wounded doe....

[walleyeaddict]

I shot a doe tonight. Shot seemed perfect. Complete broadside right behind the shoulder. Waited almost an hour...seen where she went in good blood trail at first then piddled to a drop here and there....trailed her for about a half mile gave up goin back in the a.m. ANYONE have any ideas? I am so frustrated! I dont like to brag but I am a pretty good shot. I have shot numerous coons over the years right through the head! Ready to throw my bow in the river. I just dont get it...I love venison the thought of a deer going to waste sickens me. Again any and all input appreciated. Just for the record I am not a green horn I am almost 30 and have been bowhunting since I was 12. HELP!!!

[troutmaster]

watch the HSO deer hunting podcast, and listen to what Harvey Lee says. Alot of good info in there about tracking.

[harvey lee]

It happens. We had a deer this weekend my son shot. He watched it drop about 50 yards from his stand. Approx 45 minutes later he walks over to the deer that he shot and thought he hit pretty good at an angle. The deer was bedded and jumped the fence and ran away. He came back to the house and approx 2 hours later we went back and jumped it again. We then left again and returned about 2 more hours later. There it was lying another 40 yards from where we had jumped it the second time still alive but not doing well. We dispatched it there.

This deer had been shot at a angle through the front shoulder and exited through the stomach area but the arrow never cleared the deer until it was jumped the first time and ran away. If the deer has the arrow in it, it will not leave any or very little blood as the entrance and exit holes are plugged.

If you pushed this deer for a half mile it is going to be very hard to find. The deer my son shot was hit fairly well through the chest cavity and was really bleeding bad internally but no vitals (heart,lung) were damaged badly. This deer was still alive after 5-6 hours after being shot.

I would wait until morning and go back out and see if you can pick up the blood trail. Walk slow and one may also have to look for hoof imprints in the dirt to keep tracking it.

Some shots dont always hit where we believe they do. What color was the blood? Was there any hair on the arrow or on the ground and what color was it? What color blood was on the arrow shaft. It may have been just a muscle hit up front a bit closer towards the brisket or one may have shot it a little high and hit it in the dead zone. They will bleed hard and then it may come to a stop.

Was the blood light red or pink? My guess would be a low hit or a bit up front which would bledd hard and the deer could run forever.

Good luck tracking it. As far as what happened, I do believe you missed the vital as a hard hit deer in the vitals should not have gone a half mile. You may also have pushed this deer to soon or to hard.

I would go back in the morning and try again and who knows, one may get lucky and find it.

GOOD LUCK.

[Deitz Dittrich]

More info--- Do you have your arrow?.. what kind of blood? How high up was your tree stand, and how far was the shot? Any chance at all that the shot was high, or the deer ducked the arrow some making the shot high? What did the deer act like when hit?... tail up? tail down? hunched back? Did the deer go in a straight line?

Any chance that there is still a blood trial and only stopped because it doubled back? It was cool enough last night that the meat shuld still be fine if recoverd this am..

Please do post back any info as you know it... Best of luck to you!!!

also, here is that podcast if you wish to have a listen.. Toms section is the 3rd interview... On tracking.

[walleyeaddict]

deitz went ou this am and no doe!! followed blood another 1/4 mile and then it stopped... White hair had arrow after 130 yards....I believe i was low...belly flesh wound. stand is about 20 feet. Liv and learn it still sickens me. she appeared to clot well hopefully she will make it.

[analyzer]

If you're not too terribly far away, I would consider helping you look... I'm in Oakdale.

[Deitz Dittrich]

Usually low shots are pass through shots no problem... I hate to say it, still guessing a high shot...

Very nice offer above to help!~

[bigbucks]

This sounds really familiar to me. I shot a doe Saturday night up at Ripley & must have hit her just a hair too far back & possibly a little low. The arrow blew right through her, but there was stomach dump on the arrow. I knew when she ran about 10 yards & stopped with her flag up that the hit wasn't quite right. I thought she teatered like she was going to go down, but then the other deer came running up, one of them saw me & they took off. It was about 20 minutes before dark & in light of where we were & needing to be out in not much over an hour I only waited about 5 minutes to get down, so I could check the sign. I looked around at the shot site & then followed blood for about 15 yards before losing it. Not liking the look of the situation, I took a quick look around in the surrounding 75 yards or so which was quite open. I just wanted to make sure she hadn't dropped right close by, she hadn't. I knew that all the deer had left the area unless one had collapsed. We waited until good light & got down to track. Followed her 200-300 yards & the trail gave out near a swamp, but it didn't look like she went into it. There were blowdowns everywhere. I looked through them, but couldn't find her nor anymore sign. She's undoubtedly dead or will be, but we could not find her. It sucked, as I had a good opening & it should have been a slam dunk. I feel I may have just aimed back a bit too far. I've shot a lot of deer with my bow & find this one to be inexcusable. I didn't sleep well at all on Saturday night.

[tealitup]

The bear, coyote and possibly timber wolf populations in Ripley eat very well the next couple of weeks. Nothing is wasted up there. I know you feel bad about your loss; but other animals will be helped

[bigbucks]

I know, I thought of that, but you second guess yourself & it's just not what you want to do.

[harvey lee]

bigbucks

I know how you feel. many years and many deers and every so often I hit one bad. A guy looks forever and should but there are times when it just is a less than perfect shot.

We lost a nice buck last season and I still think about it but who knows, with the distance it traveled and the little amount of blood it lost, it probably lived.

It does stink but happens to all every so often. I realize this does not help how you feel but you are not the only dude in this boat.

All we can do is try our best and let the chips fall where they may. When one has done everything they can do as far as making sure your gear is in good shape, pratice and take high percentage shots, then you have covered all your bases.

[analyzer]

So when do they invent some sort of tracking device... something that is in the bullet, or with the broadhead, that allows you to track the deer with GPS... or maybe it's just a florescent ink that explodes on contact, and drips off the outside of the deer...or something that stays with the deer that puts off some sort of audio...

I remember watching this show when I was little, national geographic, or similar, the natives would shoot the monkey with an arrow that had colored yarn or string attached. The monkey, upon being hit, actually thinks the colored string is suppose to go back into it's body. So it sits there and tries to stuff it back in. In the mean time, it bleeds to death... or dies from poision, can't remember. Had the string not been there, they'd have run off in the jungle, and wouldn't be found.

There ya go, maybe we should be tipping our arrows with some sort of poison... hunt with blow darts.

[bigbucks]

Harvey,

thanks, I realize that too, like you it's not the first time for me either. There are guys that don't seem to understand that just because you lost a deer doesn't mean you're a slob hunter. I always find it interesting when guys say they've never lost a deer & then you ask them, how long have you been hunting or how many deer have you shot. You get answers like 4 years or I've shot 3, 4, 5 deer whatever. The more you hunt & the more deer you shoot the better the odds of things going wrong some of the time. You just have to try to figure out what happened, if you can, & go on.