I hope I am wrong but that shot looks really high. High enough to be above the guts and in front of the kidneys. I am surprised you did not get the artery that runs just below the spine with the slick trick. I have a feeling this deer will live to see another day. Regards I would continue to look but assume he is still alive till you find a carcass. How high were you on the tree? What kind of angle did you have? From the arrow flight it did not look too steep.
I found him! Unfortunately the meat is no good.. 4 days later, and the temps were almost 70 here yesterday. I am extremely shocked that the coyotes didn't find him before me. At 26 years old I still have a lot to experience as a hunter. I am fortunate to say that this is a first for me, finding a deer days later with no edible meat. I feel like I can let it go now knowing I did the ethical thing and was finally able to tag this deer. I want to thank you guys for the advice to keep looking for this deer and allowing me to keep my head up through the process! He isn't the biggest around, but a very good deer for my area. He ended up being only 150 yards from last blood. I can't believe we didn't find him the following morning. It really sucks, cause we must have been so close when we were just walking and looking without blood. It is extremely thick so you would have almost had to step on him to find him. I tried getting a dog several times but everyone was busy in my area. .
Did you figure out where you hit him, it was so on the line between liver and guts I'm curious. Props to you for continuing to look.
Good work not giving up and giving that deer his tag. Shame about the meat but you did right by not giving up.
That has been my experiance as well with united blood trackers this time of year. The trackers are so busy it is hard to get one.
Kudos for everything you've done to find him and a lesson for all why quartered to shots are frowned upon... Guts will block your exit hole and make tracking g difficult.
Glad you found him and have closure. Hard to say why you didn't find him when you were so close. Is there any possibility that he died more recently or does it appear he was there for the last several days?
This looks like where you hit to me. You may have clipped the large artery running beneath the spine. Hard to say if he is dead, deer can be tough. Also hard to say for sure how high the exit was. Well, this old fart thought page two was all of this thread. Glad you had the patience and persistance, and CHARACTER to not give up ! Congrats, nice buck !
No, and I was really kicking myself for taking that trail too soon and thinking that I jumped him there before the fence. Now I believe before the fence is the first place he stopped from a full run to catch his breath and figure out what just hit him. I think it has to do with exactly what Rob said, getting guts on the exit wound and being high plugged that hole. It is all about shot placement and although it was a lethal hit, it was a really bad shot. I wish I would have been able to get a dog sooner, or had better luck on searching with out blood, my one friend had to of walked withing 20 yards of him on our first search the following morning when the meat would have been good. My friend was out there to help me so I can't blame him... we gave it our best, unfortunately the meat was spoiled by the time we found him.
So I'm a little confused sparrow, what were you doing Saturday afternoon all day Sunday and Monday ? You found him yesterday and said you walked right over him the following morning but didn't find him, did you not look at all in between, when you could have salvaged some meat?
