sigh..lost a good illinois whitetail

[ballista]

 sunday night, about 4.10 pm. the weather had been rainy, it was near 32 degrees, windy- didnt feel too confident. but, as i was dozing off, i head the eerie foot thuds and quiet chrunches from behind me, and to the left. i slowly took off my handwarmer cylinder, and waited... i heard em, but i didnt see em, then through real swampy brush i saw one about 60 yards away, then another right along side the other. the funnel i hunt is only about 10 yards from my stand, this was a new unnel that i might move a stand to- anaways, the bigger of the two (estimated 120lbs, a good sized doe) was closer to me, but she was still 50 odd yards away, a big oak was in her way, as she was going around it, i drilled her, 43 yards on the dot. i aimed right for center of the lung, but she ducked down more that i thought a deer would from a bowstring, and hit her kinda high. 1 hour later, my dad and i were out tracking mama. about 60 yards from the shot i found first blood, and my god, it was great blood, about half a cup of sprayed blood every few feet, it would vary of course. we got to the river, the last blood being right on the riverbank. my dad crossed, dropped the gear, but my boots wernt high enough, as we were crossing we fell in the coldest watew i'd ever felt. we got on the trail again, but it got into some real nasty brush, it took a while to track through that-then we came to an opening. a pasture, i though. this is where we lost the trail. it was in cupfulls of blood, then nothing. i thought the wind might have blown the leaves, but we did a 100 yard circle, and the clearing had a paved road: forest perserve. my dad went out with the beagle and the absolute best tracker ill ever meet, and picked up more blood, but it stopped by a tree, where there was rope- i think i might have gotten robbed, its hard to say without seeing the deer. thanks guys, appreciate all comments, good and bad. -jimmy

[Pat B]

Jimmy, Sorry you lost your deer. We all go through that on occasion if we hunt.
  Forty three yards is too long of a shot in my opinion. Too much can happen between the time the arrow leaves the bow and reaches its target as you experienced. With self bows I try to limit myself to 20 yards +/-. My ideal shot is 12 to 15 yards. At that distance, even if you don't get a shot, you have beat the deer at his(or her) game and on his (or her) home field. In my book that is a win.    Pat

[stickbender]

Jimmy I too am sorry for your loss, and if it was stolen, as it certainly seems to have been, if it makes you feel any better, when I was younger,  My Dad, Cousins, and friends, and I were hunting west of Boca Raton, in a place called Lyons pasture, and my dad had shot a nice buck, knocked it down, and it got back up, and took off, and then fell again.  My dad got down from his stand, and took the dog, and trailed it with a very good blood trail, and then to some buggy tracks, and then no more blood trail, and the dog went in the direction of the buggy, but my Dad stopped her, as my cousins came up to him, and told he had watched a bunch of teenagers in a dune buggy, stop and load it up, and haul butt!  So it happens. You just have take the bad with the good.  Thankfully, it doesn't happen all that often, but it happens.  Just recently in Thompson Falls area, some one stole a Caped out buck out of the back of a Pickup truck.  There is a reward for it being offered.  So it happens everywhere.  At least you did your part, in the trailing, and getting soaked, in windy 32* weather.  Unfortunatly there are those who have no morals, or ethics.

                                                                     Wayne

[Titan_Bow]

No offense intended, but 43 yards in my opinion is too far of a shot with a selfbow on whitetails.  Deer are high strung animals, and alot can happen by the time an arrow going 150-160fps gets there. It would be over a second for the arrow to get there, and deer can do a complete 180 in that time. One of the funnest parts of hunting whitetails is setting up on them and have them come by at 10 yards or less unaware.

[TRACY]

Too far for primitive gear in general. I would try to limit your shots to an effective distance, say 20 yards and under with emphasis on the under. Take your time and be patient, it will click at some point. Good luck hunting!

Tracy

[salad days]

The first time I ever shot a deer I shot it through the brisket and lost the trail. Worst feeling ever. Any more I won't even take a shot unless it's perfectly clear and within my self imposed range limit. It's a tough pill to swallow but you've just gotta keep your head up and try not to let it get you down. Lesson learned for next time.

[mullet]

 Sorry to hear about your loss. I'm not going to get in to the "too far" shot stuff. Sounds like if it was stolen your shot did it's part.

