2017 Ohio recap - 2 BBD's, a true hunting adventure...

[TDietz]

NICE!!!

[BowhunterNJ]

Nice bucks gentlemen!

 

I shot a buck in Ohio several years ago, perfect double lung at 15 yards and it absolutely poured blood for a good 250+ yards running full bore.  He was all rutted up chasing a doe right before I shot him, so only thing I can think of is he was loaded with adrenaline.  After the shot I just watched him run, and run, and run, and run along that ridge in the open hardwoods and then disappear over it wayyyy in the distance.  Couldn't believe he made it that far...I was literally watching him run saying "you've got to be kidding! what the hell? still going?!?!?!"

[not on the rug]

I edited my 1st post with some thoughts.  Just want to add that although the shot was high, the exit wasn't terrible and should have provided a good enough trail.  I've shot a bunch of deer from the ground and from ground blinds and the standard double lung shot does the trick and provides a great trail. 

[Lunatic]

I thought about that - trust me, but that loud crack meant that a rage would have disintegrated and not penetrated at all... 

 

They are amazing critters with an incredible will to live and there are times when they live longer than expected only because they are tough. I doubled lunged a buck last year, breaking his opposite shoulder. He went down with in 2o yards but when I approached he got up and went another 10 yards, and down again. I gave him 3 hrs and when I came back he was still alive but unable to get up anymore, I had to put another arrow in him. I have no explanation for why 3" hole in his chest didn't  kill within 15 seconds.  

[JHbowhunter]

They are amazing critters with an incredible will to live and there are times when they live longer than expected only because they are tough. I doubled lunged a buck last year, breaking his opposite shoulder. He went down with in 2o yards but when I approached he got up and went another 10 yards, and down again. I gave him 3 hrs and when I came back he was still alive but unable to get up anymore, I had to put another arrow in him. I have no explanation for why 3" hole in his chest didn't  kill within 15 seconds.  

 

I had perhaps achieved the dreaded level of overconfidence.  So many deer in the past 5 years since switching to these BH's I have mostly watched drop, or had easy blood trail and short recovery.  I never in 33 years had something like this.   Confidence is good - every bowhunter needs that, over-confidence borders on arrogance as if one is above making a mistake.  I am humbled by this, and although I always knew the difference between easy and hard is a few inches sometimes, this shot seemed to be so centered well within the margin of error I refused to accept the outcome as it grew more grim.  My big take away is stick to where I been aiming, about 3-4" lower, but I felt that on a slow walking buck a few inches higher to assure double lung was better than attempting heart or near-heart shot.   I really thought about stopping him with a mouth grunt, but he was so amped up I felt he would bolt. 

[Buckrut11]

Congrats to you both you guys

[SPEARFISH]

Glad you got him.  Congrats.

I don't know how you see anything with all the posting.

[JHbowhunter]

Glad you got him.  Congrats.

I don't know how you see anything with all the posting.

 

agree there needs to be some weaning off the damn phone while hunting and life in general.   However - it was awesome to do a NJWW live hunt last September and take a nice buck, as well as doing this Ohio thread every time. 

[Haskell_Hunter]

yeah but most of the blood was inside, he drained a gallon when I stuck the diaphragm... He left just enough to get us close, but after that last brutal hill climb he left ZERO...  I fully admit I was defeated, and at a very low point... 

 

The more I think about it and replay shot in my mind and looking at recovery evidence to extent I could (it was late, dark, and trying to skin and cape and debone a deer by the quad light isn't optimal). 

