Recovery help asap
 

Ok I need to advice, this is the first time I haven't recovered a deer the same day it was shot. Tonight I arrowed a good buck. He jump kicked when hit like a good lung hit. When he ran past me at about 10 yds, I think I could see where my arrow hit, mid-way up and down but a little back but still in the rib cage area. The arrow came out after about 20 yds but the blood was thick and dark, maybe stomach or liver, but the broadhead had clearly hit a rib as one blade was buggered up. The main problem it no blood trail. I did find 2 drops after about 20 yds, but that is all. I saw the path he took for about 30 yds.
Thinking maybe it hit the liver, I waited an hour and took up the search to no avail for the next 2 hrs in the dark.
Few questions:
I was on the edge of a thick grown up ravine next to a corn field and some open woods. To get to either, he would have had to jump a barb wire fence.
Do you think a deer hit like that would jump a fence or take the easy path and head back into the ravine?

I know that they will often head for water. The only water I know of it a small pond on the other side of the ravine about 1/4 mile away. That will be my first search point tomorrow.
I can't figure why no blood when I had a pass through.
Final question. It will be in the mid 50s tonight. The meat will probably be spoiled if I even find it, don't you think?

Thanks for any help.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

i'm no expert on tracking, but from my experience a hard hit deer will usually take the path of least resistance. its hard to tell because every deer can be unique and do different things, but if i had to choose i'd say he took the easier route back into the ravine. if you had been shot you wouldn't feel up to jumping over fences would you? :D

RE: Recovery help asap
 

The meat will be ok.

He can go under the fence too. I don't think he will go far with the liver/stomach hit (< 300 yds) unless he jumped from his first bed. Probably could/should have waited until morning to pursue.

Get some friends. Go back. He will be dead in the morning.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

Deer shot in the stomach and intestines do not usually jump kick and take off like that. I don't think you hit quite as far back as you may think. I think you probably got the liver mostly. I don't understand though, how you got a pass through, but the deer carried the arrow 20 yards?

Hard hit deer typically take the path of least resistance. Last night, I helped a friend track a gut shot deer (so I found out later... got some bad intel from him initially) and that deer went into a ditch we had to slide down in, and then went back up a place I wouldn't expect a healthy deer to normally travel. The deer laid up in the creek... if you didn't bump him... a liver shot deer will usually bolt like you described, and lay up inside 80 yards. If you don't fool with them, they will usually die in less than an hour. If you bump them, they can and will go several hundred yards. I would look in that ravine and other low lying areas... blowdowns etc..... there is an excellant chance the deer did not travel far, and bedded up and will be dead in short order.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

First off, don't worry about the meat; it'll be fine. Plenty cool enough.

Liver shots need WAY more than an hour... I'd give them closer to 4-6, because you never know which extreme you'll end up with them: they can be extremely lethal very quickly, or take up to six hours or longer... sometimes much longer. I wish you hadn't went after him at all tonight after describing what you did, but what's done is done. I'm glad you're back and waiting 'til light.

He could VERY easily jump the fence on such a hit. The good thing about it is it sounds like you've really got two directions to focus on... Search out the most plausible one in your mind tomorrow morning, and then go back to the other. If I were you, I'd spend the majority of the time searching for a blood trail to follow in the sunlight, then search one area pretty well and if needed, go search the other one with a fine-tooth comb. If you STILL haven't found him by then, then it's time to go back to the first one and leave unturned there either.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

The meat will be fine, explore all your options, there are no rules when it comes to which path a deer will take

RE: Recovery help asap
 

I'm about to take my son to school and then go take up the search again. To answer a few questions, the arrow obviously hit a rib and deflected back some. It did fall out the other side, but only after probably closer to 15 yds. There was blood all the way past the nock.
I was on the edge of a ravine that is thick as can be. The path he was headed in would take him to a fence with much more open woods on the other side. I don't feel he would go that way, especially since there is a main trail leading down the edge of the fence into the ravine.
If he jumped the fence, there were actually 2 ways he could have gone, into the corn or into those open woods, which happen to belong to a hunting club or something.
I will search all the underbrush near where I shot him and all the trails leading out and back the way he came. I know that deer will often circle back given the chance.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

Good luck this morning! Hope to see a picture of him today!

