second shot

I found this while turkey hunting last weekend on the blue. Scored it right at 92".

The blue is in unit 27 and beautiful is an apt description. I found the whole deer, body on one side of a meadow and the head on the other side. Didn't get a turkey but this was a nice consolation.

very nice.

A friend and I went out last Saturday to check out a new area. We saw about 15 deer (3 small bucks) and some turkeys. The bigger 3pt is from this spring. The burnt 3pt was in a fork of a burnt out bush and the bush had grown around it before the fire. I had to break the bush to get it out. Not bad for a few hours of walking.

Found this today on the way to shoot my rifle. It was only about 15 yards off a heavily traveled back road. I almost didn't stop because I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me.

put in for #1114, got drawn for #1141.

Found these last weekend. The matched set is from this year and the single is from last year I'm guessing.

The matched set was about 150 - 200 yards apart. I found the two point first and was not expecting to find the match. I was circling around and getting ready to head back to the truck when I found the 3pt side upside down in a bush. Almost missed it.

AzP&Y-Thanks. Those boots you posted a couple weeks ago looked nice but how comfortable are they on long hikes? I have some of the wrap around snake guards, I just forgot to wear them last time. I did see two snakes last weekend. One western and one black tail, I was able to keep my distance this time though.

Found these this morning. First fresh one of the year. The 2pt I found first. Glassed it up and on the way to get it I wasn't paying attention and almost stepped on a coiled up western. He was nice enough to rattle when I stepped about six inches in front of him. I must have jumped like ten feet. Seems like I'm cautious until I see a shed then I disregard everything to get to it. This has happened to me a lot, someday I'll learn or get bit. The palmated 3pt should be a good buck to watch in the coming years.

Found this last Saturday. It's a little slow this year as far as sheds goes. Most of my usual haunts are not producing like usual. Always happy to come home with something though.

I did walk right by it last year. Some cows were through the area recently and mowed the grass for me, otherwise I probably would have walked by it again.

Found these this morning. The shed is a few years old. Saw lots of deer and kicked up a fox that ran away carrying a rabbit that was bigger than it was.

Checked out a new spot today and found this little 3pt. Saw 10 deer, two of which were bucks. Found parts of two deer but wasn't able to locate the heads and ran out of time. I also saw a pair of elf owl's. That's the first time I've ever seen them in the wild, very cool little owl's, they were 4 or 5 inches tall. This area looks very promising so hopefully I'll have more sheds to post in the future.

I didn't want my first shot at a deer with a bow to turn out like this. I was out this morning and at about 7:15 a smal 3pt came over the ridge across from me. He rubbed a tree and was just standing at 100 yards away. I decided to grunt because there was no way to close the distance. Two grunts and the buck made a b-line to me. He went behind some rocks and I thought he was going to come out below me. I heard a noise behind me and when I looked he was standing 6-8 yards away. I went to slowly turn and he spooked but only went about 30 yards and stopped. I grunted again and he came right back. I got a 15-18 yard quartering away shot and hit a little far back. The buck jumped and I could see the arrow sticking out but couldn't tell if it hit the front of his back leg or a gut shot. He ran about 50 yards and stopped behind a tree for 10 or 15 minutes and left this blood pool. After that he just walked off like nothing ever happened. I gave him 30 minutes and then started to follow the blood trail. It wasn't heavy, a drop here and there, but it was easy to follow. After about 200 yards I figured out he was in a cut about 40 yards below me because there was a doe that kept looking in that direction. I tried to close the distance but slipped and fell. When I did the buck jumped up and ran up the hill to the doe. I just sat and watched the buck from there. He was favoring his back leg but I could not tell if it was just a leg shot or if he was gut shot too. He walked into a very small cut so I decided to leave him be and back out. I went to try and locate the arrow but was unsuccessful. I'm going to give him a few hours before I go back out. I've read that you can tell alot about a shot from the color of the blood. If anyone can tell if this is just leg wound blood or gut shot blood I'd really appreciate the help. This is a sick feeling just waiting but I don't want to go out and push him too early if he's mortally wounded. I'll be headed back out in a few hours, hopefully I'll return with some better pics.

