Maybe there's some magic mud there...I dunno..wow.

Gents.. weed made the point.. we have all had it happen to us. It sucks. But don't make it public. I'm not casting any doubt on the shot or anything else .. but you have to live with it . Call friends or whatever but going public doesn't help you or the deer and the antis eat it up.. trust me I lived in the most anti hunting community in this state for 48 years..

Hunt on! Good luck

Gents.. weed made the point.. we have all had it happen to us. It sucks. But don't make it public. I'm not casting any doubt on the shot or anything else .. but you have to live with it . Call friends or whatever but going public doesn't help you or the deer and the antis eat it up.. trust me I lived in the most anti hunting community in this state for 48 years..

Hunt on! Good luck

Wow! I think the young man is doing exactly what should be done. He is looking to one of the best groups or forums for Indiana. He is asking and getting great advice. If the antis are reading this forum there is enough ammo proving that everyone is trying to educate not only him but the rest that are wondering the same but may be to afraid to ask. There is enough fire power on here to move the antis right out if need be. If you have hunted long enough you have lost a deer part of the game. Bow or gun. If not then like I said you haven't been at it long enough no one is perfect. I applaud family for having the backbone to even ask and admit. I'm also sure there will be plenty more great advice come thru! You learn as you go. Always give those animals time to expire if you think you have waited long enough wait another hour very difficult but owe it to our game. My toughest was letting my first pope set over night even tho I seen back feet kick and swore I heard him crash but it was a tough quartering shot. Just. Happened so fast 8 yards 20 ft up. So I let him set heard dogs barking land owner beggin we go look NO i said 10 times. Turned out he was right were I heard crash 2 ft from someone else's stand lol. But familyT,take in all advice keep your head up and don't give up bow hunting! Those are some of the best times in woods. Practice a lot at several different angles sitting standing everything you can think of. I'm originally from Hamilton co know what you mean about houses so get em while you can! If the antis want to chat with this bunch let em! Good luck and may your next arrow find its mark!

Agreed skeet. Comments of a few are curious and I'll refrain from further comment as I 100% disagree. Good luck family.. Sh*t happens and sometimes more often than others.. That's why they call it hunting. I know if someone told me I'd better stop hunting bc I made a bad shot they wouldn't like what would happen next. Good hunting fellas.. Remember we're all on the same team

Well said Weed +1....

If op was hunting on the same ground as me and LOST two bucks. He be done buck hunting on that ground for the year!!!

First I hope that this deer was found, as with all deer. I actually find the discussion fairly interesting and not directed at anyone. Most guys who visit these types of hunting sites are guys that give it their all in regarding to hunting, shooting and recovery of game. I personally have told a number of guys, if not a lot, over the years that maybe they shouldn't be bowhunting. However, it's not the type of guys who live and breathe deer hunting like folks here. My ex wife did taxidermy for a few years and I can assure you that if listened to the stories of some of the guys that brought heads in to be mounted, most on here would have told them that they maybe shouldn't be bow hunting. The gentleman this year that I said it to is a nice guy but he gets a new crossbow and takes it to the woods with no practice and proceeds to stick two deer that are both shot late in the evening and not recovered with little effort extended the next day to recover them. Yep, I suggested that maybe he shouldn't be bow hunting. Nothing personal towards him but I do believe all sportsmen, including myself, need perspective at times whether they appreciate it or not. My point isn't specific to Famlly's situation but a general perspective on not only bow hunting but hunting in general. Heck, forget deer and lets talk about duck hunting and the discussion can really interesting in regard to the types of shots creating wounding loss. When it bothers someone that a loss happened, that speaks highly of them. A lot of guys out there couldn't care less and when I see that attitude I usually say something, whether I should or not. And the anti's, well that's another situation that isn't what it seems in my opinion.

Hmm, interesting. I suppose I take a few things for granted. Personally I practice with my bow all year. Will move target and go out next evening morning or any time and shoot one arrow to make that one count. If I miss by few inches suck it up and wait til next day cause coulda been a miss. Neighbors think I'm a nut ball probably cause I can get done standing on my boat practicing pitching a jig then slinging a slug in July just to practice. To me I enjoy the preparation as much as the chase. Just me and I'm sure others! I would hope everyone practices with there weapon of choice and enjoys it. It's great it's the U S freakin of A. As far as the antis go there are enough intelligent people here to speak with them. You just keep a level head let them get cranked up. I've had the group show up at bass tournaments dressed as bass saying what if u bit something and was ripped into the sky where you couldn't breathe. I calmly offered my phone number and said when that happens call me and we will talk until then please move. To the point please practice, practice, and practice some more!