RE: Recovery help asap
 

Great advise!! I agree with Greg. Here's my take as listed below........





A deer could easily clear a fence when facing death with any wound. I've seen deer do some crazy things one would not think. It depends on that particular deer. They might also take the easy path. Keep your eye's peeled.


The meat will be just fine.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

If the deer entered the corn there will be blood on the corn stalks maybe not a lot but it will be there. It might just take some time for a blood trail to develop but if you put an arrow through a deer he will bleed.
Take your time and you will find your buck,he won't go far .
This months "Bow Hunter magazine has a story about recovering deer and the author found his buck will the aid of his GPS by using the tracking feature while he searched after several hours he looked at the screen to see where he had not searched,thats where he found the deer.

Good luck,Jim

RE: Recovery help asap
 

That's pretty neat and good thinking!! Good post Jim!

RE: Recovery help asap
 

I would try again to locate a blood trail. Ingood light you can see things you'll miss with a flashlight. If that is not successful, I would then plan a very systemmatic search, like walking a grid within 300 yds of the last place he was seen or heard. Break it down into manageable blocks or search units and just keep at it. If that doesn't work, then broaden the search area.

In general, look in the thickest cover, and also spots where the bedded deer could watch his backtrail, such as a knoll. Wounded deer will often go to water, so ditches, creeks and ponds should be checked. Don't overlook little bits of cover in open areas. Deer will hide in th eopen sometimes, because they can see when something is following them.

I found a deerItracked for about 300 ydsin the middle ofa small field, where a large rock prevented the farmer from cutting the hay. Eventually a few shrubs and weeds grew up around the rock. That 15' x 15' spot of cover was where that deer wanted to be.

That deer should be dead and recoverable, so stay at it.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

A passthrough is the arrow going all the way through the deer. The arrow went all the way through, hanging out the exit side, the deer ran and the arrow fell out after 20 yards.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

Update?

RE: Recovery help asap
 

Hopefully you find it today. All watching and waiting an update maybe he is quartering as we type for it has been 3 hours since he left to look.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

And update on this?

RE: Recovery help asap
 

no word yet[:@]

RE: Recovery help asap
 

I hope he finds him. I want to see pics and a big ole smile.
Chris

RE: Recovery help asap
 

Liver shot deer need 4-6 hours on the ground. Hitting the liver will cause INTERNAL Hemorrhage. The deer should bed down within a few hundred yards. Also I firmly believe the deer will take the path of least resistance IF it is not jumped. After that its hard to tell. I just recovered a liver shot deer and I took out 1 lung. The deer ran about 500 yards AFTER I jumped him. Get a buddy and one of you stay on blood, the other make large circles and you'll find him. Dont give up

RE: Recovery help asap
 

no two deer are the same. i think in most cases what you stated can be assumed, but my brother shot one that hit liver and exited high missing other organs. deer ran and ran (not being bumped)..went over a mile and never beeded down and went up hill...completely opposite of what is common practice.

buttom line do the norm and check downhill and path of least resistance,... then check the none norm

RE: Recovery help asap
 

If they die in an hour... they'll still be dead in 4-6... when I wrote in my first post that they'll usually die in an hour..... they usually will.... but... like I said.. they'll still be dead in 4-6.. liver hits can be funny.... if you get a good amount of dark red blood... you got the major arteries that flow through the liver... and an hour would be a long time... if you just clip it... then the deer could live for more than 6 hours.... variables....

RE: Recovery help asap
 

Jim That GPS thing is awesome. It should go directly into the recovery thread! What a great use for a tool most of us have anyway!

