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I’ll Tell You What DOES Diminish the Urge to Hunt….
Frogdog
Member Posts: 2,990 ✭✭✭✭
Long blood trails and losing a deer. I’m in the middle of my worst bow season ever, and just lost my second deer (of 6) last night. Coastal swamp terrain is killing me. Great hits, great blood trail……and then they hit the swamp water/flooded areas and disappear. Waded through knee-high mud, snakes, and all manner of creepy-crawler till almost midnight by myself before I had to call it.
I know sometimes it happens, but sure takes the wind out of your sails when it does.
Comments
Been there...Then find the bones next spring.
Dang, that's shame and big loss
Most us hunters have wounded and lost one. It does make you question if you want to hunt anymore.I quit archery hunting because of the same thing that happened to you.
Lost a couple of nice bucks like that. Huge swamps can make them disappear. I Found one nice 10 point my son shot, the next spring. Makes you sick to your stomach.
Yup. Long ago, I hunted in Mississippi and Florida, both areas where the deer love the swamps. Lost one arrowed deer in Mizzippi to that. Found one in Florida when it dropped literally one step away from the water it was heading for.
Perils of slinging sticks at game.
Buzzards got to get their food somewhere.
That's why bows and arrows are considered "primitive weapons."
The 30-06 is much more effective.
I think maybe the deer had it worse. Your pain does you some credit none the less.
I lost one about fifteen years ago. I lost the trail after My 10 year old son and I tracked him for two hours in the dark. Thank you Jesus we were talking hard wood forest not swamp!!!
Went out and bought one of those lights that make the blood trail much easier to follow in the dark.
This was a great investment!! I bought it, take it along on evening hunts and have never had to use it!!
Best possible result!!
Agree, but also disagree, rifles make some people think that they can shoot much farther than they can and have probably wounded as many, or more animals than stick and string hunters, especially since rifle hunters greatly out number bow hunters.
Try living in what at one time was a shotgun only zone during firearms deer season. I don't hunt here and instead have done most of my hunting in zones where rifles are allowed. Some years after the season I've had to dispose of several deer found in the woods around the house that someone shot and didn't bother looking for. We usually have deer that have recovered from poor shots visiting the bird feeders to vacuum up any sunflower seeds the birds drop. Had a 3-legged doe around for a couple of years that seemed to do remarkably well. I've been lucky so far and haven't lost a deer, knock on wood, but it will probably happen sooner or later.☹️ Bob
Maybe you should stay away from the swamp where tracking is impossible. I have never killed an animal with an arrow when it dropped in its tracks.
The one reason I never bow hunted, the loss of the animal. And now with the new crossbows I hear stories of the "long shot" and the deer was hit and got away. Yes it happens to many times and then I hear the words, " it was just a deer." I thank you for looking for yours, a true sportsman unfortunately there is a lot that are not.
It’s coastal forest. With the rain we’ve had, everything is swamp.
Mind if I ask you, what kind of a broad head or mechanical broad head you were using? This year I was going to try and use these mechanical broad heads by Swhacker. Thought I would try and use my crossbow again this year, haven’t used it in over ten years. I’ve been testing these mechanical heads and they seem to open up reliably. That and I’m going to keep all my shots under 40 yards.
Not trying to start an argument. But I would be curious as to what the deer wounded or not found ratio is, to deer killed or hurt/wounded by automobiles is.
I am using NAP Spitfires. They’re relatively cheap, and very tough. I have always preferred the 3-blade set-up over the two. I have killed lots of deer with them. Broadheads haven’t been the problem this year. Really just a terrain issue. Some areas just impossible to get through.
Of the 4 deer I have recovered this year, wound channels on all were devastating.
I lost one a couple years ago. I shot a doe with a .357 at about 10 yards. She went right down but got up and was gone before I could get a 2nd shot. No blood, no hair and her tracks were soon lost on a heavily used trail. I searched for a couple hours and then again the next day. Nada.... I found the remains of a doe almost 2 months later when I was out for a hike. It was at the bottom of a steep hill about 250 yards from where I was hunting...
Losing one like that really bothered me....
We need to remember it is hunting, not slaughter or killing. Sometimes fish get away too. You do your best, and then a little more if necessary.
Out of all the deers I took I don’t think any one of them ever went over 50 yards, 100 yards at the most. And out of all the deer I only had one ever run up hill. Seems if there is a ditch or a gully near by they always seem to head for it, and make it to the bottom. They must teach that to them in school.
In God's world, nothing goes to waste. Sometimes it's a blessing for us, sometimes for others.
Just a side lite here but, I read an article that stated there are more deer killed on Wisc. highways every year than there were in the entire country at the change of the. last century (1899-1900)!