We are all fortunate here in that we get to read and to a certain degree experience others successful hunts. While I am not able to contribute an exciting adventure and hero pic, I can share my hunt gone wrong this year. I enjoy a good laugh and would love to hear others NOT so successful outings while toting their bows.
I hunt public land and with work and family commitments, I am not able to get into the woods all that much. I had my annual pheasant season opener hunt on Saturday the 14th of Nov. I took the Friday before (just realized it was Friday the 13th) off for an all-day sit. I got into my stand at first light and really enjoyed being in the woods that day. I saw one small buck before noon, but he never offered me a shot. I climbed down around 1:00 to take a short nap and was back in my stand around 45 min. later.
Around 3:00 I looked to my left and saw a coyote walking around 25 yards away. He was going very slowly and I tried to squeak him in a little closer. I don't know if he heard me or not, but he never looked my way. I decided I would take the shot and was pumped when my arrow struck home. I hit the coyote in his front shoulder and I could see that my arrow penetrated to the fletching. The yote yelped and rolled at least once and was then back on his feet. He continued walking in the same direction he was originally headed and I could see good blood and he was not using his right front leg. I watched him walk slowly away and lost sight of him at about 60 yards away.
I was sure he was dead and I was very tempted to go find him, but I was deer hunting and had a couple hours of good light left. I decided to stay and hope for a deer and as I was looking around I saw my arrow next to a tree just a few feet from where the coyote was hit. Nothing else was seen that night, so I climbed down at dark, packed up my stand and went to retrieve my arrow. I was pleased with what I found and set out to follow the blood trail and claim my coyote. On a side note, this is my first big game kill with my bow and I was excited to be on a blood trail.
It was a very dark night but I was able to slowly follow the blood using only my headlamp. It took me about 30 min to track the coyote about 75-100 yards when the blood became fresh. I heard something up ahead of me and I could see eyes looking back at me. I continued tracking and decided to turn back when it was evident that I had pushed the coyote and the fresh blood went under a large deadfall and into some thicker brush.
I had about a mile walk back to my vehicle and one creek crossing. I had crossed up river on my way in and went to a different spot coming back out. As I approached my crossing I could see another set of eyes right in my trail. I initially thought the eyes belonged to a bob cat and I started throwing sticks, but it wouldn't move. I was able to get close enough to see that the bob cat was actually a raccoon sitting in the water right at the edge of the trail and my creek crossing. This raccoon must have thought he was well hidden, because he would not move.
What is a guy supposed to do? Shoot him right? That's what I thought too. With the coon sitting in the water and it being dark, I didn't want to shoot a good arrow into him, so I took the arrow I shot the coyote with and nocked it on my bow. It was pitch dark and with my headlamp on I drew my bow at this raccoon about 15 feet away from me. When I released my arrow I heard a strange twang and my left hand (bow hand) kind of hurt. As I looked down at my hand, I saw right at the first knuckle of my thumb a nice hole about the same diameter of a Gold Tip 3555 carbon arrow, and that hole was bleeding pretty badly. I also looked down and saw about 12" of the fletching end of my arrow on the ground.
I promptly realized my error in shooting the arrow that I show the coyote with. When the coyote was hit and rolled, he must have fractured the arrow shaft, but not enough to break it. I didn't examine the arrow other than look at the blood on it. When I shot this same arrow at the raccoon, it broke and punctured my hand. I am actually pretty lucky here as it was a clean break and the arrow didn't splinter. I have seen a few of these pictures and they are gruesome.
Anyway, after I shot my hand and not the raccoon, he leisurely got out of my way and allowed me to cross the creek. I was not panicked, but slightly worried to the extent of my injury. I started to cross the creek and soon realized it is deeper at this spot than my morning crossing. I was only wearing Muck boots and in no time the water was over my boots. No big deal, wet feet for the last quarter mile. Well when the depth of the creek was at my knees I was only a quarter of the way across. I am committed at this point and surely the creek is not much deeper. When the water was above my waste is wasn't so sure of myself. I have my stand, sticks and pack on my back and my bow in one hand. I pushed on and at the deepest point of the creek, the water was at my chest. I didn't have to swim and with all the weight on my back, I don't know what would have happened if it got too deep to walk.
