Wounded doe tonight.

[Powerstroke]

I shot a doe/small fawn tonight around 5pm. I thought I heard it crash. I waited another half hour and decided to look before it got dark. I found an amazing blood trail and the arrow looked perfect.

After following the trail for more than 200yds I decide to back out and call for help. We began looking again at 7 and went for an hour. All of a sudden we heard something and the deer was standing there look at us. I can't believe I didn't bring my bow with me. I thought it was too dark, but if I had my bow this story would be over right here.

Instead the deer limped away just faster than we could follow. There is still a blood trail so we backed out until tomorrow. The deer wasn't exactly spooked so I'm hoping she beds back down nearby.

Tomorrow morning can't come fast enough. I'm not even so worried about the meat as I am about recovering my animal. I want to see the shot placement and see this thing through.

[Jack Peterson]

Should have pulled a John Rambo and knifed it...or maaayybbeee not. I had a buddy that ran after a wounded doe, jumped on her back, shoved his knife in the neck and pulled through the throat. We were like "Woah! that deer is not a member of Al-Quaeda man!"...kind of creepy actually.

Good luck finding it! Hope the yotes don't find it first.

[slabchaser]

when they have lost a lot of blood, ive noticed they will act goofy since not all there senses are working on all cylinders. Good luck on the recovery

[harvey lee]

The exact same thing happened to a friend of mine this weekend. He thought he had a great hit, waited for a little over an hour and found alot of blood. Walked a ways a jumped the deer. He left it and we went back about 6 hours after it was shot. We jumped it again beddded down by a log and it got up weak, about 20 yards away. We left and went back this am and found a couple drops of blood and the deer was gone.

After we jumped it where it was bedded down, ther was blood and stomach matter in the bed. Looks like it was shot in the gut and we never recovered that doe.

[shawn1982]

That happened to me a few years back....I was muzzleloading on a friends land. I had two bucks come out at about 90 to 100 yards and of the two i picked the closest one to me. I thought i double lunged him as i watched him go up over the hill on a steady walk. I waited about 10 minutes and got down and crept over the hill only to find him standing there looking at me bout 30 yards out. I got down and watched him turn his back and walk away. Since it was pretty much dark i took off my orange jacket to mark the spot and went back to the truck. I made a few phone calls and went in to town to pick up a friend and step dad and three flashlights. we got back out there bout 7 that night. We found a great blood trail and found a few spots where he had laid down. about 10 yards from the last spot we knew he laid down the blood trail just stopped. We assumed he had clotted up and was on the go and boy were we right. There was a grove of trees about a half mile from us where we thought he might head to so my step dad took off in that direction. My friend and I backtracked to see if we could pick up the blood trail again and before we knew it my step dad was back to us saying hes in the grove. So away we went and sure enough he was bedded down unable to stand. All we could see was his antlers turning in the grass cause he was to weak to get up (Mind you this was quite the nine pointer) . As we stood there trying to come up with a game plan of what to do the big guy stumbled to his feet and started to walk down a finger of a revene. we knew if he got in the revene we were in for one heck of a night...considering it was already 10 p.m. We caught up to him and got in front of him and blinded him with flashlights as my friend took a knife to his throat. Its not something I would recommend and the scene was a bit horrific but we got an animal that might of slipped away and later parished and went to waste. (hell if im feeding yotes!) I always wonder about that situation though and what if I would have backed out and waited for the next day??? Would he have completly clotted up and made it to where i would have never found him with no blood trail? Or was what we did the best case scenerio? we later found out i missed both lungs by about an inch. I honestly can say that in cold weather (0 degrees or less) a deer has a good chance of clotting up and making it far enough to wear you might not find him but eventually will die. To me thats a huge waste of an animal. I think i did the right thing.

[psepuncher]

We began looking again at 7 and went for an hour. All of a sudden we heard something and the deer was standing there look at us. I can't believe I didn't bring my bow with me. I thought it was too dark, but if I had my bow this story would be over right here.

I think you're right. It may not sit well in line with regulations....?

