Shot him Wednesday morning.. shot felt good.. front end buckled .. kicked rear legs .. ran off like a dead deer to me, holding the shoulder I shot through stiff legged.. it was 100 yds broadside. Mature looking 8 point I think, not huge but at least 3.5
Gave him 45 minutes before taking the trail.. Not much blood .. found a wound bed 100 yds out ..blood was dark like maybe I hit him too forward or low. I guess I pushed him out of it. IDK.. Can't wrap my head around it. No more blood after the wound bed.. I guess it clotted up. But It also looked like he was bleeding out of his mouth/nose while laying in that bed. There was some sparse blood out in front of it that was sprayed like he was coughing.
I know you guys know the feeling if you have hunted long enough.. I still hate it.. tried to find a tacking Dog to no avail. grid searched for 4 hours yesterday with two other people.. will go back again mid day Saturday to look again .. mostly for Vultures/Crows at this point.
Had gun camera rolling, not great video.. but shot still looks good to me.. just lamenting with some like minded folks.. I tell you times like this makes me want to quit deer hunting altogether and just stick to what I'm good at.. Turkey Hunting.. I should have never shot him.. he was a borderline pass to me anyway, but my adrenaline got the best of me with a quick decision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bseM4gTwtOQ