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sigh..lost a good illinois whitetail

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ballista:
 sunday night, about 4.10 pm. the weather had been rainy, it was near 32 degrees, windy- didnt feel too confident. but, as i was dozing off, i head the eerie foot thuds and quiet chrunches from behind me, and to the left. i slowly took off my handwarmer cylinder, and waited... i heard em, but i didnt see em, then through real swampy brush i saw one about 60 yards away, then another right along side the other. the funnel i hunt is only about 10 yards from my stand, this was a new unnel that i might move a stand to- anaways, the bigger of the two (estimated 120lbs, a good sized doe) was closer to me, but she was still 50 odd yards away, a big oak was in her way, as she was going around it, i drilled her, 43 yards on the dot. i aimed right for center of the lung, but she ducked down more that i thought a deer would from a bowstring, and hit her kinda high. 1 hour later, my dad and i were out tracking mama. about 60 yards from the shot i found first blood, and my god, it was great blood, about half a cup of sprayed blood every few feet, it would vary of course. we got to the river, the last blood being right on the riverbank. my dad crossed, dropped the gear, but my boots wernt high enough, as we were crossing we fell in the coldest watew i'd ever felt. we got on the trail again, but it got into some real nasty brush, it took a while to track through that-then we came to an opening. a pasture, i though. this is where we lost the trail. it was in cupfulls of blood, then nothing. i thought the wind might have blown the leaves, but we did a 100 yard circle, and the clearing had a paved road: forest perserve. my dad went out with the beagle and the absolute best tracker ill ever meet, and picked up more blood, but it stopped by a tree, where there was rope- i think i might have gotten robbed, its hard to say without seeing the deer. thanks guys, appreciate all comments, good and bad. -jimmy

Pat B:
Jimmy, Sorry you lost your deer. We all go through that on occasion if we hunt.
  Forty three yards is too long of a shot in my opinion. Too much can happen between the time the arrow leaves the bow and reaches its target as you experienced. With self bows I try to limit myself to 20 yards +/-. My ideal shot is 12 to 15 yards. At that distance, even if you don't get a shot, you have beat the deer at his(or her) game and on his (or her) home field. In my book that is a win.    Pat

stickbender:

Jimmy I too am sorry for your loss, and if it was stolen, as it certainly seems to have been, if it makes you feel any better, when I was younger,  My Dad, Cousins, and friends, and I were hunting west of Boca Raton, in a place called Lyons pasture, and my dad had shot a nice buck, knocked it down, and it got back up, and took off, and then fell again.  My dad got down from his stand, and took the dog, and trailed it with a very good blood trail, and then to some buggy tracks, and then no more blood trail, and the dog went in the direction of the buggy, but my Dad stopped her, as my cousins came up to him, and told he had watched a bunch of teenagers in a dune buggy, stop and load it up, and haul butt!  So it happens. You just have take the bad with the good.  Thankfully, it doesn't happen all that often, but it happens.  Just recently in Thompson Falls area, some one stole a Caped out buck out of the back of a Pickup truck.  There is a reward for it being offered.  So it happens everywhere.  At least you did your part, in the trailing, and getting soaked, in windy 32* weather.  Unfortunatly there are those who have no morals, or ethics.

                                                                     Wayne

Titan_Bow:
No offense intended, but 43 yards in my opinion is too far of a shot with a selfbow on whitetails.  Deer are high strung animals, and alot can happen by the time an arrow going 150-160fps gets there. It would be over a second for the arrow to get there, and deer can do a complete 180 in that time. One of the funnest parts of hunting whitetails is setting up on them and have them come by at 10 yards or less unaware.

TRACY:
Too far for primitive gear in general. I would try to limit your shots to an effective distance, say 20 yards and under with emphasis on the under. Take your time and be patient, it will click at some point. Good luck hunting!

Tracy

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