Shot a doe this morning and she ran straight off a 40 foot cliff into a river. Heard her splash so she definitely went in. By the time I climbed down a went over to the edge she was nowhere to be found. Glassed it pretty good and didn’t see her. There is a dam a couple hundred yds downstream so she didn’t float away, Going to grab a canoe and paddle up and down the riverbanks and see if she might be caught up under some brush or if I can find anything that looks like where she mightve crawled out. I definitely got at least one lung and most likely both of them so I doubt she climbed out but you never know. I’m just wondering what the odds of her being dead and laying somewhere on the bottom of the river.
They most definitely float. My dad shot a real nice buck years ago and it did a dive into the river. He went and grabbed a John boat chased it down the river and eventually recovered the deer as it was floating down stream. Good luck!
Here is my take on it. I have seen this both ways. I find if the deer dies from drowning, Swallows water and fills lungs, it most likely sinks. If it dies then falls into the water, it will float. Because the lungs are still inflated before going into the water and doesn't have a chance to get weighted down by the lungs full of water. Have found my deer with both cases and that is what happen to them. Usually the one that dies before going into the water floats just enough to see it, would say at least 75 percent is still under water. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
They will eventually float as gases build up in the carcass. Beyond redemption by that time. Met a fellow who shot a moose and had it run out into a lake. Had the audacity to die in four feet of water. No fun field dressing it. Took 8 hours.
They are buoyant as their hair is hollow but filled with water they can sink. I imagine it depends on shot placement and whether you got passthrough or arrow lodged in wound etc. alot of variables
In direct response to the title of this thread... I hope I never have to find out! That sucks OH, that's going to be a very low chance of recovery.
Well it’s official, if you poke a hole in their lungs then they sink like a brick.. Spent several hours in the canoe searching the banks and on foot before I gave up. That evening I decided it was a really good excuse to finally get a transponder and second mount so I could move the fish finder from my offshore boat back and forth from my canoe too so I went to bass pro and got one and put it on. Next day I took it out and switched it to the live bottom scan mode or whatever they call it now and within 10 minutes of looking I had a pretty clear image of a large fish, likely a blue or channel cat, hovering around a deer shaped object on the river bottom right where I thought she would’ve landed. I definitely wasted 6 hours or so looking for an unrecoverable “Kursk” deer but on the bright side, come summer there’s going to be some venison-fed bigass fatty catfish in the river for me to catch. And I’ve still got another doe tag left to use for closing day tomorrow!! And the weather is going to be downright awesome for deer movement - 75 degrees, pouring rain, and a full moon... what more could I ask for lol. Going to go anyway since it’s the last day. When 10 am rolls around and I haven’t seen anything then I’m gonna go for broke and trade out my bow for the fast shootings 308 marlin express lever action and go charging through the woods until I bump a fawn so I can at least tag out and finish filling the freezer.
Me too... I think I might be the first person in history who can honestly say that I would’ve had a better chance to recover a deer if I would’ve hit it in the guts instead of the heart/lungs.
