Shoulder hit, one lung, long blood trail....found him!

[Bowhunter57]

I should've posted this last fall, but here goes.

I was leaning out as far as I could, on my treestand's platform (had a safety harness on) to get a shot at the buck that had just walked up behind my tree. He started to walk to the left, which was helping, but I was about to fall...then I released the arrow. A loud CRACK confirmed a shoulder hit and I was hoping that I'd got enough penetration to make the shot a good kill.

I gave him 50 minutes, got down and started tracking. It was about 50 yards before I found the first blood and another 60 yards later I found my arrow. The corner of the main blade was broken off of the Razor Trick, but that has to be expected when a bone as big as the shoulder is hit. The arrow had blood on it 16" up the shaft, so I felt better about the penetration of the shot.

He traveled another 120 yards with the blood trail fading and exiting the woods into a picked bean field. Taking my time on the blood trail it had been 2 hours since the shot and now I was 700 yards across a bean field and still going. As I approached a standing corn field, I spotted eyes with antlers watching my flashlight. I couldn't believe he was still standing, after 2 hours. He bolted further into the corn and I left him until the morning. If he was hiding, he was hurting and he'd stay there.

The next morning I took up the blood trail and found him after a 170 yard "death run". He's a 10pt. with a 15" inside spread and 230 lbs. I learned a lot from this blood trail.

[Dee]

Good buck and good job all the way around.

[Big Nasty]

Great Job, some not all would have gave up once they seen him haul @#$. Bow hunting is all about never giving up GREAT JOB......

[Cottonwood]

Awesome recovery, great job.

[Sweetwater]

Great retreival!!

[snapcrackpop]

It's tough to do, but a bowhunter should wait till morning (4+ hours) if the deer is not within 100-150 yards of where it was shot.