Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Ok first off I had a really nice buck come out and as he was walking towards me I drew back my bow. It happened so fast I dont know if my released slipped or if my finger hit the trigger but my arrow flew straight into the throat of the buck. I was devastated, this has NEVER happened. I tried to replay what happened in my mind but I dont know what I did wrong. We found awesome blood, the best blood trail Ive ever seen. It was pitch black out and you could see the blood on the leaves in the dark without the flashlight on it. This isa map of the area. The deer bedded down 3 times and the last time we kicked it up, then called off the search till morning.

purple= where I shot the deer
red= blood trail
green= deer bedded
blue= last found blood
I calculated a distance of roughly 4000 feet that this deer ran. Ill get pics of the blood trail and post. this deer must make blood faster than he looses it.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Man, after jumping him once you didn't know to not push him any more! GOOD LUCK FINDING THAT BUCK!

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Some advice for you next time. I have learned this the hard way. Any time you think you hadeven the slighestmarginal shot, ALWAYS back off until the next morning.Often the first time you bump them can be the last time you see them.With a blood he will most likely die but definitely the more time the better. Best of luck to you.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

I have had mesh gloves get caught in my release trigger and set it off on the draw.


Hopefully you learned a valuable lesson.


Anytime you have less than a perfect shot,BACK OUT IMMEDIATELY,but I am not going to beat up on you(you are probably taking care of that);),get back in there in the morning and find him.

good luck

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Thanks for the input. As for the first two times he bedded we didnt know till looking closer (after we called off the search) that he had actually bedded. It looked more like he just stopped fora couple mins and a big pool of blood gathered. I believe thats the case for the first "bedded" spot. The second he diffinately laid down, unfortunatly we thought he had just stood there as well and ended up pushing him till he went into the draw. I hope I find him. He has alot of character. Hisleft side has 4, possibly 5 pts with some kickers and pretty good mass. Hisright side is a ginormous spike with 4 to 7 serious kickers. If he were semetrical and hada "full" rack he'd easily score 160+ but with the big spike I think it'll only be around 100 inches of bone.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Good luck with your buck.... and yes if you see that he bedded down once you should definitely get out of there!

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

He didn't go south to the road. my guess is he turned west along that tree line and then turned north up the finger to what looks like a lower land area. You will probly find him down back in there. I would find someone with adog and let him lead you.
Good Luck!
Let me know.
Eric

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

If you thought he was just standing there,then that is even more reason to back out.

Let the deer lay down and bed up,then that is where you will find them the next day.


My daughter shot a buck 2 years ago with a gun.Bad shot butI thought it was better than it was(good blood).Waited 45 minutes,went into the woods and started tracking,found a puddle where it was obvious he stood there for a minute.I realized then that the hit was less than perfect but looked up the trail andthe buck got up and lookedback at us,he bolted.


We backed out right there and came back in the morning and found him 200 yards later.


If I had realized the hit was bad earlier,the buck would have been laying right where I saw him.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

ugh. good luck.

when in doubt, back out!

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

that kind of blood and that much distance i'dsay he's somewhere very close to the last spot you found blood, BTW is that water just to the south of the last blood;), i know its been mentioned but the only time i'll stay on a deer with a questionable shot is if rain is in the forcast, which for me is worst case scenario..

hope you find him;)

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

I hope it is a leason learned...................back out when you have a questionable hit..................good luck finding him. Make sure you take some pics. tomorrow.;)

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

When you attach your release to your string or loop make a fist with your hand around the release behind the trigger. You're hand will be holding the trigger forward. When you get drawn you can open your hand and bring your finger up.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

whenever u hit marginal area...stop there and start in the morning...not worth the headache..
that deer will bleed out...as for your shot...buckfever:) good luck finding him..and check
your equipment over b 4 your next hunt...post pics from your cam phone or whatever///good luck

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

As my buddy Germ once told me you probably tried to peek when you made that shot. See where the arrow is
going to hit as arrow is in flight.

As my buddy Gregh did just the other day on a marginal shot back out a go after him the next morning.

As my buddy Gmmat did find him.

As for my buddy Rob/Pa once you find the buck send him the pic with the score and he will post it.

As for me I am now going hunting see you guys this afternoon/evening

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Looks like you pushed the buck 4000 feet to me. Good luck finding him. Don't rule out him doubling back either.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

P.S.- If you have a creek on there follow that creek up and down and see if he is dead. They like to go cool down
after awhile due to a fever.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Look near water. They get thirsty with a lot of blood loss. He'll probably bed near it after drinking a ton of water.

