Im going to be sick

[outdoors247]

I’m amazed at your tenacity with this search. You have done everything possible to find this buck. Keep our head up kid, you are doing everything right and you should get some good karma from this.

I know guys that have been hunting for decades and had this happen. It’s what you do after the shot that shows your true ethics. You are a very ethical hunter and it shows.

[nofishfisherman]

Yeah you've done all you can at this point. Sometimes you win, and sometimes something else happens. All you can do is move on an try again.

I wouldn't dwell too much on the what ifs of that trail you followed. Maybe it was your buck and someone took off with it but there is no way to know for sure. No sense believeing the worst from people without knowing the truth. Could easily have been a drag mark from another hunters kill or maybe it was your buck and someone else found it and thought no one was coming for it after it being out for that long. Could be that he wanted to make sure it didn't go to waste and put his own tag on it.

Regardless hold your head up and go get em again this weekend.

[ZachD]

It was public land. Thanks outdoors247 I hope I do have good karma tomorrow for gun. Now my question is would it be ok for me to still kill another buck even though I all ready killed one. Sometime when the coyotes or wolves get to them and people shoot another I think that they shouldn't because they technically killed one... But in this case I would think that who ever took it may have tagged it so I think I should be fine on shooting another one. (I wasn't going to if I didn't find him because I knew he was down)

This would have been my biggest deer with gun or bow yet now some jack wad is prob sitting at the bar bragging about the deer he got

[Archerysniper]

My friend had a big one stole from him in sherburne refuge a few years back. We followed the blood trail that night and it ended at a gut pile and drag marks like you.

[nofishfisherman]

Legally speaking you should be fine shooting another buck, ethically speaking that will be your call.

Don't let the jack wad bother you. It never makes life better to dwell on the jack wads of the world. In this case there are too many unknowns to say for sure what happened to your deer. No need to dwell on the worst case scenario when you can't be certain.

[ZachD]

My friend had a big one stole from him in sherburne refuge a few years back. We followed the blood trail that night and it ended at a gut pile and drag marks like you.

I don't think I ever said were I was but that is exactly where I was.

[Archerysniper]

I don't think I ever said were I was but that is exactly where I was.

Yeah I have spent many hours and from your photos I knew that's where you were I didn't want to name it though.

The one we had stolen from us was in the northwest portion of the park.

[ZachD]

Legally speaking you should be fine shooting another buck, ethically speaking that will be your call.

Don't let the jack wad bother you. It never makes life better to dwell on the jack wads of the world. In this case there are too many unknowns to say for sure what happened to your deer. No need to dwell on the worst case scenario when you can't be certain.

I think its pretty safe to say someone took it I mean I found the first blood almost straight out from where he entered the swamp and then half way through the trail boot prints com out of nowhere and follow it... towards the end of the blood trail the blood was getting pretty heavy and instead of being on the one side of his tracks they were all right on his tracks. I am guessing that I hit shoulder and that at the end he started to cough up blood

[ozzie]

that is a bummer but don't let it spoil your season or hunt. Things happen and like mentioned all you can do is speculate. Maybe the guy that found it thought he better take it otherwise it is going to go to waste. He may have tagged it and called it a season...can't always think the worst in people even though it hurts to know that some one else is admiring the rack of the deer you killed.

[ozzie]

oh and if you would have mentioned something about the area you would have probably had 3 or 4 local guys willing to help ya yesterday...me being one of them as I could have helped for a bit

[wannafish2]

I had one stolen as well. Shot him just before dark a few years ago, he entered private property. we got permission to enter the property and returned the next morning. followed the blood trail to a gut pile and drag marks. The private property borders some landlocked tax forfeit that had hunters on it. We think they watched the whole thing from 1/4 mile away and took my buck. He wasn't that big but he was MINE!

Hunters that do that kind of thing just irk the **** out of me!

I hope you get another buck tomorrow!

[archerystud]

Great tenacity to keep up on it Zach. Go out and shoot yourself another one....

I would advise that maybe the other hunters gutted the deer and possibly waited. I know it's a long shot but someone may have waited for another hunter to show up. I know it's what I would do no matter how big the buck was.

[sticknstring]

I applaud you for your efforts! Tough deal, no doubt. As long as you're there tomorrow, might as well ask around. Never know! Best of luck to you the rest of season - good things are headed your way!

[ZachD]

I applaud you for your efforts! Tough deal, no doubt. As long as you're there tomorrow, might as well ask around. Never know! Best of luck to you the rest of season - good things are headed your way!

I wont be there tomorrow ill be on 400 acres private in milaca if I still have my main tag ill be out there Monday though ... oh and I wanted to thank everyone for the support

[ZachD]

Great tenacity to keep up on it Zach. Go out and shoot yourself another one....

