vte

I'm praying to God that I did not just royally mess up this deerstand!!
I'm sure there has already been a post similar to this, but can you still help me? ...or give me the link to such a post.

I want to know how long of a time period should I stay out of this stand area before hunting again after shooting and non-fatally wounding a nice buck? I from NC. I don't know how the deer are in your area, but these deer literally check trees for hunters, and are juvious of just about everything. I have thought about giving it 2 weeks. I figure after that he will either come back or he won't.

No, we did not push this deer before tracking. This is the first deer I have ever shot at and hit with a bow. I waited until the other deer left the area before I could even get down. We took the long drive home to wait on and pick up a tracking crew of friends after waiting in our truck for my nerves to calm down. The shot was made in low light conditions at 17 yards, completely broad side, he kicked his back legs out high. All we found was my arrow minus 6 3/4" which is apparently still in the deer. We think it was a shoulder shot. We combed the woods several times and found not the first drop of blood. We listened to the coyotes, but they were not on the trail of anything, just simply packin up for the night. We looked for about 2 hours for any sign of this deer. I had the 3 of best trackers I know on the job.

[&o]I am feeling completely sick to my stomach over the whole ordeal![&o]
It does not help me feel any better that I hunt with a light poundage bow! [>:]Maybe I should pull out until I can draw 55 pounds. I'm just really frustrated!!

Thanks for any suggestions!!

Fred Bear shooter

You cant be done looking for him yet. 2 Hours is not long enough to look. Did you find a blood trail? Get out there and find this deer.

dandbuck

Don't get too frustrated just yet. Goback out there with good light, take your time. It's easy to get a few feet off the trail and lose it all. Hopefully everybody tramping around did not disturb what you need to find. If it did the "mule kick", you should find your buck with-in a couple hundred yards. Sometimes they go into some nasty stuff and you can't see them. You may find him by smell also. Make sure you give it more than a couple hours in the dark looking. Good Luck, let us know how it goes.
Dandbuck

GMMAT

I wont comment on your tracking and searching.....but on how long to wait???

I don't think anyone can know, for sure. I shot a doe last night at 7:20. I got on the trail at 9:30. I was in the woods until 10:30 and took my son back home to get to bed. I went back with my labrador retriever and were in the woods until 2:20AM. I went BACK in there this morning.....and found her at 8:20.

I won't go back in these woods (this woodlot) for at least a week. But I don't have many choices. I'll be back in the fringes of this area sometime next week. I won't hunt at all again, until Saturday.

I also hunt NC deer.....but don't get the looking up thing. Never seen them do that on a regular basis.

BowHuntingFool

Well if it were me I wouldn't be here on the computer worrying about my next hunt, I would be looking for the buck I just killed. The way you described the way he kicked it sounds like a good hit in the vitals! Good luck finding him and keep us updated!

I would give the stand a few days to "cool off" before I hunt it again depending on how many deer are in the area when I killed the deer!

NCRemington700

I agree that with your shot you should get back out there. Retrace all your steps a go slow. That high leg kick is a good sign that your deer is down. Tracking is always the un-nerving part of the sport of bowhunting we love. Get back out there and find that deer...he's down it's just a matter of where.

I too hunt NC deer...Good luck and keep us posted.

vte

Thank you for your confidence! I was not ready to give up last night, but my search party had given up on me. I am going to leave work early today and go look for my self.
Iwish I had a good tracking dog. Ours died a couple years back and have not found a replacement.
I felt confident about the shot, I took my time to make sure my form was correct, I don't feel like I rushed the shot. I have practiced tons in the off-season and do very well. I am not spliting arrows, but I have tight groups. I have practiced from the group, from the barn loft, from the actual stand I shot out of, from a different stand. Nerves is the only part I could not add to my practice sessions, but he had been in there with me long enough that I felt like I was calm.

There was a total of 5 deer in there. Other than the buck I shot, they all hung around. The two does left first as they ran to the edge of the field similar to the buck. And finally the two small spikes left together in a different direction. I was glad they hung around as that forced me to wait.

Sounds like I needed you all out there last night! I told my husband that I plan to go back out looking. He does not believe I will find anything. There was 5 of us total hunting for signs. Since none of us found any blood as of last night, hopefully I can get wind of him. My co-worker's are not much more help either.

It was the youngest spike that was trying to spot me in the tree, he literally turned his head up and looked straight at me. I have seen deer that look like they are looking up at you, but really aren't...that is not the case for these deer. There is usually a one doe in a group that will do it. But this group sent the young one in to invesitgate the stand for saftey. He completely circled me, constantly trying to spot me moving. That was the coolest thing I have ever experienced, getting checked out that thoroughly!

I too have limited bow hunting locations, but I will give it as long as it needs before hunting it again.
Thanks again for your support on trying to find him. I will let you know what I come up with tomorrow.

outdoorslover

I had a very similar experience this past weekend. I shot a doe about 30 minutes before dark and thought I had a great shot. I shot and heard a thump, and then saw the deer almost fall over right there, then she just walked off. I tried to get another shot but I wasn't quick enough. I thought I saw her go down about 40 yards away. I got down in about 15 minutes and went to the arrow. There was no blood on it so I almost gave up, but then I noticed blood--nice blood on the broadhead. There was also white stuff on the broadhead--whichI concluded immediately was tallow. It was too dark out and I didn't have a good light so I opted to come back in a while. On the way out of the woods, I came across another hunterwho had shot a deer(accidentally) in the head and was having a difficult time tracking it. I helped him and a couple guys track it for a couple hours and we finally came out in a field in the direction of my stand. As we were shining lights in the field, we saw a doe limping around, apparently hurt in the shoulder area. We came to the conclusion it was my deer, since the other hunter had shot a buck. There was nothing we could do that night, since the deer could still walk and even run if necessary. So, we gave up tracking that night.

The next day, a friend and I went back to the field and scoured for my doe. It was not there so we searched the woods, where 4 wheelers had scared it the previous night, for several hours. It was basically a blind search since the deer dropped no blood we were aware of. After a couple hours of that, we went back to point A and looked for blood where I shot it. I looked for another hour or more for any drops but couldn't find any, even when I followed the path the deer had run after the hit.

My conclusion is that I definetely had a shoulder hitbecause of the lack of blood on the arrow(lack of penetration) and the fact that the deer was limping so horribly. Furthermore, I believe I hit the brisket because that is the only area there with tallow. I am almost sure the wound was superficial and it would have been an impossible tracking endeavor. Nevertheless, I gave it several hours of decent searching soI don't feel like I gave up.

You should at leat give it a few more hours searching before giving up. The way you say that deer kicked convinces me that it was a good hit and you may have hit the heart because of the amount of blood on the arrow. Don't give up!!!!

I will be going out and huntingf the same stand today. I gave it three dyas wait and it has rained so I'm sure it will be fine. I did get picked off by deer but I hope all is forgotten. Either way, there are more deer out there.

Good luck!

outdoorslover

My bad! I misunderstood about the amount of blood.

By the way, I hunt with a 60-65 pound bow.

bushmaster_5bko

Get out there and do a grid search of the entire general area within 500 square yards, i had a buck last year that the same thing happend, after the grid search i did end up finding him.