readytohunt

boy, am i depressed. second to last day of late archery season when this smallish 8 point comes by at 20 yards. I think i shot him through the shoulder, lots of blood for about 100 yards, then we jumped him. waited till morning and followed a good blood trail for 100 more yards and found a bed. followed another 50 yards and then no more blood. We figured he's still alive cause the bed was fresh. would've been my first deer with a bow. Any advice?

janesburg

Start a grid search.

MichaelHunsucker

Yeah, i agree, do a good search. I dont think that the deer would live if you hit him good and he was bleeding that much...good luck

RandallT

Keep after him. Post a pic when you get him.

furgitter

Was he bouncing off trees or staying on the trail? I think i would start by following the trail he was on,watch for kicked op leaves and blood.Then, if that doesnt turn up anything,call a couple buddies and walk on line real slow, look at everything a deer couldnt get into and keep close together.Overlap search patterns and kinda go in the dirrection the deer seemed to favor.If this area is well known to you,You know where they always bed,If hes headed in that dirrection,Ill bet he went there to die.I dont know why,but mine all head that way,and usually fall over on the way!

readytohunt

after I shot, he was bent low and crashing through the brush. it was kinda strange though, cause his last blood spot was in the middle of an open field.

Killer_Primate

If you have a dog, take it with you to assist. It doesn't take a special breed. If you don't have a dog, get one from a friend. If at all possible, next year train the dog to find the deer. It only took my dog one session to figure out what I wanted him to do and he's not a tracking breed. Even if you know where the deer is and know that it is dead, leave and get the dog, train it to find the deer. Once it does, reward him/her with great affection, even if the dog didn't really find it. It will pay off big-time later.
Good luck,
KP