I am really bumming

[Stretchhunts]

Geno, each case is different. Like I stated I love bow hunting and don't just go out a sling arrows at deer b/c i hate to loose or wound a deer. I relize shooting a deer with a bow is a whole different ball game then shooting one with a gun.I also agree that some do get down way to early and go after the deer which pushes them. I will admit I was ready to jump out of my stand after I shot it but knew to call my uncle and he calmed me down and told me to sit tight and not to move until he got to me which was 45 mins after I shot it. My lesson learned is unless I know for sure 100% the deer is down and not going to move I will let it sit over night.  and feel free to post on any of my topics not that you need my permission but I've been around enough to know to have a thick skin.

Mike

[whitetailfreak]

Everyone is allowed their own opinion not saying anything about that just no reason to assume that its because someone doesn't practice or just doesn't know what they are doing there are a lot of varibles that can be and unless you are there don't belittle anyonemyou can have your opinion anytime you want,just remember that doesn't mean you are right

[Doewhacker]

Typically high lung hits spray out onto braches and leaves higher up and may not even hit the ground due to the misty like spray that comes out. Also a high lung hit deer can and will go for a very long distance, especially bucks. You found blood early most likely due to the fact he was going slow and stopping, once his pace picked up, the spraying started. You may have only sliced a lung with one blade of your broad head with that high of a hit.

By the way, where I hunt water can be found in every direction and deer pay zero attention to it. A wounded deer can and will do anything it can to escape you. Good luck.

[Caveman]

I've found that wounded deer typically head for water.  We had one a few years back run to a creek, run IN the creek about a half mile and then jump out and run...no blood trail to follow.  Check out known water sources, if it's dead I'll bet money he's there or somewhere nearby.

[Geno C]

Geno, each case is different. Like I stated I love bow hunting and don't just go out a sling arrows at deer b/c i hate to loose or wound a deer. I relize shooting a deer with a bow is a whole different ball game then shooting one with a gun.I also agree that some do get down way to early and go after the deer which pushes them. I will admit I was ready to jump out of my stand after I shot it but knew to call my uncle and he calmed me down and told me to sit tight and not to move until he got to me which was 45 mins after I shot it. My lesson learned is unless I know for sure 100% the deer is down and not going to move I will let it sit over night.  and feel free to post on any of my topics not that you need my permission but I've been around enough to know to have a thick skin.

Mike

well put mike. 

i am not the best at hunting and i dont want to come across like that. there are actually a bunch of members who know way more then me... as a hunter, i love what i do and i do care alot for the deer. i hate to see wounded deer or suffering deer, but like we all stated it is reality and it happens. i just caught your thread and it happened to be the one i vented in. no harm no foul.

thanks for not taking me the wrong way...

[whitetailfreak]

That's what I'm talking about a respectfull opinion,and one who disagrees is not a child because you don't like what he is saying and I didn't single anyone out but if the shoe fits.

[QB1]

You can look at it this way too...not many hunters are going to want to talk or post about the one that they wounded or could not find...it happens all the time maybe this year we just have more hunters opening up about their unfortunate situation.  I bet if we were able to compare the numbers (deer hit but not recovered) year to year they would be very similar.  That being said if we are ever put in this type of situation when we get home at night and look at ourselves in the mirror and can honestly say I've done all I could (practiced, gave the deer time to expire, made sure my bow is "tip top" called the searchers etc etc) then we just have to learn to be contempt with that.  Is it going to sit with you for a while, of course its gutwreching but as stated in a earlier reply, learn from it and do everything in your power to minimize the chances of repeating this scenario.

[First-light]

I started a thread on years hunting and deer wounded and not recovered by gun and bow. I found it interesting that the numbers were very low, good for us and the deer.

[Stretchhunts]

Typically high lung hits spray out onto braches and leaves higher up and may not even hit the ground due to the misty like spray that comes out. Also a high lung hit deer can and will go for a very long distance, especially bucks. You found blood early most likely due to the fact he was going slow and stopping, once his pace picked up, the spraying started. You may have only sliced a lung with one blade of your broad head with that high of a hit.