[ballista]

**should have specified** the weather was so dreary, i didnt feel to confident with my longbow, so i dusted off the old wheelie bow-i don't like em much eiter, but the uncanny accuracy is unbeatable. aas far as the shot i took, its almost rutt, and i havent gotten a deer(ever) so i made damn sure if i was gonna take a shot, i was gonna put every inch of concentration into it, 43 yards from the seat of my stand to that brush pile. as far as the range... it wasn't the smartest move on my part. I'm thinking the broadhead had a 100% puncture through one lung, high, then got into the other lung, not penetraitiong the other side of the hide, this is why i think the blood went dry, personally i think he was robbed, but you gotta be oped to all ideas , and the more realistic one is that the one hole in the hide got plugged up a bit...... god it kills me talkin about that theory, there was parts were the blood was so good it looked like a massacre. thanks for the help everyone, god bless you and your hunt. -jimmy

[armymedic.2]

yeah the too far thing is a personal setting....as far as the deer, it sounds a lot like a muscle hit to me.  o have tracked many that the blood looks good but then just stops, you didn;t mention the deer ever bedding, and it sure sounds like it went over 100 yards, no way a double lung deer makes it that far.......sounds like muscle to me man, maybe one lung, but def not two.

[ballista]

 to be realistic, i though it could have been spineshot, we tracked a 9 point last night that was gutshot, and the only form of tracking this deer we had was the russling up of the ground, but my dad managed to fnd that, yet a deer that bleed enouth to fill a water pitcher was left unfounded... well, its hard to say without finding him- the trail went dry, but the deer i've experienced have all stopped bleeding when there gut shot, as the innerds start to move and shift out of the hole, they plug the blood-this was a high shot, which makes me go back to my theory it was taken off of the property it ran on... i guess the moral is to know your way about tracking without a blood trail to go off of, but it kills me kowing theres a sizable doe laying out there, anfd within a few days it'll go to those pest coyotes that haven't been in eyesight, but you can hear em, lod and clear- pretty eerie. thanks again, -jimmy

[Pappy]

A gut shot will sometimes plug the hole after a little while but a lung shot may not bleed to much
if hit high right off but after a short while it don't need the hole it will start out of the mouth and nose.As far as distance most double lung shot deer won't run over a hundred yards but had one this year shot by BigA that went close to 2 hundred.Some say it can't happen but I was there and we looked it over good and took a picture of the lungs after we field dressed the deer just for
proof. As far as your hit it sounds like a flesh wound the will usually bleed good[sometimes real good]
for a hundred or so and then start sliming down.A deer hit in the vitals will sometimes start slow but usually only gets better. Sorry but it happens. As far as distance of shot that is very long for me
but each as to figure his own confort zone.For me that is 10/15 yards usually. If it is a flesh
wound she will probably be OK,they get stuck and cut in the wild all the time. I have killed several
in the late season that I shot in early bow season and find my broadhead still in the shoulder or back bone already Grisseled over and the deer seem no worse for wear.Hope this helps sounds like you done all you could do to recover it and that is about all you can ask of yourself. 
   Pappy


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[TRACY]

Nice pics Pappy. That one must have had some running legs to get that far with that type of damage. Nice shot BigA!

Tracy

[Pappy]

Ya it really supprizes us,I always thought the same thing about double lung shots and will admit
the usually go down quick ,but over the last 30 years I have had a couple myself that went a couple hundred yards so I don't say that they will go down in less than a hundred yards anymore. That
is why if you are sure where you hit stay after them even if there ant much blood because
they will go down some just take a little longer than others.Think about it as fast as a deer can run,even if it is dead in just a few seconds they can cover a lot of ground if they are running
full bore. 
   Pappy

[Pat B]

Adrenaline is a powerful drug! It can overcome natural conditions...as a matter of fact it is the fight or flight hormone. I have seen rifle shot deer run over a mile with its heart blown to pieces. I have also seen deer shot through both lungs with an arrow and act as if they were not shot until they fell over while still eating.     Pat

[ballista]

thanks for all the posts everyone, and that story about the doe is real intreeging, i like how you got proof shots  i moved my stand 13 yards left to a slender tree to which i have no idea the name of ( ) but hopefully i can get some closer shots now, i found a much better funnel i might go too, but in my meager 1.5 years of full blown deer hunting every deer i've gotten a shot at has come from my left, so maybe it'll be that decision that'll decide on whether i can go home with a whitetail or not. thanks again, and thatnks for the pics pappy. -jimmy