How deep and wide is the creek and how steep are the banks? He may nit make it out of the creek if too deep/wide/steep banked. Would be a potential floater situation if too much of each.
Looks like liver blood. I would wait 6 to 8 hours. If you do, he will be dead in that creek. If you bump him before, might never find him. If you hit guts, it's a dead deer. The problem is when. Edit. The more I look at blood and what you said. Thinking guts, liver and maybe 1 lung. But would still wait 6 -8 hours and then hopefully he's still laying right in that creek. Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk
Just went out to check my pizza on grill. Walked next to a big Ash tree. This little peg/branch has held my bow during hunting season for the past 12 years or so. Reminiscing. I do that occasionally as insignificant as it may sound.
Looks like an old screw in tree step with 1/2" missing on the end. Stand behind tree and wait kinda stand?
Nope, just a stub of a branch. I check it every year and it's still real solid it's about 5' from the bottom step of my deck.. I swear,, I could find it iffn I was a drunk/blind man.. like an old friend. .
I think he may be dead in creek. Never saw him come out of it. After alot of thought im thinking gut/liver/lung. Headed back out now because rain coming. If i dont like what i see im backing out and calling tracker in AM. Fingers crossed
With rain coming, I'm with you and would go look. I'm thinking from what you said, guts/liver/lung. As others have said....probably on that creek somewhere. Good luck!
Beautiful night, a little to nice though. No wind once the sun got real low which made for a loud crunchy night. A feral cat creeping around sounded a lot like deer, a bunch of squirrels/chipmunks/gophers, then at 10 minutes of shooting light remaining, the clear sounds of deer approaching. Finally when there was about 3 minutes left, they appeared out of underbrush on the opposite side of me than I was anticipating, I tried to adjust my stance to be able to shoot to the opposite side but it was to much twisting. The momma doe was staring at me by the time I got adjusted and it was all over. They didn't blow or scamper away so I don't think I scared them out of the area. Ultimately, deer 1, Jeff 0 Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
I think it's a good idea to go in and slowly walk until you decide last blood is enough. At least you will have more than you have now with direction of travel. If no need to back out you'll have a dead deer and end of discussion being had. Backing out is the easy part, continuing in is what effs is up most times.
Personally I think you're doing the right thing by going out even if it has only been 5 hours. If you hit liver/lung or liver he is probably dead by now. If you got gut/liver there is a chance you'll jump him, but I'd still bet he's already dead. If you just got gut you're probably going to jump him, but if it rains heavily tonight and you wait until tomorrow there's a chance you may not recover him even if he is already dead. Everything about this thing we call hunting is a gamble. Either way you go could be wrong or right. If I were you I'd be doing the same thing you're doing. I wish I could stay up and hear the outcome, but I have to get some rest soon. My son is here and tomorrow morning we are loading up two trucks along with the travel trailer and headed to Mark Twain National Forest for about 2 1/2 weeks. I'll be up for a little while longer and I really hope to see a post from you saying you found him.
I am backing out but…. This is a dead deer. Blood really started opening up. Still no arrow. He made it up and out of creek but bedded right after. I dont think we jumped him because bed was cold and fresh hoof print that was perfectly outlined not like a deer that bolted. Hes hurt bad. After the bed where he started walking we found about 3 more spots of blood. Then nothing for about 20 yds. I saw eyes way up ahead in thick stuff. Could be him or not so we backed out. I will be calling a dog in the morning. Definitely got gut/liver/lung. When i said i heard him coughing in creek look at this . Frothy. this was where he made it out of creek. He followed the creek for a ways before he climbed out which is why i didnt see him come out of it. Heres where his bed was. The blood was pretty thick and the bed was cool to the touch. Not like he had been laying there for hours. This appears to be a fresh track leaving the bed. The leaf with the spot of blood was pushed down into the mud like this was his back hoof. If i bumped him then he calmly got up and slinked away. This wasnt a racehorse out of the gate bump if i did. This is the point i decided to back out. After this bed we found about 4 more quarter size specs of blood then nothing for about 20yds. Thats when i saw eyes glowing in the thicket up ahead. It was right against the corn field so could have been another deer. Hell could have been a raccoon on a log for all i know but i didnt want to risk it. So… fingers crossed. Gonna be a long night. Thanks for all the support