RE: Help? Gut shot 8/10 pt tonite
I can't picture the shot you are describing, but if you hit him in the gut you shouldn't have looked for him an hour later. Hopefully you didn't push him far. Go back tomorrow and look for blood or any other sign, if that fails, start doing a grid search, in my experience a gut shot deer will rarely travel more than 100-200 yards before bedding, unless he is pushed. He just may not bleed alot. And Jred, I have to disagree about not being fit to eat, there is nothing wrong with eating a deer that was gutshot as long as he hasn't spoiled. Just cut away any meat that was in contact with any of the guts or fluids, and rinse everything well.
Good luck finding him, he is probably there and probably not too far. Can you go over the shot one more time? I am picturing a straight down shot as the deer walked away, you oaimed for the rump area hoping to angle into the chest cavity? Is that correct?