Eh, leaving doe overnight....

[deerminator]

I've never done this before but tonight, about an hour before dark I nailed a doe in the soybeans from the ground blind. Yes, I thought as I heard the thunk but then as she turn and spun, the arrow was about half way in her and further back than I'd like. I didn't think too far back but then she just ambled off over the hill. Tail was up. I lost sight of her obviously and waited for a few minutes. Then I slowly walked back to the truck (in the opposite direction) and took a break. I fired it up and drove the township roads that circled the soybean filed for any movement or sign but none. As it was getting dark, now and I'm not entirely certain of the shot placement, I breifly re-entered the field, crested the hill, looked around a little bit (no blood found but it was dark) and backed out. I figure with the temps in the 30s tonight, it should be ok to leave her overnight. But I've never hit a deer that far back before. I'll be back tomorrow but any tips would be appreciated. She didn't really run like she was gut shot so I figure I'd start by looking for blood and then doing circles around where I last saw her in the beans. Lots of groves of trees interspersed with the ag lands and one nearby with a big creak, so I might focus there too.

[Archerysniper]

If she was a little quatering away you might of stuck the oppsite shoulder wich would leave alot of arrow hanging out. normally with a gut shot you will get a pass through and if you don't push them the will bed down normally within 100 yards of the shot and you will find little or no blood. You did the right thing by not pushing her that is the worst thing you can do. Good luck and looking forward for some pics tomorrow.

[deerminator]

Thx! Yes, she was quartering away. And it all happened so fast it was hard to tell where the hit was. The arrow swung a bit as she ran so it was hard to tell exactly where it was. I was a little mad at myself for re-entering the field but I wondered if she went down right over th hill. And I didn't see any deer running while I was doing my brief search and I would have heard her tearing through the beans if she was running. Bottom line, I didn't conduct a manhunt and I was moving slow. Crossing my fingers. I've only lost one deer in my 7 plus years hunting and I was sick to my stomach over it.

[bmc]

I agree with Archerysniper. I bet your arrow hit the opposite shoulder and your doe is dead just over the hill. Good job on not pushing her....."when in doubt.......back out!"

Looking forward to pics in the morning!

Brian

[deerminator]

Thx. I'm hoping so. I'm half thinking about going back out tonight but its a biiiig soybean field and I'm thinking it will be much easier to see her in the morning. Better safe than sorry too in case the hit wasn't quite what I thought it was. I'm just hoping the coyote arent out if it was as good a hit as I think.

[Archerysniper]

Well if you think the yotes might get her it's been at least 4 hours since you shot I would give it another hour and if you can get close with the truck shine the field for her with a spot light if you have one and see if you can locate her. The best thing you can do and I know it's hard to do is still wait till morning if it's a gut shot or one lung they can survive for a long time it's best to just leave her alone and stiffen up.

I had a friend that gut shot one during the rifle season with the bow that I watched him shoot and it went 50 yards and bedded down we waited 4 hours and went back in after her and saw her get up out of the bed and walk 20 yards and bed back down so we left her till morning and went back out and she was still in the same bed we got to 30 yards from her and she stood up and started to run thats when I dropped her with the muzzleloader otherwise she would have got away.

If she has bedded and you jump her all you probably have is tracks to follow most times they will either clot or push grass and leaves into the wound and you will not have a bloodtrail to follow it's allways better to leave them over night if you jump them your odds of finding the get cut almost by half.

[Rippinlip]

Great advice, wait til morning and you will find her.

If you can try to keep the wind in your favor, I know it might be tough, but if she is still not expired, you do not want to give her any advanced warning.

Good searching and post some pics.

[deerminator]

Thanks guys. We searched all morning from sunup til Noon - walking the field, nearby woods and ravines. Really not much blood to go on. I am going to look one more time by myself this afternoon but not hopeful. Appreciate the advice.

[ARROW 1]

I shot a buck last year that got in close 8yrds. My arrow lodged onto the front shoulder. Had good blood at first then almost nothing. With no exit hole there is only one hole for the blood to come out and the body cavity will fill up. We did a grid pattern search where we last found blood and found it. You might not be looking for blood anymore. Your looking for a deer laying in the thick stuff.

Good luck hope you find her.

[deerminator]

Thx. Still no sign and I did walk through all the woodslots and swamps slowly. They started combining the fields this afternoon so I got out and will probably not find her. I'll talk to the farmer tommorrow but I doubt they'll run across her. The last time I saw her was in the beans, though. I'll may move that particular set-up next week, though my blind is right near a prime travel corridor into bedding areas and to the corn. Kind of a sour way to end that spot, but more so for the waste if she didn't make it.

[harvey lee]

Great work on doing about everything to recover the deer. So many times hunters give up way to soon.

Sooner or later we all lose an animal and it is a bad feeling but one can only do so much to try and find the deer.

Way to go by hanging in there and searching. You are a true hunter.

[goblueM]

i just shot a little doe this morning... i touched off the release sooner than i wanted and gut shot her. my instinct told me to wait until tonight to go lookin, but my buddy really wanted to take a peek (3 hours after the shot)

sure enough, she'd gone about 120 yards and bedded in the first cover she saw. gave a donkey-like braying wheeze when we jumped her. we just backed out and i'm about to go to class..

you think i should wait til morning, or safe to go back tonight at 4 or 5? frustrated with myself for following up a poor shot with a worse decision to look for her too early

[Scoot]

Yeah, that's a bummer. But like was said above- excellent effort!

Goblue-- Today at 4:00 would be about an eight hour wait, right? If it were me, I'd go then-- eight hours is a good amount of time to wait.

[deerminator]

Thanks again Harvey and guys. I'm not patting myself on the back but my legs hurt by Saturday night. Still, I kept thinking about the doe the whole time. If there's any silver lining, I got some scouting in along the way, finding some ravines with creeks running through them next to the corn and lots of buck sign around. Good luck Goblue. I think that sounds like the plan. I'd get out there to give yourself at least a few hours before dark.

[sticknstring]

6-8 hours minimum on an average deer. 8-10 hrs on a larger bodied buck. It takes time. You have to remember the meat isn't going to spoil if they're still alive. You might lose the tenderloins, but that's about it. If you know you hit them back, give them time and 9/10 you'll find them within 300 yards, usually much closer. Even in areas with high coyote populations, it's better to wait than push the deer. I hope you find her goblueM.

[goblueM]

well, went back at 4:30... only to find the neighbors chainsawing literally 40 feet from where we saw her last

pretty sure she got bumped again. Searched the entire property and the neighbors were nice enough to allow us to search their property as well... no dice. Can't figure out where she went. I guess the only chance now is to see some crows or vultures... pretty bummed, both at the end result and for not listening to that voice in my head to wait the first time around.

[deerminator]

Sorry to hear goblueM. I feel your pain. On another note, this whole thing has caused me to re-educate myself on the reaction a deer has on various marginal hits and best practices on the potential recovery. I think is what you make of it. I was trying to think of what I could have done differently next time around in my situation. Perhaps wait longer before searching and/or have more searchers than a few people.

One another site, one poster commented on another poster's shoulder hit deer. He said that in that situation, the best thing to do is to actually push the deer without making them flee to the next county so they tear the arrow around and do more damage. Not sure I'd agree with it. But if I did have a shoulder hit, I'm wondering if I shouldn't have slowly began to push her if I could see her while I was doing it. Doesnt make a lot of sense to me to do that though.