Blessed to be on the home farm for a few days in south Georgia.
Got up at 4:00 Thursday morning. Headed to the creek swamp below the pond. As soon as I passed the pond I knew I was in trouble. Helene knocked down so many trees the road to the creek was not passable. I finally found an opening and the road. There was a scrape in the middle of the road. Knowing due to the downed trees the deer were limited in travel I started looking for a tree.
About an hour after first light I decided to still hunt my way on back to the swamp. Just up the road was another scrape, much larger than the first.
Seeing more downed trees and again, knowing the deer were limited on travel, I found a nice pine and got set up in my saddle.
No deer seen on morning sit.
I decided to sit the big field for the evening sit.
About 20 minutes before last light I saw a doe and a yearling coming into the field down at the lower end. They were feeding around and the doe ran off. As she did a spike came in dogging the doe and the yearling. Then, with about 10 minutes of legal light left, I saw the tight racked tall 8 point that was one of the shooters come in from the left. He pushed the spike a bit and stopped broad side at 75 yards facing to my left.
I put the cross hairs just behind his left shoulder, mid body right behind the crease, and squeezed off a round.
I collected my chair and backpack and headed back to the house to give him a minute and to put my backpack and chair in the truck.
When I get to the location he was standing when I shot there was blood.
Then, I looked, and looked, and looked. No more blood. I backed up, looking at the blood splatter and direction again. There was a track that you could tell was from a running deer, digging in. But, no more blood. I began to circle around the piece of lung, slowly, looking for blood. I found 2 small dots of bright red blood about the size of the head of a pin, but that was it.
I begin to get that feeling in my gut that you get when you shoot one and can't find blood. Why isn't this deer bleeding? There is a small block of woods below the field so I start grid searching it. We looked for about an hour. The buck is not bleeding and is nowhere to be found.
Despair begins to set in. I hate wounding an animal I am hunting. I always do my best to ensure a clean, quick, ethical kill of the game God blesses me to harvest. It appears, this time, I have miserably failed.
We searched for about an hour. No blood. Nothing. It didn't make sense! We decided to go back to the house and wait on my brother-in-law to get home. He got home about 7:30.
Long story short, we looked for about an hour and a half. We grid searched the block of woods again.
We met back up at first blood. It just didn't make sense. I started talking it through. Looking again at the splatter of the blood. Then it hit me. No way. There's no way. What if, the piece of lung wasn't from him running by? Mind you, it was 10 yards from first blood, but he would have had to turn and ran away from the shot. What if it wasn't him running, but the shot blew it 10 yards away and the splatter was from the shot, not from him running? I'm talking this out as I am processing it through.
I go back to first blood and turn facing the direction the buck was facing when I shot. Instead of paying attention to the piece of lung I start walking in the direction he was facing, ignoring the digging track that said he turned and ran that way.
I get 10 yards in the direction he was facing and, BLOOD! Mind you, the shot was @ 5:50, and it's @ 8:50. We spent almost 3 hours looking in the wrong direction.
I didn't care. He was bleeding. I looked about a foot ahead. Blood! We began laying out toilet paper strips at each spot. Did I mention, He's bleeding!! About every 2 or 3 feet, BLOOD!
Thankfully he bled steady and after about an hour of tracking, I saw him lying just ahead. YES! He had made it @ 60 yards and appeared to have bedded as all 4 of his feet were under him.
He had been bleeding. And it turns out, he had been bleeding quite a lot. He had expired rapidly from internal blood loss. Thank the good Lord! He hadn't suffered. As @megalomaniac said, he was probably "dead and on the ground in less than 10 seconds". I believe you were correct sir.
God blessed me to walk these swamps one more time and I got to spend time with family on the home farm. The memories made far exceed in value the size of the buck's rack.
God sure is good to this 'ol boy. He loved me enough to call me to Tennessee, and Tennessee is home now, but it has been a much needed blessing to get to enjoy these few days here on the home farm. Thank you Jesus, for such a timely, much needed time in the swamp. I give Him the praise, and glory, and honor for meat in the freezer and memories made!
If you've made it this far, thanks for letting me share. I appreciate my TNDeer friends. Thank you for being here. Y'all are some special folks. Some more special than others!!