 

The entry hole was a few inches below spine (looking on inside of cavity). My BH was razor sharp. I do think I clipped some form of shoulder bone or scapula either on entrance or exit as he was walking and I really can't tell the orientation of either side shoulder when a deer is walking (less learned). The more I think about it, here is my theory. The crack I sound was my arrow blowing through onside scapula (there are thin parts to it). This would dull the BH which despite what many say, dull BH's don't make the best blood trails. Despite what I originally saw which was the arrow seemingly "stopped", it did get full pass through but was "Stuck". The exit hole looks like a 2 blade rage sliced it, not a 3 blade VPA. I think perhaps, that the arrow got hung up on a tree or brush and tore that straight-line gash you see... Combine that with the fact that "high lung" shots don't bleed well as they fill up in the diaphragm rather than spill out, with a amped up full rut mature Ohio buck that is used to running those steep ridges and ravines like a mountain goat that is what you get. I have spoken to many other bowhunting experts I know (like you Dan), and some say that the larger the deer, the more chance for a void between spine and top of lung. The lung is a free floating organ, and on a full rutting buck that is breathing deep and completely jacked up as he was - I may have caught him on a deep exhale, and completely missed top of entry side lung, but clearly center-punched or damn near it, the exit side lung. I really have no other explanation. With many twists and turns, the only thing that kept us going and what kept Matt going when I was ready to "call it" was that Matt trusted me when I said "shot looked picture perfect - I expected him to be piled up before the steep ravine".

 

You accurately described what happened.

 

No blood because of the high cavity-filling shot.  Consider the incline the deer was going up at the time.  That would have contributed to no blood trail because of where the shot hit and that it was filling the back-end of the deer with blood.  If it was a slow bleed from a cut at the top of the lungs, it may died from suffocation versus truly bleeding out (maybe a combination of the two, but a slow bleed nonetheless).

 

I think the other issue with the "crack" is a loss of energy when the arrow hit bone, and it may have affected the straight flight of the arrow, thereby directing less energy toward the blades and more toward the side of the arrow shaft.  You'd lose trajectory and cutting power, which I think it what you observed post-mortem.

 

My guess is that you succumbed to "last few hours of the last day of hunting and I still have a tag" pressure and rushed a shot.  I wasn't there, but from the warm glow of my computer screen, that may have been what happened.  No need to second-guess yourself, you made the shot and many others prior to it.

 

Congrats on a great week hunting and of course the last minute harvest of a monster!

[Lunatic]

I had perhaps achieved the dreaded level of overconfidence.  So many deer in the past 5 years since switching to these BH's I have mostly watched drop, or had easy blood trail and short recovery.  I never in 33 years had something like this.   Confidence is good - every bowhunter needs that, over-confidence borders on arrogance as if one is above making a mistake.  I am humbled by this, and although I always knew the difference between easy and hard is a few inches sometimes, this shot seemed to be so centered well within the margin of error I refused to accept the outcome as it grew more grim.  My big take away is stick to where I been aiming, about 3-4" lower, but I felt that on a slow walking buck a few inches higher to assure double lung was better than attempting heart or near-heart shot.   I really thought about stopping him with a mouth grunt, but he was so amped up I felt he would bolt. 

T

he buck is down, soon to be on your wall. You did good, that's how I look at this.

[Haskell_Hunter]

agree there needs to be some weaning off the damn phone while hunting and life in general.   However - it was awesome to do a NJWW live hunt last September and take a nice buck, as well as doing this Ohio thread every time. 

 

This is why I hunt the most northern part of NH--there is no cell reception and a sign on the road that reads "no electricity past this point".  That sign is about 30 minutes south of the Canadian border.  The other key indicator are the large clearings you find on some logging roads.  They have signs at the entrance of the clearing with GPS coordinates.  The clearing is for the helicopter to land, and the GPS coordinates are for the rescue workers you're contacting so they know where to pick you up.

[Bonefreak]

Wow!! Congrats!!  Great story and great deer!!  Shows you how strong they can be after getting fatally hit!!  I need to go to OHIO!!!!

[LittleM]

Very nice!

[nb6624]

way to jack! i just got home from my ohio week. seems like i was too early. tag soup again!

[LPJR]

Well written Jack. Hearing the story was even better. The emotion and true persistence of staying with the buck is why he was able to get a ride home. You knew the shot was good, but the sign told you otherwise. Definitely amazing animals to take a hit like that and still go so far, including walking back up a ravine it just travelled down to. 

 

Great job all the way around. Hope you finally got some sleep after the 24 hour marathon hunt.