It took me some time to think about writing this. I'm quite disappointed in myself, but I think it only fair to share failures, as well as success. This year has been phenomenal, best I've ever had by far for many reasons. Deer hunting has been no different, and we had a couple bruisers on our place this year. I mainly focused on a section which had not only an outstanding buck, but multiple very large bucks, and consistent daylight showings. Firearm season came and went with our normal few deer for meat, nobody saw anything nice. Finally muzzleloader season arrived. I decided to take a whole week off from work, as the season is way too short already. I figured 9 days should give me half a chance anyway, as I was getting pictures of a buck every 4-5 days or so in one spot. This was a section of the property I've left alone, with next to no hunting pressure. I was fairly sure where he would be coming from, and what I needed to do to kill him.
The first day turned out to be outstanding. Deer were everywhere, and I even had a small buck bed not 20 yards from me for about 3 hours before getting up again. I've never got to see a deer bed that close before. The next few days were also very good, more deer, but not what I was after. Finally Wednesday the wind had changed, and I didn't want my scent blowing into the bedding area. The day unfolded quickly, and would not make sense without a map, which I attached below.
I decided to try a tree stand my cousin had left out at the top of the map marked with a blue dot. It was a very good funnel, most deer pass either over the hill, or by it. It would make more sense with the complete map that involves the river, but that is for another day. He had warned me the stand was not very comfortable, but that was an understatement. There had obviously been a branch, which he cut off, but it left a jagged stub which poked you in the middle of the back. That is on top of the fact the stand was hung in a tree leaning forward. My legs were burning, as I had to keep myself in the stand, while also getting stabbed in the back. I gutted it out until 8:30 before I could stay no more. I decided I would make my way to the south, as deer more often than not follow the roads there. The red dot shows about where I sat down, back against a nice tree, and I was facing north east. The main farm road is obvious to the left, however, what can't really be seen on camera is the road just to the right. We've been driving on both, just for fun over the year. This was now about 8:40, and things started happening fast. I had only been sitting 45 seconds or so, when I heard something galloping behind me. To my right appeared the buck I was after. The orange dotted line represents the path the buck had taken, and he was right on the road, about 20 yards from me. I quickly raised the rifle, and bleated to make him stop, as he was moving very fast. For the first time ever, the bleat did not make him stop. Instead it spooked him. He made a hard right turn, and accelerated. I have been practicing with that rifle all year, as well as shooting lots of trap. I was presented with a running 40 yard broadside shot, and I took it. The shot felt great. I watched him run over the field, which is a decent hill, and I saw him stumble near the top. Not knowing for sure where I hit him, despite my confidence, I headed in for a nap.
Now lets talk about the map quickly. The orange is the path the deer took for sure, I watched him. The pink X is approximately where he was when I shot him. The purple represents my best guess on his path when I could not see him. He came from the west, and I know he had been eating in that corner of the field in the past. The yellow circles are areas I know he likes to bed. The west circle is an incredibly steep cliff, which drops off I'd say 50 feet or more. It is a great vantage point for deer. The white dots are where I went wrong. Based on my knowledge of this buck, and the direction he ran, I was so certain those were the paths he would take as he was running away. The pink dot represents where I found him stone cold dead.
After a nap, I went out to look for him around 1pm. I first went to the shot, and being blown over grass, I was not surprised to fail to find hair. Knowing he had a running head start, I knew he went a long ways after the shot. I topped the hill, and did not see him in the field, which was not a huge surprise. I began by walking the most obvious paths my mind, the white dots. I then broadened from there. Eventually I started looking all over the ridge that says Dana Johnson on it. I was so sure it was a good shot, I knew he would make it a ways, but I did not expect him to make it over 200 yards. I went back to the house, and got Dana, and his dog, and we went back out. Fearing the shot had landed too far back, we began looking in the thicker areas of the swamp. Most of is is cattail, but there are large sections of some kind of native grass that grows 7'-8' tall, almost like mini bamboo. Deer love to bed in that stuff too. We had found no blood at this point. The field was dark brown, and frozen, so finding blood or tracks is nearly impossible there. Normally in the taller grass, you will find where it had brushed the wound though. Finding nothing, we again expanded the search. This is the unfortunate part. Dana had passed within feet of the buck. His dog was no help either, which is just a house pet. I continued to look in the west part, as I was so sure he went that way. We circled the entire swamp at this point, it was well after dark, and I had no choice but to call off the search. With no blood, no path, no deer, I was left in disbelief of a miss.
