When in doubt back out?.......NOT in So. TX

[Aggie1993]

Towards the end of the deer season here in So. TX I arrowed a nice old 10pt, with my new custom made longbow (this was my first deer with a longbow) that needed to be taken out of the population. The hunt was on a cool evening and I arrowed this buck quatering away and placed the arrow right where I wanted it.  Well, we gave him two hours and began trailing and within 10yds of the shot we found blood and trailed him for 3hrs through some thick So. Texas brush country. (on my stomach at times crawling through brush on the blood trail). This old guy was doing some crazy unpredictable stuff.  Well, we decided at one point we may have pushed him and the only option was to pick it up in the morning.  It was 37degrees that night so the meat would likely be fine....right?  I mean comm'on you see those guys on the hunting channel shoot deer, somewhere up north, in the arse with nearly the entire arrow hanging out and decide the shot was "marginal" and back out to find the deer fine the next morining.  NOT where I live! (See pic below) Less than 12hrs and nothing left but the neck and head.  You guys becareful not to take a little nap if you're hunting So.TX or you might wake up with a Yote or Bobcat chewing on your leg.  The following week I shot a nice sow and watched her go down in a field about 100yds away.  No more than an hour had passed and I looked up to see four bushy tailed yotes eating my sow!  No more "when in dooubt back out!"

[slivrslingr]

Congratulations on taking a fine buck, glad you found him, too bad about the meat though.  Were you able to salvage anything edible?  Seems like a guy could do pretty good predator hunting in your area!

[30coupe]

We have some places like that up here too. Most of the time, you could probably get away with it, but in some areas, backing out means giving up. The deer would look exactly like yours. Most of the time, those guys on TV only want the antlers anyway. They don't even field dress the ones they do find right away, so coyotes are not much of a concern for them.

[Mike Burch]

It's getting like that here in east Texas as well. The yote population here has gotten way out of hand. They are getting brave also, coming closer to the house...our miniture fox terrier dog just last week got killed by a pack of yotes.

Yep, if you leave a deer out overnight here,,,good chance most of him/her will be gone by morning.

[twitchstick]

I understand I have had two animals hit by bears,my brother had a cougar eat one in camp. It's never fair.

[LKH]

Up on the Haul Road, I refuse to leave a bou lie, especially in the river bottom willow.  Our critter eaters don't run off when you come on the animal the next morning.

Where did you actually hit the deer since I don't imagine it would have gone so far if you hit it where you wanted to.

[Skipmaster1]

This is one I shot in sept of 08. The deer ran 150yds and piled up in some heavy brush. the shot was at 8am and I was standing over him at 8:30am! Now thats a yote problem!





As for "don't back out"....on a marginal shot I will always take my chances and back out. I would rather find the deer chewed up and maybe learn something and hope the yotes don't find it, than to push it, never find it or learn what I can do better next time and give it to the dogs for sure

[Guru]

Originally posted by Aggie1993:
 I arrowed this buck quatering away and placed the arrow right where I wanted it.  

Aggie, Where did you hit him bud?

Just wondering because you say "right where I wanted it", but then had to go thru all you went thru...

Do you really think you would have recovered him, in the dark, with a sparse bloodtrail, had you kept pushing him?  

Coyotes or not, with a trailing job that you described, it sounds to me like backing out was your only option.

Your shot must not have been as good as you thought or you'd have found him after a short trailing job...

Just my observation from what you described......

[Biggie Hoffman]

Broadside, broadside, broadside..........

[KentuckyTJ]

Nice buck sorry about the bad luck, but always best to wait if you don't think you hit both lungs.

[leatherneck]

Originally posted by Biggie Hoffman:
Broadside, broadside, broadside..........

I've got to agree with Biggie on this one. I also shot a buck this year quartering away and the arrow hit the opposite shoulder and stayed in him. Now only one hole and it has a shaft in it. He only went about 100-125 yards but the blood trail was nill. Two holes are much better than one filled with a shaft. A good european mount would look good on him. Congrats on a fine buck.

[Tater 2]

Too bad about loosing all the meat, but it seems like you took the right approach.


 Biggie, Biggie, Biggie's, got it, got it, got it!

