ORIGINAL: MNpurple
If he knew he got guts then chances are the deer was going to live quite a few hours, 6+, but it will die. Why take up the trail after only 40 minutes? You knew it was a gut shot, you know gutshots can and many times do live a quite a while, therefore the meat wont be spoiling in 40 minutes because she isnt dead yet!!!!!
You never even gave yourself a chance to find this deer because you pushed her so quickly and now you probably have gauranteed her meat will spoil because she is long gone, suffering, and leaving no blood behind.[:@][:@][:@]
A true gut shot will allow them to live up to 18 hrs, but a lung liver shot, there is no way they live longer than 1 hr. Bubbles in blood and a dark red tint. There is also no real way to tell how long she has been dead, so if I did leave her out overnight, I would never trust the meat.6 hrs wouldmean taking up the trail now. If it was in the 50s and 40s then yes I understand that, but 80s to 70s for the first 6 hrs, if she was dead her meat wouldnt last to long. I have seen it happen before and have had friends sick because they trusted spoiled meat. I am not going to take that chance. I have asked God to give her a good quick death and that nature uses her to sustain the scavengers. Nothing goes to waste, not even a lost deer.