Ruger 10/22 carbine in .22 mag w/25 round mag gets er done right nice.
Well, went out tonight late. Got in the stand just in time for all the deer to come out. 1 doe, 2 doe, button buck, fawn, old doe, arrow!
Miss! Everybody splits and then comes back 5 mins later. After I located all 5 sets of eyes and get a fix on the 2 deer I couldn't get a good look at back in the trees, I knock another X-Weave and draw back the BowMadness. It's 7pm, 35 mins till dark. I settle the sight on the old doe's sweet spot, at 25 yards, it's all I can see thru the peep, and I have to do a few double-takes to make sure I'm on. Still there, deep breath, release half of it, then squeeze the release. Whop! Muzzy found it's mark. She kicked out both back legs and bolted thru the palmettos and brush. And that's when everything good for the evening stopped.
I don't move in the stand. After 40 minutes, I slowly and quietly lower the bow and my shotgun (yes, shotgun, I was prepared for hogs just in case, since they were all there yesterday, and I need to earn some points back with the mother-in-law). Well, the deer are back around my stand again, so I let out a few TBone-style owl hoots to see if I can spook em off w/o givin away my stand location. Nuttin. Well, not exactly nuttin. A damned horned owl lands in the dead pine tree 15 yards away directly across from my stand. A few more TBone owl hoots, and nuttin but a mouthy owl hollerin back. Now, I'm gettin a little agitated. I grab my water bottle and start shaking it. Nuttin. "Hmmm" I wonder to myself. "I wonder how that button buck would react if I squirt him with some ice water?". SQUIRT! Mr Button buck bolts. Does aren't sure what's goin on either, but continue to mill around my stand, and one stops under the stand. SQUIRT! Nailed her too. Now, all the deer are gone, and I can get down and get after the old doe w/o givin my stand away.
I get down, and find the arrow. Total pass thru. The Muzzy hit it's mark. Arrow, wrap, and fletching covered in lots of nice pink/red blood. Got at least one lung for sure. Not much blood in the impact zone. TBone goes into tracker mode.
Here's some blood, 5 yards from the kill zone. There. I see more this time about 10 more yards away. I'm gettin the jitters now, cus I just KNOW she's gonna be on the other side of the palmettos. Nope. Nuttin. No blood, no doe. Got the headlamp on and the 9 LED lite in my hand. Scanning the ground and brush for blood and sign. Wait! There's some. A really good spot. She must have lost a pint or more here. There's more! She was on the move again. Guess she got a second wind and wants to go further. I resume TBone the tracker mode. I'm at the one hour mark. Still no doe. I'm finding blood, but not in the quantities I did at first. Okay. I gotta concede and go get me some help. Hmmm, where's my ol buddy Gunboy? Oh, that's right. He's at home in the A/C playin with his guns. And my cellphone's at home on the charger.
Well, gotta go get my FIL to help out. We tromp thru the woods in the dark for another 2 hours. We find sign, and then it disappears again. Man, I wish I'd memorized Gunboy's number instead of storing it in my cellphone. I'm sure he would be able to find her, if I could only remember his number. Ok, it's now 10pm, we've covered almost every square inch of the property. I'm sure we've missed some spots, but my headlamp is now so dim, I can't even see my feet, and my 9 LED lite is now flickering on and off like a strobe with terrets. Damn! Wish I'd spent the extra on a better quality flashlight. Note to self "Stop being so damned cheap!" Now the FIL's 4D mag light is startin to go dim. Can't find any more blood sign either. We've seen 4 other deer, 2 coons, a family of opossums, and more spiders than there are flies in the hog pen.
Had to call it a night. Gotta work the next 8-10 days straight from 7-4pm not counting the 45 min commute each way. Sure would be nice to get paid for all the hours. Oh well. FIL is going back out in the morning to see what he can find in the daylight. What sucks worse than not recovering her tonight, is that the meat won't be any good in the morning, since it's so hot.
Man sorry to hear that. Some times doodoo happens.
sorry you lost her T-BONE, it's amazing what they can take and keep going. followed another hunters blood trail once and found where the deer was leaning against an ice covered rock, using it like an ice compress to slow the bleeding,and it worked the bleeding stopped and lost her trail after it left there. hows the ruling gonna work on a deer that's lost? will you still get points if it's found within a certain amount of time? say as long as the meats still good sounds right to me.if found several days later and bloated/rotten ,I'd have to say no points. youre right gunboy woulda found it, he can walk under palmetos without ducking haha.
Walk 'under' palmettos? Gunboy's so good, he's able to see thru palmettos, under fallen trees, and levitate over the area to get a birds-eye view, blindfolded and at night. 🙂
