Need some advice/encouragement

[nbadger23]

As I mentioned in Zach's thread, I shot a nice buck this morning but was afraid the shot was a tad high. I shot this deer at 8:45, at 12 yards, from a stand about 10 feet in the air. He took off running with the arrow still in him.

I waited until 9:15 and got out quietly. I went back in with a friend at 3:00 and after about 15 minutes we found blood. I was surprised to see the blood coming out the "off" side as I didn't think I got the arrow through. We also noticed that the track from his off side was deeper than the others. I can't say that it looked like a drag mark, just deeper.

We tracked decent blood, anywhere from quarter size to pin head size for 2.5 hours, sometimes easily walking and seeing it. There were a few spots where he stopped and I had a spot the size of a dinner plate. He never laid down and we never jumped him. We had to quit at about 6:00 as we were in thick brush and I only brought one flashlight (dumb) and we were getting to property I need to get permission on. I have the trail marked with pink tape the whole way so I'm good to go for the morning but I'm a bit down right now. He crossed a couple of nasty ravines that really surprised at but I know how they are on adrenaline.

I'm going to be out there again tomorrow morning and hope to find him but right now I'm frustrated and replaying the shot over and over. Been looking at a lot of anatomy pictures and wondering if I'm just below the artery across the top and above the lungs but not sure. I would think with the downward angle I'd clip the lungs but who knows. All I know is I'll be back out there again tomorrow looking again.

One cool thing was that the friend who helped me look is not a hunter and has never helped track but she was the one who found the blood trail and that was a neat moment.

[archerystud]

Funny you mention Zach as I just posted about not hunting after hitting a deer.

Your shot sounds very similar to the one I made that day. I basically hit the dead area between the lungs and spine. We tracked that deer from 9am to 5PM. We lost blood a few times but got on it again. Sorry to tell you I never found that deer but I think he lived to see another day.

If you did catch a single lung they can go a long ways.

Good luck.

[sportfish]

I hope you find ur deer some times they just won't go down !

I shot a nice buck tonight and he jumped few feet and stood there ! So I shot again and hit a branch !

And he just took area steeps ! So I treys again and the arrow hit by his feet ,

He took afew steps and by then it was to dark to see what was going on . So I will see in the morning

[sticknstring]

Sounds you you caught some high shoulder on entrance and brisket exit on passenger side. He's favoring the one leg. Probably 1 lung only. Low poundage fixed blade setup? Good luck tomorrow

[96trigger]

Good blood out the exit side should be a good sign. Bucks can go along ways, and he didn't bed down. To me, he is going to move until he drops. Chances are you could have only been 100 yards from him when he died. You said it got really think and you were running out of light. I'd put a little wager on him being holed up in that thick stuff. You will either kick him up tomorrow and he will live, or you will find him dead. Any blood on brances or anything higher up?

[nbadger23]

Thanks everyone.

Sticd - 48 lbs, 3 blade muzzy

Trigger - not much blood up high on branches but some....most of the blood on the exit wound side, but sometimes on both sides. I am also hopeful that if I don't end up finding him it's because he's alive.

[96trigger]

How far apart is the blood on both sides, drips, or is spraying a little bit? Any spray at all and it's a dead deer somewhere. Honestly if you have blood on both sides, I'd say chances go up significantly that it's a dead deer. Could be a higher hit and both cavities need to fill before he expires. I am still betting that if you didn't kick him up, he is not far from where you quit your search.

[FISHINGURU]

Hit em high say goodbye.

Hopefully not though, sounds like the same scenario my buddy had a couple seasons ago, we ended up tracking it for hours and the deer ended up going in a huge circle and coming back to dang near where it was originally shot and we lost blood, never found it.

Don't give up though, definitely go back to last blood and scan the whole area, he'll either clot up or bleed out.

[nbadger23]

Trigger, I haven't seen any spray that I can remember, mostly dime to quarter size drips and some spots with the area the size of a dinner plate where I would guess he stopped. When it's on both sides it's usually the width of his body or a bit more... It's outside the edges of a deer trail.

Waiting for good light and going back out. Gonna first try finding my arrow as we didn't look much for that yesterday after we found first blood, which was about 75 yards from my stand. Then go in from the other way to my marking tape line in a hope to stumble on something if he doubled back.

[ZachD]

Trigger, I haven't seen any spray that I can remember, mostly dime to quarter size drips and some spots with the area the size of a dinner plate where I would guess he stopped. When it's on both sides it's usually the width of his body or a bit more... It's outside the edges of a deer trail.

Waiting for good light and going back out. Gonna first try finding my arrow as we didn't look much for that yesterday after we found first blood, which was about 75 yards from my stand. Then go in from the other way to my marking tape line in a hope to stumble on something if he doubled back.

Good luck hopefully today is a good day for both of us

[hugonian1]

Good luck to you both.

Hope you find your bucks.

[nbadger23]

Picked up the trail again at 7:30 a.m.....still finding blood, sometimes on both sides sometimes not. He has not laid down yet.

[sportfish]

I found my buck ! A nice 11 point ! I hit him back alittle , he went 60 yard and the coyotes got him !

I don't no how to post pics

[snapcrackpop]

...I basically hit the dead area between the lungs and spine...

Not to turn this into a "Void" thread, but there is no void.

Deer can survive or live a long time from a "seemingly" fatal shot, just as some unbelievably lucky people do; but there is no "void" between the lungs and the spine. The lungs TOUCH the ribs. Also there is a lot of depth to the spine(backstraps area), from the vertebrae and dorsal spinous processes to the skin. Plus our memory and/or eyes are not as reliable as we believe.

[Scott K]

I found my buck ! A nice 11 point ! I hit him back alittle , he went 60 yard and the coyotes got him !

I don't no how to post pics

Great that you found him, but that sucks that the yotes got him.

[PropsterII]

Didn't you say he went across/thru two ravines? Double back or?

[nbadger23]

Unfortunately I could not find him. I tracked him for another 6 hours today and got stuck in a pine plantation. I found where he entered it, and found plenty of spots in the plantation but could never narrow down an exit route and this thing is surrounded by grassy fields. He actually did multiple circles in the plantation, almost as if he was following a scent trail. I also found two different scrapes where he stopped and did something as there was blood in the scrapes. I walked through both grass fields and circled around the edges of them multiple times, including checking the woods next to them and could never cut his trail again. I did talk to a few neighbors who I know are gun hunting in the area this weekend and asked them to keep an eye out. There no crows or ravens to be heard or seen in the area either so not much to go on.

I am a very tired and frustrated hunter right now. It's been 10 years since I've lost a deer and I could go another 50 years w/o this feeling again. I am holding out hope that he's still alive but who knows.

Thanks for all the input and encouragement.

[ozzie]

Bummer!! Hope he is still alive and maybe you will see him next year..who knows

[FISHINGURU]

I am holding out hope that he's still alive but who knows.

I'd gamble that he is still alive and doing fine from what you are saying.

Hit em high say goodbye is a saying I picked up from watching the Drury's. They hit a buck high like yours, trailed it, couldn't find it, hung cameras out to see if they could pick him up and within a couple days had film and pics of him tending scrapes. You could see the gash still on the deer clotted up and scabbed over.

[eyedr]

What is your location? I know a guy who said he found a buck on his property with an arrow that had green fletchings. Said it looked like a quartering away shot?

[nbadger23]

Eye.. I'm in Rochester.

[nbadger23]

Eye.. you're killing me here :-) My arrow had green and white fletchings and there was writing on the white fletching as rememberance of a friend who passed away last October.