RE: Recovery help asap
 

I agreeno two deer are the same, but in common practice I was giving advice to start from. Noone can give him the solution of finding a deer. You could even break it down to which lobe of the liver is hit and how much blood will be lost. But this is impossible without recovering the deer. Assuming your exit is high the blood trail will be light because it will pool inside the deer. Having a exit wound low will provide a better, not best, blood trail still allowing for the hemorrhage internally which will prove fatal at some point.
The fact there are so many variables can make for a quite long argument on this topic. Either way back off give it time and take it up with first light. I wish you the best of luck!!

RE: Recovery help asap
 

It's been a day and a half and no update for the nice folks here who did their best with offering up some tipsto help infinding your deer??

RE: Recovery help asap
 

maybe he's still at it? :)

RE: Recovery help asap
 

I'd like to say I thought it up but I was just fortunate to read about it, It really does make great sense especially tracking at night.

RE: Recovery help asap
 

did he find it??

RE: Recovery help asap
 

??

RE: Recovery help asap
 

So we never got an answer, I hate that!

Yo Pastor, where's our ending?

RE: Recovery help asap
 

I think this is another case for Matt to deal with.[:-]

RE: Recovery help asap - UPDATED
 

Well guys, I thank you for all the help. I searched for the better part of a day. I went down into the ravine and followed all the trails in and out. I searched the thickets high and low, and got the scars to prove it. I went to the only source of water around but nothing there. I searched and searched for more blood but nothing found. I don't know who owns the neighboring property, so I was reluctant to go there, but I did follow the main trail from where he was headed into that property for about 200 yds and also searched the fence rows all around it. I did everything I could to find more blood or anything, but nothing. I even looked at some deer anatomy diagrams to get a better idea of what I might have hit. It is possible that I got right around the liver but was deflected back slightly into the stomach. When he ran by at 10 yds, I could see where the arrow hit, and it looked like like a liver and even extreme back lung hit. Like I said, it was definitely in the mid-slight back rib cage, and one blade showed that evidence of hitting a rib.
In all my years of shooting deer, I've made a few less than perfect shots, stomach, liver, etc, but this is the first that I've not been able to track and find. I've been sick over it. I woke up in the night thinking about that deer. I don't know if a deer shot in the stomach can survive or not, but I hope so.
I even watched for buzzards for a while, and when I return to the area, I'll do that again.
Thanks again, but sorry no good news.

RE: Recovery help asap - UPDATED
 

Sorry to hear that and thanks for the update. I'd get a few buddies together and grid search the area. Maybe a dog as well if that is legal in your area. From all of your descriptions, the deer should have been dead by morning and unless bumped, he shouldn't have gone far.

RE: Recovery help asap - UPDATED
 

That isa bummer.SorryPastor..This might be a good time to get to know your neighbor and see if they would be able to let you search the property line thoroughly, and show them you are a responsible hunter by asking for their permission. What have you got to lose in this case now, can't hurt to be on good terms with a neighbor..
Better luck with the rest of the season!

RE: Recovery help asap - UPDATED
 

ah that is crappy news. I was holding out for some good news. Best of luck the rest of the season sir.

RE: Recovery help asap - UPDATED
 

If the stomach was punctured it will not survive. It will hurt like hell for up to a couple of days, turn septic, and die from the infection. Worst possible way to go. Of course, I guess it could get worse. He could be found by coyotes first and die one inch at a time as they eat him from the hams up.

This is why we must practice as much as we can and if we cannot practice enough, then we should have the wherewithall to not go hunting.

RE: Recovery help asap - UPDATED
 

Wow, way to kick a guy when he's down........

Actually, if the deer was hit as mentioned, I believe the deer's system will poison itself before any infection seeps in.

RE: Recovery help asap - UPDATED
 

Pastor find someone with a birddog or a coonhound and run the dog through there. I found a gut shot deer like that once.