Keep looking.

Never understood why anyone would shoot straight down.

The deer HAS to walk away from your tree.........and when it does it will give you the perfect quartering away shot at some point......and if it does walk straight away then oh well......you lose.

Straight down is a total gamble.........one lung at best.......heart if your lucky.

Too bad he compounded his problems by chasing after a poorly shot deer.

Good luck.........get out there and find him because he's dead.

hope you find him.....

keep looking...

This deer definitely sounds like it's dead. Any deer that beds down that many times that close to where it was shot has to be hurting. You just have to put the hours in out there to find it.

I don't know why everyone insists on letting questionable shots sit for HOURS. I am in the middle of the book "Finding Wounded Deer." The only shots the author recommends waiting for more than a half hour to take up the trail is gut shots. Every other wound is 20 mins to a half hour. No idea why everyone here preaches waiting HOURS to look for any wounded deer. I think all the experts here ^^^ need to read this book.

Best of luck....I think you'll find it.

"I agree, this deer will die. I shot a deer like that probably 10 years ago or so when I first started. I will never take it again. She did die, but I watched her from the treestand for 3 hours or so. Not the prettiest thing I've seen. "

This is my biggest fear in bowhunting (having to witness this....and knowing I caused it). I have NO problems taking game. I've done it all my life. I just want to be as humane as possible.

I have a 13yr old that is in his forst yr of bowhunting, too. He frightens me with his comments about shots he'll take, sometimes. I think he (well....everyone) should HAVE to watch video depicting the above scenario. I think people's shot selections might be affected by such.

Clean kills to everyone...

Jeff

Chris, Why does the author of this book advocate not waiting?

It takes some time for a liver shot deer to bleed out why not wait three hours and not have to chase a deer around the woods?

Is the author of the book John Jeanneney. He wrotre a book about usings dogs to find wounded deer.

Or was it written by John Trout Jr.?

The author of Finding wounded deer By John Trout Jr had this to say in Bowhunter magazine on line article.

Third, you can rest assured that a paunch-shot animal will bed down quickly if left undisturbed. Most animals, in fact, may bed down within 100 to 200 yards of where the shot occurred. An example is the mature doe my wife harvested one evening last year. After the arrow passed too far back on the doe, the animal proceeded to travel about 100 yards before bedding down in a thicket. Although she was unsure where the arrow had hit the deer, we determined by the dark blood that it had passed through the stomach. Tracking was delayed until the following morning, after which we recovered the deer with no problems.
I would suggest you wait at least two hours before tracking a liver-shot animal, and at least four to six hours before attempting to recover a stomach-shot animal. Wait even longer for an animal hit behind the stomach. I'll discuss more about this type of hit later. When tracking the paunch-shot animal, you should not necessarily expect to find a great deal of blood on the ground. The amount of blood depends entirely upon the height of the entry, departure of the arrow, and whether the hole is clogged by the stomach or intestinal tissue. However, never assume that little or no blood reaching the ground means that the animal is only superficially wounded.

As for intestinal wounds, you can expect the same type of dark blood on the trail. You can also expect to find little blood on the ground. However, I would suggest waiting at least eight hours or more before tracking the animal since most intestinal-shot animals do not succumb as quickly as liver and stomach-shot animals. When tracking any animal, do so slowly and quietly. It would be advantageous to have at least one other person assisting you (too many people may hurt more than help). When the blood trail is lost, begin checking all trails and make circles around the most recent blood. Finally, check by water holes, ditches and creeks because the animal may seek water due to dehydration. Persistence is often the ticket to finding the downed animal.
When an arrow passes through the paunch, you would always hope that it severed the kidneys. The kidneys are located just in front of the hips, but the target is small compared to the vital lungs and heart. It is true, however, that a kidney-shot animal will succumb quickly. As one physician and surgeon explained, "A severed kidney is like letting the drain out of a bathtub." In other words, bleeding is profuse and death comes quickly.
As for the hip-shot animal, it too is a shot that we would prefer not to see. Nevertheless, when and if it does happen, you can recover the animal. First, consider the femoral artery in each hip. When an arrow severs the artery, the animal bleeds profusely and goes down quickly. Even a shot to the hip that misses the femoral artery can still result in a downed animal. The blood trail can lead a cautious tracker to the animal.

You sure you got what he was saying correct?

Why do people preach about giving a deer time? Cause it's the right thing to do,that why.

Charlie, I believe you are correct on the liver shot...my bad. I don't have the book in front of me.

Trout states on many questionable shots, like the neck shot that I mistakenly made a few weeks back, that getting on the deer in 20 minutes is best. He states that there is an (obviously) huge difference in the heart rate of a bedded deer vs. a standing / walking / running deer. On these questionable wounds it's better to get the heart pumping to make them bleed.

Gut / liver shots are several hour wait yes.