Hello all, On Tuesday night I made a bad shot on a huge buck. Deer was 30 yards and walking, the last 3 deer I stopped for the shot reacted to the string and I shoulder shot them with no penetration so I decided not to stop this one. The deer ran about 15 yards and stood there for 5-8 minutes. I could see my lighted nock sticking out about 6" in from of the hams, half way up the body. I was using a 2" rage hypodermic. When he started to move I shot a second arrow but that was deflected by brush. Knowing it was gut shot I got down quietly and went back to the house. Shot time approx 5:15 pm. I waited 11 hours and went out in the morning at 4:30 am because rain was due to start at 6am. My wife , nephew and I tracked very slowly and found where the buck had stood, red blood with some very dark blood. Leaking out of both sides since the arrow penetrated both sides but did no go through. We found a bed about 25 yards from the last spot I saw him, found another bed 20 yards further with a couple of clumps of stomach content in it. Kept going slowly, we found a total of 5 beds in 120 yards. At that point I shined my light through the brush in the direction he was traveling and saw a pair of eyes stand up and stare back at me about 15 yards up the trail. That was at 6:15 am , approx 13 hours after the shot. We pulled back and left the way we came, although it was noisy due to thick brush / branches. Waited 7 more hours and went back in slowly. No sign at all, the rain had washed all of the blood away. No definite running tracks from where we last saw him, other deer tracks going in many different directions so things got mingled. Searched everywhere in a 200-300 yard radius ( although the area is very thick ) My question is .... if a definitely gut/stomach shot deer that has been left for 13 hours is then jumped do they leave the county or are they so sick that they go 50 - 100 yards and try to bed again. Unfortunately, I had a very similar incident with a 8 pointer I shot in the same spot about 15 years ago. I left him overnight and went back in the morning, he was alive but allowed me to get within 10 yards before he bolted. He ran 20 yards and collapsed. I walked up close enough to shoot him again and he expired without ever getting up. I am sick to my stomach and looking for some experience here to give me some input. Thanks, jeff
I think you will find him near by. It may be a hard decision but you may want to wait until tomorrow morning to resume the search. You don't want to push him into the next county. Good luck Nd post pics when you find him. Sent from my SM-G981U using Tapatalk
Well it could go either way. If he is hit badly and weak he won't be able to go but so far. with that said, a git shot deer that has been pushed are hard to find
This is just off my experience. A hunter shot a buck just about exactly how you described. A few guys tracked that night and lost blood. They came back the next morning with more people and still couldn't find him. They walked for hours all over and thru all the thickets. So by afternoon there was another group of guys heading out to look for it after first group couldn't find it. So had about 10 different people looking for this buck. No luck. I knew the buck was going to die and I had to try and find it. Everyone else gave up. So after work I headed out. I knew the area well and thought I would have a good chance of locating it. Well after 5 hours of tracking it, I found it not 150 yards from where it was first shot. He was still moving around. I spotted him before he saw me. So I snuck up on him and heart shot him right in the thicket. It dumped him right on the ground. This happened 25 hour after the first shot and the buck was still mobile. The hunter shot him in the paunch. Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Believe it or not, I just found him. My son and I just went out to take a closer look through a thick area of mountain laurel. We made one swing up through and were lining up to take another swath and my son spotted him. Apparently he died yesterday because it was very rank. A coyote ate a ham and half of the gut. It has been in the high 40's and raining for the last 2 days. The meat was bad and the hair was pulling out of the hide so I was only able to recover his head. My nephew and I were searching in that area yesterday, my wife was too, we just needed to push another 50 yards and we probably would have found him then. Beautiful animal, its really a shame. I am somewhat relieved to find him and know what happened but I still feel sick about the whole thing. 8 pointer, 23 1/4" inside, 9 and 10" G2's. looks like he might have gone 200 lbs dressed. ( I cant post a pic )
Wow!! that's great man. Way to keep after it. He was likely dead for a while, like I said, if they are hit bad, they can't go but so far. glad you found him. I have been there before and not found them... sounds like a giant!! post up pics when you figure it out
My complements on your persistence. It's a shame that you weren't able to recover the whole deer. That's hunting. It doesn't always go like the videos and TV shows. The head mount will be a reminder of the efforts of you, family and friends.
I bumped my gut shot buck last weekend as well. It made tracking very difficult. Once we knew we were pushing him we backed out and found him the next morning. I was lucky and nothing went to waste. Good on you for keeping after him. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
