Looking for some advice. I fired at a deer 8:14 this morning. Shot from a tree stand on a hill looking down. My guess is the bolt went in somewhere mid hopefully behind the shoulder and exited low. Deer was quartering to. Bolt was drove in the ground lined with fat and a tiny bit of blood on the fletchings. Big clumps of white hair from the exit. Deer ran about 10 yards then started walking. That's where first blood was found. Blood was bright red. We waited 30 minutes to track. Trailed him for approx 500 yards and lost blood. Half through trailing found what looked like where he laid down and bled for some time. Grid searched with 5-6 men. Tried 2 different dogs. 1 a small game dog known to find deer. Another bird dog with not much experience tracking big game. Could not pick up on the trail. Am I out a deer or maybe he survived? Really racking my brain l, hate losing deer.
White hairs usually mean you shot the belly. Large amounts of hair could mean a grazing shot. Give your bolt a sniff test. See if it smells odd.
Also, did the deer hunch up at all when it started walking away? This sounds like a low gutshot to me.
No odd smell, smells like deer fat to me. Didn't notice him hunched up when he was walking. We had good blood for quite a ways and it just tapered off.
Was the arrow waxy (fatty) feeling? If so, I’m guessing brisket Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Im with Tony, sounds like a brisket shot. Not a leathal shot right now, but might kill him from a infection at a later date. But also remember we are not there and definitely dont give up if you feel he might be dead. But from info you gave, and it was me, i would stop after what you have already done to find him. If 2 dogs cant find him, then most likely alive. Were did the trackers think you hit the deer? Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
No professional trackers just friends with dogs that happen to have some tracking ability. Very rural place with a small population.
Scrolling through trail cam images this morning and noticed i had the last image of the deer and another with the bolt stuck in ground. I threw them together to get a crude trajectory. I'd guess based on this image plus the fatty bolt and white hair I might have grazed him low. Thinking I may need to adjust my setup to a ground blind instead tree stand. As it is I'm like 20-25 feet above where the deer would come into my shooting lane and 15-20 yards away. It's quite a steep angle.
Far from an expert here. Any way to practice from an elevated situation? Our gun club had a platform that was used but not as high as most hunt from. Fell apart and never replaced. Had a friend who discovered the roof at the back of his house was the same height as how he hunted with a climbing stand. Set a target in the backyard, climb up and practice.
Good rule of thumb when slinging arrows is never take a quartering to shot. If they are quartering to, just be patient as they will eventually turn or get past you and be broadside or quartering away. A lot of the lost deer situations I've been around involved a quartering to shot.
Good to know. I my head for some reason I was thinking a quartering to shot would be ok. I was also put on the spot by a smaller buck I could just see out of the corner of my eye. He spotted me and was blowing. Next time I'll take my time regardless. I don't think the bigger buck saw me. He was keeping an eye on the smaller guy. Just hoping I get another pic of him. I'm setup just off his scrape. I'm thinking if he's alive, he'll be back.
