good 8 pointer

[dakids]

I headed to my favorite south wind,night stand.  Get set up a little before 3 and not 5 min later here comes a doe being chased by a buck I recognize.  I stop him in a shooting lane and let the arrow fly.  Looks like a heart shot.  He stumbles as he is running away.  He stops 75 yards away and looks like he is going to tip over.  After standing in 1 spot for 30 seconds he sees the doe and starts chasing her again.  WTF.  I'm shaking from the adrenaline rush.  I text my friend and wait an hour before even trying to climb down.  Look for my arrow and Never find it. I have a faint blood trail until I get to the spot where he stood.  lots of blood.  Easy to track now.  I follow the blood trail and after 200 yards I jump him out of his bed.  I back out and wait until after 6.  Get the flashlights and start tracking again.  After another 200 yards we find 2 more beds 5 yards away from each other.  very little blood in both beds.  blood trail stops here.  We back out again and wait until morning.  We did a grid search 200 yards around the last bed and find nothing.
Dejected we start heading back.  Half mile away as we are circling around a slashing 4 does take off and who stands up 10 yards away and just looks at us. Yep, its the 8 pointer.  Before we can nock an arrow he turns and follows the does giving us the white middle finger.

[dakids]

the buck

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[dakids]

blood trail
last bed

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[Cody Gruchow]

Little low an missed all vitals? Atleast he doesn't seem crippled and you will likely get a crack at him this weekend

[dakids]

I think I hit him on the very top of the leg bone or the bottom of the shoulder blade.   He seemed to be running fine the next day.

[deadeye]

That's a tough one for sure.  Looks like you did everything right to recover him, it just wasn't in the cards.  From what you described, I'm sure he will heal.