By the way, where I hunt water can be found in every direction and deer pay zero attention to it. A wounded deer can and will do anything it can to escape you. Good luck.

all the blood was on the ground even the blood spots with bubbles, only a few spots on branches etc. I'd post up a few of the blood pics but not sure if it is PC on here or not.

[Doewhacker]

I don't see it as a problem, I mean it is a hunting web site after all. I say go for it, but I am only one man.

[Geno C]

I started a thread on years hunting and deer wounded and not recovered by gun and bow. I found it interesting that the numbers were very low, good for us and the deer.

some may have not have seen it. I did add in there i lost a buck last year. i know the feeling. i kicked myself hard for it. i gave the deer almost an hour before getting down to check for blood, i made the decsion to back out and my dad insisted we stay on it. blood was awesome, everywhere, even found the bed where we kicked him up. end result i lost him. My bow was on point as so was myself prior to the season. long and short of it was i hit alittle further back then intended and i should have went with my original gut feeling and backed out. I knew exactly where i hit and i should not have stayed on the trail, i knew that.

looking forward i swore i would do what it takes to make sure it wont happen again, although that may not be the case. If i am faced with this again i do know i will give the deer plenty of time to expire. i will not make that mistake nor let anyone tell me to keep on it. ultimately it is my deer and i will make the decision to track or not...

[Stretchhunts]

and I will not tell anyone I shot it b/c even family will say let's go get. I'm waiting till next morning to tell anyone I shot one, lol.

[Stretchhunts]

another picture. I really think waiting till the next morning I would have found him.

[Geno C]

my computer screen at work is alittle foggy but it looks like you have lung boubles in that pic, dark red also.

if i were to guess (Liver / Lung)??

they will run on a liver / lung hit. Thats what i did to mine last year.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Typically high lung hits spray out onto braches and leaves higher up and may not even hit the ground due to the misty like spray that comes out. Also a high lung hit deer can and will go for a very long distance, especially bucks. You found blood early most likely due to the fact he was going slow and stopping, once his pace picked up, the spraying started. You may have only sliced a lung with one blade of your broad head with that high of a hit.

By the way, where I hunt water can be found in every direction and deer pay zero attention to it. A wounded deer can and will do anything it can to escape you. Good luck.

all the blood was on the ground even the blood spots with bubbles, only a few spots on branches etc. I'd post up a few of the blood pics but not sure if it is PC on here or not.

Go ahead and post all the pics of blood trails you want. We dont need cleaned up pics on here. 

[Nomad]

Dogs are a great tool to finding dead deer. You don't need deer shearch and they are often very busy. I have a beagle that i started on a deer i dragged out to the road just to see.

5 days later we were out walking, I went to the spot I loaded the deer into my van and he picked up the scent and ran right to where i gutted it. 5 days later and after a heavy rain..... Now yes dragging a deer leaves more blood and scent on the ground but 5 days and rain washes a lot away.

After this we used him for real, it was over just as fast.

Another i know used his own black lab, who's nose is not even close to a beagle.

So I'd grab a buddies dog and give it a go .

An insane one like a beagle seems to be the best,basically a 30 pound nose.....

[Stretchhunts]

my computer screen at work is alittle foggy but it looks like you have lung boubles in that pic, dark red also.

if i were to guess (Liver / Lung)??

they will run on a liver / lung hit. Thats what i did to mine last year.

I took the pics with my cell phone so it might be the pics, lol. there was bubbles in the blood and it was bright red. Man my gut said to let it go over night and I listen to my hunting partners and went after it after an hour.They kept saying with all that blood there was no way it would go far. I now will let my bow deer sit for  enough time to expire. I'm still bumming though but I guess the good thing is I learned from it.

Larry302, I have a pit bull and a 10 year old lab so my dogs are out, lol. I might be able to work with my pit bull but the lab is a grandpa.

