Bowsite.com

Need opinions!!

I’ve been after this beautiful buck since the opening day of archery here in PA. I’ve seen him a few times before but never in range. Tonight 3 mins before legal shooting time ends he walks out at roughly 20 yards. I was in a ground blind so it was a bit darker inside due to the roof of the blind. I draw back and I can barely make out my pins but decide to take the shot because I’ve shot countless times at my Glendale buck under low light in the backyard. Long story short I shoot and the buck runs off. I go to look for my arrow but can’t find it anywhere. Found 3 clumps of hair each about the size of a 50¢ Coin where he was standing when I shot. I followed his tracks for a few hundred yards and found nothing else. No blood, no hair, no arrow. My question is did I spook this buck for good or will I get a redemption shot at him if I keep after him. I’m clear sick over the whole thing and wish I would have just let him walk now

Sorry about the double post I’m new here. I forgot to mention I’m 90% sure I shot high and just grazed his back giving him a slight hair cut. I heard my arrow crashing through the leaves right after I shot but was unable to find it for further inspection

What color was the hair you found? I'd bet that buck wont be back in that same spot again. I would look again for more clues on the shot and where the deer went

This is some kind of social science experiment I'll bet. Seems it's that time of year when people like to get on the bowhunting sites and post up scenerios where crazy things are done and typical outcomes ensue.

Was the hair brown or white would be first clue? Harder to find arrows shot at ground level. Was it shot into open woods or thicket or high grass and weeds? I will assume brown hair because u feel shot was high. I will assume woods because you said leaves. I would still be looking for arrow and try the track and grid search one more time Loki g for other clues like buzzards and crows. That buck may be fine or he may be dead. He may have been given a haircut or he could be gut shot. Just don’t know.

Deer are unpredictable but my guess is that he has no idea what happened and he will still be around doing what bucks do this time of year. A big factor is how much hunting pressure he sees normally. If light, then I stick with my estimate. If heavy then that could have pushed him nocturnal but I don’t think it would make him leave his core area

Make sure of what you imply. That he wasn’t wounded with a hit. Then keep hunting. Best I got other then stuff happens every now and then. But, look hard to KNOW.

You should have heard the arrow hit him if it did.

A few years back I hit a big buck, best I could tell it was high above the spine. good blood quickly petered out to drops here and there. snow allowed us to follow him over a mile where we decided he was going to be ok. 7 days later, in the same stand here came the same buck down the same trail an hour before dark. He froze about 60 yards out, looked up at me, wheeled and ran. I have his sheds from that winter and found him dead the next September. I was very surprised to see him and had I packed my muzzle loader that day I would have killed him. Once I snagged my safety harness on my string and cut hair off a bucks belly, he jumped, looked around and continued what he was doing, the second arrow was good.

IMHO the number 1 factor above all others is pressure. If the land and the area surrounding where you are hunting receives minimal hunting pressure and there fore the buck in question has prior to the incident has experienced little to no pressure than you might still have a chance. If on the other hand the pressure of human encroachment is high on your property and also in your area, then again IMHO your chances at that buck are very poor as he has likely gone almost totally nocturnal in his movements.

Trail cams if you have them are your best chance at giving you your answer.

Register here to reply to this topic