Dead or alive?????

[Musky hunter 82]

A buddy of mine shot a nice buck last Saturday morning, it was at 20 yards broadside. He must have hit a twig or something because he hit it right in front of the rear leg (only about 8" of penetration). Instead of letting it lay they went after it right away, jumpped it twice then lost blood, they looked a little more the following Sunday, but didn't grid out the area. The total distance it went with the arrow still in it was around 200-300 yards, it made it to a river bottom that has a lot of swamp grass, brush and trees around it. The question is what are the chances that this buck is still alive??? I haven't had a chance to help look for it yet, but I don't want to go trompping around down there during season to look, since others hunt down there. I know if it happened to me I would have let it lay for a good 4-6 hours, and then did a grid search once I lost blood.

[so haaad]

Hard to say without seeing the shot. But if it was a gut shot then chances are that it's dead. Personally I would have backed out after the first time that they bumped the deer and let it be awhile. Then really search the area Saturday night and/or Sunday.

[musky hunter]

8" of penetration is right into the middle of the body cavity. I don't think the animal has good chances of survival. Likely ran out of blood because it is bleeding out, there can be significant internal bleeding and you can't track that. It's worth looking for the animal. Good luck.

[Wanderer]

It may have stopped leaving blood if the intestines worked into the hole and plugged it. I would be suprised if that deer lives. Just how long it will take for him to pass with an arrow and broadhead wrecking his intestines, I don't know. But I can say I'd be scouring that river bottom.

[sticknstring]

I agree with a dead deer. Always wait when in question with the shot.

[DonBo]

Yep, big mistake following a gut shot deer right away. If they'd have left it for 6 or 8 hours, chances are he'd of been laying right where they first jumped him.

Live and learn...

[Musky hunter 82]

Ok here's some more information I was able to gather this weekend. THe arrow only went in about 4-6", and there was only blood on it, as well as the blood that was seen didn't have any gut matter in it. I wasn't able to look this weekend, since a guy Muzzy hunts down there. So with this new information do you guys still think that it would be dead, or did he just stick it in the rear leg and not make it into the guts?

[DonBo]

Your first post said "in front of the rear leg". That's guts. Dead deer.

Now maybe it wasn't in front of the rear leg. Maybe in the leg. If that's the case, there's only one thing there that will kill it, the femoral artery. If you hit that, he will bleed out in seconds.

Too many variables here to know exactly what happened.

[Bear55]

I will agree with the others and say dead deer. Now with the new info I still say dead deer if you hit him in the guts. However, our eyes can pull tricks on us and it is possible you missed the guts and hit some meat in the leg or just below the guts without doing much damage there is a chance the deer survived. The odd thing is on meat shots the deer will bleed for a long long time and you still won't get him. All I can say is look for crows and good luck, there is a chance he survived but it's anyone's guess at this point.

[GatorBait]

Any update on this Musky? Curious to know what the outcome was.