Update on the bit 8 ptr I passed up
 

If you recall my thread from Monday, I am in an area where you have to shoot a doe before you can shoot a second buck. I had gotten a nice little 4 ptr with my blackpowder gun and had the best buck I have ever had in front of me at 30 yards and couldn't shoot him. Well my younger brother came in yesterday for the first day of rifle season today.

He hunted hard all day and at 3:10 pm this afternoon the big 8 ptr I had to pass up came by him. He put a slug in him but he apparently him him low. We found a bunch of white fur and the slug exited and hit a small tree behind the deer.

We followed the blood trail for a couple hundred yards before it quit. At times it left a really good trail. But when the trail stopped, it stopped. We searched the property well and we didn't find him. Apparently he made it off the property.

We really hate that the buck got away as he is the best buck either of us have ever shot. I told him to use his .243 instead of the slug gun but he didn't listen. Oh well, whats done is done.

If it were me, I would go back in the morning and look some more. Try to get permission on the adjoining properties to search for the deer. At least you and your brother would have the peace of mind knowing you did all you could do.

that is a real shame... maybe in the morning you might have better luck. But where I live if you don't find it right away, the coyotes, wolves, or some critter will find it for you.

We went out again this morning but no luck. We double checked the area he shot the deer and found nothing but white hairs, no brown hair so I wouldn't be surprise if that deer makes it.

I would be very surprised if he does make it. I had a buddy that shot a buck in the snow a few years ago a little too far back, and very low. We followed the blood trail for a long ways. You could see the snow where the deer laid down, then got back up. We finally gave up for the night and came back in the morning. When we came back, we found the deer piled up not far from where we stopped, but it was obvious he hadn't been dead for long, but a coyote had caught him and eaten on him already.

It seems like to me with these bad shots the deer usually do die, but it just isn't quickly which is sad. I've yet to see one hit like this ever again. I'm not saying they have all died, just that I've never seen one that's been hit like that show up again, so I suspect they have gone somewhere and died. It's really an unfortunate situation.

Deer do not survive gut shots or chest shots. i know of only one deer that survived a good shot. That 12 point buck was hit in one lung from about 300 yards by a guy with a muzzleloader who knew better. My game camera video picked that buck up for many months afterwards. The buck coughed about every 30 seconds. A friend killed that buck the next fall: He was an 8 point in bad shape when killed.

At least you know that you made every effort possible to recover the deer.