Got up at 4:00 Thursday morning. Headed to the creek swamp below the pond. As soon as I passed the pond I knew I was in trouble. Helene knocked down so many trees the road to the creek was not passable. I finally found an opening and the road. There was a scrape in the middle of the road. Knowing due to the downed trees the deer were limited in travel I started looking for a tree.
About an hour after first light I decided to still hunt my way on back to the swamp. Just up the road was another scrape, much larger than the first.
Seeing more downed trees and again, knowing the deer were limited on travel, I found a nice pine and got set up in my saddle.
No deer seen on morning sit.
I decided to sit the big field for the evening sit.
About 20 minutes before last light I saw a doe and a yearling coming into the field down at the lower end. They were feeding around and the doe ran off. As she did a spike came in dogging the doe and the yearling. Then, with about 10 minutes of legal light left, I saw the tight racked tall 8 point that was one of the shooters come in from the left. He pushed the spike a bit and stopped broad side at 75 yards facing to my left.
I put the cross hairs just behind his left shoulder, mid body right behind the crease, and squeezed off a round.
I collected my chair and backpack and headed back to the house to give him a minute and to put my backpack and chair in the truck.
When I get to the location he was standing when I shot there was blood.
Then, I looked, and looked, and looked. No more blood. I backed up, looking at the blood splatter and direction again. There was a track that you could tell was from a running deer, digging in. But, no more blood. I began to circle around the piece of lung, slowly, looking for blood. I found 2 small dots of bright red blood about the size of the head of a pin, but that was it.
I begin to get that feeling in my gut that you get when you shoot one and can't find blood. Why isn't this deer bleeding? There is a small block of woods below the field so I start grid searching it. We looked for about an hour. The buck is not bleeding and is nowhere to be found.
Despair begins to set in. I hate wounding an animal I am hunting. I always do my best to ensure a clean, quick, ethical kill of the game God blesses me to harvest. It appears, this time, I have miserably failed.
We searched for about an hour. No blood. Nothing. It didn't make sense! We decided to go back to the house and wait on my brother-in-law to get home. He got home about 7:30.
Long story short, we looked for about an hour and a half. We grid searched the block of woods again.
We met back up at first blood. It just didn't make sense. I started talking it through. Looking again at the splatter of the blood. Then it hit me. No way. There's no way. What if, the piece of lung wasn't from him running by? Mind you, it was 10 yards from first blood, but he would have had to turn and ran away from the shot. What if it wasn't him running, but the shot blew it 10 yards away and the splatter was from the shot, not from him running? I'm talking this out as I am processing it through.
I go back to first blood and turn facing the direction the buck was facing when I shot. Instead of paying attention to the piece of lung I start walking in the direction he was facing, ignoring the digging track that said he turned and ran that way.
I get 10 yards in the direction he was facing and, BLOOD! Mind you, the shot was @ 5:50, and it's @ 8:50. We spent almost 3 hours looking in the wrong direction.
I didn't care. He was bleeding. I looked about a foot ahead. Blood! We began laying out toilet paper strips at each spot. Did I mention, He's bleeding!! About every 2 or 3 feet, BLOOD!
Thankfully he bled steady and after about an hour of tracking, I saw him lying just ahead. YES! He had made it @ 60 yards and appeared to have bedded as all 4 of his feet were under him.
He had been bleeding. And it turns out, he had been bleeding quite a lot. He had expired rapidly from internal blood loss. Thank the good Lord! He hadn't suffered. As @megalomaniac said, he was probably "dead and on the ground in less than 10 seconds". I believe you were correct sir.
God blessed me to walk these swamps one more time and I got to spend time with family on the home farm. The memories made far exceed in value the size of the buck's rack.
God sure is good to this 'ol boy. He loved me enough to call me to Tennessee, and Tennessee is home now, but it has been a much needed blessing to get to enjoy these few days here on the home farm. Thank you Jesus, for such a timely, much needed time in the swamp. I give Him the praise, and glory, and honor for meat in the freezer and memories made!
If you've made it this far, thanks for letting me share. I appreciate my TNDeer friends. Thank you for being here. Y'all are some special folks. Some more special than others!!
