November 15 is the traditional rifle opener for deer in MI. So yesterday found me in a blind and what a day it was!!! Lots of deer. I won't tell the whole story as it would be too long. However I will state I had the crosshairs on several bucks but did not shoot. But late in the day I got an 8 pointer. It was a tough shot. He ran across in front of me then made the mistake of stopping. All I could see then was head and neck. This is the first time I've ever shot a deer in the neck and not have him drop on the spot. That puzzled me and I thought I'd missed. I went to where he was but found nothing. I followed him in the woods and found the same nothing. Went back to where he crossed the field. I drew an imaginary line and decided to follow that and see if I could find him or some blood. I really started to get downhearted and even said a prayer for both the buck and me. If he lived, hopefully it was a clean miss. If he died, then I asked the Lord to guide me to it. He did. About 100-130 yards in I found him. Absolutely no blood on any of the trail. It was almost dark by that time. I called my wife and told her to bring the atv and trailer. I could hardly walk any more at that point and really hurt bad. So I called a friend who was hunting on property adjoining ours. He said he'd be right there and that he too had just shot one! So when we got ours, we went to get his. He is a pastor in a church about 25 miles from us and he took the buck with him. He will cut it up and give us one backstrap and the antlers. The rest will be donated to a very needy family. Yes, I feel good about this and although the pain is there, it was worth it.
Good job. Man I give you a ton of credit to do what you do with the pain you have. I agree with GrJfer on donating.
Well done Dennis, very noble of you to make that donation. Only good karma can come from that..............
Nice buck Dennis!! Glad you got him, but I'm sorry for the pain you had to endure. As stated, a neck shot most times results in a down deer, but if it doesn't, the downfall is the blood has a cavity to drain in (the neck, so the body/internals) and most blood stays within. Congrats again! He was definitely a fighter!
