ever feel like throwin' in the towel on bowhuntin'

[flhuntress]

there aren't words to describe what i'm feelin'.....today has been one of the worst...makes me ill just thinkin' about it.
y'all get comfortable cause it's gonna be a long one.
i should have known today was going to be evil as soon as hm pulled into the parking lot to meet up this a.m....she got stuck...so first thing here toby and i are rockin' her truck back and forth....i end up slippin' and instead of eatin' her bumper i eat the mudd pit that tried to swallow her truck....so now i'm muddy and skeeters are EVERYWHERE.
i finally end up gettin' to my stand...i was SHOCKED to see water everywhere...it was about a ft deep if that....daylight came and i was discouraged.....definitely wasn't going to be seeing any turkeys where my stand was....i've NEVER seen water there...ever.
i decided to stick it out until about 10 and then just ground hunt...saw some fresh rootin' so i was ready....i started gettin' a lil sleepy about 8ish...always then for some reason ...anyway....i wasn't being as serious as i propably should have been but i just wasnt in the mood to stay super still...especially havin' skeeters eatin' me alive....after wakin' myself up i turned to my left and not 20yds away was the biggest buck i've ever seen...not a super MONSTER but a trophy nontheless to me...i get my bow up and started to counts points...something i've never done...i got to 7 before i realized what i was doing....i had to yell at myself silently to stop...hee hee giggle giggle.,...or i would have shook like elvis and then some .....i focused,relaxed, aimed, and released......NAILED HIM!!! saw that the arrow about 4in. down from the back,about 2/3 of the body height up,and behind the shoulder blade about 6in.....he jumped and spun around...and then ran like the wind...he ran right then left then a lil s and that was the last i saw of him....i wanted to wait so i called tons of people lettin' them know and askin' for prayers that we find him because i was concerned with the water.....but there was plenty of vegitation for blood to hit...i didn't even bother lookin' for the arrow cause i saw it run off with the deer.....went back to my truck to meet my husband,my hounddog, and meet up with hm.....we all get back to my stand and instantly ellie is on it....she drags up exactly how the deer went....we were doing great until mother nature decided to make me suffer(pulling hair out!!)...she decided to release a downpour which lasted about a hour....just long enough to wash away any blood and scent ......at that point toby showed up to help search....we found the arrow about 80yds away....ellie caught onto something again at that point but nothing was found....we all met up and started to grid it out...we went in all directions and thru some of the nastiest stuff ever...i ended up fallin' over a dead tree and killin' my cell phone...that sucked.
after the guys left hm and decided to go a lil further west because not far after the arrow was dropped i stopped hearing it run thru the water and west is pretty much dry.
we never saw anything...i came home to drown my sorrows but i became to depressed to even do that...i just can't believe it....the shot was good, the deer was good, everything was good.......until the rain......i haven't felt so many different emotions in a long time....i stopped cryin' and now i'm just sick to my stomache and pissed....at bowhuntin' period......i don't even know why i do it now...i mean everything should have gone right....it was one of the best hunts i've ever had.....slipping back into the depression hole...brb.
ok...better now....but like i was sayin'....i'm just feelin' alot of things and now i'm not sure if i'm likin' bowhuntin' anymore....i've made one bad shot,missed a few times, and the rest were good hits but yet have i been able to find them....the turkey i can understand but this deer and last years hog should have been found....any of y'all ever feel like givin' up?
we searched for about 6hrs today and i'm gonna take the day off from huntin' tomorrow and search for my deer...i know he's there...he's just either floatin' around in the water or hidin' under a fallen tree or lost forever on the marsh....hopefully the buzzards will be out and the gators will be elsewhere.

[deerslayer11]

I hope you find him. I feel like that about deer hunting in general alot. It happens and it sux, but I aint got anything else Id rather do...

[raktrakr]

thats huntin'! hope you do find it though. i shot one last year that was gushing blood for about 100yds,looked like she lost 5 gal, and all of a sudden it just stopped. we never found her. i know how you feel, we all do. but it happens

[hoythunter48]

ive felt like taht sometimes, year before last i missed two monsters within like a week of each other, when i came off the hill from missing teh second one i caliemd that i was done with bowhunting forever. but for every low there is a time you can get just as high. now thative got a good one under my belt im hooked for good

[NitroHunter]

Keep at it. Maybe the buzzards will show you where he's at.

[BlueNorther]

That's too bad FL, .If you're going to hunt you're going to lose a few.I think we've all been in your place at one time or another,I know I have.

I lost a good buck last week.I hammered him at less than a 100 yards with a 30-06.He ran to my left for about 30 yards,he stopped and stumbled and changed directions to my right and was out of sight.I heard him crash and figured him down,Not!!

