huntncoach
Well-Known Member
This is the best deer I have taken since my first year on our lease in Rhea and that was probably 10 years ago. To beat it all, I thought I had completely failed the day. This was Saturday afternoon and I had shot at a doe earlier just trying to another deer in the freezer (hadn't seen any bucks for about 3 weeks). I must have only grazed her brisket area because all I found was a little blood and a lot of white hair at the spot where I shot. I looked for about an hour and half and had nothing to make me believe I had made a fatal shot. I was so disgusted, I just moved to another location and actually jumped a few deer while searching for her and while moving. I had been in my stand about an hour when I saw this guy coming through the pines and probably seeking hot does by the way he was acting. He had torn up the area with scrapes for a while and I actually had him on video two weeks ago. Anyway, when I got down after shooting, I again didn't find a whole lot of blood, but more than the does and a few bits of bone and meat. I waited about 75 minutes before I starting looking for him. Much like with the doe, I couldn't find any blood anywhere, but I was able to watch him for a while as he ran off. I basically searched about 5 yards at a time on the trail he could have run down. After about two hours, I gave up and was making my way over to our atv trail that accesses some stand sites and I just walked up on him. Still, there was just a little blood where he expired. Thought maybe I made a bad shot, but that was not the case. Regardless, I am very thankful to have taken this buck and especially since I had him on camera, hoping he would pop out somewhere while I was hunting.