That night I could barely fall asleep. I told myself I had to get over it, and make a better shot next time. I kept thinking of ways it could have ran, including the path that ultimately turned out to be true. I hunted the next couple days, which turned out to be unseasonably warm, about 45 for a high. Since my cousin was going to come hunt Saturday, I stayed out of the area the buck was in, hoping to keep pressure down. Finally Sunday I decided to hunt the stand marked with the red X waypoint. Without seeing a deer, I went in for lunch. Normally I sneak in the east end against the slough. I decided to go west on the way out, as I was not coming back to that stand. Sure enough, I was met with the dead buck. I could not believe how out in the open it was. It was outright STUPID of me. There is no excuse for having not recovered that deer. Sure, it had made it around a small edge of the tall grass, but you could see the buck while standing in the field. It is a situation I have never been faced with before. I've seen family and friends do it, but never to me. Due to the warm weather, he already smelled bad. I was going to try eating some, but he was foul. Coyote's had already eaten the guts out. I found my bullet hole, a beautiful double lung shot, if not a bit high, but nice big entrance and exit holes. The 54 caliber round ball from my TC Renegade sure is effective.
I decided to make the best of the bad situation. I did make a good shot, and the deer did not suffer. He only ran 125ish yards total, maybe 3-4 seconds from the shot. Not bad considering a running head start, and nothing but open field between. I did recover the deer, although the meat was spoiled. I took my pictures, and will European mount the skull. The body I drug to the north west, in the V of the swamp to the north of Dana's ridge. I get lots of coyote pictures back there, and that gives me a good shot from the hill to the north east. Hopefully I'll knock a few of them off this weekend. Most importantly, I know exactly what I did wrong
You always see people talk about blood trails. Sure, a super blood trail may have helped here, but a few drips here are useless. On black field dirt, blood is nearly invisible. I know I've said it before, but I broke my golden rule about tracking ALWAYS FOLLOW THE OBVIOUS PATHS FIRST. I have now modified that to always follow ALL the obvious paths. Badly wounded deer very rarely run for thick cover. They almost always run down a main path. It isn't unless the animal is gutshot, or otherwise is suffering, that they seek refuge. My brain was so certain, that I completely ignored my instincts, which are rarely wrong. All I had to do was walk that field edge all the way, and I would have been successful. Instead, I spent too much time combing over the same general area, kicking around the thick stuff. Dana is kind beyond words, not only allowing me to hunt as I please, but also allowing me to park my fish house there, and practically live there in the fall. Unfortunately he was born with an eye problem where he has next to no peripheral vision. He had walked within feet of the buck, and not seen it. That night I had a gut feeling to go back, but convinced myself to accept a miss. I reasoned that even if he had not seen it, surly the dog would have. I'm sure the dog did find it, but being a house pet likely just licked it and kept going. From the time the deer took the first turn, to the shot, to the top of the hill, it had been running in a straight line. I never thought it would turn hard left like that. I have no idea why it did.
As strange as it is, I feel way better having found it. I know it did not suffer, I know my shooting is still good, and I got to use the animal at least for some things. Other than missing backstraps, it is mostly positive after all. I'm still quite proud of having out smarted a mature buck, which is very likely the largest I have killed to date, as well as making a perfect shot on a running deer. I know I learned from the experience, and I hope others do as well. Don't worry so much about blood, don't second guess your instincts, go back the second day to look, and always follow ALL the obvious paths.
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Originally Posted by richhodg66
