer just isn't there.......


\

Two weeks ago on Saturday had almost an exact experience. Doe was hit around 6:30 - 6:45. Called the wife to pick me up, found my arrow looking similar to yours, saw several splotches on the ground similar to your and at 7:15, she got there and I went to the house to eat supper. Never went any further than about 20 yds of the trail looking for her.

Came back around 9"ish to do the recovery, followed up on the blood for around 50 yds of similar tracking as you had, then came to a spot which opened up about 30 - 40 ft across with grass about 2'tall, and nothing more from there. Nothing in the pasture to the right, nothint in the surrounding woods, simply nothing. Looked from 7 - noon on Sunday till the rain got too bad and called it quits. Searched probably 10 - 15 acres of wqoods where she could have and should have been. No buzzards were spotted the following week and nothing found the following weekend to indicate there was ever anythin hit.

I wish you the best of luck on yours,


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## A Draper (Aug 14, 2007)

Well, we looked again this past weekend and didn't find anything. I've failed to recover animals before but I've always known the shot was off. Either they ducked or wind kicked up but this is the first time the shot looked perfect and I had good blood and didn't find one. Kind of takes the edge of the enthusiasm.


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## Screeminreel (Jun 2, 2004)

A Draper said:


> Well, we looked again this past weekend and didn't find anything. I've failed to recover animals before but I've always known the shot was off. Either they ducked or wind kicked up but this is the first time the shot looked perfect and I had good blood and didn't find one. Kind of takes the edge off the enthusiasm.


I whole heartedly agree. I have hunted since I was six and I have lost a few through the years for one reason or another. Most of my hunting has been with a rifle or handgun and your right, usually the shot wasn't a good one, however the good shots I did make, normally left the deer in a pile right where it was standing. Nothing gets under my skin more than to loose a deer, even if I wasn't the one who made the shot.

Since getting into the bow early last year, I have had LOTS of blown chances to shoot various critters. To be honest about it the main reason I never really got into it long ago was I didn't like tracking a deer that had a hole blown through it with a rifle, much less one poked through with a stick.

I have taken several hogs with my bows, all of which are much tougher to generally get on the ground than a deer, and they hit the dirt within about 30yds at most. The doe I lost two weeks ago is still gnawing at me in the back of my mind. I called my bud after shooting at a buck and finding only half of the broken arrow this past Friday, I told him that if I went back and found blood, and no deer, I was giving him first dibs on a great lightly used rig and putting the rest up for the highest bidder. Luckily the other half of the arrow was found with nothing on it but dirt. Unknowingly at first, a clean miss in the end.

Now I have a quest to go after one I saw on his place Saturday evening. "IF" I manage to get one in him, I will be done with it. I know thee will be no way I will ever top this one. So I can retire easily and gracefully and concentrate on other things. (sounds good anyway) If I hit him and loose him, well I will bow out very ungracefully, and someone will get the deal of the year.


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## Chunky (Oct 15, 2006)

I feel compelled to respond with my opinion. This is probably going to be long, so sorry for that right up front.

I don't know what happened in this particular situation. Sometimes we think we know where the shot hit...but things happen so fast we are incorrect. Sometimes guys don't know where to aim at an animal. I am going to assume that neither of these are true and that everything happen as reported. 

In my many years of doing this, I can remember a few times...out of hundreds...when the shot looked perfect and the animal just did not die. Seemingly unexplainable. I shot an axis doe, the hit was right behind the shoulder and right at mid-body. I knew that was a dead deer, no doubt about it. After searching for the rest of that day and the first half of the next day... I found her still alive. When she stood, I could see the wound right where I thought it was.

On another occasion, I shot a great cull buck, quartering away low and tight behind the shoulder. Unbelieveable blood trail from both sides for 150 yards. I searched for 8 hours until it got dark. I tried to get a dog, but could not find one available. The next morning, I put my daughter in the stand to hunt for a doe for an hour...then I was going to continue the search for my dead buck. Well guess what, that buck came back in to the same stand. The wound still looked perfect. My daughter could not get a follow up shot, but after her hunt she stated the position looked perfect and she was going to aim for that hole. Which didn't work the first time. I can only guess that the arros hit ribs and deflected forward coming out the brisket missing the vitals.

