Second chances

[Hair trigger]

Sorry for the length of the story but I think it is pretty cool. Hunted a different area this year, had lots of fun and walked many many miles learning the lay of the land...Early on Nov 12th I had a nice deer at 315 yards broadside. I was confident with my gun, 300 weatherby with 165 grain Nosler Partition. Laying prone squeezed off the shot watched the buck hunch then jump into the bush. Gave it 45 mins as I figured this was "over".... Not to be... 4.4 kms later blood in the snow runs out.. It was bright red took photo called my daughter (a nurse) said what is this.. She tells me it is blood from muscle bright red just drops.... Anyway looked the second day as well to no avail in total 12 Kms walked and I feel terrible thinking I wounded an animal for the coyotes. I take shot placement seriously and really was quite upset at myself.

Fast forward to Nov 25th 13 days later. Walk in at first light same cut block as 13th a few deer some 900 yards away, look over a small ridge and see dark horns.. holy cow that deer is ok....my last day of hunting..... Crawl 30 yards in snow set up on shooting stick and put the cross hair on him and BOOM... my phone rings.. Now it is a total yard sale as I am grasping in my 4 layers of clothing to get my ringer off.... After tearing my jacket I hit mute it was my nephew... Deer still there.. Get settled 225 yards squeeze the trigger animal never took a step....

Went up to the deer and told my wife he looks so close to the one I hit earlier but couldn't be... Went home skinned him out and found the bullet hole in the meat.. Complete pass thru from Nov 13th... Missed the brisket and shoulder by inches....

No doubt it is the same deer. I feel much better now knowing he was not left for the coyotes.. Certainly not the biggest deer out there but good for me. And 140 miles south the Nephew dropped a 160 5x5 we figure we pulled the trigger within 30 seconds of each other... A story I wont forget.. Hope you all are having a great time out there.

HT

[Wisebuck]

Same thing happened to me several years ago except the deer was killed by another hunter weeks later. I searched for two days cussing myself for a poor shot thinking deer died but I couldn’t find him. My shot passed under spine but above lungs behind front shoulder. Never believed there was a chance of missing lungs in front quarter. Now I concentrate crosshairs on lower half of front quarter. Scary how tough these animals are.

[bonedogg]

crazy that there is no blood clots or visible trauma?

[Peebles]

I did a lot of reading on the subject after feeling similarly terrible for doing a shot like that. I learned that animals often survive these pure muscle shots. It hurts their winter chances but they are not automatic coyote bait. If you don't see clusters of birds on the second day tracking it's most likely your quarry remains upright. I still gave myself a few penalty laps at the range though.

You should feel very satisfied to track down the same buck and get a chance at redemption. Congratulations.

[BDAJ]

Awesome story Trigger! We had a similar one from last week, but it didnt span over 2 weeks! Feels good when the hunting gods smile down on us doesn't it! Congrats a great buck!

[Sooner]

Congrats, a story to remember. That don't happen too often. Nice buck too.

[58thecat]

Nice buck and neat story too.

[gtr]

Excellent story. Thanks for posting.

[Smokinyotes]

Nice story. Glad you got your buck.

[hayseed]

Good stuff, been there as well.
Congrats and thanks for sharing!!

[J_Impact]

Good job!