Lost my first and hopefully last deer

[BowmanMike]

Well,it happened to me. I was hoping I could skip this experience,would not have minded that.

I shot a buck last evening at 5.45 and thought I had a surprising clean miss.

He just ran a little ways and then stood there for 10mins without giving me another shot with the bow. I had an arrow nocked,but he walked away slowly through cover. He got out of sight and I climbed down and checked my arrow. Guts and white hair and some blood. Crap.

Checked where he stood and a puddle of blood,not a huge amount for standing there for a while. I scanned the trail and there was blood,but I figured I had better back out,the arrow really smelled foul.

I figured I would pick up the trail this morning to give him plenty of time to expire,but when I got out there was already an inch of snow on the ground. Not what I planned for.

  I walked in the direction he took of in,this 40yds wide stretch of woods between two fields of goldenrod. The upper one is about 10 acres and the lower one is 6.

Pretty hard to scan thoroughly,I did a lot of zigzagging. Also checked the closest source of water,about 600  yds away.

No sign of the deer. I am pretty  disappointed in myself,making a deer suffer through a slow death for nothing.

I really thought I had a good shot,but maybe I dropped my arm. All the target practice I put in and then I still mess up a 20 yd broadside shot.

 

[NYBowhunter]

It happens to the best of us. A gut shot deer is a dead deer, they travel quite a bit aways before they die.  They can be found. I have found a couple thru the years for my dad and cousin. One took us over a road and thru a swamp on hands and knees, thats after letting her go over night. Did you try calling deer search?

[moog5050]

You have anyone to help with a grid search?  If you got guts, he will be dead its just a matter of time.

[rachunter]

Don't kick yourself to hard it happens. 

[dbHunterNY]

he's really only going to take a trail.  you backed out right away so he shouldn't be far.  with snow like that it's perfect for still hunting, especially wet stuff.  I'd grid the area again, go slow and just hunt.  bring binos.  meat is a different issue despite its cold but you'd get peace of mind from recovery.  you should be able to see where you walked.  love hunting in snow.

[Core]

It sucks. Snow completely destroyed this for you covering the trial as you slept, and that was out of your control. Short of a dog I don't see how you could get it at this point unless you happen to stumble upon it somehow.

[Nomad]

A few nights ago my friend shot a buck also at 5:45 , solid whack noise seem like a good shot perhaps a bit back.

He returned the next morning at 7:30, called me at 11:30 , he found a grand total of 9 drops of blood all near where it first ran and stopped. 

I asked what color ? Dark, ok sounds like a liver hit, it's dead keep looking .

At 4:45 he sent me this pic. It went about 150 yards.

if I read your post right you've looked about 3 hours, Id keep at it, yes it frustrating to,lose one but you haven't lost it till you stop looking, Good Luck .

[growalot]

Sorry ..I know I've had deer do a slow wide walk and double back on me to find them not far from were I shot...Did you look well to each side then back towards your stand?

[NFA-ADK]

Sorry to hear that, it happens even if we practice year round it can happen.  I would try deer search a good dog should be able to recover.  Keep your head up and keep at it!  It can happen to anyone.

[grampy]

Dogs can track a gut shot deer just fine, even with some snow over the line. They will follow the scent and not so much the blood. It will be an easy recovery for an experienced dog.  Hope you find him!

[growalot]

Larry.... is that an 8 with no brow tines? ...that's sorta neat...never seen that before, 6's yes but never noticed an 8...congrats to him.

[ApexerER]

I am not a very good tracker but doing a grid search isn't that hard...Just time consuming. If you started this morning at say 7:30 and you are posting 10:30 giving up you need to get back out there and look some more. Get some buddies to help you. If the deer is buried under an inch of snow it will look like everything else. I lost a deer once my first year of bow. I was sick over it. I got 8 friends to help me grid search from morning till dark. That was after I called deer search and was told nobody was in my area. I really don't know how we didn't find the deer but I knew I did all we could and I was still sick over it...

[Nomad]

 Grow,on the right antler a few inches up is kinda a brow, idk what to call it. It's his best buck to date , I'm happy for him.

[BizCT]

Larry.... is that an 8 with no brow tines? ...that's sorta neat...never seen that before, 6's yes but never noticed an 8...congrats to him.

Here's another for you, Grow. My dad got this one the 80s




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[growalot]

Oh  I see it now..blended into his clothes...nice buck

Biz ...that is neat.....unuasual to me,like drop tines

[BowmanMike]

I did pretty extensive grid search,but that goldenrod is frustrating. The deer did not look to terribly fazed when he walked of last night. He didn't bed after the shot,at least not within 100 yds.

 

 

[grampy]

If he was gut shot and not pushed. I'm almost sure, he is dead, right now, within a few hundred yards of where he was hit.

[chrisw]

Gut shots are almost certain death, with time. If he wasn't pushed he probably wouldn't have went more than 200 yds before he bedded. Goldenrod would be exactly the type of place a gut shot deer would look to bed in. My bet is if you hit this deer in the stomach he is dead within 300 yds of your stand. Don't only look in the direction he went, deer do weird things when wounded, circling, 90° turns for seemingly no reason, try looking where you wouldn't expect him to go too, I've found deer that did everything you wouldn't expect. It sucks but the only thing you have to lose now is time, you won't regret going back out one more time looking back from the future.

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[Taylormike]

Bowman, these guys have a lot of experience and are 100% spot on.  A gut or intestines severed means dead deer-100% of the time.  If you didn't push the deer, keep looking he should be somewhere within 250 yards.  If you pushed him and you only know If you did, he could travel a long long ways.  Gut hits can take 12+ hours for them to expire.  Good luck...

[BizCT]

Oh  I see it now..blended into his clothes...nice buck
Biz ...that is neat.....unuasual to me,like drop tines

Yea I never seen droptine locally either. Brows by me seem to be weak typically. Lots of 4 and 6s with no brows. But this is the only 8 with nothing, so really not that common for us either.


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[BowmanMike]

well,I went out again and gave it another whirl,got soaked pretty good but really combed through the goldenrod and no sign of the deer. I am certain I didn't bump him last night,he went out of sight and I only checked the arrow,did not follow the trail at all. He must have walked further than I ever expected.

Thought I did the right thing by giving him till morning,but in hindsight that is not true. Maybe should have gone back out  in the middle of the night.

How long do you guys wait before trailing an obvious gut shot? I read anywhere from 6 - 12 hours.

[Buckmaster7600]

well,I went out again and gave it another whirl,got soaked pretty good but really combed through the goldenrod and no sign of the deer. I am certain I didn't bump him last night,he went out of sight and I only checked the arrow,did not follow the trail at all. He must have walked further than I ever expected.
Thought I did the right thing by giving him till morning,but in hindsight that is not true. Maybe should have gone back out  in the middle of the night.
How long do you guys wait before trailing an obvious gut shot? I read anywhere from 6 - 12 hours.

If snow or rain is forecaster a couple hrs. I would rather risk jumping them.


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[BowmanMike]

yeah,I didn't know it was going to start that early with the snow. I expected him to be close to where I shot him,but looks like he wandered further than expected. He did not look very distressed,that's why I thought a clean miss at first. Until I checked my arrow. I think I hit back and low,judging by the hair and I did not notice any wound on the opposite side as he walked away. He wasn't that hunched up,but his tail certainly was down the whole time.

[shawnhu]

Still no deer search called in?


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[BowmanMike]

They can't do much after snow and rain,can they?