Darren Doran from NJ shared with us his recent tracking experience:
I just thought I would tell you about Theo’s latest find. I was bow hunting Tuesday night (a week ago) and I shot a good size doe. I thought the shot was good and I watched the deer run and stop about 70 yds away by a brook. Her tail was going uncontrollably in every direction and I could see blood coming out of the exit wound low behind the right elbow with the naked eye. I thought for sure she was going down right there. She seemed to regain some composure and jumped the brook. I thought I saw her go down in a briar patch on the other side.
I still had deer milling around and I didn’t want to spook them so I waited awhile before I started to climb down. After I got down I left my gear at the tree and went right to the brook. I immediately saw a good amount of blood on my side. I got across and easily followed a good blood trail for another 125 yds. At any minute I expected to find the deer. We crossed the brook again and came to a small cut corn field. I lost the blood trail and it was getting dark. I was so sure I was going to find the deer on the other side of the first brook crossing didn’t bring my light with me. I decided to come back with Theo in the morning and see if we could find this deer. By the amount of blood I had saw on the track I felt real certain the deer was dead.
I started Theo at the hit site and he tracked easily to the brook. The brook here was about 5 ft wide and just under my calf high boots. Theo hesitated at the crossing and was having difficulty figuring out how to get across. We hadn’t done a lot of water work this summer, and I didn’t want to push him on a track so I picked him up and carried him across. He resumed tracking and took the line the next 125 yds very easily. We came to the next brook crossing and by his actions I could tell he knew the deer crossed the brook. This time he hunched up a couple of time like he was going to jump in but chickened out. I again picked him up and waded him across.
I put him down and he tracked right to the corn field and right across the lower end. I didn’t see any blood here but was relying on Theo ability. We left the field edge and tracked into a thick briar choked creek bottom. Theo came to the brook again. This part of the brook was shallower and the banks were closer together and Theo got across on his own. Up to this point I hadn’t seen any more blood, but as soon as I got on the other bank I saw more blood. I could see by the blood the track turned sharply to the right on a deer run and Theo missed the check. He came to a tractor road and started to circle to reacquire the line. He got back in the thicket and found the line and all of a sudden stopped.
A first I didn’t even realize what I was looking at. Theo was standing on what was left of our deer. The coyotes had found it overnight and devoured it. All I had was a cell phone to take the picture, but the deer was completely eaten. The coyotes even pulled the hide off the face and ate the meat off the head exposing the skull and jaw.
There wasn’t enough left of the deer to tell how it was hit and why it went as far as it did. The deer went about 260 yds. This is what I think happened. The stand was 27 or 28 ft high. The deer was broadside at 20 yds. The shot most likely hit the deer high on the left side missing the left lung. The arrow exited low in the front of the right lung. The deer still had one lung to breath with but the major blood vessels in the front of the right lung were cut so bad it finally bled to death. I don’t think a deer with both lungs hit would have went as far as it did.
I’ll never leave a deer overnight in these woods again.
No comments:
Post a Comment