Way to stick with it Joe! Congrats on a great buck!

Congrats bud!!

Nice buck.  Way to stick to the trail and your persistence along with the great dog work really paid off!

Congrats to you and Arlo!

Congratulations!  Glad everything turned out.

I hate that feeling when a shot does not go as planned.  Unfortunately I can say I have BTDT.

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Way to keep at it and good end result. You and Arlo did good. Hip hits have the same 70% recovery stat as chest hits. Even if you don't cut a femoral its good to follow up diligently as you showed. Thanks for sharing your story and fine buck!

Thank you for sharing! Way to keep at it! Congrats to the both of you!

I knew the way you started the story that a few lessons would be in there. Thanks for sharing, the difficult ones may have the best lessons.

Good work on the dog work. What a treasure.

Great perseverance!

Very good story and example of being a true hunter. You should be very proud of this kill. Great dog work also.

Congrats

Great job Joe, and a special congrats to Arlo!

VERY NICE buck.

Congradulations Joe. Beautiful Buck.

A very tough process Joe, but your incredible tenacity was deservingly rewarded!  Congrats buddy.

Can't believe I missed this thread. Joe that is a mighty nice buck. Your hard work along with the dog payed off. So true to follow up ever blood trail. Glad you got him.

Wow...nice buck Whip...congrats and thanks for sharing.

I need to get in the woods bad!!!

Sometimes the shot is not as good as we would like but you did something to help us all. You stuck with the deer and showed us the best way to handle a shot like that. Great job and deer!

Awesome buck Joe, congrats and thanks for sharing the tip of keep pushing them, never knew!    

Whip,
I had a similar situation 3 years ago. I was in a natural blind in the late season with my brother at his property when we had a few does come in. I wanted a fat doe when this nice 8 point came on the seen. At about 12 yards I drew, anchored and right at the shot I dropped my bow arm, D@$%. I hit that deer below the brisket and centered his opposite front leg. I was mortified! My brother though I had a great hit but I told him I was sure I didn't even penetrate it's chest. We got out of the blind and found blood right away. We then tracked it about 80 yards to were it stopped and dropped  quite large pool of blood. I stopped right there and said I'll be back in the morning. It was a crisp cold night with 2 inches of fresh snow so my mind was made up.
Back at sunrise I got on the trail and found about 7 beds in 200 yards then I jumped him and the chase was on. We went about 2 miles in a giant loop through public and private property when I finally tired him out and was able to put one in the boiler room when he tried to get out of a washed out pond thick with cattails. As long as the blood was falling I was after him and it paid off. I there was not snow I would not have found the deer. He almost gave me the slip twice even in the snow and bit of CSI and elimination got me back on track.

Great to have a dog that was able to help bring it all together for you. The buck is awesome and your story something for us all to learn from. Congrats on the deer recovery.

Congrats Joe!

Congrats on a stud buck, a hunt you will always remember!