The point being, that sometimes this happens. I feel terrible when I wound an animal, and I look longer than almost anyone before giving up. I just hate it....but, that is a part of all hunting and fishing for that matter. It just can not be completely avoided.

Do bowhunters wound more game? Probably so, because it is harder to hunt with a bow. That is why we do it. Still, that being said, I dont' think the gap is nearly as wide as many gun hunters believe. I know lots of gun hunters who, if the deer doesn't fall or they don't find blood in the first ten steps, just assume they missed and go on. Which of course is not always the case.

If you have ever been bird hunting you know that many many times you may knock feathers out but the bird keeps going. Especially waterfowl. Because your wounded birds fly out of sight, you just shrug your shoulders and get ready for the next shot, hardly feeling bad about it at all.

Wounding with a bow is much more visiable because you see the arrow strike, and there is blood because that is the nature of how an arrow works. The up side of this, like in the examples I used above, is that most deer recover from arrow hits that don't die in the first couple of minutes within a couple hundred yards of the stand.

I undersand when you loose an animal, also loosing a little of your enthuasim for the hunt. I know how bad I feel about it. I guess if you can't accept it, you should change your method of hunting. We hunt to enjoy ourselves, right? If you use a scoped rifle and keep all shots to less than 50 yards...it would be very rare to loose something (assuming an average shot with no buck fever), but there is also not much challenge in it. To each his own.

I wish you all luck in however you choose to enjoy your outdoor experiences.


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## rhammock (Aug 11, 2005)

Good post Chunky.


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## Screeminreel (Jun 2, 2004)

Chunky,

I can appreciate everything you point out there. I guess my deal is that through the many years I have chased whitetail and been outsmarted by WAY more than I have taken, I have grown to respect them tremendously as an adversary. I have hunted from every imaginable type of stand through the years, but for the last ten or so it has been more so on foot, in the woods with them, on their level, simply still hunting or stalking. Even with the best in camo they still have the upper hand 98% of the time. I just feel that like any world class opponent, I owe it to them to make it final as quickly as I can using which ever method. I realize the end result of my doings isn't always the intended one, but that is also why I put much more into my target practice than most folks do. Not that I am any better than most, I am just WAY more critical on "me" than other are. 

I know the deal with them getting over some of the less than lethal hit with a bow, I watched an awesome 9 point this past Saturday that did just that since last fall, when my bud arrowed him and he got away. However, that may be, I am new to this and as mentioned above, I am used to them hitting the ground on the spot 8 out of 10 times and the other two times only going a few yards rather than 50 - 100. 

Now hogs, well I guess they're more or less to me like rats or prairie dogs are to others. There just isn't ever enough time or ammo or arrows for me to get done with them. I get exactly where your coming from, and appreciate you putting it up. I'm getting there, the acceptance thing that is, I just have more of a hard head than most. 

Thanks again.


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## bountyhunter (Jul 6, 2005)

Draper one question, what broadhead were you using?

Other than being a broadhead type issue, some deflect more than others on quartering shots, I can't think of anything you did wrong. Like others have said and said well, if you bow hunt it is going to happen. I'm luck to have bowhunted for 30+ years and only lost 2. The first one was a bad shot, I was young and dumb and did everything wrong. The second was due to the broadhead and the angle of the shot. Like Chunky said, the head hit a rib and the design of the point allowed it to deflect and go striaght forward missing the vitals. How I know this is my brother shot that doe during rifle season and part of my arrow was still in her. Both the ends had been broken off, but he main shaft remained right under her ribs. When I initially made the shot I thought it was perfect and there was a lot of blood for over 100 yards then nothing. I guess the same type of thing could happen with any broadhead, but some are more prone to deflections than other, in my opinion.


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