Bowhunting anxiety

This is the part I hate about bowhunting – particularly evening hunts.

I shot a nice, big bodied. mature buck last night after a beautiful afternoon in the woods. He was at least a heavy-racked 8-point (perhaps more…I didn’t get a great look at the rack through the brushy cover.) He looked like a cow coming through the woods. I was in a ladder stand about 20 feet up. He was somewhat sharply quartered away from me, about 10 yards, and I saw the crossbow arrow go into the ribs about a third of the way down his body and in a direct line with the off shoulder…the fletching was still visible as he ran off. No pass-through shot and a somewhat high hit usually means a scant blood trail and difficult recovery.

I found some blood about 50 yards away (it appeared to be slightly bright and bubbly, indicating a lung hit), but he went down a slight hill into an area with a mainly dirt forest floor…nothing to catch and show blood. I opted to wait until this morning to go look more thoroughly. So I tossed and turned all night…was it a good shot? My mind and memory tell me yes, but there are still those nagging doubts.

With a gun there would have been no doubt…the deer would probably have dropped on the spot. At most, he would have run 50 yards (I’ve heart shot deer with a shotgun and had the animal run that far.) There would have been none of this anxiety…will I find him?...was the shot good enough for a relatively quick kill?

I’m fidgeting, waiting for light now. The Rant-father plans to come over this morning and also do some walking to look for the deer.

Updates (and hopefully pics) to follow.