#7 Fed the yotes

[Buckfever]

I'll just be to the point.
Seems like nearly every season I need to be humbled. Deer saw me, did the head bob, went back to feeding, snapped the head back, I know the deal, I don't move, I wait, deer goes back to feeding, seems relaxed. I pick the tree that will block the head so that I'll draw, I draw.

And right there I made a mistake. I should have waited 2-3 more steps for quartering away, deer spun at the shot. I'm watching the deer, and I'm saying, go down, go down. And I look back at the arrow and there it was in the snow, unmistakable, gut shot.

I wait till the deer is out of sight and then wait some more and get down and get out. Go to the truck, get my tracking gear and come back to see what the inital sign looks like.

15 yards into it I have a little bit of spray on the one side. I track to the creek 100 yards and she crossed the creek. Too deep for me to cross there. Back to the truck, I come around. Pick up the blood and still a litttle spray on the one side, maybe a little better. Probably 150 yards to the first bed and I bump the deer. I check the bed, good blood in the bed, I want to see what the blood trail looks like, now I've got real good blood, spraying on the one side, 40 yards maybe, bump the deer again.

So right there I had to make a judgement. I know I have a good blood trail and I'll find the next bed easy. Do I push the deer? I don't know how much the deer has left. I decide to flag my way out and hope to beat the yotes there.

The deer only went 25 yards before bedding again. The yotes got there first. They didn't leave much.

I think it exemplifies why it is that I work so hard at this. And why for me putting the arrow through the center of the chest cavity is of principle importance.

We all derive different things from our time in the woods. But failing as a predator, being humbled and then from that being driven to achieve a higher level of proficiency, is a big part of it.

[Buckfever]

Just to be clear here and I do appreciate the consideration. But I put stuff like this out there for the purposes of discussion. I'm teflon coated, you cannot hurt my feelings. What I want, is if you have an opinion, state the damned thing and let's give some of the younger fellas some broader perspective, some tools that they can take to the woods, so that they don't have to reinvent the wheel, plus maybe I can learn something too.

[eshoremd]

george asked me to post my pm so i am.

damn. sorry to hear about the doe george. i didnt post this in public cause i dont want you to think im trying to undermind your decision and get the wrong idea. how much more land did you have before property boundries? im no expert but if you had a lot of land and were getting that much blood why didnt you keep pushing her. she couldnt of lasted that much longer. im not at all trying to second guess you, you know way more then me about this sport, just trying to figure out what you were thinking.

[Buckfever]

IMO the principle mistake that I made was when I released the arrow. I should have waited for the forgiveness of the quartering away shot that would have literally developed in a few more seconds and even with the deer jumping the string I absolutely believe I'd of see that deer go down.

I think that eshore's question is more to the point of why I backed out and didn't continue to push the deer. There was no boundary issue. It was a judgement call. I was pretty sure based on the sign and the short distance travelled when I bumped the deer that I would find the deer at the next bed and I was also sure that the blood trail would let me readily find the bed. I knew that the temps were going down to 8degrees and that the meat would be fine. The risk was the yotes.

I did consider pushing the deer. My concern was that I was not sure how much the deer had left and that I might lose the blood trail. That was that risk.

How would you guys have handled it? That's why I put this one out there I want us to have that discussion.

[freedomrules3]

Could you move this over to the new forum so it can be discussed further . I've been in that situation a few times .....i've got lots to say

www.eastcoasthunter.com