On a chilly evening archery deer hunt here in Lower Michigan, on our own property in early October (2005), I spotted four deer walking down a deer trail which passes about fifteen yards from my tree stand. Two were larger does and two were yearlings. I myself am not one to pass up meat in the freezer. As they got closer I had made up my mind which one was going into the freezer, so I hoped. I drew back my arrow as they approached and released it.

It happened to be one of those shots I wished I could have taken back. No, it wasn’t a miss, but a bad hit caused from her turning away as I released my arrow. I had seen the hit and it was less than perfect. I had hit her behind the rib cage about 6 inches or so. This is when you get that feeling that keeps you awake at night. I waited about 45 minutes before I got down out of my stand. It was almost dark and I didn’t want to spook the deer if it had laid down close enough to hear me. I went to check my arrow and sure enough it had passed through the stomach. I did notice though, it was leaving a good blood trail, so I then went home to get my wife and a lantern and flash light. We both returned and started tracking the deer.

At about a hundred yards of hard tracking, the trail had come to an end. Every archery hunter or gun hunter should know, never give up, but to come back tomorrow morning to make sure nothing was overlooked.

I did lay awake most of the night hoping that the daylight hours would give me a better chance of a successful archery hunt and finding the deer. The next morning I started, back tracking and making bigger circles to see if I could get back on the track. Finally, I spotted where the deer laid down a couple of times, leaving large pools of blood, but no blood trail when she walked off. I then started making big circles and sure enough about 30 yards away, in a felled tree, she lay dead.

The shot that I made didn’t turn out as bad as I had thought, passing through the liver and her left lower lung. She probably only lived a minute or two. Deer can travel a long distance in a short amount of time. Was I lucky? Yes, but whenever you harvest a beautiful creature like this, you give thanks. But determination is what made the harvest successful.

A poor blood trail does not always mean a poor hit. A less than perfect hit does not mean the animal will get away or recover. One more step or one more try, might make the difference between being successful or not. As a friend and an archery hunter, I say never give up! This is what we, as hunters always say, give fair chase before you shoot, and especially after the shot has been made.

Happy Hunting!
Ted Lake

My name is Ted Lake and I'm building a website in memory of my dad Deuaine Lake. This site is all about Archery and Archery Hunting. My dad started me when I was 5 years old (1956) and I've continued to teach both my boys the same respect for the sport of archery. Please feel welcome to visit my free website at http://www.complete-archery-information.com.