I made it across and up the other bank. I was wet, my pack was wet, but my bow stayed bone dry. I had to walk about another quarter mile to my vehicle and this gave me time to think about my injury. This time to think made me more concerned about me shooting an arrow pretty far into my hand with an arrow covered in coyote blood.
I made it to my car and called my wife to let her know what happened. I thought I was very calm and collected, but I must not have explained myself very well. She thought I shot myself with the broad head and asked if my thumb was still attached. I guess in hindsight, she was pretty calm too if she really thought I shot off my thumb. I made it home, had a neighbor come stay with our three kids and she took me to the E.R. It was a good thing no one was at the hospital because I only had to wait two hours to be seen. They checked me out, took an X-ray and said I couldn't get rabies from blood to blood contact. After what I am guessing is going to be an expensive E.R. bill I left with a tetanus shot and a Band-Aid. Makes a guy feel like a wuss to check into the E.R. and all they do is put a Band-Aid on my booboo.
We all like to learn from the pros on what how to be a better shot, kill bigger deer, etc. I learned a few lessons here and maybe you can too. 1. Examine your arrows after you shoot one through and animal. 2. If your creek crossing was good the first time, go back to that same spot.
I love it !!
Thanks for the laugh.
JW
:smileystooges: Sounds like you're a victim of coicomstances.
Wow! What a hunt! I'm glad you weren't hurt worse than you were, that could have been very bad! My hunts seem pretty tame compared to this one. Thanks for sharing - you had me glued to the screen! :thumbsup:
Bernie
Sounds like an exciting hunt. Hope everything is OK. Were you able to go back and find that coyote?
I though for sure the raccoon was in a foot trap. Funny story, hope your booboo is fine.
What was the end result for that dog?
Every coyote Ive shot with my arrows were damaged by the yotes biting them.
Glad you posted it Sam. Great hunt, commitment, and experience.
Dan in KS
Glad you are ok Sam. Although there was plenty serious about your story I did laugh out loud too.
"It was a good thing no one was at the hospital because I only had to wait two hours to be seen."
My girlfriend is an ER nurse so I couldn't wait to read that to her... lol for what it's worth pts in an ER are triaged or seen according to the degree of their urgency, not the order of their arrival. This frequently aids people in losing their cool in ERs.
Thanks for sharing what you learned, heal fast.
Well, did you ever find the yote? lol
Wow, that is quite a story and told even better! :thumbsup:
Great story!
glad you're ok. Sounds like a lot of "could of been worse scenarios". Glad they weren't. Ditto on did you recover the yote?
I confess I did not make it back out to find the coyote. I was texting a buddy while in the stand and he said coyote's are pretty tough. I would have bet a lot of money I would have found him dead right away. I am convinced he didn't make it through the night, but I guess I will never know.
To add insult to injury my group that I hunt pheasants with shot 70 birds, yes 70 birds on opening day! Birds are up this year, but we have never come close to shooting a limit with the number of guys we hunt with.
My guess is he didn't want to swim the creek again to go check on the varmint :laughing: Glad it didn't splinter.
Great story!
Good story. I would be taking a week of antibiotics. Watch for any signs of infection with that injury and don't wait if you have any red flags.
It is good to hear the other sides of the story. Great read. Thanks for sharing. XD
Glad your ok. Coyotes like to destroy arrows if you do not get a clean pass thru them. Blood to blood might not get rabies but what about Parvoe, Distemper, Canine Tape Worm, Kennel cough and mange. Just messing with you. But they can have pretty dirty teeth so do watch out for infection.
You might not be able to look at full moons any more.
Great post, thanks for the lessons....
Good story, Glad you are OK. I do not have any that top that so I will not add any of my fails.
Great story, and glad you are ok. Something I could envision happening to myself, lol. Glad it didn't turn out worse than it did.