HOWATTANDHAWKEN
PMA Member
My son Jacob and I headed out yesterday afternoon for a bowhunt in Dallas county. Everythin was just perfect and I had a real good feeling about the hunt. Jake has been bowhunting for three years now and is 14 Yrs. old. He has a pretty good knack for it , He is patient and very determined, anyhow after sitting and watching squirrels for an hour or so, we finally spotted some deer moving across the ridge in front of us, It was a doe and a fawn and they were going the other way, Jake stood as I started grunting at them hoping they would turn back to us. No such luck.
As Jake remained standing we heard some walking to our left side and he said he could see a buck down below and it was coming our way. As the deer approached he was taking his time and nibbling on the leaves around him. I reminded Jake to take some deep breath's in preparation for the shot. As the deer cleared into an opening Jake drew his bow and I whispered into his ear " Twenty-Five" He nodded and settled his pin then released, The arrow appeared to drop just under the deer and he did not react at all, He just stood there, By the time Jake got another arrow knocked the deer had walked about ten ot fifteen feet and was still in the open. Again the shot went low, and the deer wandered off.
As darkness settled in we discussed what had happened and I told him not to worry about because everyone misses!
At that point I had Jake stay in the treestand as I got down to find his arrows. I found the first one right off and picked it up to feel it was all wet. I brought my hand close to my face and it looked like it was covered in blood, However one whiff told me that it was not all blood ,It definiteley had a foul odor to it which siad to me that it was a gut shot.
That was suprising to me because it looked like a clean miss and there was no reaction at all from the deer to indicate a hit. I could not locate the other arrow so I walked back over to our treestands to tell Jake that he had hit the deer but it must have been a gut shot, He was as surprised as I was because he saw the arrow drop low too. Not the case.
We were going to go back to the truck and get a flashlight to look for the other arrow. At that point I started thinking about some of the posts I have been reading on here lately and we decided to leave the deer overnight and come back at first light.
We arrived back to the place of the shot at 7 A.M. approximateley 12 hours later. As we made our way to the arrow from where he took the first shot we were both a little surprised to see quite a bit of blood on the ground between that spot and the location of the second shot, around 15 feet apart, the blood trail was fairly strong for about 50 yards and then it just petered out on us, we managed to keep finding small specks of blood but few and far between, as we searched for blood we also found quite a bit of hair and were able to stay on his trail by spotting his tracks also.
After another fifty yards we were pretty much out of clues, our best bet was that we were on a line down a side hill headed right for the creek about fifty yard away, I hoped he was there some where. As we got the bottom Jake found blood right at the bank of the creek so we knew he crossed it. We then crossed and could not find anything on the other side. We kept looking and Jake found some blood and quite a bit of it.
I made my way to where he was looking at it and saw that what we were looking at was a bed. That bothered me because I hoped his bed would be where we found him.
Now I wondered if he was able to get up last night and move ??? or did we just jump him as we approached???
We really couldn't find any more sign to show us which way he went as he left so we tried the most obvious direction and started looking there.
As we came out of the creek bed it was a gentle slope up and it looked like a few tracks were going that way,
We cleared the top just enough to see up out of the creek and I immediately saw a buck walking across the hillside , Jake and I crouched and watched him as he moved from left to right.
I could tell it wasnt the buck we were looking for because it was a little bigger deer, As we follwed him across the hilside I'll be darned if he diddnt lead our gaze right into the deer we were looking for.
He lay there at about fifteen feet away head up looking at us. Jake asked me if he was alive and I said yes, He immediately got an arrow on and was able to make a final shot on the deer.
It is Jakes first Buck with his bow! The first shot that we had thought was a miss went straight through this deer without he or us noticing it.
It was a decent shot come to find out but a bit far back. It went through the liver and into the abdominal cavity.
I know if i had not been thinking and went after this deer last night we would have lost him for sure, A word of advise goes a long way when deer hunting, " When in Doubt , Back out!!!"
It worked for us and it is a sound decision under the right or even the wrong circumstances, Heres some pic's of the proud bowhunter.
As Jake remained standing we heard some walking to our left side and he said he could see a buck down below and it was coming our way. As the deer approached he was taking his time and nibbling on the leaves around him. I reminded Jake to take some deep breath's in preparation for the shot. As the deer cleared into an opening Jake drew his bow and I whispered into his ear " Twenty-Five" He nodded and settled his pin then released, The arrow appeared to drop just under the deer and he did not react at all, He just stood there, By the time Jake got another arrow knocked the deer had walked about ten ot fifteen feet and was still in the open. Again the shot went low, and the deer wandered off.
As darkness settled in we discussed what had happened and I told him not to worry about because everyone misses!
At that point I had Jake stay in the treestand as I got down to find his arrows. I found the first one right off and picked it up to feel it was all wet. I brought my hand close to my face and it looked like it was covered in blood, However one whiff told me that it was not all blood ,It definiteley had a foul odor to it which siad to me that it was a gut shot.
That was suprising to me because it looked like a clean miss and there was no reaction at all from the deer to indicate a hit. I could not locate the other arrow so I walked back over to our treestands to tell Jake that he had hit the deer but it must have been a gut shot, He was as surprised as I was because he saw the arrow drop low too. Not the case.
We were going to go back to the truck and get a flashlight to look for the other arrow. At that point I started thinking about some of the posts I have been reading on here lately and we decided to leave the deer overnight and come back at first light.
We arrived back to the place of the shot at 7 A.M. approximateley 12 hours later. As we made our way to the arrow from where he took the first shot we were both a little surprised to see quite a bit of blood on the ground between that spot and the location of the second shot, around 15 feet apart, the blood trail was fairly strong for about 50 yards and then it just petered out on us, we managed to keep finding small specks of blood but few and far between, as we searched for blood we also found quite a bit of hair and were able to stay on his trail by spotting his tracks also.
After another fifty yards we were pretty much out of clues, our best bet was that we were on a line down a side hill headed right for the creek about fifty yard away, I hoped he was there some where. As we got the bottom Jake found blood right at the bank of the creek so we knew he crossed it. We then crossed and could not find anything on the other side. We kept looking and Jake found some blood and quite a bit of it.
I made my way to where he was looking at it and saw that what we were looking at was a bed. That bothered me because I hoped his bed would be where we found him.
Now I wondered if he was able to get up last night and move ??? or did we just jump him as we approached???
We really couldn't find any more sign to show us which way he went as he left so we tried the most obvious direction and started looking there.
As we came out of the creek bed it was a gentle slope up and it looked like a few tracks were going that way,
We cleared the top just enough to see up out of the creek and I immediately saw a buck walking across the hillside , Jake and I crouched and watched him as he moved from left to right.
I could tell it wasnt the buck we were looking for because it was a little bigger deer, As we follwed him across the hilside I'll be darned if he diddnt lead our gaze right into the deer we were looking for.
He lay there at about fifteen feet away head up looking at us. Jake asked me if he was alive and I said yes, He immediately got an arrow on and was able to make a final shot on the deer.
It is Jakes first Buck with his bow! The first shot that we had thought was a miss went straight through this deer without he or us noticing it.
It was a decent shot come to find out but a bit far back. It went through the liver and into the abdominal cavity.
I know if i had not been thinking and went after this deer last night we would have lost him for sure, A word of advise goes a long way when deer hunting, " When in Doubt , Back out!!!"
It worked for us and it is a sound decision under the right or even the wrong circumstances, Heres some pic's of the proud bowhunter.
