Could not Recover Doe...

Nord QC Bouman · 10-24-2005, 10:45 AM

I had taken by # 2 son out for Youth Day - 22 OCT 05 in NH. We were heading up to the a run we normally hunt and he sighted a nice doe about 80 yards through the woods.

He took a view in his scope andI with my binoculars and it looked like he had a good shot just behin the shoulder - which he took just as I was asking him ifhe could get a clean shot.

He said he saw thearea behind the shoulder and was sure hegot a god hit. The doe looked to be ~ 170lbs and was snorted at us when he shot - it took off down the moutain. We waited about 15 miniutes and began to look for a blood trail.

Atthe shot site, we saw some blood and then heard a couple of load-gurgilly snorts about 250 yardsdown hill. We began to creep along looking for sign and saw a very light trail, with some heaviersplotches (maybe a shots worth) every 50 yards or so. Wefound the snorts that we heard and the blood in the area was slighly foamy so I thought we had a good or partially good lung shot.

Long story short, we tracked this thing from 8:00am to dark and lost the trail going up high on another knoll. This thing seemed to be on steriods and was not laying down. We were careful to creep along and not push her, but we did not seem to be seeing any real serious bleeding.

Any thoughts on this?

GREEK HUNTER · 10-24-2005, 10:55 AM

when you didn't see the dear laying right away should have backed off and let her lay... a deer can run for miles on one lung... should have shot seen she wasn't there let her lay, then go looking for her about 2 hours later....

ccm352 · 10-24-2005, 11:03 AM

I gutted a deer that only had one lung.. The other had been shot before.

springgobbler · 10-24-2005, 11:39 AM

Sounds like you pushed it...intentional or not. Unless you saw it drop, and especially since you were unsure of the location of the hit, 15 minutes was not enough time. I bet if you go back to the location of the last blood drop and fan out 100 yards you will find it.

Deleted User · 10-24-2005, 01:48 PM

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Jimmy S · 10-24-2005, 02:23 PM

Nord....Sorry to read what happened, especially when it involved your son. Sometimes it's hard enougn to see deer in NH, never mind shoot one. I was out bow hunting in NH and didn't see any youth hunters.....maybe the weather had something to do with it.

I don't know what to add about your question. My feeling is either she was not hit hard or she was and was pushed too much. Hard to say. I knowfrom experience to sometimes expect the unexpected. I have tracked deer that I was sure I would find (and I did this verrrrry slowly) and never recoved the deer. Other times, the blood sign etc was very little and I had little hope of finding that deer. Only to be pleasantly suprised that he was never far away.

Tell you son that you guys did all you could to recover his deer but sometimes things just don't work out. The main thing is you both put in the time and effort. We owe it to the animal.

Good luck the rest of the season. Hope you both shoot a big one!

bawanajim · 10-24-2005, 04:12 PM

What was he shooting?

cardeer · 10-24-2005, 04:33 PM

Agree pushed it ,should of waited.

Nord QC Bouman · 10-24-2005, 05:53 PM

Model 94 30/30 180G Core lok.

Thanks for all the respones -Thisalso gave him a chance to read theforum after scouts!

One lung maybethe case - seems like not enough blood to have agood bounce around in the cavity.

BOWTECH2765 · 10-24-2005, 08:08 PM

you should of waited last year I did the same thing and I will not do that again.....