Need advice

[erikh45]

Tonight I was still hunting and shot a doe at about 25 yds. The shot was up a decent hill and ended up going a little high and a litle forward. I thought it was probably a high lung hit. I let her lay for an hour and went to look at the blood trail. with a flashlight I could actually see her bedded at the bottom of the very steep hill. Her head was up and she was alert. I decided to give it a couple more hours. I went back after a couple hours and approached from the other side. Before I could get to where she was bedded she got up and went up the hill. There is very little blood in this bed, but she must have gotten up, moved 20 yds and stood there waiting to see what I was going to do as I got closer because there is alot of blood where she stood. The blood is deep red in color and is not good lung blood. The arrow (Rage 2 blade) only got about 6" of penetration and then came out. My plan is to wait until the morning and then go back out. The only thing that makes me doubt myself is the color of the blood, and the fact that we are supposed to be getting some flurries tonight (80% chance). I have shot alot of deer in the past and have lost very few. I just figured I would throw this up to see if anyone has any other ideas or words of wisdom. I will gladly welcome any and all advice and support.

[mabr]

Id say your plan is the best one right now. She bedded pretty quick so shes hurting. And she hasnt quit bleeding. Most likely shes gonna bed again not far from where you last seen her as long as (sounds like you didnt) push her anymore.

I would wait. It stinks but if you were to go after her now and jump her again who knows what could happen.

Hope shes bedded down and waiting for you whenever you go out.

[buckhunter21]

Sounds like a shoulder shot to me, but if you got 6 inches of penetration you should have made it into the chest cavity and gotten a lung and if thats the case shes a dead deer. If you didnt get an exit hole she might have been laying on the side with no hole and thats why there would be little blood in her bed but she is probably bleeding internally. I would let her lay till morning and chances are she didnt go very far after kicking her up. On a down side if it was a shoulder shot and you didnt get enough penetration to get into the chest she probably wont die, or at least not right away, my friend shot a buck a couple years ago that was shoulder shot and we eventually kicked it up after hours of tracking and never found it, but he saw it again a few weeks later during rifle season out walking around.

But it sounds like you got enough penetration so hopefully she is an easy find in the morning. I guess all you can do now is let her lay and try to get some sleep tonight. Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes.

[Archerysniper]

Wait till morning and hopfully you don't get alot of snow it will still show up through a little snow,with dark red almost purple looking blood that comes from a muscle hit like a front shoulder or hind quarter. In her bed was the blood at the front half or back half of the bed high or low on the side you can get alot of info from were one has beded on were it was hit also the blood will soak through the snow like a sponge and not look like much on top but is pooled up under it. Good luck and hopfully a fresh backstrap dinner tomorrow.

[erikh45]

I am assuming that she was bedded with the wound on the top side and was not bleeding much because of that. After she ran up the hill and stopped to look back there was alot of blood. I am guessing we jumped her, she ran a bit, and when she stopped the blood ran out of the wound and down her body. I am prety confident, I will let you all know.

Thanks for the votes of confidence. This is one of the few deer that I have taken from the ground. It is a whole different ball game than watching them come in from a tree stand.

Erik

[96trigger]

I think you will find her tomorrow. She bedded down pretty quick and sounds like she was still bleeding an hour later, she should bleed out eventually. I will cross my fingers for you.

[sticknstring]

Yeah she's definitely hurting. As long as you backed out quitely the 2nd time, I'd guess she'd lay back down and stiffen up pretty quick. Best of luck on the recovery efforts this morning - I hope you find her.

[InTheNorthwoods]

The shot was up a decent hill and ended up going a little high and a litle forward.

This is the statement that concerns me a little bit as far as being able to recover the deer. When you say the shot ended up a little high, is that considering the uphill too? With an uphill angle, the path of the arrow will be continuing upwards meaning a high hit could actually create a wound channel that is even higher in the body than you first think. If the blood is a darker color (deep red) it is possible that you missed the vitals entirely and made what then would be a likely non lethal hit in the muscle of the backstraps or neck. This is especially likely if the shot was further forward than the front shoulder line, as it gets easier to miss above the spine as you move forward.

This is just something to consider when analyzing the blood trail and shot. I wish you nothing but the best and hope that you make a quick recovery of the deer. Good luck!

[erikh45]

Northwoods, I agrree with you, it is the exact opposite of shootong out of a tree.

As an update: I went out this mornig for a few hours. We got 4 inches of fresh snow. I could only find the last bit of blood that we had found. I decided to do a grid in the general direction that the deer had gone. There were 3 does in a patch of mountain ash berry trees and they fled in the direction of a bedding area. I continued my grid search for two hours and then went back to the truck to warm up. After getting warmer I decide to walk through the bedding area to the west (and the same direction the deer had gone.) When I got up there I found three does bedded. They jumped and ran. I went to inspect one of the beds and found that it had blood in it. Not alot, and it was darker almost clotted type blood. I am guessing that the shot was too high and it was not fatal (yet). Two of the three deer were still within sight when I checked the bed. They just stood there watching. I backed out and backtracked the trail. It turns out that one of the deer I saw in the mountain ash was the wounded one. There was the smallest fleck of blood on her trail.

My plan at this point is to sit in my stand near the bedding area to see if I can get another crack at her. I am also going to check the bedding area from time to time the next few days to see if she dies.

[Scoot]

Well, it didn't end like you'd hoped. However, I think your plan of attack has been pretty good. Good luck at getting another crack!