Shot a nice one last night no recovery

[tcook8296]

I posted in another thread I shot a buck last night.

The story for those interested is I was watching a buck for several weeks over the summer. He disappeared August 30 and didnt see him again. I thought for sure the farmer across from me killed him. He was coming every night. Fast forward to Sunday, Im packing my tools in my truck from working on the house (7 weeks later, still havent hunted yet) and I look across my food plot and see the buck standing in my food plot feeding. I was like no friggin way hes still alive. Cant hunt Monday because of work and I had no stand set for this buck. Monday night 10pm I find myself hanging a stand and trimming a shooting lane. I check my camera card and the deer was there again right before dark. I decided Im leaving work early the next day to wait for this buck. I sat the stand, watched a parade of does and button bucks and 2 other smaller bucks harrassing does the whole evening. I catch movement behind me, the light is starting to fade in the woods. I see a buck working his way towards my food plot through the woods. I put the binos on him and its a pretty nice 8 pt but not the deer Im hunting. He spots the does in the field and tears after them. He gets to the middle of the food plot and is staring to my right at a hedgerow, out comes another nice buck, 8 or 9 pt, never seen him before , bigger than the 1st nice buck I saw but Im still not shooting. The are approaching each other with ears rolled back. The size each other up ready to brawl. I heard a grunt in the same hedgerow and in my mind Im thinking this is the buck Im waiting for. As he is approaching my set up I realize its another buck Ive never seen, Hes coming right at me and Im seeing heavy mass , wide dark horned mature buck . I said to myself I m shooting him. He came in to 20 yards and I let him have it. He ran off and I watched him hunched up and he stood there for what seemed like forever but probably only 10 mins.  I could see the hole in him it was a little further back than I wanted. I was trying too much to stay off the shoulder after last years big buck loss and I think I torqued my bow a bit and liver shot him.He tried to walk but started teetering a bit. He ended up laying down right there. I waited till completely dark and I did a wide circle around him and got out as quietly as I could. I went back with a friend about 2.5 hours later and expected an easy find. The deer was gone. I called in a dog this morning, it was windy as hell, didnt help the situation. The dog couldnt seem to get on the trail. I have another dog coming tomorrow to give it one last try. I found the arrow,blood tip to tip, almost no blood trail except within the first 15 yards of the hit. we did some grid searches and came up empty.  Im disgusted now, this was a pretty nice one. Will give it another go in the morning but man its not looking good.  

Edited October 24, 2018 by tcook8296

[Whitetail31]

That sucks man I wish you the best of luck to find him.  You know as well as I do a gut shot deer or a liver shot deer is a 100% dead deer.  Probably coyotes or other bucks pushed him good luck he’s dead just finding him is the problem.

[tcook8296]

[Livesintrees]

Tcook. If you need help let me know. Whether tonight or tomorrow after work I can help you out. I would say contact I believe the guys name is Darren with a dog. That dog finds deer literally on a daily basis. I hope it works out for you and if you haven’t already I would check your cameras in the morning to see if you picked him up on one. May be the clue you need

[supr78nova]

Sounds like a dead deer. You probably pushed him in your search last night. Probably didn't go far though. Any water sources nearby?
Good luck tomorrow!

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[rocky]

Tough one. Hopefully you find him.

[Greybeard]

Looks like more than just a gut shot by the arrow.  Liver too, like you said.   You still may find him not too far away.  Best of luck to you finding him.

[electric10162]

Damn-it. I know that feeling well. Good luck tomorrow.

[BillW0323]

That sucks sorry to hear that. Hopefully you can find it.

[Rusty]

Best of luck tomorrow tcook.    

[Lphunsjr]

Good luck Tom. That arrow looks like a dead deer. I hope to see you holding him in the morning

[Nomad]

Be happy to stop by and help look if not too far.  Not sure where you are.

[megavites]

agree....arrow looks like a dead deer

[3Blade]

Good luck t. I hope you recover him.

[Remember November]

Best of luck Tom