wounded deer question ?

[walleyeguy7]

I shot a huge buck on the evening of opening day and wounded it. I know that big bucks or deer in general are pretty tough critters. I searched for a day and a half for this buck (roughly 1 3/4 miles) on a blood trail that I am certain was a low brisket shot (long white wavy hair, lighter red blood with no foamy appearance) and lost the trail due to rain . Needless to say I am still sick, I would have rather missed completely. I have never wounded one before so I was hoping that someone could shed some light on what might happen to the big guy. I know that no one knows the extent of the wound, but I hear stories about people shooting deer with gun shot wounds and broadheads still in the deer. I hope the odds of the buck living, making it through the winter, are good, even if I dont see him again. Would such an animal ever go back to an area where it was wounded? Any info would be great (helping me sleep) just knowing that there is an animal out there in this condition is killing me. I try so hard to make a good ethical clean kill but this time buck fever must have gotten the best of me.

[GoggleEye]

Walleyeguy, I hate to tell you that there is no way to ever really know what will happen to him unless you find him or see him again. He may be just fine and bled a little bit and heal, he may have bedded down and bled to death, he could develop infection and eventually expire, or he may get harvested by someone else. Whitetails are some of the toughest critters alive, so I would venture to air on the positive side that he will be ok. A while ago I shot a big buck with my gun and when I caped him out, I found a brodhead lodged in his spine at the back of his neck! As for him coming back, he probably won't come back to your area anytime soon though. You did say he was a big buck and big bucks aren't big because they are stupid. He may come back in the spring however as this may be his home range and mature whitetails do not relate spring time as a time of being shot at, at least that is my opinion. Good luck and don't dwell on it, just try to make better shots in the future. Bad shots are going to happen, it's part of deer hunting.

[walleyeguy7]

Thanx, goggle eye. I know no one can give me a definite answer and what you said makes me feel alot better than I did, I appreciate that, thanx again

[RBuker]

I don't believe the shot was low brisket. Long white hair wouild seem to be the bottom of the belly. Longer and wavyer the farther back you go.

A couple of questions for you though. While you were tracking it, did it ever bed up? Was there blood in the beds? Did you jump it at all? Where most of the blood drops on the ground or where they wiped on grasses and trees?

Give me that info and I'll be more able to tell what kind of wound we are talking about.

[walleyeguy7]

yes the deer actually bedded on top of a ridge, I let him go overnight all I did was check the spot where I shot him that night then went back in the morning. he bedded up about ten feet from the neighbors stand and he didnt even know it until we trailed blood to him,(the blood in the bed was about the brisket area, maybe back a bit, but not alot of blood in the bed, we found more blood at places he had stopped to duck under branches etc.) so he kicked him out in the dark in the morning and the buck went down the ridge in to a very thick thicket and I jumped him about 15 yards. I could hear him but never saw him. I found that bed and it had a big chunk of tallow in it. then I trailed him to where he jumped a 5 foot barbed wire fence and found alot more tallow, he crossed the fence and a farmer shot at him twice and missed ( we were about 5 minutes behind the buck) the farmer gave us permission to enter to look for the blood trail but he was moving so fast we found nothing more then it rained. The blood was on the ground on leaves none on the trees or tall grass. I thought for sure I would find him but the farmer said he was moving pretty good. The property he ran into was a pine tree plantation, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. thanx for the reply Rbuker any info will help.

[harvey lee]

I dont believe you had anything more than a hard flesh wound. Many times those deer will bleed hard and then it will come to an end.

For the distance the deer traveled and then jumped a fence and kept going I do believe that he will be still out running. As far as where he will end up, who knows.

We also lost a buck like this last year from a arrow hit and it drove me crazy for a long time yet I know that we gave it our all to find it. It happens and all you can do is what you did. These deer are very tough critters.

[GoggleEye]

Ya, it definitely sounds like a flesh wound. I don't think he would have jumped a five foot fence if he was seriously injured. He would have gone around or snuck under or between the barb wire strands. I have a feeling that if he doesn't develop infection, he will be around for next year....provided he doesn't meet up with another hunter or a vehicle.

[bigbucks]

I also agree & think he will live. I'd also not be surprised to see him right back in that same area next year, possibly even this year.

I shot at a fawn with the rifle during the early antlerless season. I didn't think I'd hit it, it didn't look or act injured, yet I found a fair amount of blood. That deer walked to my brother about 200 yards from where I'd hit it & he had no idea it was injured, even after dropping it at 10 yards. When we rolled it over there was a small hunk of flesh missing from the brisket. The deer would have been just fine had he not shot it. A flesh wound can bleed a lot & not really hurt the deer much long term.

[DeanoB]

yep sounds like you grazed a portion of brisket, cousin made this same shot on a half rack buck, we trailed for 2 miles, kept jumping it with no shot. next day we drove the woods closest to last blood, he came out with some other deer, my uncle shot it & dropped it, and sure enough, chunk of brisket missing, and we had found tallow and hair with clots of blood in a few of the spots we jumped him.

[BeerHunter]

I had this happen with a BIG buck last year. I put the story on here last year. Trailed almost a mile lost trail, went out next day kicked him out, Ran like a champ.

Made it 400 yards into the woods where i last saw him. No blood. Im not saying that he is dead but you never know. Keep looking and hunting. Good luck.

Found him 3 weeks later , coyotes had its way Last years post

[walleyeguy7]

thanx for all the input guys I really do appreciate it! I know that this is all part of the game, it shouldnt be, but it happens, and I'm sure someday I'll get over it, I just cant shake the feeling quite yet, I hope he gets to spread his seed and lives to see a few more seasons, even if we dont see him again. I thank you all again. happy hunting

[Grant Pearson]

it take a while, a long while to shake the feeling. I've only wounded and lost one deer in almost 2 dozen that I've hit and it still bugs me. It really makes you think about the shot before letting anything fly.