[Whip]

I had a javelina last year in Texas that I questioned my hit on a little bit so left it for a couple of hours before tracking.  Turns out it hadn't gone far, but the yotes had already found it.
Even after that though, I do agree with backing out if you aren't 100% sure.  Yes, you run a chance of having the yotes find it first, but if the hit is not 100% and the deer ends up getting pushed, my experience says it is much more difficult to ever recover the animal.  Once pushed your odds go down dramatically.

[Wapiti Chaser]

I do not leave them over night. I will dog the trail until I get the animal.If someone hits one at the end of the day we "get the lanterns" I figue I can sleep anytime. I hate those TV shows where they double lung an animal and decide to wait until the morning ! May make good tv but not real life !

[Boone the Hunter]

I had a very similar story this year, shot my Illinois buck in coyote heaven and hit him quartering away, shot was farther back than i like but looked like i may have got the back of both lungs. When he didn't go down right away but stood at a 100 yards for a couple minutes before heading into the brush i was concerned and made the hard decision to let him lay. Well I was up all night worrying about the coyotes and sure enough when i took up the trail I found a very much eat'n buck, man was i bummed. Upon investigation i learned i apparently got the liver and one lung, so i still don't know how long i should have waited. Between me and my hunting buddies sometimes we have deer go not far and die pretty quick and other times like in the case of my brothers buck a few years ago it jumped up after 3 hours and ran a mile before recovery. So ultimately the lesson is practice, practice, wait for the right shot, and placement placement a few inches mean everything.

[Mike Mecredy]

The coyote problem is going to get worse too.  Anyone try to get ammo lately?

[joevan125]

I shot a deer this year at 15 steps and he was guartering toward me just a little bit. The shot looked good and when the deer ran off he stumbled a little and slowed down to a walk.

I thought i heard him pile up so i only waited 15 minutes, big mistake.

I eased up to where i though i heard him fall and jumped him out of his bed.

Looking back at the shot i think i hit him a little to far back with the angle i had.

We came back the next day and never did find my deer and let me tell you i was sick.

Im new to trad hunting and i got to excited and wanted to go see my trad kill.

Lesson learned i will always wait at least a hour like i have done for years when i was shooting wheel bows.

Only if i see the deer fall will i take up the trail right away.

[longarrow]

Troy...know how you feel about goin' after them ASAP.. I don't have a picture, but I shot a spike early in the season here. 1/4 away shot...arrow went between the last 2 ribs on the left side..exit on the right side right behind the shoulder! I had 16" of arrow hangin' out on the exit side!! Blood trail on both sides of the deer that Ray Charles could have followed! He ran 'bout 100 yards stopped and saw my wife workin' in the garden. He turned and ran....It was 5:10 PM (sun set was@ 6:00PM) I gave him until sun set before I started on the trial. Still had a blood trail on both sides..found 2 stops with 25 yards where he bedded. I decided to "back out" and get the next mornin" temps would be in high 30 during the night. Pickedup the trail at first light. Found him about 10:00am, the BUZZARDS had just started to work on him!! Deer found but no meat from this guy! I feel like should have continued on at night. Sometimes we have make decisions on what we know and have learned, sometimes they turnout good, some bad. Here in the "Hill Country" you have to consider the buzzards and the Yotes. We have plenty fo both!!!  

[John Scifres]

I have never lost one to yotes but know plenty that have even after a couple hours.  I had a tricky trailing job this year but thankfully came back to an intact deer 12 hours later.  But this big yote was in the neighborhood.  I saw him during bow season and couldn't get a shot.  Shotgun season was a bit different.

[Aggie1993]

Yeah, I know, odds are, broadside is the best shot for a double lung quick recovery but 5 of the last 8 deer I have shot have been slightly quartering away and all has gone really really well, except for this guy.  I actually prefer the quatering away because you can wait and catch the deer looking AWAY.  

What can you learn from a scenario like this - except make the perfect shot (we all know that does not always happen) wait as long as you can and pray you beat the scavengers to the animal? There was no deer left to investigate the actual shot placement.

I have been bowhunting, mostly this same area, for over 20yrs and never seen it like this.  I guess it is time to bust out the smoke pole and a dying rabbit call.