The one that comes to mind was a doe in late December with my bow. I got a shot in the late afternoon and I heard the arrow hit, but didn't see where. We had snow, so I took the track and saw a few drops of blood on the trail when the deer jumped up and ran. For being wounded that one sure ran well I thought, so I backed out. That next morning was clear and I was going to go find her. That track went a long way, but every time she put her foot down there was blood. I jumped her up again and she ran like the wind and I couldn't see where she'd been hit, but there was blood. I was in pretty good shape in those days and said to myself, okay I'm going to track you down and run you out of blood. The Nicolet National Forest is a big place and we were walking through lots of it. That deer did double back on it's tracks, jump to the sides, run in with other deer tracks, go through evergreen swamps, make big leaps, but yet there were those blood spots. I saw her a bedded a couple more times and then off we'd go again. About mid afternoon I saw her bedded again up ahead and that time I got close enough to put another arrow through her ribs and end it. My broadhead from the night before had cut the skin an inch above the back hoof without breaking the bone! Luckily where she bedded was close to a logging road where I could drive the truck. I learned more about deer tracking from that one experience than every deer hunt before or since.