I'm about 90% sure I saw him today. I was walking to the last spot I saw him last weekend and on the way I jumped 3 bucks and a doe together. The buck I think was the one I hit last weekend ran off first. I wasn't able to see him from the side but he had the same size rack with the same busted point. I almost positive it was him but I would have liked to see him from the side. I walked all over the area and never saw him again. I'll get out again to look next weekend, I'd like to be 100% sure, but it looks like you all were right that it wasn't a fatal hit. Also, I've never seen so many rutting bucks in my life as I saw this morning. Mostly small 3pt's and spikes but one definately stood out. I was glassing behind a group of 3 bucks and 4 doe when I saw a buck chasing a doe. As soon as I saw him I just said "Holy S@#$". He was about 3/4 of a mile away but it was one of those bucks you know breaks 110 without even having to study him. Tall and heavy. If I don't seal the deal with the deer from last weekend before the season ends, I know where I'll be come August. Thanks everyone for the input and encouragement last weekend. Jason

My dad didn't find where the buck was bedded before he jumped the first time. After I spooked him there was a small pool of blood about 3 inches across. It was darker red but that may have been because of the dark dirt it was on. We went where he was bedded yesterday afternoon and it looked as if he'd stopped bleeding because there were only drops lying around. It was like he circled a few times before lying down. My thought about the blood today was that him running opened up the wound/s again. Without getting a look at his left side I can't be sure if the arrow just passed through his leg or went leg then gut. When I hit him yesterday, and he jumped the arrow was definately sticking out his right side, I don't know how it passed all the way through unless it still carried momentum as he jumped in the air. I thought yesterday that it surely would have fallen out the way it went in. I'm not giving up hope that he will be alive when I find him next weekend. But he sure is in a bad state as of now.

Well it was a good and bad morning. Found the arrow and it was a complete pass through. I'm thinking it's a leg and very low gut shot. The front half of the arrow has very little blood but a good amount of fat smeared on it. That leads me to believe it went though the gut. The back half of the arrow is covered in mostly bright red blood but a little bit of darker blood too. I had my dad out helping me. We went in from a different direction today because of the wind. We glassed until about 8:30 but nothing was moving. We planned to walk slowly through the area we last saw him with my dad about half way up the hill and me in the small wash at the bottom. At about 10:00 my dad spooked the buck from his bed. I watched the buck run about 200 yards into a juniper stand of about 15 trees. I saw the the wound and it definately went through the front of his back right leg. I had my dad walk down to me to hear what he saw. He said he didn't think the buck saw him but probably heard him because he was walking through some very loud brush. By the way the buck was running he was definately hurt bad. He trotted fine but didn't take off like a bat out of heck like a normal buck would. So we came up with a plan for dad to get high on a vantage point and glass and I put on a stalk. I went into the junipers at the point the buck did. I was 10 stinking yards from him bedded with a perfect window at his vitals when the wind shifted and he busted me. Had the wind not changed this would be a whole different story. My dad watched him run up and over the hill, marked the point where he crossed and off we went. The other side of that hill was nothing but sparse mesquite and cactus. We glassed for a bit before I started sneaking through the only place there was for him to bed with good cover. He was no where to be found and I was out of time. So now I'm pretty sure he's going to die in the next few days of not sooner. I have to wait for next weekend to go out again and look. If he's still alive then and I get the chance I'll take him, but I suspect I'll be tagging a very stinky rotten buck. Either way I think I'll find him becuase he's not moving far. Thanks for all your input. I'll definatley post the results of how next weekend goes.

He was not far from where I last saw him this morning. He was bedded initially but up and left. There were a lot of doe moving around the area so maybe he forgot about his injury and went on the prowl. I didn't try a stalk because there would have been too much ground to cover and too many does in the area. He was limping but I still could not tell exactly where the shot was. It's too close to tell. As for my user name Second Shot, maybe I should have stuck with a rifle.

I saw him again this afternoon but was not able to get in for a shot where he was. I'll be out again in the morning.

I hope he's down for the count then. The only way I'll move into the area is if I see him lying dead. If I don't see him I will start tomorrow morning where I saw him last and check out where he bedded. I hear what you're saying about spooking him anymore but I've got to at least glass the area. Otherwise I'll have to use all this energy on my honey-do list and I'm not sure I want to open that can of worms.

My plan for this afternoon is just to glass the area I last saw him. With the wind and terrain I can get in unnoticed. I'll be just outside of Tucson and it'll be in the 50's where he's at. If he dies today the meat shouldn't spoil. If I don't glass him up this afternoon I'll be back out there in the morning.

I'm not positive but I think the arrow went in 3-6". It happened so fast when he was hit he jumped and the next time I saw him the arrow had fallen out. I'm sure I saw him a second time because I could see the blood on his leg and underbelly. The blood under the belly made me think it may have been a gut shot but he had bedded so blood could have run from his leg down his stomach. He was favoring the leg and he stopped to lick it but otherwise his posture was just like an unspooked buck walking away. I'm leaving in about 2 hours to go back out to where I'm pretty sure he bedded down the second time. Thanks for the input.

I found this very nice matched set while out bow hunting with my dad this morning. The one on the far right I found three years ago so it was cool to find the set from the same deer. I never would have guessed his right antler was a normal 3pt after finding that left antler. I'm guessing the deer would score in the 90's but he's very heavy for his size.

One of the guys I hunt with has a tiny 4x4 he took outside of Patagonia in the 1970's. The spread on this buck is about 4 inches. In think it's a young coues but he insists it's a fantail.