One of the worst feelings...

By far one of the worst feelings is when you make a bad shot on a deer. Unfortunately, it happened to me last night. We spend so much time with preparation before the season, target practice, and hours and hours of time on stand sitting still waiting for that single moment. When that moment finally comes, and you know you made a bad shot, it really is just a horrible feeling, one I lose sleep over.

I need advice and opinions please. I shot a buck at about 27yds last night, I knew the shot was back and high. After recovering my arrow I thought the arrow looked decent. I backed out and gave the deer 3 hours before going back and taking up a short trail to see how the blood looked. The trail wasn't great but I had blood for about 75 yards before I decided to back out and come in the morning. In the morning I was able to pick up the trail further, total travel at this point is pry 100-150 yards from where he was shot. I came to a point where I found the best blood of the trail, right before a fence. It did not look like he bedded, more like he stopped and blew. I am no expert, how soon can a deer clot up? This blood was very slimy and thick. I had two other friends with me who have average tracking experience. We found our last drop of blood over the fence where it looks like he crossed pry only 15 yards away from the picture posted. We looked and looked and couldn't find a single drop of blood after that, we eventually decided to search by foot but had no luck.



Here are some arrow pictures




The matter on the shaft is dirt, since I passed thru and burred it into the ground.

Here is the shot

http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/v328/chubutta/Mobile Uploads/Buck Shot.mp4

 

I don't know about that placement, i don't know a ton about anatomy :/ goodluck!


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Liver all day. That deer is dead as we speak. It also got guts. I think the guts plugged the wound. I would say your deer is within 150 yds of last blood. Just my opinion.

 

Here is the hit.....slightly quartering towards.

 

Here is the hit.....slightly quartering towards.

 

I did not see any sign of guts at all on the hit shadow, but like I said no expert here. I am also to the left of the camera angle. The deer was very slightly quartering towards.

 

nice video. Def a dead deer. So get back out there

 

Maybe because you werent very high in the tree it did not hit guts. High liver hit. Maybe it didnt do much damage to the liver if it were real high. If that is the case that sucker may be long gone.

 

Thanks for the advice and posting the still image Shadow. My sticks are 18ft plus I am standing for the shot. The camera is zoomed so I think it is making it look like I am not as high as what I was. The arrow went into the dirt pretty good after passing thru.

 

Hopefully it was a liver shot. Better go back out there and check again. Keep us posted. You could be just really high and missed everything.

 

If you are above that deer even 5 feet I say he is dead.

 

That is a gut shot deer without a doubt...he is also dead without a doubt

 

Definitely fatal. Get back out there before it rains. Consider calling someone with a deer tracking dog. Nice buck. I hope you find him.

 

I think it's a dead deer as well. High liver would possibly bleed inside the rib cage so there wouldn't be much blood on the trail. What broadhead were you using?

 

Slick Trick broadhead

 

Mine went close to 350 yards from the stand. Blood stopped at 75 yards but he still the arrow in him. He died near water and a beding area.

 

Did you by chance find a nice puddle just before the blood thinned out. When blood suddenly thins out after a puddle, that usually means the deer was spooked after standing and is moving fast again, not necessarily that the wound is clotting. I usually find a tree to climb and it is amazing how many times I have either seen the deer laying or see the trail he may have traveled down. 3 hours may not have been enough time for the shot you described but I agree; he is very dead. Check for where he may have backtracked on you too. Sometimes if you jump one up... they will change directions on you and it is easy to miss.

 

I made almost that exact shot on a 160" buck 5 years ago. I had good blood from about the 75 yards mark to about the 200 yards mark of the trail then the trail vanished. Searched and searched and nothing. He was shot the following weekend chasing a doe showing no ill effects of the shot. I was behind the lungs and above the liver below the spine. I wasn't there to gut so not sure if there was any damage to the liver. I think with that shot if you don't get the artery below the spine he's surviving. I'd look into a tracking dog and search, good luck. FYI, on my shot I was 20-25 feet up on a 32 yard shot. Good luck.

 

I would feel confident that you have a dead deer. Find someone that has a tracking dog and get back on that trail.

 

Michigan allows tracking dogs.... why wouldn't someone utilize this... they WILL find your deer. http://forums.bowhunting.com/bowhunting-talk/28334-blood-tracking-help-those-lost-deer-dogs.html