And it begins

[Smo]

It seems everyone nowadays wants too take the easy way out…
Bow hunting went from a stick & string too cables & wheels and then on too crossbows and now I guess air bows just too give the hunter every advantage and extending the kill range of their weapon..

Muzzleloading Season has followed in much the same direction..
Advancement in ignition systems, sabots vs patches, bullets vs roundball, modern scopes vs traditional iron sights and now electronic ignition!

There again all to extend the hunters effective range and more effectively give them the advantage over traditional style muzzle loader and their quarry.

I attribute more lost deer too the hunter taking shots at ranges much further than they are capable of making clean kill shots..

Mostly due too the advancement of the so called "primitive weapons " which both the bow & muzzleloaders are.

Tracking a wounded deer is tough work, especially when the leaves are still on!

The last deer I lost , 1 of 3 in 50 years of hunting…I was within 20 yards of where I found the carcass a week later…,I just simply could not see the deer because the cover was so thick in the area..
Still the deer was found < 250 yards from where it was shot.

Would I have recovered the deer had I bought in a dog ? Most likely, but then the dog could have pushed the deer off my property never too be seen again without trespassing or jumping thru a bunch of hoops contacting the surrounding land owners..
But I would never consider bringing in a dog until I had done an extensive ground search of the area.

Bow & arrows and Muzzleloaders were not meant too be long range weapons…

I find it much more enjoyable too hunt tight secluded areas and get up close a personable with the game vs shooting one 250 yards away , but that's just me.

Rant over, Dang, I feel better now!

 

[Ski]

Eh, if a hunter hasn't lost an animal then they've not killed many, either. It's an ugly reality of hunting. A buck I killed last year had been shot twice before me and survived what should have been fatal wounds both times. He was still toting one of the broadheads and several inches of arrow lodged inside his shoulder and while caping him with the taxidermist we found an inch of another buck's antler tip lodged in his skull plate. Twice before I killed him other hunters had bullseye shot him and had to be sick that they couldn't find him. No amount of tracking skills or dogs or thermal drones or anything would have helped them recover a deer that didn't die.

First pic is the previous exit wound. Second and third pics are the entry wound scar. Notice the third pic is from 2021, meaning he'd been carrying that wound for over a year before I killed him. Looks like somebody took a quartering to shot and got a pass through but just barely missed the heart. Was still a double lung and his lungs were indeed deformed, but it obviously didn't kill him. The entry wound was still gummy with puss but closed. The exit would was healed but I could put my finger right into the hole. The rim of the hole had healed and the flesh under had calloused up. The fouth pic is an arrow & broadhead I found lodged inside the same shoulder as the exit wound and had formed a hard tumor around it like a baseball. Last pic is the other buck's antler tip that had been broken off in this buck's skull. Sometimes an animal simply refuses to die.

 

[AT Hiker]

^^^This^^^

I'm all for exhausting all means to find a deer that has been shot, but tracking dogs have become a crutch for poor woodsmanship.

Wonder where they get the idea from? Surely it's not social media….I mean, these new hunters were taken under the wing by a solid mentor and shown the ropes, right?

 

[NumberOne]

Better to be proactive than reactive in this heat. If I shot a big one right now, I wouldn't give one yugo about woodmanship. I want to find the deer quickly. If he finds it as soon as he gets down from the stand, that's great. But having backup in this heat is pretty damn smart IMO.

But Gasman is the baddest dude in the woods and would track the deer in 95 degree heat for 4 days at which point the deer has been charred in this heat already. He doesn't even have to cook it haha

 

[Deer Assassin]

Gasman is the poster child of BBD, he even takes pictures of them before he turns them loose. He will track them for a year before he finishes them off. Kinda like a twisted serial killer. I need to re evaluate my friends

That's where the term "necks year" or "necks time" was born that you all have seen on here so many times

Facts

 

[Terrier]

I took a hunter safety course when I started bow hunting, even though I was old enuf not to need it. They taught tracking in the class, with a practical exercise outside with fake blood. It was awesome and I learned some practical stuff that I used later to find deer.

I've quit hunting in the rain. The only two deer I've lost were on drizzly days, and one should have been enough. Gave up on hot days, too. Gamey tasting meat isn't my idea of being worth the effort.

 

[Terrier]

It seems everyone nowadays wants too take the easy way out…
Bow hunting went from a stick & string too cables & wheels and then on too crossbows and now I guess air bows just too give the hunter every advantage and extending the kill range of their weapon..

Muzzleloading Season has followed in much the same direction..
Advancement in ignition systems, sabots vs patches, bullets vs roundball, modern scopes vs traditional iron sights and now electronic ignition!

There again all to extend the hunters effective range and more effectively give them the advantage over traditional style muzzle loader and their quarry.

I attribute more lost deer too the hunter taking shots at ranges much further than they are capable of making clean kill shots..

Mostly due too the advancement of the so called "primitive weapons " which both the bow & muzzleloaders are.

Tracking a wounded deer is tough work, especially when the leaves are still on!

The last deer I lost , 1 of 3 in 50 years of hunting…I was within 20 yards of where I found the carcass a week later…,I just simply could not see the deer because the cover was so thick in the area..
Still the deer was found < 250 yards from where it was shot.

Would I have recovered the deer had I bought in a dog ? Most likely, but then the dog could have pushed the deer off my property never too be seen again without trespassing or jumping thru a bunch of hoops contacting the surrounding land owners..
But I would never consider bringing in a dog until I had done an extensive ground search of the area.

Bow & arrows and Muzzleloaders were not meant too be long range weapons…

I find it much more enjoyable too hunt tight secluded areas and get up close a personable with the game vs shooting one 250 yards away , but that's just me.

View attachment 192549
Rant over, Dang, I feel better now!

Nice flintlock…

 

[Smo]

Nice flintlock…

Thank ye' kindly…