- Joined
- Jan 5, 2022
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In my county in N IL we have two weekends near the end of the season for CWD (counties where deer have tested positive). On the 1st of January we finally got the kind of weather I had been looking for all season- super cold temps and snow. As soon as I got to my spot at 1:30, deer were already in the vicinity, but they caught a glimpse of me and bugged out. Several deer funneled through during the next hour or so. I was just looking for a mature doe, wasn't going to be picky. Nothing presented me with a clean shot. Around 3:30 I saw a big body coming off a hill to the north of me at about 200 yards. Very quickly this deer made his way directly within gun range. I took my shot at probably 60-70 yards with my Savage ML II, which has served me well. With the weather being the way it was I know I wanted one of my best with me. Took my shot and he mule kicked, ran about 60 yards, started swaying and "laid" down. He was about 120 yards from me laying down with his head up. He was not in a thicket, just laying on a hill side. I reloaded, but had no shot without moving, which would almost certainly bump him. So, I waited. As I waited deer started filing in one after another. I stopped counting once I got to 30, and it was getting dark. The cold and snow were really doing their job-these deer wanted to eat. The buck got up and slowly walked off to the West after about 30 minutes, not walking well. I was 99% sure I had made a lethal shot, but probably liver/guts. I waited until dark and then went to where he had laid down and picked up the trail there. Looked like a great blood trail for 40 yards, and I had a few inches of snow, so I had blood and tracks to follow. At about 40 yards the blood seemed to stop but the tracks went on. I found no blood but the tracks let down into a dense thicket, so I decided to back out and wait until morning, taking my chances with the hungry coyotes.
Got back out there with my neighbor and picked up the trail at the thicket- again following just tracks and no blood. Then I started thinking, "I should have found some blood based on what the trail had been looking like". So, I went back to the last place I saw blood and noticed something I hadn't noticed in the dark- the blood /another set of prints took a 90 degree turn left. I had been following the wrong trail. Found him frozen solid in the creek within 30 yards. He almost certainly died Sunday afternoon just after he walked off and I simply missed the blood/his trail taking a left. I had been following another deer's trail. Moral to the story in this case, always follow the blood if possible. There are so many deer in the area I was hunting that I was trailing another large buck's prints. I had a hell of a time getting him out of that partially frozen creek, but with some help from my awesome neighbor we got the job done, and were able to salvage most of the meat (my shot was slightly low and a bit back, I'll blame myself). This is the second largest buck (rack-wise) I have ever shot. He had lost considerable weight from earlier trail cam pics chasing does, but I wasn't overly concerned with that.
Got back out there with my neighbor and picked up the trail at the thicket- again following just tracks and no blood. Then I started thinking, "I should have found some blood based on what the trail had been looking like". So, I went back to the last place I saw blood and noticed something I hadn't noticed in the dark- the blood /another set of prints took a 90 degree turn left. I had been following the wrong trail. Found him frozen solid in the creek within 30 yards. He almost certainly died Sunday afternoon just after he walked off and I simply missed the blood/his trail taking a left. I had been following another deer's trail. Moral to the story in this case, always follow the blood if possible. There are so many deer in the area I was hunting that I was trailing another large buck's prints. I had a hell of a time getting him out of that partially frozen creek, but with some help from my awesome neighbor we got the job done, and were able to salvage most of the meat (my shot was slightly low and a bit back, I'll blame myself). This is the second largest buck (rack-wise) I have ever shot. He had lost considerable weight from earlier trail cam pics chasing does, but I wasn't overly concerned with that.
