Well, it happened.

My buddy and I found another prime piece of walk in only land. Closed the entire year except for hunting season. Scouted it out via the internet and aerial photos. Went in the first day in the dark, never been there before, had climbers strapped on our backs. Came to the edge of the timbers we thought would be good, he went one way I went another. As soon as I got in the tree I could hear stuff moving all around in the timber. Animals were moving everywhere. Nothing came in for me  Got back to the truck and waited for my buddy for about an hour. Finally he shows up. Tells me he got busted by a doe before daylight, saw two more at 40 yards right after sun up (no shot), then had a BIG buck come charging through at about 9:00. Said he got the buck stopped at 10 yds, but his single pin was set at 40 yds still from the does he couldn't get a shot at earlier. He held really low to counter it and let one loose. Said it was the biggest buck he's ever shot. We had a real hard time finding any blood at first. He finally had to quit around 3:00 to go to work, I stayed with it and picked up the blood trail. I gave up at dark and got more help. We tracked good lung blood for about half a mile and then completely ran out of blood. Just stopped. Spent all next day walking in circles and nothing. I felt horrible so I know my buddy wanted to vomit. I don't know where he hit it, the blood on the ground told me one lung at least, but I'm not sure he killed it. That was 3 weeks ago. Now we still hunt the same area and have seen tons of fresh rubs and big deer tracks. Hopefully it's him and we'll get another arrow in him and recover him this time. I guess if it was easy everyone would do it.

Kraig Osborne
Hunter since birth, NAHCLM, USN

Congrat's on the find Kraig. Sorry for your buddie though. We have all been there a time or 2 and will probably have a few more before we end this sport. Y'all keep your heads up, and remember, there's always tomorrow. Stay in it and things will find a way to work themselves out. Good luck bro.

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

KO, I know exactly how your buddy feels. Happened to me this yr. Good luck on your new honey hole.

Thanks guys, I was so excited for my buddy. I wanted so bad to find his buck for him and take it to him. I wasn't gonna call him, just gonna show up with it. Had what I thought was a lung blood trail for sure. The next day when we finally gave up, I felt so disappointed. Nothing more we could've done, no blood and his last track was in some oaks along with about a 20 other sets of deer tracks. We've been watching for crows and buzzards in the area but haven't seen any. That's one of the big reasons I think he's still alive. These buzzards down here find everything and it don't take long at all before they find a meal and start raising cane about it. Going back in this weekend, we'll see what happens.

Kraig Osborne
Hunter since birth, NAHCLM, USN

ever tried blood glow????
well worth it and it works!!!
if you havent heard of it look it up it is awesome
twice I shot bucks I couldnt find, with blood glow I found one and the other I am confident it is still alive.

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Good ;uck this weekend Kraig. Maybe you'll get lucky and he will show up again, with a limp this time.  LOL  JUst kidding man. Go and get 'em.

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

I thought I replied on here once all ready, but maybe my memory is slipping a little.
Thanks Padeciechi, I've never tried bloodglow, but I am gonna start using it. Anything that'll help me recover an animal is worth a try.
No more recent buck encounters, but my wife did take her first whitetail ever this weekend...... and she did it with her bow. I couldn't be anymore proud of her.

Kraig Osborne
Hunter since birth, NAHCLM, USN

You did kraig,
  A hacker got into the site and had things really screwed up. Steve had to wipe out everything back to the 22nd of Dec to try and get things right again.

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

I think there is still something wrong with the server since that problem because it is loading very slowly now, while all the other sites I visit are all loading like they should.  I have high speed cable hookup and it is taking upwards of 10 seconds and normally takes less than 2 to get into a site!!!

Mike Stephenson
aka Topgun----30-06

Mine loads like normal. Maybe I'm used to a slower computer though.  LOL

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

Yeah it loads slow for me also. Real slow when clicking to post.

lol about thinking that you had already posted something and it wasn't their. I think I did the same.

Yep slow here too. Thought I was really losing it though, I swear I put some replies and stuff on the boards but couldn't find them. Thought maybe I nosed dived into the shallow end of the pool or something.

Kraig Osborne
Hunter since birth, NAHCLM, USN

Mine loads ok and gets to the log in just fine, but the threads load real slow. Steve said he needs to find the hackers access first. Then maybe we'll be back to normal.

Gary Scheel
NAHC LM,RMEF LM,NRA Member, Lonestar Bowhunter, TexasHogHunter Pro Staff Member

I'm ok with it. This happens to other web sites too. Thats how you can tell, the site is slow.

A couple of days ago I couldn't access the site at all. Just a bunch of garbage came up. Seems to be ok now obviously.

Good luck, be safe and shoot straight

dodgeman_29