doe kill with new bow

Shot a doe late yesterday afternoon. Lost the blood trail and went back this morning. Didn't feel good about the shot. Shot from blind, and my elbow hit the back of the blind immediately. Follow through was horrible. Picked up the blood trail, and 2 hours and over 800 yard later found her. Horrible shot. She was still limp and warm. Hadn't been dead very long at all. The shot was horrible as I thought. Little low, and way back. Clipped her last rib. I hate that I put her through a long and painful death.

But you found her.

Yes we did. It was an awesome job of tracking. My uncle came and helped. I'd never found her without his help. She went 20 yards or more with no blood several times. Very patient and slow long semi-circles resulted in us picking it back up. It was a solid 800 yards through CRP cut in strips. Hard to see little drops of blood in the CRP stubble. That's the farthest I've tracked a deer that was recovered. Normally, that means a lost deer. I was very happy to find her, but very sad to know what I put her through. She hadn't been dead long at all. Still very limp and warm some 17 hours after the shot, and it was very cold.

Californication wrote:Shot a doe late yesterday afternoon. Lost the blood trail and went back this morning. Didn't feel good about the shot. Shot from blind, and my elbow hit the back of the blind immediately. Follow through was horrible. Picked up the blood trail, and 2 hours and over 800 yard later found her. Horrible shot. She was still limp and warm. Hadn't been dead very long at all. The shot was horrible as I thought. Little low, and way back. Clipped her last rib. I hate that I put her through a long and painful death.

I'm not one of these bleedin heart animal lovers, but this is the reason I don't bow hunt. Even though my bow hunting buddies call me "unsporting" for only rifle hunting.
I hear lost deer and deer found next day stories all the time from them.
I do commend you on your remorse for the pain the animal went through and your dilligence in finding her. Now the doe didn't die in vain.

Yeah, I hate it. I've only lost one bow shot deer in my 30+ years of hunting. I shot at a buck at 32-35 yards, quartering away. Just as I touched the release, he took a step, and I hit him in the ham. Trailed him forever, and finally lost the trail. Saw him numerous other times during the season, and he wasn't even limping. Just never got another crack at him. This is the first deer I've personally shot with a bow, other than that buck I lost, that went more than 200 yards.

MULECHOPS wrote:

Californication wrote:Shot a doe late yesterday afternoon. Lost the blood trail and went back this morning. Didn't feel good about the shot. Shot from blind, and my elbow hit the back of the blind immediately. Follow through was horrible. Picked up the blood trail, and 2 hours and over 800 yard later found her. Horrible shot. She was still limp and warm. Hadn't been dead very long at all. The shot was horrible as I thought. Little low, and way back. Clipped her last rib. I hate that I put her through a long and painful death.

I'm not one of these bleedin heart animal lovers, but this is the reason I don't bow hunt. Even though my bow hunting buddies call me "unsporting" for only rifle hunting.
I hear lost deer and deer found next day stories all the time from them.
I do commend you on your remorse for the pain the animal went through and your dilligence in finding her. Now the doe didn't die in vain.

I understand where you're coming from but deer can get nicked by bullets and die slowly as well. I've found more fresh gut shot kills from guns than bows. Had to put one out of its misery from having a leg blown off.

Oh, and congrats Cali. I love a bow kill. It gets me really pumped to stick one.