Deer Hunting 2014: Misses and Failures

Tall 7 in Summer Velvet

It's been a while since I've posted anything here. Mainly due to lack of time and lack of interesting
material. It's not that I haven't been in the woods. I've done a lot of hunting, and had my fair share of opportunities too. I just haven't seemed to be able to make the most of those opportunities.

My first missed opportunity came the last day of muzzle loader season in Ga. I was sitting in a double stand with my two sons Israel (9) and Judah (7). We had two does come in about 35 yards in front of us. We waited for the perfect opportunity for us both to shoot and I counted a "one, two , three, fire." I shot first and Israel delayed a second or two. To my disappointment my powder failed to ignite and the cap sent both does running off, causing Israel to miss clean. That was my first time shooting a deer with a cap gun.

My next opportunity came the beginning of Nov. in Fl. I was hunting my property and I had a nice 8 pt. buck come in at 35 yards. As I drew my bow he caught my movement and became nervous. As he stood moving his head back and forth trying to figure out what I was, I released my arrow. In one quick motion he dropped his body and spun back towards where he came from; I watched my arrow fly right past the front of his neck.

My third missed opportunity is the most painful. I've been hunting a big tall 7 point buck all season.

Tall 7 Cruising During Daylight

I have a couple years of background on him from trail cameras. On a cold mid November morning he came following two does down a trail right behind my stand. I had plenty of time to draw before he stepped into my shooting lane and stopped. He was quartering slightly towards me and the thought that went through my mind was, "Don't shoot too far back." I should have waited for him to turn a little more broadside. I released and stuck the arrow in the back of his front shoulder. As he ran off I could see a lot of arrow sticking out. After giving it a couple hours I got down and found my arrow about 30 yards from where I shot him. I had only gotten about maybe 4 or 5 inches of penetration.

My brother and nephew drove up to help me track him and we spent a quite a few hours following a spotty blood trail. What blood we did find was very dark and red, no lung blood. After at least 500 yards it dried up and ended up calling off the search. I went back a couple days later to look for vultures or try to smell something dead; nothing. My hope is that he is still alive and well. Time should tell as he is a buck that has not been camera shy in the past.

It has been a disappointing deer season so far, but there's still a little time left to turn it around. I am actually going on a mid Feb. archery hunt with a buddy who drew one of 10 quota permits for a hard to get WMA in Central Florida and invited me to hunt as his guest. That will truly be a last chance deer hunt, and a cool experience, as I have never deer hunted in Feb.

I also drew one of 25 turkey quota permits for a Florida WMA that I have been trying to get for years. So even if deer season doesn't work out as hoped for, I'm already getting excited for turkey season.