Ok this is my first time posting and it happens to be my first year bow hunting. I hunt with the Fred Bear Truth 2 bow. In my opinion its pretty sweet. But anyway this mourning I had a small basket eight point walk up to me. The deer was within 10 yrds from my stand I was 22 feet aprox. off the ground in my summit climber. Anyway I aimed a little high and think I hit the shoulder. My arrow broke off after going into the deer about 8-10 inches. At first I didn't find any blood and this was after waiting for 30-45 mins. So I decided to pull out my stand and go to the house to get some lighter weight clothes on. Well by the time I got back in the woods it had been about 2 hrs since I shot the deer. Well I found blood and lots of it for about the first 60 yrds and then it went to just drops and that went on for about 300yrds. I was unable to locate the deer today. I am just wondering what you all think about it, if you think the deer may have lived or if its dead somewhere and I just could find it. Thanks for any opinions. SGT Kolk, Andrew extra note: It was raining and rather windy
Well, let's see. If you can get a couple friends to go out with you this could be helpful. I would go back and mark the last 4 or 5 spots of blood. Then you can look back and see if he was zig-zagging or heading in a straight direction. This could help give you a feeling of his general condition (if he happens to be zigging a lot). When you get to the last blood drop mark it well and try to see if you can track the deer in any way to help point you in a more specific direction. Space off 10-15 yards (closer if it's real thick) between each other and start the grid search in the direction you think the deer was moving. At this point you are looking more for the deer then the blood but keep your eyes peeled for a drop just in case. Head in one direction, staying in your lanes and go for a couple hundred yards. Move over and then come back. You just have to keep searching in this grid pattern until you find him! Sort of common sense things here but by staying organized you can at least feel that you are giving your best effort to recover the deer. Since you have already tracked the deer for 300 yards, searching an additional 200 yards on your "grid" would give you a good reach. You could also try searching a swath of land back towards where you feel the deer might be bedding. Try to stay positive and do everything you can to find him!
Think about where you hit in its shoulder. I mean to the outside of the shoulder, or more towards the spine. Was it closer to the neck, or further towards the rear? Reason I ask is this is similar to what happened to me last yr. I shot a buck quatering away & seen the fletching sticking out of the side of the deer towards his rear leg. We tracked that animal the next day over 600yds & 3 farm fields to a point where he bedded down. Like you, arrow covered in blood & blood for the first 100 yds then spots. Deer that go that far w/o bedding down are not seriously hurt. It is like when you cut your finger. lot of blood, but not fatal. Not to bum you out. Do like boone dog said & go back to last blood. Use toilet paper as markers, easy to spot, & leap frog one ahead of the other looking for blood. But pay attention, your looking for specks. I shot a doe this yr which was same as you high, & close. Single lung shot. Blood came very sparse. took 2 hrs to find her, with her going about 150yds. So take your time & get help. If it's a lung shot, you'll find it. Look for frothing in the blood specks also, then you'll be very close.
thanks for all the help I am going to go back out today and try and find the deer. Now I have to deal with about 3 inches of snow that came over night. So finding more blood is out of the question. The weather in Northern New York is crazy.
so i didn't have any luck with the buck but i did shoot a doe this mourning and saw a giant 8-10 pt that i now have my sighs on
