I NEED HELP…I have taken around 40 whitetails with my bow over the past several years. I have recovered ALL of them, until YESTERDAY. I had a shot opportunity at a large bodied buck as the last 10 or so minutes of shooting light faded Thurs night. The buck was cruising as bucks do, and I shot him on the move. I looked for my arrow in the dark at the location where I shot(20yds), and then backed out. This was not in the direction the deer ran, or I would not have looked.

I returned at first light, and found my arrow and 3 large pools of bright red to dark red blood about 50 yards from where I shot. The arrow had penetrated a little over 10 inches and was covered in dried red blood. I thought this would be an easy one. I was wrong. The blood trail was heavy for the first 200 yards. It lightened up, and the deer circled. The trail continued for several hundred more yards through thickets, over walls etc. It was heavy at times, and spotty in others. I found chunks of coagulated blood. It took me the entire day to cover this distance, and I ran out of time, and blood. I have a general direction from the last place I found blood, but I am at a loss as to what to do. This was the hardest track I have ever had, due to the waist-high green growth and treetops and thorns under almost all of it.

I have four kids and a wife who doesn’t understand hunting, or I would be out there today. I am afraid another hunter will find the deer today. I really don’t think there is any way it is alive. Any suggestions or hope is MUCH appreciated.

Also, I assume the arrow went in and hit the opposite shoulder, but it could have been deflected, or due to the bucks movement it may have hit the opposite side hip. It had to have hit bone on the opposite side. In either case I think it would be fatal.
Thanks

what a way to spend your first post, if you only knew what was coming.

good luck

First, sneak over to your wife's purse and get your balls. Then TELL her where you are going, and hit the woods. Find a dog that is big enough to get through the brush and continue the search. Dogs love to find dead stuff...no training needed.

How about those REDSKINS??? I suggest we let this one slip to the bottom of the page and disappear, just like the deer did. You did everything right...AFTER the shot. It's that before part that got ya'. BUT, I figure you don't want to hear that.....at least I don't. That's why I posted it first and maybe the rest will let it die. Hope someone else DID or DOES find the deer. That way it might not go to waste. If you followed the deer several hundred yards, you can bet you didn't hit the offside shoulder. To do that you would have had to pass through the lungs. Since the deer went "SEVERAL" hundred yards, we know it didn't hit lungs. Our best educated guess is major muscle damage. It's hell when you can't see where an arrow hit. That means you don't get a good sight picture(because it's too dark). Add to that the moving deer... well there's just no way of knowing. Your only hope at this point is to get REAL lucky. Sorry about your loss. Put it in the piggy bank of knowledge and learn from it. No matter how many we've killed or how many we've found, it can still happen to us. There are ways to minimize it, and they all start with BEFORE the shot.

i totally agree....... all except the part about dog not needing training...
i wish you luck on your search, but if you cant go back then you have no one to blame but yourself.

Gather some friends and some cold ones and pick up where you left off...With all the blood .....he cant be too far now
....Keep searching and keep the faith.....any chance the YOTES got to him????? Or another hunter???Can you get up higher to glass the area?Mite spot a horn or something. If you look and look and look....Youve looked......thats the way it goes sometimes..one of the many....hard hunting facts...........SH## Happens.. Go after another! Looks as though this BUCK is tough, strong willed and determined....gotta admire that too. Its all a part of hunting!