So I went out and the rain stopped shortly after I got there. I was a little discouraged because there were hardly any tracks in the snow around my stand.
I was there for about an hour and a half before I see my first deer. It was about 80 yards in front of me and in no hurry to go anywhere. I think it was a doe because I couldn't see any antlers. It didn't move more than 30 ft in a half hour and I was getting worried she would never come in.
I was focused intently on her when I hear something behind me to my right. I didn't even dare turn my head as there is not shot behind me. I am listening to the commotion on my right when I also hear something behind me on my left. The way I was situated I could take a quick look and sure enough it was a deer. It keeps getting closer and closer until I can see a nice rack. He pauses briefly and then keeps walking.
At this point he is only 10 yards away from me. The problem is my stand is set up in a double tree and the bow was on the right side of the tree waiting for the deer I saw out in front of me. The buck takes a couple more steps and is only about 6 yards away when I see the nose go up in the air. He got nervous and turned around to walk away. I moved the bow to the left side of the tree, he made a bit of a right turn, took 2 more steps, paused, and I let it fly. He was about 16-18 yds at this time.
I watched him run until he disappeared in some thick stuff. Then I got down, went home, got an extra light and called Matty for some tracking help. I didn't want to lose this deer.
Matty graciously agreed to come down and help. We started tracking about 1.5 hours after the hit. I couldn't find the arrow which made me nervous. But after about 50 yards of tracking, we found it. It was very tough as there was not snow the whole time, it was slush, water, and field. We tracked for over 3 hours. We eventually ended the search for tonight when we came to some other private property. I will be asking them tomorrow to continue.
We went over 1/2 mile and had blood the whole time. Even at the end we were getting blood spots on both sides. I'm not exactly sure where the hit was but the arrow was covered in blood.
I have tons of pictures of the deer in the area and I am 90% sure this is him.
Here is the arrow:
That's been the story for me this year. A horribly unlucky first year of bow hunting in which I learned a ton, had fun every time, been busted more times than I can count, and still haven't closed the deal.
Hope I find this guy tomorrow.
