Jump to content
Sneaker

1/1/2018 broken 6x6

Recommended Posts

I shot this buck on Monday at noon. My arrow hit further back than I would have liked, I was a little worried, but knew it was probably lethal. I waited 4 hours and started the track job. Great blood for 20 yards, drops for another 30 yards then nothing. Oh no. Hunter's nightmare. Completely lost his track in short order, tried some hail marry circles but no dice. The next day with my brother's help, I was able to extend the trail out to 200 yards, but it was only a little drop every once in a while, then we lost his track again completely. He never ran or bedded in that stretch, just walking. I started gridding in hopes of getting lucky. But we ran out of time. I came home Tuesday night pretty down about it. The area is literally a thick sea of Pinions and Junipers for miles and miles so I knew my odds of finding him were really low. I worked Wed but wanted to give it another try. I did some reading on CW about finding downed deer using crows/ravens, studied my gps map tracks, and figured my best bet was the birds. I expected that, being dead three days, the circle of life and his forrest buddies would be laying full claim to him by now. Thursday afternoon would be my only time available to try in the next 12 days, so I worked in the morning and ran out to do my last ditch hike. I would stop to listen for birds every 20 or 30 seconds. About a half mile in, I saw and heard crows in a few different directions 15 minutes apart. My plan was to get to the nearest mountain and glass the expanses for hopefully the carrion party. As I started my climb I heard some birds up ahead of me on the mountain. A few minutes later I started seeing a few crows flying close to my immediate area. A little later a VULTURE flew by. Things were getting interesting... A few seconds later two vulture flew up from the ground and I knew I was onto something. There he was. Been dead 3 days. More points than I thought. Sad I lost the meat. Died mid walk apparently, .7 miles and 300 feet elevation gain from the shot.

 

A couple lessons learned:

-Be a better shot

-Crows wont necessarily be right on the animal, and it may not be tons of them. There were only a few, but their periodic calls as they apparently flew around watching the vultures pointed me in the right direction.

-Wounded animals sometimes don't mind going for a long uphill hike

post-8768-0-98267000-1515129943_thumb.jpg

post-8768-0-74438400-1515130058_thumb.jpg

post-8768-0-27323900-1515130609_thumb.jpg

post-8768-0-07020100-1515130695_thumb.jpg

  • Like 14

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Way to follow up! A lot of other guys would have just kept on hunting. Sorry about the meat, but you did the right thing. Good for you! The as he lies pic is crazy! That is one tough old buck. Congratulations on your success.

  • Like 2

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×