Did I blow it?

I hope I didn’t pull a major boner tonight. I decided to cut out of work at noon and climb into my stand. About 4:30 a fork buck came strolling by and ate some acorns below my stand for awhile. Then after he wandered away two does came along about 5-5:15. They were acting odd but never looking like they were being followed. Before I went out I figured I’d take a doe if I had chance as my disabled uncle would love one. I took aim and released on one at about 18 yards. I either nicked a branched or flat out aimed poor. My arrow struck her kind of high in the R/F shoulder, maybe just behind it, and stuck out about 15″ or so. Off they went and I heard the arrow hitting trees and branches as they went. I saw them about 75 yards and heard a little longer but I never heard her crash.

I decided to stay on stand and grunted a few times hoping to still have a chance at a buck while letting the doe expire. I got out of my stand about 10 minutes earlier than normal and looked for blood but found none. I made a few loops looking to no avail. Obviously I know I hit her but I didn’t want to mess the area up any worse than I had. Back to my truck I went. While walking I decided I’d let it be over night and go back tomorrow and start over on her trail.

A couple questions. Did I mess my area up for a chance at a buck? Should I have gone after the doe right away? Should I be there now?

I seriously hate tracking deer and rarely have to. I know it happens but it sure doesn’t make it easy to sleep knowing the animal may be out there suffering.

its never a bad thing to wait on a deer at all so don’t question that I think it depends on the personality of the buck, some react more to human scent than others and others don’t. Another thing you should think about is this time of year. A buck probably won’t be as frightened by human scent as he would earlier on b/c he is more concerned w/ finding a doe.
If you remember Lip’s diagram of a deer’s vitals, the lungs extend in front of the shoulder so odds are is that your arrow is stuck in the offside shoulder w/ 15″ of the arrow fletching out. It’s gonna get pretty cold tonight so the deer should be fine

You did not blow it by any means. My old man shot a huge 140 plus inch 8 point the other day. I thought great not only did he take the bruiser out of the area but we gutted him close to wear he went down, only about 50 yards from the stand site. I thought for sure this area was done for awhile if not the rest of bow season, however two days later from this same site I seen two eights chasing one doe with a whopper ten point close behind grunting like crazy. So there you have it, during this time of the year the big boys have one thing on there mind.