I would advise that maybe the other hunters gutted the deer and possibly waited. I know it's a long shot but someone may have waited for another hunter to show up. I know it's what I would do no matter how big the buck was.

yea that's what my dad said when I called him today he all so said if they saw it was a shoulder hit and it was cold figure not to waste a deer

[Kyle]

I've been following this thread since the beginning. Sorry it ended this way for you. Great effort!

I honestly don't know what I would do if I ever caught someone stealing my deer. It wouldn't end well...

[ZachD]

Well Me and my friend had a good weekend it began to a bad flash back from my nick my friend shot a nice deer at sunset and he could not find any blood but said he heard him crashing and a moan. Oh man not this again what is going on I thought. I told him I would not hunt the morning so I could help find it because I knew what he was going through. In the morning we couldn't find any blood or anything. I stumbled upon the deer about 50 yards from where he thought he shot it. He hit him high but got lungs there was no blood till the deer fell over and then there was a huge puddle. I helped him skin it and we were butchering all afternoon. was going to skip the night hunt but decided that I better get out there it was too nice out.. Sunset was approaching and I heard something to the right of me two does come out 5 feet under my stand one goes behind me in a clearing the other in front of me on the main trail. I heard grunting in the woods but couldn't get the buck to come out in time and I was running out of light so I let the bigger doe have it. Needless to say the blood trail on this one was easy to follow and she didn't go far.

On tues I am after the big boy I saw on a property I hunt in Oak Grove ( hopefully the good karma keeps going my way) I needed a weekend like this to get me jacked up again after feeling down.

[hugonian1]

Way to "get back on the bike" and get it done.

Congrats.

[Wensel]

WOW, this has to be one of the most bazaar threads I've read.

[nofishfisherman]

Doesn't look like there is an exit wound on your friends buck. I assume it hit the shoulder on the far side and didn't come out? Same thing happened to another friend over the weekend. It was a quartering to shot and he hit maybe a touch high on it. He went in front of the leading shoulder hoping to come out behind the far shoulder. Bullet caught lung but no exit. Deer made it maybe 75 yards before going down but he had a visual on it the entire way so no tracking needed. Seems with a high hit from a steep angle you won't get much blood without that exit hole.

[NELS-BELLS]

The blue dot is where I first spotted the blood, the green line is where i found that good good spot and that is where the boot prints came in from. The red dot is where the drag marks first started and the pink is the direction it went.

First of all I want to commend you for the effort that you put into trying to find this deer.

Is it possible that someone was hunting either the same evening or sometime the next day, in the area that you saw the boot prints and put another arrow in the deer that you shot as it walked by their stand? You did say that the blood trail got better at that point.

Nels

[ZachD]

nofishfisherman

He had a exit wound he was just high and to the back and his stand is kind of in a valley so where the deer was it was not a steep shot.. so both the exit and entrance wound where about level.. weird but none the less the deer didn't go too far.

NELS-BELLS

While I wouldn't rule it out I don't think this is the case the trail got better before the boots came in but it is possible... when the trail got better the blood was right on top of his tracks and not just to the one side anymore. I think that he started to spit up blood, But it is possible I can only speculate. I am not entirely mad anymore things happen and that is part of life. Whatever did happen I am thankful that I got to have the hunting experience It was one of the most thrilling hunts I have been on and I was able to put a shot on the biggest deer I have had the opportunity to pull back on. I am glad that the deer did not go to waste and that it hopefully will provide someones family with meat. As much as I would love to add it to my wall with the others That is not what it is all about. I come to peace that the trophy is in my thoughts and that I will have a story to tell when I am older.

[Wanderer]

Zach,

I've been keeping up with this thread also and have to say that I respect you as a fine hunter and a gentleman when all has been said and done. You made the most of a tough situation and you can at least be grateful the deer was not a complete loss.

To your buddy's deer: with a high chest cavity shot, the cavity has to fill up with blood before blood will really start to make it to the ground. It's the same as putting a hole in a bucket. The lower it is, the more makes it out and faster.

Like your doe.

Good luck for the rest of the season.

[NELS-BELLS]

I am not entirely mad anymore things happen and that is part of life. Whatever did happen I am thankful that I got to have the hunting experience It was one of the most thrilling hunts I have been on and I was able to put a shot on the biggest deer I have had the opportunity to pull back on. I am glad that the deer did not go to waste and that it hopefully will provide someones family with meat. As much as I would love to add it to my wall with the others That is not what it is all about. I come to peace that the trophy is in my thoughts and that I will have a story to tell when I am older.

Well said! I admire your attitude.

Good luck in your future hunts!

Nels

[Bear55]

Too bad about the buck Zack, way to stick with it!