Bad night bowhunting

[Kingcreek]

Got into my tree stand at 2:40 yesterday. At 2:45 a big buck walked across open field crosswind to me about 75-80 yards away. He was moving like he was injured. I tried calling with grunt tube to see if I could turn him around but he ignored me. 2 minutes later an even bigger buck followed him like he was going to run him into the next county.
I tried calling again but he ignored my calls.
A little forkhorn came from behind me and was under my stand for a little while before going back the way he came.
At 5pm about 10 minutes after sunset another nice buck came by from a different direction and gave me a broadside shot. I hit him a little low and back and my arrow passed thru. ot into my tree stand at 2:40 yesterday. At 2:45 a big buck walked across open field crosswind to me about 75-80 yards away. He was moving like he was injured. I tried calling with grunt tube to see if I could turn him around but he ignored me. 2 minutes later an even bigger buck followed him like he was going to run him into the next county.
I tried calling again but he ignored my calls.
A little forkhorn came from behind me and was under my stand for a little while before going back the way he came.
At 5pm about 10 minutes after sunset another nice came by and gave me a broadside shot. I hit him a little low and back and my arrow passed thru. He was standing behind some heavy brush for awhile and looped in again at 30 yards. Light was going but I stuck him again and he bolted into thick cover.
I called a friend who said he would head out to help. waited about an hour before tracking him. Almost no blood. After 100 yards found 2 hand sized splotches of jellied red blood then almost none again. Tracked him 1/4 mile thru thick creek bottom. Lost any sign of tracks or blood after 3 hours. Never found my second arrow. We were down to a fleck of blood every 10-15 yards.
I’ve killed over 70 Illinois whitetail and only ever lost 3, none in recent years and never one I hit twice! I’m frustrated as hell and can’t figure out what happened.
I’ll probably be back out to try and figure it out. I’m just sick about it.

 

[Jeff62]

I can tell a similar story on myself. I felt sick about wounding and not recovering a buck and I beat myself up until I got tired of beating myself up.
When I thought it through two factors stood out as to cause; I was shooting from a new tree stand four feet higher than usual and I took the shot at nearly forty yards, a wee bit past my practice distance. (compound bow).
Identifying the probable cause and taking steps to mitigate made me feel better.

 

[wombat13]

I had a similar bad day with my crossbow on Saturday. Shot a buck at 40 yards. I can drill the bullseye all day long at 40, but that's the max for my xbow. I found the arrow - no blood, just some white hair and a speck of meat. Blood trail started a few yards away, but not a lot. Spent 2 hours tracking the trail until it petered out in a thick area with deer trail that looked like a plate of spaghetti. Figure it was a brisket shot.

Like Jeff62 said, you gotta diagnose the problem and try to correct. My best guess is I got lost in the scope. It has 4 crosshairs and where we hunt you've got about a second to shoot when the deer steps into the lane. Now I just have to figure out how to train to avoid that problem in the future.

 

[Armored farmer]

That's the curse of bowhunting.
My #1 son finally got a shot at a big buck he had been hunting. Hit him good , but back of perfect. Little blood. Then no blood.
Hired a bloodhound. Lost the trail.
Finally gave up after recruiting help from friends and myself.
He was sick and depressed about it. Kept watching for buzzards in the area.
He finally decided to return to his stand and hunt the evening hours. He killed his big buck a week later, almost to the hour. The buck had an arrow wound three inches back from the one that killed him effectively.

The buck was perfectly healed and chasing does.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

^^^
Way to go.

 

[Flintknapper]

That's the curse of bowhunting.
My #1 son finally got a shot at a big buck he had been hunting. Hit him good , but back of perfect. Little blood. Then no blood.
Hired a bloodhound. Lost the trail.
Finally gave up after recruiting help from friends and myself.
He was sick and depressed about it. Kept watching for buzzards in the area.
He finally decided to return to his stand and hunt the evening hours. He killed his big buck a week later, almost to the hour. The buck had an arrow wound three inches back from the one that killed him effectively.
View attachment 1037355
The buck was perfectly healed and chasing does.

That smile says it all. Great picture. Happy (and relieved) young man.

 

[loose noose]

The last time I hunted deer with a bow, was quite a few years ago, (20+ years) and it was a Bear Compound, shot a good sized buck at about 30 yards or so, watched him flick his ears, and off he went back into the brush at a very slow pace. I sat in the blind for about 15-20 minutes that seemed like eternity, and then went and started tracking. Found my arrow with blood and foam, that indicated it was a lung shot clear thru him. After tracking for about an hour or so, gave up and left some TP near where I left off, as I went back to camp (night time) and got the assistance of my brother in law and two nephews to assist. Found just a little bit of blood but no foam near where I had left the TP but never did find the buck. Which really bothered me, fact is I gave up on that bow hunting for good back then. I still think about that occasionally but, there isn't a thing I could have done differently, back then or now. So as far as I know that back was never recovered.