Best buck you've ever lost ...

[DeerSlayer]

Two years ago I lost a nice 9 pointer. I thought I had hit him good, found a good blood trail, but never the arrow and trail stopped after about 300 yards.

Searched property for two days and never found him. Always hoped I didn't get him as good as I thought and he lived, but I'm not sure that was the case. Think it was just one of those freak things.

Have you guys ever lost a good buck?

[Wizard]

Have you guys ever lost a good buck?

No, I have been fortunate so far to have not lost any, but then again I have only harvested three bucks in my life, unless you want to count a button buck that was my first deer I ever killed.

[inkorore]

Yeah ive been there thats why i dont use mechanical heads any more!! it was a fourteen pointer and only bout 20 yrds, i told my buddy who lives on neiboring property,i had told bout my arrow and showed him the 5 inches that was left broken, where he ran into a tree.he let me borrow his beagle he said was a tracker and once i got there that lil sucker ran straight home!! i was sick all weekend and to top it all off, it was the opener weekend and i wasted it looking for that deer.the next season i went to his house to see if killed anything worth while,he started smileing real big and told me to wait a minute hed be right back.when he returned with sumtin in his hand and said is this your's?i looked closely and said ''
Thats my tip from the first weekend!''what was it in?? he laughed real hard, then made me wait once more.and returned with the head gear,he siad he had hunted all morning with no luch and started driving the fields and seen it standing there,he wanted to shoot so bad he forgot to put it in park and the truck started rolling.he jumped in,threw it in park and thought bout turning the truck off and decided not to cause he didnt want to spook it.he said that he fired and missed and fired again and missed ,he said that dosent seem right what the heck is wrong with that deer?he shot once more and got em!!when he returned home to clean it,he had to give it to the dogs cause gangreen had turned all the meat green,he knew sumtin was wrong with it but had no idea it was the arrowed deer i had shit.he said the arrow was right under the spine no vitals and no bones touching the tip,i guess it never opend, it was like shooting him with a practice tip!!

[Wizard]

when he returned home to clean it,he had to give it to the dogs cause gangreen had turned all the meat green

 

[ArkansasSloughboy]

I've lost 2 small bucks, both shot with .243 and good blood trails. I have since quit using the .243. It seems to be like shooting them with a hypodermic needle.

[blindset61]

I've lost a few over the years.  It' kinda like missing one of those easy shots-if you haven't, just give it enough time.

I trap and if the number of dead bucks I've run across over the years is any indication, there's a whole lots of folks have shot and lost them.  I see a lot of them when water trapping.  An injured deer will end up in water lots of times.

Best buck I lost I shot on a lease in the Texas hill country out of Mason, Tx.  Lost a couple more with the same rifle-Browning semiauto in 06.  Sold that rifle.

I lost two bucks on same opening day one time-I lived in the NW corner of LA andhunted Tx in the am and AR in the pm.  Moved homes that summer before season.  Checked the rifle out next morning and it was shooting off.  Hard earned lesson.  .243 with 100 gr nosler partitions.

I usually end up cutting the horns off a big one or two a year and sell them to taxidermists.

[mpoor]

I can't remember losing a good buck, but early on I did gut shoot some does. I have a cousin that shot that buck in Crawford Co. that we are scoring in the poll, never found it. Took a quartering toward him shot and buried the arrow deep. Looked for two days never found it. I also have a friend up around Flippin that shot a huge buck at 42 yd., said he "thinks" he hit it low, never found it. I'm wondering just what kind of shot a feller should take? My cousin, should have been more patient and the guy at Flippin should maybe know his limit. Both deer are this season. Hope I have not just jinkst myself before I go to Kentucky next week!

[Widowmaker]

It was the morning  November the 17th of 2007 and i was DEEP in the White River NWR....Along comes a doe from  my rear... followed by a GIANT... and i meen GIANT 175" TO 180"---10 PT.......As the doe passes my tree on  the right side  at 5 yards i slowly turned around for the shot.The buck eased it's way in and when he stopped at 8 yards he  was quartering away from me.The doe come to a stop and so did he. When he  put his head down to get an acorn i drew and achored.I settled  my pin rite behind his ribcage and slowly  released. I drove the arrow all the way to the fletching all the way up into the deer and he bolted off.I waited and hour before getting down and tracking him.I followed the trail for several hundred yards and found a couple of spots where he stopped and they had huge spots of blood.....7 hrs later and 900 yards later acording to the GPS the blood stopped and my heart sank....I NEVER FOUND HIM!!!!........How the heck did that deer go i that far and never fall is beyond me.....i was totally crushed i tell ya.

[Backwater]

This past year. A 10pt... Around 130"-140" class. Had blood, but lost it. Looked for 2 days. Oh well, it happens.

[BODCAW JACK]

I just started seriously bow hunting two year ago.  My dad has some awesome bucks behind his house that come into a field to feed at dark.  I let the arrow fly at two different bucks that year.... found my arrow with no blood one time, which means a clean miss.. the second time we never found the arrow. This particular stand only has a small hole in the limbs to shoot through so I had alot of "what if's".  Still don't know if I hit that buck or not. This past year I finally killed a 7pt. with my bow and was huntin hard for the triple trophy, waitin on that muzzleloader kill.  The day I finally got a shot at a doe, I shot her at about 20 yrds.  I found blood but couldn't find her no matter how hard I tried.  I finally gave up and started heading for the truck.  On my way out I got lost and was pretty much wondering my way toward home when I  just happened to stumble across her.  Perfect shot, perfect kill, she just stopped bleeding and ran in the opposite direction of what I thought.  Just shows to go ya that you can never tell what a wounded deer is gonna do!!

[mpoor]

I know several hunters, myself included, that have had the same thing happen to them. I shot a buck with a muzzel loader and watched him go down. I tried to follow the blood trail to him for the practice, but never found one. That same morning my buddy shot at a doe and "missed". I told him what happened to me and asked him which way the doe went. I followed the trail she went down and  found her. No blood trail. My brother n law has had the same happen to him too.

Arrows leave good blood trails!

It might be the kind of bullet we use I'm not sure.

[mtnscapes2004]

I think I would have titled that, "Worst Buck" you have ever lost....It is never fun to lose a nice buck! I lost two really nice bucks last season after bow season opened. The first buck was probably a 12 point, and the other buck a few weeks later was a 9 point. I try not to stare at a buck's rack too long when bow hunting, because that makes me even more nervous on the draw/aim.
I hate to say it, but both shots were in the 15-30 yard range, and fairly easy shots.
The first shot was just a little high above the lungs, and I shot off the right hand side of my stand, which is a weak shot for me. I looked for over a week, and still could not find that deer.
The second buck was about 15 yards straight in front of my stand during the pre-rut sniffing a doe in estrus wick.
I could have killed that buck with a rock if I had thrown it hard enough it was so close. I drew back knowing that was one on the wall, and the arrow hit just behind the lungs, a front gut shot.
Both of those hunts left me sick for about a month..........Every true hunter knows the feeling of losing a nice buck. It is a sick feeling...............