That's one incredible shot....and and even more incredible deer.

I have always hunted by stalking and with not alot of deer up in these parts you have to take the shot that presents itself.. I went home and got my son to help me track it and do our circling in order to find it. It was a lot of work but well worth it by not loosing it.. As well as a great experience for my son to learn how to track and recover wounded or killed deer..

I once shot a buck at 60 yards with a .50 cal muzzleloader. He was quartering away. I was only seated 10 feet high in a scrub tree at the time. The shot felt great. The buck bolted so fast I thought I missed him. I waited 30 minutes and went to look for the buck. I could not find a single piece of evidence for the first 40 yards that I even hit the buck. At the 40 yard mark I found one tiny speck of blood. I looked for another 30-40 yards and found nothing. I could not even find a pin size drop of blood. I got very discouraged because he was what I thought at the time, my first mature buck.

I started searching in a progressively larger 45 degree outward pattern until I found the buck at about 100 yards. There was no exit hole and the entrance hole looked like it was not leaking at all. I opened him up and found his heart to be literally blown in half. The moral of the story...ever shot and bit of evidence in each hunt is different. Be stubborn and do not give up the search.

As for the original post, I would never give up searching for an animal, even if that meant I tromped all over a bedding area. I would proceed as GMMAT described above.

I can't claim credit for the knowledge on my own.

There'll be a post stick-ied up top in a few weeks "Recovery - What to do after the shot" (or something like that), compiled by Rob/PA (with help from many), that everyone needs to read. It'll prevent a lot of heartaches and probably save you a future recovery.

Thank you for all the great responses so far.

I posted this as it was a reflection of a true occurence from last year. I did proceed with the search and we did not recover the deer. But the action was noticeably less since tromping around in their core area. Caused me to reflect heavily upon that decision.

I'm glad to hear that quite a few of us are familiar with this scenario. I want to keep hearing input on this so please keep posting.

Also, looking forward to reading/printing the recovery sticky as an aid this year. Thank you Rob and GMMAT.

To me, once a deer is wounded, arrowed, hit or whatever, all bets are off.

Core areas, bedding areas and the ruination of future hunts....it doesn't matter anymore. We as hunters, owe it to that deer, to make every effort to recover it.

I've tromped through plenty of core/bedding areas if effort to recover or attempt to recover a deer. Done this many, many times in my hunting career.

I've trashed hunting areas and spooked deer. I've ruined awesome stand sites. To me, its all part of the game. It is what is expected when you are a truly ethical hunter.

Been there, done that and will do it again.

I believe waaaay toooooo many hunters give up tracking wounded deer way too early. I've recoverd many deer that others gave up on.

It sickens me as to how so many deer lay in the woods dead, because the hunter didn't bother to track it far enough.

I've tracked deer with little or no blood trail. I've done grid searches and the whole nine yards. Sometimes when you come up empty, it is easy to second guess yourself for doing so when it totally ruins a good hunting area. But deep down I know I did the right thing. When a recovery is made, I definitely know I did the right thing

The sanctuary shouldnt be a factor in the recovery. If you shoot them, then you have to look for them.

As for the blood trail: I would call a trusted compadre to confirm via internet weather radar that precipitation was imminent. If it was imminent, I would press on with the trail. If it was not, I would back out and monitor the weather radar overnight

I'd pretty much handle it the way GMMAT and the others have described.

It's sad to hear that you did not recover that deer. It's always heart breaking to lose a deer. I loathe that sinking feeling you get as the trail wears on and recovery seems less and less likely.

If you don't continue on into the bedding area you might not find him until a month later. Then you might wonder if it's the deer you shot.

I myself would recommed to him to mark where we last found blood and come back in the morning to track. Rain or not, if the deer is not hit well, you will more than likely push him further. Let him lay and expire. Also in the daylight, you will have a better chance of spotting him laying in some brush or by a fallen tree where you may in the dark have walked right on by him at 30 or 40 yds or even as little as 20.

Also waiting til the next morning allows the two of you to sit down and recall the hunt to give a better thought as to where the buck may have ran off to, what kind of hit you are possibly looking at, etc.