Down in the dumps.
 

Ive yet to kill a buck with my bow. Last week shot just high on a 5pt. And today a nice 6 pt that Ive had on trail cam came in. He comes in at 8 am I stop him at 30 yards and shoot. Shot felt good and looked just a tad back, back of ribs or so. I get down to meet my uncle and we decide to give it a couple hrs. About 10am we go back and find the arrow, its got green (gut shot) and alot of blood. We think it caught some liver, so decide to track...I mentioned waiting til dark but he felt confident the buck was dead. WE start tracking and the blood is very easy to find. Then after about 75 yards we lose blood. After searching some more the blood turns back up on a run, it leads us to a bed with blood in it. (Assuming we jumped it, prolly shoulda backed out decided not to) After the bed the blood was very plentiful and seemed to be leaking on both sides. About 75 yards later we lose blood again...and again pick it back up after searching different runs. The deer ended up crossing a stonewall fence that lead to a golden rod field. He must of stopped right after the fence debating which way to go, cause there was alot of blood. This was the last blood we found. I walked the entire field perimeter and looked at every possible area the deer exit. No blood. Also walked the whole field no sign. Back to last blood I went and tried to determine which way the deer went into the field. Couldnt find a single speck of blood anywhere! I was on my hands and knees looking at every leaf (which was wet with the mornings frost thaw). Any advice? I plan on going back out in the morn to look some more. So frustrated.....

Any water around? Wounded deer go to water a lot of the time.

yea top of the field where i last had blood in a small pond..... looked there no luck. Across the road is a nature preserve/ lake/ marsh land :-(

Any clue why i was getting good blood, then nothing, then good blood then nothing....?

here is a pic of the buck from my trail cam and the red spot is about where i believe my arrow hit.

First of all on a shot you felt was bad you moved in to fast! You shoulda waited 8 hours before even attempting a recovery.

I'd bet he went out into that golden rod field and layed down. You'll have to carefully search it to the point where no deer could lay there without you finding him.

Are tracking dogs legal where you are at? If so you can go to one of the blood tracker sites (Rob/PA) could help you find someone, in your area. PM him.

How long is too long...in terms of bringing in a tracking dog? For example the deer was shot yest morn at 8...is it too late? its been 26 hrs

found him!!!!!!! update and pics to follow

Well after looking again this morn for about 4 hrs finding the deer looked bleak. I get home and get a call from a buddy who while driving his 4 wheeler scouting on the property I hunt found my buck! It was laying about 50 yards off the 4 wheeler trail...not really sure how he saw it while riding but Ill take it! Shot was back. Pretty much where i thought I hit it. Caught the last rib. In total the deer went about 1.5 miles. very fortunate to get him.... next time I will definitely wait longer before going after them

Wow, 1.5 miles is a long ways! Glad it worked out for ya!