These threads suck.......I've seen them too many times before! If you wound an animal and are looking for advice on tracking it and wanna feel like dirt.........Post it on a talk forum!

Thanks that is very helpful.

Liver hits are fatal but you must wait 5 hours before starting to track. My brother arrowed a mid 140 inch 8 pointer couple of years ago. He knew he hit liver. We waited 5 hours to track him and when we found him he was still alive but unable to get up.

For what it's worth, I found this thread extremely helpful. This was my first year with a bow, and I know it made me really think hard about the shot before I took it. I took my buck on Nov. 2. After this thread, I decided I would only take a broadside with a muzzy fixed. I also decided I would not make my first bow buck a huge one. I know from trail cams and neighbors cams they are here. I took an HRB last year (PAV, not boasting, just that they are here, great buck on your part btw). As far as the antis, screw em. Mitch is the pres. At PU and was able to get I69 run right through their efforts. I'm in a profession where I have dealt with state lawmakers, good or bad, all that talks is money at the state level. The antis are annoying, but have no leverage in this state.

For what it's worth, I found this thread extremely helpful. This was my first year with a bow, and I know it made me really think hard about the shot before I took it. I took my buck on Nov. 2. After this thread, I decided I would only take a broadside with a muzzy fixed. I also decided I would not make my first bow buck a huge one. I know from trail cams and neighbors cams they are here. I took an HRB last year (PAV, not boasting, just that they are here, great buck on your part btw). As far as the antis, screw em. Mitch is the pres. At PU and was able to get I69 run right through their efforts. I'm in a profession where I have dealt with state lawmakers, good or bad, all that talks is money at the state level. The antis are annoying, but have no leverage in this state.

That was the point of these thread for me. To warn people to take up bowing hunting very cautiously. It is very difficult and heart breaking endeavor. I will continue to pursue my first deer with my bow, but I am not empressed with it. I too would prefer to harvest a small buck or doe with it first, but I just keep putting myself on the big boys. I will always love trusty shotgun.

Hunt long enough and you'll lose deer with a shotgun too. Its part of it. We all try to minimize the possibilities but they still exist. Always will.

Shooting anything regardless of how good you are will not always lead to death. Always news stories of man shot in chest survives by millimeters, man shot in head and lives to tell...

Not sure how a thread about poor shot placement leads to much. Yup we need be sure we take good shots and are capable with all weapons we choose to take afield. If you can't do those two things dont go. In no way am I saying this is the case with anyone on the thread, just a good general rule.

Possibly you had two very odd and unfortunate outcomes back to back. Maybe you can keep a 2" group to 50 yards with your bow, we dont know. As trapper says this possiblilty will always exist. It is our job to minimize the risk.

However, threads like these to me seem completely unecessary. If you have questions about poor shots and retrieval and lost game there are plenty of resources available, try google. Don't need more threads like these.

My .02 cents

What we need instead of more stories of lost deer is stories of successful tracked & recovered deer.
We could do this by a national deer tracking dog registry like this but a little more complete.
http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/find-a-tracker/

Or with more hunting technology, I hate to see it go this way it is not like the arrows we use aren't expensive enough.
http://game-vector.com/?gclid=CLamobiB-7oCFSho7AodOWIASQ
But there is a good side to this you won't have any more lost arrows.
We need to talk it up to find a solution not ignore it & say it doesn't happen.
Even with good shot placement things happen deer don't go down just right every time.

I was concerned about the negative posts on this, so I went back and re-read everything. We all want to be supportive here, but I think you need a big dose of humility. We can all forgive you for the first one. The thing that bothers me is you proceeded to take a 38 yd quartering away shot when "waiting is a luxury". If waiting is a luxury, you shouldn't be doing it. You also stated rack size didn't matter, then proceeded to say "hopefully the rut brings some more big boys in". If your grandfather and father are worthy people, they should be just as impressed if you decided to take a step back and wait for a good doe broadside. This would show way more maturity and courage. When Bear, Pope&Young are talked about, the animals they killed are barely mentioned. What's talked about is their character and their influence on conservation and hunting. Someday at your funeral, no one will mention your racks on the wall or the amount of money you made, just the type of person you were. That's what I hope you learn from this.