So I decided to end the Maryland 15/16 season they way it began with my eldest son in a tree stand, Walking in to the tree stand of choice we did not even get to the tree when I saw a Doe (I'm tagged out for bucks) feeding below us. The sun is directly behind me so that my shadow is almost hitting her. I get within my max shooting range and let my spitfire max fly. Well BHOD footage would have shown what sort of shot it was but that wasn't an option. I did notice it was a complete pass through and she only went 10 yards and paused standing shaking her tail obviously in pain. See bedded down and then got up and moved over the 20 -30min eventually I lost sight of her and so I went it to see if she had expired... too soon, she got up from a bed and ran but I did get to see the arrow and blood. Now if you non east coasters remember we just had 3 feet of snow so every drop of blood shows up well and also makes it hard on the wounded animal. I found where she bedded down the first time and there was a good pool of blood and the tracks out where i spooked her had drops of blood every step. The arrow which I found was sort of cleaned by the snow but had good blood on the fletching. So my son and I decided to sit in our stand and wait for last light and take up the tracking job from there. Last light came and we picked up the trail it was really easy to follow in the snow. About 200 yards we found her still alive, 1.5-2 hours after the shot and she ran again so we backed out for the night. So the question is tomorrow when i go in to find her can I take my bow? If she is still alive can I shoot her again, both times I found her today when tracking her I was within 40 yards but not able to get a clean shot if I can get a clean shot am I legally allowed to shoot her since the season closed today. Also blood on snow shows up really well am I deceived how much she has bleed out by the red on white, I've never shot a deer in the snow before (I'm Australian that is my excuse) Facts of the shot Small amount of hair at point of image and chunks of flesh and small amount of blood not a lot of blood on the arrow but it was buried in snow Deer traveled less than 30 yards before sitting down, good bright blood at this site when pushed she ran 200 yards before bedding down again. Still alive 2 hours after the shot. Blood drops on every step, some blood 3 feet from deer tracks in the snow. Deer appears to be avoiding using front left leg (left side present during the shot) I'm headed out with a friend at first light to attempt a recovery and have a dog on stand by but with the snow tracking should not be too hard and I wanted to give my 7 year old son a shout out for trudging through 2 feet of snow for over a mile walking in to the stand and tracking the deer with me and not complaining once! Clem
Hi Clem, I also hunt in MD. I believe your not allowed to us any weapon once the season closed, but you still can check her in when you find her. It might be worth it to check with your local DNR agent just to double check if that is right. Also from what you are describing it almost sounds like a flesh hit, maybe in the brisket. Your best bet is to wait til tomorrow. Good luck with the track job, and let us know how it goes.
I did not see any fat from the brisket and the blood 3 feet to the side of the tracks when she was running gave me hope, I'm hoping I just got one lung and that is why she is running hard.
That could be also, It might be that you hit the liver also. If so it could take up to 6-8 hours. Hope you find her in the morning!
Sounds like a low hit to me. Possibly 1 lung and liver. I think she will be dead in the morning. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sorry guys yesterday was a very very long day I estimate we covered about 10 miles in very deep snow over about 6 hours, got home and passed out, so long story short she lives... the full story OK so I was out at first light and found her bedded about 20 yards from where I lost sight of her last night... she got up and ran! Aside from a slight limp on her left front leg she was fine. there was a small amount of blood in her bed but not much. My friend who was helping me said he could see a wound on her shoulder. I tracked her for the next three hours trying to get close enough to observer her and see if she was bleeding on the three miles we tracked her she hardly lost any blood most of the blood found was dried flicking off her hair. While tracking her we only saw her twice once at the start and once about 3 miles in, I could tell it was her tracks as she was not lifting her left front leg as much as the others so it left a different tracks in the snow and every 200 yards or so I would find a tiny piece of dried blood or brown discolored snow but no bright fresh blood. The whole time we were following her she did not bed down, which from my guess was about 3 hours. My friend and I were trying to estimate blood loss from what we could see in the snow as we could see every drop lost it would be a good gauge of her health. My friend accidentally volunteered some blood after a run in with a thorn bush and the one drop he squeezed from his finger looked like a cup of blood on the snow, so I'm very confident she will make it. We moved a bunch of trail camera'a into the area and will keep checking them to make she makes it. I might run some corn out there for her so she does not have to fight for food in the snow. Conclusion Quartering away shot hit front leg/brisket area without penetrating vitals, She lost some blood, learnt a lesson and so did I.
That is a bummer that you didn't get a tag on that doe. I do applaud your effort, many people do not spend the time and effort that you did.
I'm guessing it wouldn't be legal to bring your bow if the season is over. In Vermont you're not "supposed" to even track a deer after dark with your bow/gun.
Sorry to hear it didn't work out! Sounds like you did as much as you could considering you couldn't get a follow up shot since the season is out!
