A22 Filled on the Dagger buck

bassin_rob

Active Member
Nov 7, 2016
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Got off work in time for an hour hunt before dark Tuesday. So I headed out to sit my blind. While walking down I spot a buck in a field off in the distance so I decide to try and stalk in on him. Creeping closer the buck stepped out and gave me a broadside shot. Without time to range I estimated 60 yards and flung a rage hypodermic (ranging after the shot showed 63 yards) ... Heard the good thump, he donkey kicked and I was feeling confident. Unfortunately when I got to the arrow while there was a blood trail the arrow had guts on it. With some advice from some great local guys I’m lucky to call friends I decide to give it about 2 hours. Usually hitting guts would warrant a longer wait but with the storm already starting and having work in the morning options were limited. I searched for over 5 hours on hands and knees following a good blood trail. Eventually I felt like I was just pushing him and decided to come back the next day. As soon as I got off work I flew over to start the search and found him in a completely different direction then where I lost his sign. Unfortunately some predators had their way with him and there was absolutely nothing left. The joys of my first ever Archery kill quickly were overcome by disappointment in my shot placement and not making a quick and clean kill. Unfortunately while this is apart of archery hunting it sucks a whole lot more when it happens to you. That’s a wrap for this season unless I’m able to sneak over to AZ for my archery tag. Looking forward to next year already.EB895F3B-E457-4536-BFD2-F5B31EE8831D.jpeg6FBA3FD4-C1BC-4A2B-9886-B2FA78D59400.jpegEC0E688B-8228-4F51-A97B-A1AAEDAD3A09.jpegD594A310-2BC2-4F83-BA39-0256F8A788DB.jpeg5A08A86A-5E62-489B-B874-1997FFA316D5.jpeg
 
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Got off work in time for an hour hunt before dark Tuesday. So I headed out to sit my blind. While walking down I spot a buck in a field off in the distance so I decide to try and stalk in on him. Creeping closer the buck stepped out and gave me a broadside shot. Without time to range I estimated 60 yards and flung a rage hypodermic (ranging after the shot showed 63 yards) ... Heard the good thump, he donkey kicked and I was feeling confident. Unfortunately when I got to the arrow while there was a blood trail the arrow had guts on it. With some advice from some great local guys I’m lucky to call friends I decide to give it about 2 hours. Usually hitting guts would warrant a longer wait but with the storm already starting and having work in the morning options were limited. I searched for over 5 hours on hands and knees following a good blood trail. Eventually I felt like I was just pushing him and decided to come back the next day. As soon as I got off work I flew over to start the search and found him in a completely different direction then where I lost his sign. Unfortunately some predators had their way with him and there was absolutely nothing left. The joys of my first ever Archery kill quickly were overcome by disappointment in my shot placement and not making a quick and clean kill. Unfortunately while this is apart of archery hunting it sucks a whole lot more when it happens to you. That’s a wrap for this season unless I’m able to sneak over to AZ for my archery tag. Looking forward to next year already.

Awesome job being persistent regardless!


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Bummer Rob...The bad part of hunting...At least, you have him and the memory of the hunt.

ps....Those dogs got to him fast.
 
That's a real bummer specially as a first time bow kill.
Isn't a 60yrd shot a very long shot overall for a bow?



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Bummer Rob...The bad part of hunting...At least, you have him and the memory of the hunt.

ps....Those dogs got to him fast.
Yea they didn’t East any time. It was like 17 hours from the time I left to the time I found him and there was nothing left but the heart and lungs in the chest cavity.
 
That's a real bummer specially as a first time bow kill.
Isn't a 60yrd shot a very long shot overall for a bow?



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Depending on the person. For me, 60 is my cutoff. For others, they can hit vitals at 120 all day long, and others won’t shoot past 20. Everyone is different but I wouldn’t consider 60 a “very long shot”
 
Awww Maan...!!! And you're going to be playing back that moment over and over in your head too... analyzing where ya coulda done things a lil different here and there. But at least you've got the skull for your Euro wall mount! 60 is one heckuva darn good shot because they do see the arrow coming sometimes and duck it, so the further out ya are the more milliseconds they get to react and possibly duck. So even just connecting at the 40+ distances is impressive if ya ask me.
 
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That sucks! At least you stuck with it and found him. Bow hunting is a enormous challenge that many people just don't get.


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Bummer Rob, but at least you got on one, even though the outcome wasn't what you wanted. I say treat yourself with an AZ trip
 
Dang they didn’t waste anything, that’s rough... sorry to hear that it went down that way .
 

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