lost one last night.

[iceman16]

went out last night. perfect night and about 5:30 here comes the trophy black bear i had been waiting for. stops at 5 yards let the arrow fly and off he takes runs and i hear nothing. so about 45 minutes later got down started tracking and nothing. went back for help and after some hard lookin found about a mile long blood trail great blood trail that just stopped. i know i put on a good shot and for my arrow broke in half full of stop sign red blood it was a pass through. tracked tell 11 last night and about 3 hours this morning and never did find him. i watched the arrow hit and it looked perfect i am just baffled. guess theres always next year. good luck to anyone thats still out there, i do have the last week of the season off but that might be prime deer huntin there so i donno.

iceman

[Random guy]

Did you look to the closest water hole or area the bear could pack mud into the wound? Often time wounded critters from mice to bears will head for easy water when in trouble.

[Gofishleech]

The water is a good point, I would also get a dog or two involved. I would say with a pass though the bear did or will die.

[iceman16]

yea it passed through two swamps i even checked a watering hole closer to my stand it kinda started circling back to the stand. i was gonna bring my uncles black lab but my aunt said no cause of the season and being that it kinda looks like a black bear.

iceman

[analyzer]

I would be willing to help you look. I have some free time. You can email me at [email protected]

I live in Oakdale. I'd have time Wednesday, Friday or Sunday... let me know.

There's a few guys on this site that have lost deer, as well. I think a few of us could get together and have some fun. Have a little bbq and some beer, and go look. Anyone who has hunted long enough has lost a deer or a bear. If we all help each other out once in a while, it would make recovery possible.

[Kyle]

analyzer,

I comend your last post. We need more people thinking that way, and being willing to lend a hand! I totally would do the same, except I will be out of town with the relatives. You are setting a great example for a lot of people!

[iceman16]

analyzer,

thanks for the offer. that just goes to show the great family we have here at FM. but i shot it up in finland 4 hours north of the metro, and i just cant get up there this weekend. my uncle said he was gonna go out and look for it again today or tomorrow. i havent heard from him today. this is the first animal i have lost and it is killin me, not because it was a trophy but i hate losing animals. i have gone out on alot of recovery atempts at my uncles lodge for bear, deer, and a couple moose. and didnt know first hand what it felt like. thank you again for the offer. it means alot to know that people you havent even meet are willing to help, like i said before it shows what kind of family we really have here at FM.

iceman

[Nate McVey]

I have to go to the Grand Superior Lodge tomorrow to do my liquor order for the week, should only take me a couple hours in the morning. If your uncle needs a hand, let me know. The Lodge is just a hop-skip-jump from Finland........

[iceman16]

thanks again to all who have offered help. just talked to my uncle he looked again turned up nothin. the blood trail gone. i have a question for all of you who have lost a animal or even if you havent. would you go back out and give it a try if u have a 99.9% feeling that u downed a animal and know its dead. would you go out and give it another shot. i just dont know what to do i have the whole last week off of the bear season and dont know if i should go out and give it another try. i know ill have that thought in the back of my head if i pull back on another bear or even a deer with that thought in my head of not finding it. i guess its part of the sport and i got to jump back into it but would you go back and give it another try the same season. i donno maybe i am just second guessing myself and just need to ask some questions thanks for any advice.

iceman

[Nate McVey]

I lost a big mulie buck last year in CO. I watched it go down about 600 yards away in a sagebrush draw. I shot it from about 200 yards, was on a rest and watched the bullet hit. He ran down into the draw and went down. I went back to the truck and radio a buddy to come help me get it out cause it was WAY down from the top of the hill. We found some blood, started following it and got to the spot where I watched it fall......no animal, no blood, no tracks.......nothing! We made circles for hours and came up with nothing. I know I hit it well, but we decided it must have crawled off into the scrub brush and snuck out the back side of the draw. I thought about it for the rest of the week and am oviously still thinking about it now, but it happens. It sucks, it will probably happen again to someone I know (or me), but I have to put that thought out of my head so it doesn't effect shots to come. You have shown that you are a true sportsman and hunter by struggling with this and by trying to figure out what to do. Lots of people will not give it a second thought after looking for 20 mins. and go shoot something else. Keep doing what you have been doing and your arrows and bullets will find their marks. Good luck and if you're in Finland again swing by GSL and say hi. Nate

