Sad story.......

[crown_seven]

Well My buddy finally got out into his bowstand for the first time of the year sat, at 415 a doe came by with three bucks chasing her.......no shots but 30 min later a very wide ten pointer came in to his grunts stops at 14 yards looks up at him as he releases, he thought he hit him where he was aiming but to be carefull he backed out and came back in the morning to look for him thats where it gets sad, he follows the blood trail for awhile then it goes behind another treestand that he didnt know was there and you guessed it,gut pile and no deer. What a crappy way to lose a deer I think he did the right thing in waiting till the next morning but it sucks that somebody else took the buck. This happened pretty close to Rochester,MN so if anyone hears of a very wide and very big bodiedten pointer killed that day post it on hear so at least we know that it didnt go to waste. There was no blood after the gut pile so it has to be from his deer. Location was by Badger Ridge development Northwest side of Rochester.

[Neighbor_guy]

Well.......

If guy B shot the deer..... And waited on guy A to come-a-tracking...... And he didn't.......... Guy B took 'em home.......

Sucks, but I see no wrong on either side.....

Guy A thought it was a marginal hit,thus he waited, guy be likely shot the deer too, and it becomes another my deer, your deer, story. When the first guy never showed.......

[DonBo]

That's happened to me. I shot a doe one opening morning of firearms season. Went to gut her out and saw a blood trail leading up to it, not from me. I went back and sat in my stand for another couple hours, no one showed, so I tagged the deer and took her home. What'r you gonna do?

Sux to be on the end of your buddy though.

[crown_seven]

Yeah Im not saying anyone was wrong it just sucks to lose any deer like that, it was his biggest deer to date. I told him well then you can still get out and spend some time in the wooods I guess.

[DonBo]

I told him well then you can still get out and spend some time in the wooods I guess.

Nothing wrong with that line of reasoning.

[ARROW 1]

I wouldn't feel right taking that deer. I would have came back the next morning and waited for the hunter if I had that option. A deer that big you know someone is going to come looking for it.

[Big A]

Have him say to himself..

"self... i may have lost the best deer of my life so far. But I just made a young kids dream come true because he got the deer of a lifetime.. and is now even more proud to be a part of our sport."

assuming that it wasnt some wicked awesome trophy hunter with several on the wall already that got it...

[96trigger]

Put yourself in the other guys shoes.

Scenario One:

Deer walks by, later in the evening as it is getting dark, you shoot it, it falls. By now its dark out, you field dress it, take it home. At what point do you even realize that it was hit twice? Do you even notice?

Although, If I were the other guy and the deer tipped over in front of me and died and I never shot it, I would follow the blood trail in reverse to try and find the owner. Obviously it was still light enough to see. Probably would have madea friend for life.

I know that you are not saying anything bad about the guy, but sometimes it might help you not think the worst if you can visualize from the other guys point of view.

[Bear55]

I have to agree with trigger, lots of scenarios where the guy could be innocent and a few where he was a jerk. You guys did the right thing by backing out but you had some incredibly bad luck. Keep hunting.

[Svinekotelett]

why did he wait till morning. U gotta track clean shots immediatlly!

[iceman1603]

think he said it was a marginal hit. Besides that Unless I see a deer that ive shot crash im waitin at least 1\2 hour to an hour. been in on a couple trackin jobs and bumped wounded deer to other property or into cars. Im waitin it out just to be sure..

[Wanderer]

crown_seven, don't take this the wrong way since this is just a comment in general.

I've read a lot of posts about backing out after a shot and not looking for the deer until the next morning. I can understand if a person knows its a bad hit but what I don't understand is why it's such a common bit of advice after a shot is made just before dark even when the hit is assumed to be good.

In my opinion folks owe it to themselves to at least track a deer a reasonable distance to get an idea of how well it is indeed hit.

Clues come from the hair at the point of impact, pass through or not, blood/meat/tallow/stomach contents on the arrow if its there, how soon the blood starts, color of the blood, is it frothy (lungs), does the blood increase or decrease as you go, is it coming out of one side or both on the deer, how high is the blood on braches and grass?

The information is usually there.

Yes you should wait for some time to let the deer expire but a half hour is usually more than enough on a decent shot. I actually investigate the point of impact quickly if light is fading fast just so I can mark it and pick up those clues. Wait at that point.

This isn't meant to sound like a rant so don't anybody take it that way, it's just the way I see it. I have helped track several deer into the wee hours after a poor hit and have made a few myself. Usually you can get a solid feeling of what you're in for before the first 100 yards are followed.

O.K., off the box now.

[Wanderer]

think he said it was a marginal hit. Besides that Unless I see a deer that ive shot crash im waitin at least 1\2 hour to an hour. been in on a couple trackin jobs and bumped wounded deer to other property or into cars. Im waitin it out just to be sure..

Actually he said, "He thought he hit him where he was aiming" which could mean a few things but I assume he intended a good clean shot.

[tipup]

Wanderer,

I agree with your first post, to many hints out there to tell a person if it is good, ok or bad hit. I feel for the guy and hope he gets another chance at another good deer!!

