Shot a PIG..Bad hit. Need help, please !!!!! (photos)

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It's been pounded into my head, Dan. Im lucky to have my brother as a coach. Hes made the mistakes so i dont have too, and he really knows his stuff. He told me that what i do after the shot is every bit as vital as the shot itself, and thats a qoute.


The first deer i shot, he made me wait over an hour to start looking. We found her, 30yards from impact, piled up.

 

Glad you have such a good mentor. My older brothers were great at getting me into the woods, but when it came to after the shot....... I had to learn the hard way.

Again, good luck in the morning.

 

Thank you..I can't tel you all how much I appreciate the advice. Worst case scenario, I'll have to hunt there as much as i can and get another shot on him..

Best case, I'll be making a post thats mostly photos, tomorrow

 

He'll be there in the morning. You made the right choice backing out as well. How high were you in the tree? If you weren't too high and he was quartering away you may have clipped a lung depending on the angle. This post kept getting longer as I was reading it....lol. I finally made it to the end so I could post. Good luck.

 

Lol..Thanks..

I'm pretty sure I didnt clip the lung. He was quartering only slightly, but definitely enough that I may have hit guts.

 

I will throw my two cents in here, but most of what I wanted to say Dan has pretty much covered. With your penetration, I firmly believe you got all gut. Take a look at the buck in my avatar. Shot him on last light on Nov. 8th a few years ago. I rattled him in and he came in on a trot. I got excited when I couldn't get him stopped and shot him right in front of the hind legs. I knew where I hit him and watched his general direction of travel. I didn't even go get my arrow. Just climbed down and got out. I went back at 9am that next morning and found exactly 2 drops of blood. I knew he bedded across the creek as I was hunting his rub line from his bedding to his feeding. I found the 2nd drop of blood right on the bank of the creek. I dropped down into the creek and could immediatly smell him. He was in full rut. I popped up on the other side of the creek and he was looking right at me still alive, but in bad shape. I wanted to put another one in him so bad, but the bank was so steep and I didn't want to bust him out of there. I went back to my truck and sat there a couple hours and called a buddy. He meet me a little after 11am on his lunch break and we went back in. This time his was dead. I'm with your brother. I wouldn't go in before 9am.

 

Just got settled in stand, good luck out there this morning. Hope to see soke good news later

 

Having had a similiar experience early on and the ability of hindsight being 20/20

Since it was a pure muscle hit with no injuries to organs, I would have gotten right on the track and pushed him as hard and long as I could have. If you hit the artery the trail would be short. If you didn't and it was truly just a muscle wound. You might have kept him bleeding long enough to gauge the injury. Having waited, I believe the scenerio you will find is at the impact sight you will think you have good blood, but it's actually a relatively small amount. You'll follow a decent trail for 200 yards and then it'll peter out.

I hope, I'm wrong, I hope you find him. Quite honestly I applaud your effort of backing out. It's best if you don't know what to do. But next time on this type of hit you may have a different outlook.

 

Did you read the entire thread? Where do you get the idea that it was a pure muscle hit? Everything he describes points to gut shot.

 

good luck, I hope you find him. always good to back out!

 

Damn, I was hoping to have an update. Not much going on out there for me this morning.

 

No dice, guys..

Given the evidence and after consulting with my brother and his friends, we've come to the conclusion that I hit just behind the artery and artery branches in the leg and that the deer was NOT quartering enough to bring the guts into play. So, I hit just back from where I thought.

While near the shot sight and in open woods, the wind had flipped over leaves, so it was tough, had to track blood on small branches and bushes.

Once I got into the thick stuff, it was a lot easier. I had small drops of blood every 10-15 feet. Found some little trees that were covered pretty well. As the woods got thicker, the trails became more visible, and I was able to guess where he went, with blood confirming, as I walked(CRAWLED) !!

Finally, I got to an area and heard a deer bounce from its bed. I walked in that direction, and came to a small stream, looked around and found blood, so I crossed. On the other side was my arrow.

It was covered pretty well, but smelled like the smell you get when you're butchering a deer into steaks/cuts, no guts. It was pretty 'tacky', as well. Not one thing pointed to a gut hit and we're almost positive that the deer that bounded away was this buck.

I found a few beds in this area and none had any heavy accumulation of blood.


So, Lord willing, he will be just fine and maybe get some sympathy breeding from one of the sexy does out there.

I feel horrible that I wounded an animal..My trail cams are located in an oak flat that he and other deer feed in. I dropped a few bags of corn and some other tasty deer treats. I figure, I owe it to him ...I'll get back on him in a few days...

On a positive note, I learned a TON about this particular tract of timber, today..Some suspicions confirmed, and a few proven not to be correct.

Thanks everyone for helping me out. I wish I could be sharing some harvest photos of this beautiful whitetail..Maybe in a few weeks. I'm just glad that he should be ok !! That means more to me than anything else.

 

Sorry to hear that you didnt find it, but atleast the arrow is out. No one can fault you for not putting in the effort, you did go the extra mile.

 

Funny thing is, I would have kept going, and going and going. If I had to cut down the entire block of timber with a chainsaw, I would have....

I'm glad that I found the arrow and as I said before, nearly positive I bumped and saw the deer. He was bedded in some real thick stuff, but I definitely saw antler..Most likely him because the blood lead RIGHT to the spot.

So it was peace of mind. After that happened, I looked a round a bit more just to see if anything stood out, any evidence to make me think otherwise..Everything pointed towards a muscle hit with no guts involved. After I found that arrow and he bounded away, there was a weight lifted off of my shoulders. I said a little prayer that he would be ok and slowly walked out, enjoying the sights and sounds of this awesome piece of land.

That may sound corny, but I dont care. It's who I am..

Thanks again EVERYONE !!! I really cant believe you all took the time to give me advice and support me. I'm kind of taken back by this all..Dan, thanks so much !

 

Not corny at all. It shows your respect for the deer and maturity as a hunter.

Sorry you did not recover him.

 

Nothing makes a bowhunter sicker than worrying about the shot. Good luck!!!

 

That's not corny at all, my friend! I feel genuine anguish when I harm an animal without a clean kill -- I'm that way with large game like deer, but I'm also that way with a gut-hooked fish when I'm out chasing bass. I've actually lost sleep because if the guilt I felt after a poor shot on an animal... luckily it hasn't happened very often.

It's funny, but my first experience with badly hurting, but not killing, a deer may have helped make me a better hunter. That terrible memory is what makes it easy for me to pass on a shot that I know is outside of my limitations. No remorse about a shot not taken in my book, but a ton of remorse about a wounded creature.

Knowing the difference between "hunting" and "just wanting to kill something" is really important if you want to be a successful mature bowhunter, and it sounds like you are well on your way to appreciating the value of respecting your prey. Welcome to the world of being a Bowhunter!

 

I even feel a little remorse for clean kills, and usually try to reassure myself it's needed thing for proper breeding and number control (I know, funny right?). Showing your prey the respect it deserves, is an extremely honorable thing.

 

You can hunt with me any time.