[analyzer]

I lost one two years ago in southeastern MN. It's mostly farmland in the area with limited woods. I went back the next two weekends looking. I'm sure the coyotes had gotten to it, but it drove me nuts not knowing. I had a broadside shot at 40 yards with a shotgun, and think I probably hit it a little low, and a little back of the lungs. But had good blood. I tracked it for 2 hours through corn, etc, and went to bed when it started raining heavy. The next day after about 2 hours and a couple hundred yards of crawling around on my hands and knees, I couldn't find the blood any more.

I spent a couple weekends looking through every wooded patch within a mile, and found nothing...

I did get a 10 pointer last year that is going on the wall, but I can't tell you how difficult those 2 hours were, after I shot it, waiting to go look... It only went about 50 yards, but every step of those 50 yards I was thinking about losing another one. I don't think I could've taken the heartbreak two years in row.

Having experienced that frustration. If I'm around, I would help anyone.

Besides, I like the challenge.

[BLACKJACK]

Its tough losing any bowshot animal!! Its happened to me, I'm usually bummed for a few days and don't feel like hunting but then I feel like its time to get back to doing something I love. It also drives me back to the archery butt for more practice, so I can perfect that shot. I do some more shooting from an elevated stand. I also double check the flight of my broadheads. And I become determined to not take any marginal shots, good shots only! Basically I'm trying to improve myself so I don't wound and lose another animal. Then I go out and start hunting again and try to get the monkey off my back.

Another tip is to study charts of deer (and bear) anatomy. I hate to admit it, I've lost a few deer over the years and I realize that I was shooting too far back. On a few other bowhunting websites they talk about shooting straight up the front leg. Looking at the anatomy charts, that is where the heart is, surrounded by the lungs. Shooting behind the shoulders actually gives you less margin for error, leading to gut shots.

[TUMBLEWEED]

I ran my broadheads through a "shoulder busting" test

(1/2" plywood) My WASP Bosses blasted through it

like butter. I am a little more confident with a shot

up the leg now, working just fine. If I am a little low

it shouldn't matter, at least in theory..

[analyzer]

Yeah, I agree with improving your shot to avoid having it happen again. After I lost mine, I went out and got a rifled barrel and scope for my shot gun. It was funny though. When I was set up on this last buck, I was waiting for him to jump over a fence from private property onto my property so I could shoot him. He stood at that fence for probably 3 full minutes, which felt like an eternity. I couldn't help laughing at myself. Here I had purchased a scope and rifled barrel and greatly improved my groupings at the range, and while I have my sights on the deer I'm shaking so bad the sights are probably moving 4 or 5 inches on the deer. Alot of good improving your shot does if you have tremendous buck fever.

I really like the "whitetail hunters almanac" series, by doctor ken norberg (i think). He has a chapter in one of his books dedicated to shot selection, and another to tracking wounded deer. It is very good.

He recommends looking for the hump in the deer's back and shooting about 6 inches below, which puts you in the shoulder area, maybe slightly FORWARD. It's the widest part of the back bone, any nick on that back bone and the deer will drop in it's tracks. If you're a little forward there, you'll get tracea, or major arteries. A little down and you'll get heart or lungs. As you said, If you're shooting behind the leg, you really have to be more acurate and are more likely to get a gut shot deer.

I like his chapter on tracking wounded deer. It gives a detailed explaination of each type of hit, how the deer reacts when it is first hit, what the blood will look like, how far the deer is likely to go, whether to track immediately or wait... etc. The deer will even walk/run differently depending on the hit.

Waiting a couple of hours seems to be the best answer. In almost all cases if the deer runs, it will only go 50-150 yds, depending on the hit, before it lays down. Even a gut shot deer will lay down, and eventually pass. If you push it, that deer can run miles on adrenaline.

I'm looking forward to learning bow hunting. But I don't want to go through the "lost deer" thing again.