Got a good 8 with my bow back in October outside of Palestine. 20 yard shot and saw it go in just about perfect. Waited for about an hour or more and then went down to find him what i thought wouldnt be more than 50 yards away...blood trail was solid but after about 130 yards of trailing and light fading quickly, I was getting sick to my stomach that I wasn't going to find him. I decided to go back to the camp and wait 3 more hours and then me and my friends would go try again at last blood.
Nothing.
Blood trail went thinner and thinner and we even crossed the highway that splits our land. the last place we could see just a drop of blood was on the other side of the property line from ours, and being that we were 3 armed guys in the middle of the night with flashlights, we decided to come back the next morning.
Called the other land owner who I've known forever to go check on his place and after about an hour or more we didn't find a single thing. The other land owner knew a guy with a dog who lived close by and got him out there and he immediately got on the trail....
ended up finding him back on our place...1200+ yards from where I shot him. I couldnt believe it. The only way I wouldve ever found him where I did was bc that dog and the buzzards who were already on him.
This is my view from where i hit him. He was basically right in the middle of the red line.
And this is how I found him. Coyotes must have gotten him that night.
No meat which kind of breaks my heart, but the mount I did turned out great.