Good luck.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

you properly hit a vain or the air hole he is properly dead given all the blood was there any air in it

good luck and congrats

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

IfI think it was a marginal shot, I dont even bother trying to track that night. I also agree with GregH, Ive found more deer in or around creeks when the shot doesnt kill them fast. Nothing better than skinny dipping in November to retrieve a trophy ;) Found my best buck in about 2' of water the next morning after 200 yards of tracking.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Hope you find your deer and that is all I am going to say because everything else has been mentioned prior to my post.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

looks like he's headed to that draw right below the last blood spot, good spot to find him, look especially close at thick brush piles,

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Well what happened?????????

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

yeah, I'm with Charlie, what's the word?

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

I've seen a lot of post saying that he sould have backed out and not pushed the deer. I'm just wondering why. An actual answer please , not the when in doubt back out type stuff. As I understand it the deer was hit in the neck.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

This is kind of crazy man. I did the exact same thing 2 seasons ago on a young 10 point. I stuck my carbon arrow tipped with a 100gr. spitfire into his throat. I knew it was a bad hit and came back 3 hours later to look for him. It was a very quiet night, so I would have been able to hear if I pushed him and he was running. Anyways, we also found 3-4 spots where he had stopped a while and the blood trail was phenomenal. There was so much blood, it was crazy and I was convinced we would find him dead shortly. We backed out after about a half mile of looking and came back the next day. We looked everywhere for this deer, including the adjacent properties. A couple days later, my neighbor (non-hunter) jumped a "huge" buck while cutting trees back in his woods. He said the deer was moving slowly and had a bunch of weeds in his antlers. A week after I made the hit on this buck, my neighbor found him dead in the creek. I recovered the animal, tagged him, pulledall the weeds off his antlers, and noticed that the deer hadn't been dead for very long. I was disgusted on my bad shot, but buck fever sure did factor in. The arrow sure did go right through the windpipe, missing the juggular vein. The hole the buck wore from the 10" of arrow that was in him was nearly the size of a tennis ball. I forgot to mention that when the deer was hit initailly, he snapped my arrow off instantly, keeping about 10" + the spitfire in his neck. I guess I am saying good luck. Don't give up if you don't find him today and make sure, as a few others are saying, you check any nearby water source. It doesn't matter how big the water source is, that buck will know where it is and will seek the water to try to cool his fever down.

Good luck!

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

He should have backed out because the deer would have layed down and bleed out on the spot. By being pushed, you run the risk of limited blood trail or driving it into an area that is either non accessible, or to thick to find anything, etc.

I shot my buck Wednesday and thought I had a good hit. Got to my arrow and found blood but also stomach contents. I saw him walking away and watched him get to the top of the hill. I left and came back 3 hours later. there he was dead as a doornail laying almost where I last saw him.

Had I pushed him, he may have gone into posted property that I have absolutely no access to and I would have lost the deer.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Several years ago my brother shot a nice 10 point through the neck. After a long track job we backed out tell morning. Well we ended up not having to go track it. A guy hunting with us shot it the next morning over a mile away from where my brother had shot it. He was chasing a doe. Nice big hole through his neck. Whitetails are one tough critter.

Darrall Dougherty

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Neck hits [:'(].

You hit the jugular and you recover them fast. You miss it.....i have never heard of one being recovered from a neck hit in a timely manner after traveling near that far (1000+ yards). He will probably die eventually too if you made a solid hit in the neck region(based on what i have seen and found laying in the woods). Check the thick stuff, particularly near water, as mentioned.

I have been in on several intentional and unintentional neck nit trailing jobs (not mine). They bleed like crazy and just keep going if you miss those big arteries and veins right under the vertibra. They get found a week or two later.

I am sorry that that happened to you, hope you revise whatever you find you did wrong.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

all i can say is...

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Would have , Should have, Could have[&:].. Bottom line is the buck is hit and you need to do your best to find him!
If hehas lost that much blood you should have no problem pickinghis trail back up.
Like others has sead look around water? Maby get more help looking for him. let us know how things are comming? Good luck.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

A deer will go to a place it feels safe and bed up.Usually they willdie right there if left alone.They usually won't travel that far before doing it.BUT

Problem is,the wound will quit bleeding fairly quickly and if you continue to pursue the animal,it will get up and run but now you have little to no blood to track by.Even if you do have blood,you have increased the distance you will need to track.

You also get the adrenaline pumping again and these animals will do amazing things when they get their adrenaline pumping.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Whats the scoop did you find him??

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

Yeah, we're waiting for a follow up.

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

3 days later and no follow up?

RE: Shot a BIG ONE!! but havent recovered it.
 

With the high and mighty ethics police on this board, do you blame him.

Hope he finds em.