Had 4 deer two does and two fawns in front of me tonight. Shot one doe at 15 yards. Ran maybe 30 yards then stopped I watched it wobble for a while then it walked another 20 yds and I lost sight of it. The rain started coming hard and after about 40 min I walked to the last point I had seen it and it's not there. Heavy down pour has washed the bllod trail and I didn't want to push the deer if it was still kicking. The temp will be in the 50's tonight is this deer gonna be ruind in the morn. This is the first time I have left a deer overnight and have never not recoverd one. I'm a bit worried on this one
Dave, As long as the Yote's or Wolves don't get into her, she should be fine. If the hit was good, you should have her within a couple hundred yards. Good Luck, sorry your nights sleep ain't gonna be the greatest.
There was a recent thread about this, and a couple of guys who work in the food-service or meat-inspection industry said you really need 40 degrees before it's totally safe... Having said that though, I believe that's OPTIMAL... several of us -- myself included -- have recovered deer after nights of much higher temps and everything was fine. I personally wouldn't worry about a night in the 50s. That's just me.
I have found deer the next day when the overnights were in the 60's and still had no problem when eating the meat. Good luck.
I think I one lunged it. It was a little close and I should have let it get a little distance. I would go look but rain and not knowing for sure on the hit is giving me pause. I was probably 30 ft above her cuz she was in the bottom of the draw Its been 3 and a half hours
Get to the down wind side of where you think she may be and see if you can smell her. I don't mean smell ROTTEN, but smell deer. I know I shot on back last year and trailed her to a point and completely lost blood, but I could SMELL her (deer smell, not nasty rotten guts smell or rotten smell). After going in concentric circles, my buddy, whom I left at the spot where we last had blood, yelled at me, "I found her!!!" She crawled up under some Multi-flora rose brush not 10ft from where he was standing the whole time, and he never noticed her until about 10minutes from the time he stopped there. Good Luck finding her!!!
i hit a doe like that the other morning nice solid shoulder shot, i mean i watched it bury up in both shoulder, blood trail went for bout 55 yrds nice and heavy,recovered my arrow kept heading towards the end of the blood trail and it was as if somebody turned the spigot off.nothing. not one drop after that. i looked for 2 hrs down in this hollar she disappeared. my buddy did the same thing a few days prior and i was picking at him about it and turn around and look what happened to me. karma!
I don't have as much experience as a lot of these guys so I may be wrong, but if I knew that I'd taken out one lung and possibly two, the overnight temps are questionable and it's been three and a half hours, I'd be headed back out there now. There's no blood trail, but in my experience you've got a good chance finding her if you just walk the path of least resistance as long as it makes sense. I would just mark the area where I last saw her and put myself in her shoes so to speak. It's not always the case, but I've found more than one deer by myself just following the most likely/easiest path. That's just me, though. Two other things that I would consider, though. One is that the temps may be in the 50's, but the rain is going to cool her off more quickly. Second is the fact that if this is one of your prime spots, do you want to risk stomping around in the dark shining lights during the time of year when the deer are moving almost exclusively at night? Again, that's just my thinking.
It just makes me mad. I am sure she is dead but I am on my chair doing nothing cuz of storms and no blood trail.
Then put on some rain gear and get out there. Even if you don't find her you'll sleep better knowing you gave it your best shot.
If there's lightning you shouldn't be out there. Myself though - I'd be geared up and waiting for the lightning to stop.
30 feet up, 15 yards out. IMO, real easy not to hit both lungs. Did you get pass thru? Meaning is there a bottom hole in her?
Ben I was on the top of the draw she came behind me. My stand is only 12 ft high but the slope to the bottom is drastic. Found my arrow but a hard rain started and I stayed on stand for 45 min or so. So it was washed pretty good looked like lung blood though
What I am asking is, what did you see at the shot? Did the arrow pass thru or back out? A heavy shower pretty much negates evidence on the arrow.
Pass thru but a littlle low to hit both lungs I think. My arrow was at about a 60ish degree angle in the ground. Should have let her gain more distance.
So, we have one lung, with a bottom drain hole. Personally, another hour or two ain't hurting you. You aren't gaining temp or light.
