I've been learning and observing others hunt for the last three years. I've been practicing at home on targets also for three years. Yesterday was finally my first solo hunt! I ended up getting the opportunity to take a shot at a buck. He was about 30 yards. When I was able to shoot when he was broadside. When I saw my arrow hit it appeared to be low and behind his front leg. He jumped up when struck then started slowly jumping around almost hopping. I assumed I had a bad shot and only hit the leg muscle. After watching him about ten more minutes I decided to take another shot while he was still in range of me. This time I honestly wasn't able to determine where my arrow penetrated. It sounded louder and he immediately made a gasping noise. He slowly walked towards the tree line and made four more wheezing/gasping noises. He got spooked by something and bolted. I lost sight of him. I had two guys come help me search. We found my first arrow completely covered in blood all the way to the fletching bright red. At this point I'm pretty sure we pushed him but I had no idea at the time. We found a lot of blood between my two shots and the path he ran away. We found maroon almost purple blood that was thin and watery like and we found lots of bright red blood a couple times with little bubbles in it. Today we ended up tracking blood for 600 yards from the initial shot. We found sometimes a lot of blood and found it very easy to follow then other times just specks here and there, then more pools of blood. He crossed the field he was in, through some decently thick woods, a small pasture and crossed a creek. We found a lot of his trails appeared zigzagged. After crossing the creek and coming up the bank side after crossing is where we lost the trail. The guys think I must have only hit a muscle or nothing vital for the amount of ground he covered and no trace of him bedding down. But the amount of blood we found is just unreal. We looked about two hours last night then called it a night and to give some time. Came back twelve hours after the initial shot and searched for almost 6 hours. I'm at a loss and pretty upset. I hate the thought of wasting an animal but I'm also wondering if he's just still alive. Any advice or thoughts please??
When I heard that sound I assumed it was a lung hit. However, I'm under the impression that a sound like that is a double lung hit. But there's no way I hit both lungs with the amount of ground he covered.
I've had them gasp and groan from a gut shot which would lead to purple/brown blood and gunk but all you found still sounds like lung hits. My guess is that he will die but unless you have someone with a tracking dog or you wait and watch for buzzards it may be too late. You put in more effort than a lot of guys when they can't find them. Good luck with finding him and the rest of the season.
Steph; sorry you're going through this. Unfortunately most of us have had the same thing happen at least once. If you only punctured one lung they can go a long way. I agree, if you can get a tracking dog that would be the best choice. At least you can get some closure from the hunt even if you lose the meat. Also, suggest if you're tracking without a dog: a spray bottle full of peroxide can be a big help picking up faint blood sign. It will foam white when it comes in contact with blood (just like on a cut). I keep a bottle in my truck just in case. Good luck!
Thank you! I think that's what's so frustrating is I really just want closure. Just seems like he was a dead deer. And with it being my first solo hunt let alone first deer ever I was pretty bummed. We let the bordering farms know and they said they would let me know if he ever turns up. Practicing this week and trying again Saturday. Thank you for the spray bottle tip!!
A liver shot will make purple blood. that can take up to or more then 4 hours to kill the deer. search water sources. even if you don't see blood. a lot of liver shot deer will be found near creeks, or ponds. I think you hit a lung and liver. good luck
Did you go up or down the creek? He might have traveled the creek since you lost it there. If you can get 4 people. Send 2 upstream on both sides. Send 2 others downstream on both sides. Sounds like liver and 1 lung to me. 600 yards isn’t that far for a deer IMO. They can cover a lot of ground on adrenaline. Especially if he was spooked and going to take some time to expire. Any beds in the first 600 yards? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