We gave him half an hour and picked up his trail,blood everywhere.Long storey short,I never found him.

It bothered me so much I went back about 6 hours later to see if I missed a clue.There were ravens all thru the trees,a good sign,means there's a dead animal nearby.I should have payed more attention to the ravens.None were on the ground,they were all in the aspens cawing back and forth.The reason for not being on the ground,there was a bigger predator on the deer .A damn cougar found the deer before I did and I almost walked in on it.I could see a deer leg up in the air and thought ALRIGHT,I found it.I heard a rumble and the cat stuck his head up from behind the deer,game over.I wasn't going to try to drive him off fresh meat and I couldn't kill it,no season open on cougars till Dec.

I would have taken pics but I'll be honest,I was too scared to be that close to that cat to think about it.

[noonebil]

That's one of the reasons I gave up on bowhunting. Although I had never even released an arrow on a deer, I had seen far too many good hits get lost. I instead spend the extra month scouting, planting, & preparing my equipment.

I'm not against bowhunting. If you have a passion for bowhunting, go for it. It's just not my thing.

[gulfcoasthunter]

I don't know a bowhunter that hasn't lost an animal or many gun hunters for that matter. It sux but the only thing you can do is try again and be better prepeared. Sometimes the shot looks better than it is, just belos the spine is nomans land on a deer, its between the spine and the vitals. I had a friend shoot one there a few years ago arrow didn't pass through but broke off one sideand the fletching side was still in the deer 2 weeks later when he saw the deer again and this time made a perfect shot. I don't bowhunt if its supposed to rain anytime in the next 12 hours or so because of the chance of a downpour washing out the sign.
Hopefully you'll find him and savethe rack atleast.

[flhuntress]

i searched for him for hours yesterday but never found him...i got a link of the deer anatomy and i think hit backbone...possibly upper lung.
it's beyond heartbreaking....i screwed up so many times last year and this one too and to finally have everything go great only to have it lost because of freakin' rain.
i was going to go bowhuntin' today but thanks to a buddy of mine i went muzzleloader huntin' instead...so now i have to wait to get my turkey yet another season.
(maybe all this is God's way of gettin' me ready)
thanks for the support y'all.

[benhuntin]

Most bowhunters stretch their bad luck over a course of a lifetime. You're just getting all of yours out of the way right up front.
Dont give up on bowhunting. You'll get into the groove soon enough. Sounds to me like you did everything right. Mother nature just has her way sometimes. The buzzards and the Coyotes have to eat too.
Ive killed over 30 deer with a bow over the past 20+ years and have mortally wounded without recovering
2 . ( also shot a hog that got away). The last deer I wounded and couldnt find I shot about a week ago.
Gutshot. She stepped ahead right as I squeezed off the shot. I waited two hours and climbed down to find my arrow. I saw there was gut on the arrow but I decided to check the blood situation. I walked over to where I last saw the doe standing and found good blood.
The blood trail led into a thicket and it looked like she was bleeding profusly. Rain was forcast for that afternoon so I decided to trail just a little further. I thought that maybe I hit that lower artery. I thought about it and decided to ease into the thicket to find more blood. BIG MISTAKE. 30 yards into the thicket and i saw her stand up and walk off. I went back to the truck and waited about 6 hours and came back. I found blood in her bed but that was all. My son and I searched for 4 hours but couldnt find another drop of blood . I didnt have access to a good trail dog so I ended up losing this one. I felt bad for days. Still do. Knowing I screwed up by not initially waiting longer before I trailed her. I knew better from past experience but the amount of blood fogged my logic.
Dont give up yet FL. You are still fairly new to the bowhunting scene.
Keep practicing. The mental part is the hardest to master, but once you do your on your way.

[gulfcoasthunter]

Bh what happened to your fine new trailing dog?? ;D

The mental part is the hardest to master, but once you do your on your way.

.
In 37 years I still haven't mastered that part.

[benhuntin]

gulfcoasthunter said:

Bh what happened to your fine new trailing dog?? ;D
.
I have a hard enough time getting her to walk in the grass when theres dew on the ground much less a muddy swamp. She wont even go outside if its drizzling rain. Spoiled dog.

[GoTres]

Sorry about your bad luck , but stay with it. Like BH said, hopefully you're just running all of your bad luck now.

Once you get all of this bad luck behind you, you might turn out to be the female version of Chuck Adams.

[flhuntress]

well keep your fingers crossed....but i'm not going to hold my breath.

thanks again y'all.

[Lariat]

It doesn't have to be a bowe. I lost a huge 8 pt once because of a rainstorm. I hunted for him 3 day & gave up. A buddy went rabbit hunting a day or 2 later & found him. He got the rack for me but I still hate the loss.