More bitter than sweet...
Oct 2, 2017 7:20:13 GMT -6
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Satchmo, Foggy, and 2 more like this
Post by daydreamer on Oct 2, 2017 7:20:13 GMT -6
Some of you may have seen my picture from the Live From the Stand thread Friday night.
It was the first hunt of the year and first hunt in the elevated blind. We had a great night seeing numerous pheasants and other birds.
A 4 pt came in as it was getting dark and the girls were begging me to shoot. I said no and Just after a nicer deer started walking in. I got ready and took a rushed and ill-advised shot and knew instantly it was hit in the guts. We went in for the night knowing I'd need to give it at least 6 hours before starting to track. (Side note, after I shot my daughter spotted an even bigger 8 pt that was coming in from the opposite direction.)
Went out at 6:00 am Saturday morning to find my arrow which has a lighted nock on it. Found the arrow and confirmed gut shot.
Looked most of Saturday and couldn't find it and was tracking my routes on GPS.
Went back yesterday after a morning commitment and searched a few other areas. Got down wind of it and I could smell it.
Unfortunately the meat was useless. Punched my tag and I'm done buck hunting for the year.
Huge bummer and it left a pretty big pit in my stomach. Pretty disappointed in myself. Looking back in hindsight I wanted to harvest a deer with the girls so bad that I probably forced it and definitely wasn't as mentally focused as I normally am with them in the blind.
I loved the looks of this deer and have no issues shooting it even though he may have been something special in a year or two. The fact was anything 8 pts or better was getting shot if the girls were with.
Couple of notes,I didn't know it at the time but this deer bedded for the first time about 40 yards from the shot. I ended up randomly finding a bed with a small amount of blood in it and was able to blood trail about 100 yards. I was so close to this deer on Saturday it wasn't even funny. It died about 30 yards from where my deer from last year died and I walked through and around that spot at least twice on Saturday...
It was the first hunt of the year and first hunt in the elevated blind. We had a great night seeing numerous pheasants and other birds.
A 4 pt came in as it was getting dark and the girls were begging me to shoot. I said no and Just after a nicer deer started walking in. I got ready and took a rushed and ill-advised shot and knew instantly it was hit in the guts. We went in for the night knowing I'd need to give it at least 6 hours before starting to track. (Side note, after I shot my daughter spotted an even bigger 8 pt that was coming in from the opposite direction.)
Went out at 6:00 am Saturday morning to find my arrow which has a lighted nock on it. Found the arrow and confirmed gut shot.
Looked most of Saturday and couldn't find it and was tracking my routes on GPS.
Went back yesterday after a morning commitment and searched a few other areas. Got down wind of it and I could smell it.
Unfortunately the meat was useless. Punched my tag and I'm done buck hunting for the year.
Huge bummer and it left a pretty big pit in my stomach. Pretty disappointed in myself. Looking back in hindsight I wanted to harvest a deer with the girls so bad that I probably forced it and definitely wasn't as mentally focused as I normally am with them in the blind.
I loved the looks of this deer and have no issues shooting it even though he may have been something special in a year or two. The fact was anything 8 pts or better was getting shot if the girls were with.
Couple of notes,I didn't know it at the time but this deer bedded for the first time about 40 yards from the shot. I ended up randomly finding a bed with a small amount of blood in it and was able to blood trail about 100 yards. I was so close to this deer on Saturday it wasn't even funny. It died about 30 yards from where my deer from last year died and I walked through and around that spot at least twice on Saturday...