But good luck on the recovery, with a good blood trail you'll get her.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Good luck! Please update when you can.

[sticknstring]

Good luck - Hope you're dragging her out this morning.

[mrklean]

good luck i hate the feeling of leaving a deer over night

[R. Miller]

Good luck today.

[DonBo]

Hope he's late checking in 'cause it's a long drag. Got my fingers crossed.

[bigbucks]

Me too, stuck one last Monday morning & lost it. It had fallen after 50 yards & trailed it 300 yards out on to a lawn & couldn't follow it. Checked the whole woods couldn't find any sign. Thought it probably was lost in a cornfield, but they combined all three nearby fields this weekend & no deer, not sure what happened to her.

[Powerstroke]

Well, no dice. My story is almost exactly like Harvey Lee's. Only thing is I never found a bed. I'm not quite sure why this deer never bedded down.

We had bright red blood right up to the point we couldn't find anymore. It didn't wash away or anything. It just stopped. Unfortunately this is a metro management hunt so the trail went cold in someone's backyard. With so few hiding spots its amazing how hard it is to lose a deer.

Either this deer will turn up dead in someone's yard or they will see it in two weeks when they hunt again.

I'm just sick over it, but I feel better knowing I did everything I could.

[RumRiverRat]

You did what you could.

Don't beat yourself up over it.

[Wensel]

Sorry to hear, that stinks

Those fawns have driven me nuts in the past.

The lungs are about the size of a softball so a one lung shot comes often.

I have seen these one lungers go along way and live four or more hours.

Good effort looking, thats what bowhunters do.

I live by: if its a fawn the Z7 better break some bone on the way through the shoulder!

[pikehunter]

Had a very similar thing happen on opening day. Definitely not a cool feeling, but you can rest easier knowing you did all you could.

[mrklean]

had one similar 2 years ago shot was a little lower then i thought the blood went dry but luckily we kept walking and found a few specs of blood then found the deer alive and bedded, it was really tough to find the blood after awhile. Stinks it was a metro hunt or i bet you would have had better odds of finding her

[Dark Cloud]

That stinks, but it's part of the game sometimes.

They can be tough creatures for sure...

[anchor man]

so do you think many wounded deer make full or nearly full recoveries t or do you think fatigue, disease, blood loss etc, finish them off. Just curious, I'm getting back into bow hunting after many years and dread wounding something.

[Rippinlip]

PS sorry to hear you loss her.

Better times ahead.

Sounds like you did everything you could, just one of those things.

Isn't it amazing how we remember the "lost deer" over all the deer we taken.

I remember the one deer I lost tracking, actually my Dad shot, but I know I have forgotten some of my harvests.

[harvey lee]

It does stink Andy but you did all you could.

It happens to the best of them once in awhile.

[Powerstroke]

Its hurts more because the rules change when doing these metro hunts. You want to be very careful and thorough but the rules keep me from searching everywhere or going back and searching tomorrow.

[archerystud]

It happens.

I got a doe a few years ago and I thought I had nailed her but I hit her a little low and got a single lung.

I was in no hurry that night so I let the deer go for a couple hours as it was cold out. I was glad I let her go as I never would have found her and I thought I had put a perfect shot on her. I got really lucky on that one.

[DonBo]

so do you think many wounded deer make full or nearly full recoveries t or do you think fatigue, disease, blood loss etc, finish them off. Just curious, I'm getting back into bow hunting after many years and dread wounding something.

Our group has shot many deer over the years with obvious arrow wounds from days gone by. A sharp broadhead makes a good clean cut that heals very quickly and cleanly. Some have been found to have broadheads still stuck in a bone. These have a nice smooth growth over them and did not show any signs of being any worse for their close calls.

So, to answer your question, yes, I believe with many less than perfect hits the deer lives to see better days.

[Finlander]

The buck I arrowed in Ripley last year had a boradhead stuck in the shoulder that was totally healed over. No scars, nothing to indicate it was in there.

Almost cut my self not knowing it was there. And it was still razor sharp!