Not sure what to call this thread

[Ptaylor]

#5576

I’m pretty sick with myself right now. I made a bad shot this evening. After the sunset but before shooting light ended, this buck came walking out past me. 12 yards, broadside, and I just F..ing lost it. I didn’t even aim, didn’t pick a spot. The arrow hit him a little back of the vitals and really high. It stuck into his spine at the top of his back. He jumped at the shot, but then went walking off into the swamp. The best I can hope for is he pulls the arrow out. Slim chance he might bed down and die. Worst case scenario is he walks around and people see an arrow sticking out of him. I have no idea what the morning is going to hold, but I’m heading into the swamp to follow his tracks. Bad part of that is the swamp has poison sumac in it. I feel like sharing this cause its the truth. I’ll let you guys know what happens.

[Alexandre Bugnon]

#42428

Good luck, bro’! I was in the same place you are now just a couple of weeks ago! Luckily for me I bounced back!

[Don Thomas]

#42463

I empathize, and I salute your candor. We need to be able to talk about these events, because they do happen. My biggest criticism of Fred Bear’s great “Field Notes” has always been that he doesn’t mention a single bad hit, and we all know that nobody hunts that long and hard without a few. For what it’s worth I think the most likely outcome is that this deer will break the shaft off quickly and survive. You didn’t mention the degree of penetration. If the head didn’t come out the off side, it almost certainly struck a vertebra and if it didn’t drop him in his tracks it’s probably not lethal. Good luck in the morning. Don

[Ptaylor]

#42476

Thanks Alex and Don. You’re right the arrow stuck into the bone and did not exit the other side. And he walked off, it wasn’t one of those paralyzing spine shots. I’m amazed it even stuck in and didn’t go through at least some since I am using a heavy arrow with the tuffhead.

An interesting thing was this deer only had 1 antler on his left side, none that I could see on his right, and the tines on the one antler were really short.

[Patrick]

#42519

I would call this thread:

“Blown shot, lessons learned.”

The first year I went traditional, I blew my first opportunity on a buck. Didn’t pick a spot and completely missed. Since then, I say to myself, over and over, “pick a spot”. Wounding one really sucks, but it’s bound to happen. I feel for ya. Good luck tomorrow, and keep at it!

[James Harvey]

#42796

Echoing the sentiments above Preston, perhaps it’s a lesson learned for you and for the buck if he survives. I’ve no doubt you’ll track him long and hard tomorrow and there’s not much more to be done I suppose. There’s no shame in an honest mistake, as long as you take away the lessons learned my friend.

[Don Thomas]

#43106

Years ago, I killed a large nyala bull while hunting with Paul Brunner in South Africa. I noticed something odd as we were dressing it out, and dissection of the spine right in the area you describe revealed a broadhead imbedded in a vertebra. It was a vented traditional head, and it had been there so long that the bone had remodeled and grown right through the vents. Then Paul remembered a friend hitting a nyala in the back three years earlier while hunting in the same area. The animal was totally healthy with no evidence of injury when I shot him. Had a similar scenario play out on a Montana whitetail too. That’s the thing about spine hits–the animal either drops in its tracks or goes away healthy. In the nyala’s case, the old broadhead was just a few millimeters from the spinal cord. Bowhunting, like baseball, can be a game of inches. Good luck today, and thanks for being so honest. Do

[Ptaylor]

#43184

So here’s what I found this morning:

Immediately on entering the swamp I found the arrow. The entire arrow with broadhead fell out, leaving nothing stuck in the deer. Because the wound was almost on the very top of the back and it was not bleeding, there was no blood along any trail I followed today. I was able to confidently follow the buck all the way across the swamp (approximately 100 yards). For the majority of the time he was walking, but he did take a couple jumps. However, he did not stop in the swamp to bed down. Then when the trail went into the uplands (oak canopy with dense understory of a shrub I don’t know the name) it was difficult for me to differentiate his tracks from all the other deer since it hasn’t rained for a week. So I followed every deer run leading out of the swamp at that location and into the woods. All of these runs eventually left the property, some were easy to walk on, while others required me to belly crawl. Again, no beds or blood in the upland. The edge of the property is about 300-400 yards from where I started tracking him and in the direction he was going. I do not think the arrow made it into either body cavity (intestines or lungs), so I don’t think he bled internally. And he definitely didn’t much externally. The height of the wound would make it difficult to smear blood on vegetation, but anytime I had to stoop under branches I looked for blood on the underside and never found any. Because he didn’t explode out across the swamp or bed down very shortly (and we didn’t pressure, instead backed off right away) I am thinking he will live (praying & hoping more like it).

I am attaching a picture of the arrow as I found it. As well I am attaching a picture of the definitive identifying feature for poison sumac: black sap. It was a nightmare trying to trail this buck through a tangle of poison sumac in the swamp.

Thanks for all your support guys. I’ve been talking to some of bowhunting friends and they have had similar experiences with shots near the spine that don’t drop them right away.

Preston

[Bruce Smithhammer]

#43192

Thanks for sharing this experience, PT, which I’m sure wasn’t easy to do. And kudos for your commitment to doing everything you could to gather more info.

Like others have said, though we do everything we can to mitigate a poor hit, things sometimes happen (though I don’t think we should ever use this as an excuse). I had a clean miss on a muley earlier this season, but it could have just as easily been a poor hit, and I can’t kid myself – it was only luck that made it turn out the way it did. I paced it off later and was surprised to find that it was a farther shot than I really should have taken, though it didn’t feel that far at the time. There was learning in that for me.

[Ptaylor]

#43215

I still have a week and a half out here, so I’ll be looking out for him. And the other guy that can hunt this property will be out here all year and he knows to keep an eye out for him. Until he drops that one antler it will be easy to ID him.

I feel like these moments are as real as it gets, and tough lessons.

[James Harvey]

#43319

Well done on the thorough follow up Preston and thank you for sharing the challenging experience. That’s a pretty good result all things considered. I daresay your one antlered friend will be extra wary from now on… Lessons learned in blood are the hardest to forget 😉

[Don Thomas]

#43561

Two thumbs up for a thorough recovery effort. My money says that deer is alive and well, and given his readily identifying feature I bet you’ll see him acting normally soon. Don

[Ptaylor]

#45393

I saw him this morning!!! Alive and courting a doe!!! If he’s ok enough to breed, then it musn’t be too bad an injury.

[David Coulter]

#45467

Preston,

Thanks for your thorough post. Your honesty is terrific. This is a lesson for me as it is for you. You did all you could do and were fortunate to see a happy ending. You’re a good one in the ranks. best, dwc

[Ben M.]

#48374

I killed a spike last year that had a piece of scar tissue in its hide and backstrap in the area you’ve described. It was about the width of a broadhead and I assumed the animal had sustained an injury from one.

Take the situation seriously (as you obviously have) but, if you can help it, don’t be too hard on yourself.

[Don Thomas]

#50472

Preston–Remember: Don is always right. No matter what Lori says.

[Ptaylor]

#51007

donthomas wrote: Preston–Remember: Don is always right. No matter what Lori says.

That’s the most dangerous bit of advice I’ve received since getting married!

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