[SteveB]

Dogs are a great tool to finding dead deer. You don't need deer shearch and they are often very busy. I have a beagle that i started on a deer i dragged out to the road just to see.

5 days later we were out walking, I went to the spot I loaded the deer into my van and he picked up the scent and ran right to where i gutted it. 5 days later and after a heavy rain..... Now yes dragging a deer leaves more blood and scent on the ground but 5 days and rain washes a lot away.

After this we used him for real, it was over just as fast.

Another i know used his own black lab, who's nose is not even close to a beagle.

So I'd grab a buddies dog and give it a go .

An insane one like a beagle seems to be the best,basically a 30 pound nose.....

Just be aware that it is illegal to use a dog to track wounded deer without a lisence in NY.

[Geno C]

my computer screen at work is alittle foggy but it looks like you have lung boubles in that pic, dark red also.

if i were to guess (Liver / Lung)??

they will run on a liver / lung hit. Thats what i did to mine last year.

I took the pics with my cell phone so it might be the pics, lol. there was bubbles in the blood and it was bright red. Man my gut said to let it go over night and I listen to my hunting partners and went after it after an hour.They kept saying with all that blood there was no way it would go far. I now will let my bow deer sit for  enough time to expire. I'm still bumming though but I guess the good thing is I learned from it.

Larry302, I have a pit bull and a 10 year old lab so my dogs are out, lol. I might be able to work with my pit bull but the lab is a grandpa.

yeah might be the pics lol...

same thing happened to me, i listen to someone else when i should have called the decsion. but you live and you learn i guess. im with you tho.

[First-light]

That's lung, liver would almost be purple looking blood real deep in color.

[Cabin Fever]

My guess would be "single" lung and maybe liver. They will bleed awesome for the first ~100 yards, then the blood trail will crap out. Hit one like this ~6 years ago. Massive blood trail for ~100 yards, bubbles in blood, never would have thought he even would have made it 100 yards. Then, the blood trail started petering out to just specs, before none at all. Continued searching for a day and never found him.

Deer and Deer Hunting magazine had an in the past year, regarding the dreaded "single" lung hit deer and how far they can go. It's amazing!

[whitetailfreak]

Not sure which show Isaw when they gutted one buck it had a nasty looking dead lung inside

[Hondo65]

Sorry for your situation Stretch. I have been there done that...even with a fixed blade. Deer can and do survive single lung hits sometimes. Do your best, learn what you can. There is no doubt in my mind you've done what you can and took a resonable shot. There are so many variables as with all things in life, and they are not all going to turn out the way we hope, even with the best of effort.

Hondo

[Geno C]

so how did you make out? chal;ked up as a loss??

[20ftupatree]

I will tell you this........A buddy of mine shot a deer with the bow 2 years ago, hit him exactly where you describe you did. It was a single lung shot. We tracked that deer for all day, he shot it first light, He text me on the phone he had a buck down about 9:30 so there was more than 2 hours between shot and the start of tracking. He thought for sure he had a dbl lung ( no pass through) GREAT blood, lots of it! We tracked and tracked and tracked crossed neighboring properties (yes got permission) finally we come to the end of blood MILES away but couldn't find the deer ANYWHERE! We decided to go home and call a local guy here in the area who had tracking dogs (does mostly people tracking and such) brought the dogs to last blood and let em do their thing......they had that deer in MINUTES! He was stuffed under a blow down covered in the thickest S#$T you ever did see. It cost us a donation he gave $50 for that 30 minutes of dog tracking but it was worth every penny of it! But anyways it was a one lunger and it was ugly and nasty and that deer ran ALL day, piled up probably 25 times but he went a long ways and we never would have got him if not for those dogs! Definitely do not hesitate to use deer search or find a guy local (there are a lot of guys with tracking dogs you'd be surprised) and call them when you have to! $50 was a small price to pay for a recovered deer and getting rid of that knot in your stomach!

So what did happen anyways????