[bigbucks]

I would agree with your posts. Even if I know it wasn't a good hit I would follow it until the signs tell me I need to wait until morning. Sometimes deer even from what looks like a bad hit die very quickly.

I shot a yearling doe close to dark one night several years ago & I knew I hit her too far back. I went to the house & ate supper, happened to be at my folks. My brother-in-law then arrived, he was coming for duck opener the next day, & we talked about it. They both said it's pretty warm I think we better go look to at least make sure it's not already laying out there dead. I'd watched it run into the cornfield right by the stand. We followed a very weak blood trail 60-70 yards & there she lay. She was dead long before I left the stand & she was gut shot, but I must have hit an artery in the process & she bled inside.

[Musky Buck]

Not sure what type of land public or private not knowing another stand was so close by. Maybe a note on that stand about what took place in a zip-loc might help with your name and number. Another sad story might be the solo rifle cracks I've heard before dark this week. Some of MN's finest bucks are getting dropped this week. Back to it, I'd track that deer a ways because you may find the blood trail you are looking for, read the signs and clues. Very unfortunate situation.

[HOT SPOT]

Thats sucks. Hope he gets a bigger one.

[Stroh]

This is my first year bowhunting. I have not been bowhunting in 21 years. Too much time in the army. I finally got a chance to go and after 5 weeks of trying to get the 8 point buck that lived in my back yard, I did. I thought I missed him and then saw the arrow in his side. From my stand, it looked like a real bad shot, high toward the spine, and it was getting dark. I went to where he was hit, and there was very little blood. I walked in the direction he ran and found him 35 yards away. It was a good shot. I just decided to see where he left the woods to get to the bean field and mark the trail to find it in the morning, and there he was. Never made it out to the field. Not too bad for a first year bowhunt.

[NIBOWMAN]

I had a similar thing happen a few years back, but I was lucky. I took a shot at a large buck about 15 minutes befor sundown. I was confident in my shot, waited for 20 min. got down checked the site of the shot, good blood but no arrow. I marked the spot and headed for the truck to call my dad for help tracking, and to bring the lantern. About 1hr later we resumed the trail, as we came out of the river bottom and into the CRP grass we could see flashlights out in the tall grass. We tracked the blood trail another 30 yards to the buck. When the other two "hunters" walked up to us the one goes on to say that he was sitting in his stand when he say this big deer run into the CRP and drop over. They decided to come out and "find this deer for whoever shot it". I do not know if this story was true or not but I would hate to think what would have happened if I would have waited until morning. As true hunters and sportsman we should strive to do what is ethical and help each others as we would like to be helped.

[Stroh]

I always found that the best thing to do is to build a good repore with farmers and land owners. Private land is the way to go to avoid such situations. Get a plat map and talk to landowners in your area. Most are glad to allow bowhunters on their property.

[Heartman]

Doesn't take long for a deer that's been shot to sour up and spoil. You owe it to the deer to at least follow up a ways - waiting until morning means the deer will be bad in any case - particularly in above-freezing weather.

[InTheNorthwoods]

Doesn't take long for a deer that's been shot to sour up and spoil. You owe it to the deer to at least follow up a ways - waiting until morning means the deer will be bad in any case - particularly in above-freezing weather.

Whole heartedly disagree. When in doubt, back out. A deer will not go bad laying overnight unless it is very warm. You run a far greater risk of losing a poorly hit deer by going too soon and pushing a wounded deer than you do by waiting overnight and having it spoil. In fact, many poorly hit deer will take a long time to expire, so they actually aren't dead until hours after the hit, and therefore are not "spoiling".

Gutshot deer should always be allowed to lay at least 12 hours so you don't push it and so it can expire.

[DonBo]

Originally Posted By: Heartman

Doesn't take long for a deer that's been shot to sour up and spoil. You owe it to the deer to at least follow up a ways - waiting until morning means the deer will be bad in any case - particularly in above-freezing weather.

Whole heartedly disagree. When in doubt, back out. A deer will not go bad laying overnight unless it is very warm. You run a far greater risk of losing a poorly hit deer by going too soon and pushing a wounded deer than you do by waiting overnight and having it spoil. In fact, many poorly hit deer will take a long time to expire, so they actually aren't dead until hours after the hit, and therefore are not "spoiling".

Gutshot deer should always be allowed to lay at least 12 hours so you don't push it and so it can expire.

Totaly agree with InTheNorthwoods on this one. You can never fault a guy for backing out and waiting on a questionable hit. There is little chance of the meat spoiling overnight as long as temps are below 50 or so.

[Jim Uran]

But if there are coyotes around, don't wait too long!!!

[InTheNorthwoods]

But if there are coyotes around, don't wait too long!!!

Again, the odds are that you will lose the deer by pushing it too early far more often than coyotes will get to your deer and ruin it. Its just the way hunting is, its a gamble, and I will continue to play the odds.

And I have lost meat to pack animals by leaving a deer overnight (1 time). But I have never not found a deer by leaving them overnight either. I have seen several lost by others because of pushing them too early.