Tracking advice on shot
11-15-2011, 01:09 PM
#1
Fork Horn
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 178
Tracking advice on shot
After my morning sit I decided to walk around the property I hunt looking for sign and to put out a couple cameras. While walking on a logging road that cuts through a over grown field full of prickers/briars and all other types of tick habitat I noticed antlers, big antlers! I ducked down and tried to assess the situation. Is it a dead deer? Is it a bush that looks like antlers? Is it a buck bedded? I take out the binoculars and slowly get to my knees... its the biggest buck I have ever seen on the property! He is bedded down 30 yards from me facing the opposite direction and has no clue I am there.
I duck back down to decide what to do...1st thing I did was take the camcorder out and get some footage of the deer. Evidence/proof in case I never saw him again. Next I range him, 30 yards! My heart is racing at this point and I duck back down to plot my next move. I decided the best way to get a shot is to stand up and get his attention, and when he stands up I will shoot.
Here i go.... I stand up get the bow into position and I hear a deer blow and out of the corner of my eye a doe jumps up and bounds outta the field. The buck instantly stands up on full alert, broadside at 30 yards. I put the pin behind the shoulder and squeeze the release. The arrow takes off on perfect flight towards his vitals and then turns downward and left sharply and I hear Whack! My 1st thought was I must of hit something and deflected. The deer bounds through the field onto the bank of apple trees and stops. He is 80 yards and looking right at me. He stared at me for 2-3 mins then slowly limped off, following the trail of the doe.
I walk over to my arrow. The zebra nugent arrow is still black and white. My heart sinks, I missed... After closer inspection the rage broadhead has white/brown/black hair in it as well as some fat. And the blades were bent. On the wrap was a couple splatters of blood and what seemed to be a small scratch/chunk taken out of the shaft. I find hair at impact on the ground as well as a few spots of blood. I walk over to the bank and get on the deer run. Im following spots of blood the size of a dime until I get to where he stopped and looked at me, at that spot is a softball size pool of bright red blood. I back out.
After talking it over with my Uncle we decide that I hit him in the front of the brisket or in the leg. Considering no vitals are hit we decide to get on him ( 1 hr after shot), hoping to make him bleed out, Or if a leg shot have the bone that was hit cut him up some more. The blood trail is pretty easy to follow and when he stops there is a good pool of bright red blood. The blood is already dry on the leaves at this point. We get to a stonewall fence and there is a wet pool of blood, so we follow it for another 100 yards and yet another softball size pile of clotting blood. We found one more tiny drop of blood ten yards away and then nothing! We circled and circled and circled....nothing. All in all the we tracked 500-600 yards and had 5 of them softball sized pools of blood. When the arrow was shot it appears it deflected off a pricker bush stalk (right infront of the buck) that was about as wide as my index finger, causing the arrow to go low left at last second. And the whack I heard was the arrow hitting bone of some sort.
I guess I would like to know everyones opinion/advice....Im sick to my stomach over this and just need to hear something.
I duck back down to decide what to do...1st thing I did was take the camcorder out and get some footage of the deer. Evidence/proof in case I never saw him again. Next I range him, 30 yards! My heart is racing at this point and I duck back down to plot my next move. I decided the best way to get a shot is to stand up and get his attention, and when he stands up I will shoot.
Here i go.... I stand up get the bow into position and I hear a deer blow and out of the corner of my eye a doe jumps up and bounds outta the field. The buck instantly stands up on full alert, broadside at 30 yards. I put the pin behind the shoulder and squeeze the release. The arrow takes off on perfect flight towards his vitals and then turns downward and left sharply and I hear Whack! My 1st thought was I must of hit something and deflected. The deer bounds through the field onto the bank of apple trees and stops. He is 80 yards and looking right at me. He stared at me for 2-3 mins then slowly limped off, following the trail of the doe.
I walk over to my arrow. The zebra nugent arrow is still black and white. My heart sinks, I missed... After closer inspection the rage broadhead has white/brown/black hair in it as well as some fat. And the blades were bent. On the wrap was a couple splatters of blood and what seemed to be a small scratch/chunk taken out of the shaft. I find hair at impact on the ground as well as a few spots of blood. I walk over to the bank and get on the deer run. Im following spots of blood the size of a dime until I get to where he stopped and looked at me, at that spot is a softball size pool of bright red blood. I back out.
After talking it over with my Uncle we decide that I hit him in the front of the brisket or in the leg. Considering no vitals are hit we decide to get on him ( 1 hr after shot), hoping to make him bleed out, Or if a leg shot have the bone that was hit cut him up some more. The blood trail is pretty easy to follow and when he stops there is a good pool of bright red blood. The blood is already dry on the leaves at this point. We get to a stonewall fence and there is a wet pool of blood, so we follow it for another 100 yards and yet another softball size pile of clotting blood. We found one more tiny drop of blood ten yards away and then nothing! We circled and circled and circled....nothing. All in all the we tracked 500-600 yards and had 5 of them softball sized pools of blood. When the arrow was shot it appears it deflected off a pricker bush stalk (right infront of the buck) that was about as wide as my index finger, causing the arrow to go low left at last second. And the whack I heard was the arrow hitting bone of some sort.
I guess I would like to know everyones opinion/advice....Im sick to my stomach over this and just need to hear something.
11-15-2011, 01:45 PM
#2
Spike
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Wisconsin Dells
Posts: 34
After reading your post, I believe you and your uncle are correct with a front should, brisket muscle hit. I am assuming the arrow had very little if any penetration. I recommend that you continue the search for you deer by widening your circles. As we all know, deer are very strong and resourceful. I am guessing that your deer will make it to see another day. Keep an eye out for coyotes, crows, etc they may point you in the right direction if the deer does bleed out. The only thing you can do is give it a 110% effort on retreiving the animal and hope for the best. Just my two cents - Good Luck - Soup
11-15-2011, 08:09 PM
#4
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: Middleton, Wisconsin
Posts: 979
IMO you should have waited a long time before going back, like in 10 hours or over night etc. I feel like if you only let him sit for 1 hr you could have/ possibly did push him. One of the reasons people wait a long time on marginal shots is so the deer BEDS DOWN AND BLEEDS OUT, does it work all the time? no, but I would guess more people find there deer on marginal shots if they wait a while, instead of going right after them and pushing the deer hundreds of yards away.
Good luck finding him and as stated before the best thing you can do now is make concentric circles around last blood and hope to either find the deer or more blood.
Good luck finding him and as stated before the best thing you can do now is make concentric circles around last blood and hope to either find the deer or more blood.
11-16-2011, 02:50 AM
#5
Spike
Join Date: Oct 2011
Location: Wisconsin Rapids, WI
Posts: 61
IMO you should have waited a long time before going back, like in 10 hours or over night etc. I feel like if you only let him sit for 1 hr you could have/ possibly did push him. One of the reasons people wait a long time on marginal shots is so the deer BEDS DOWN AND BLEEDS OUT, does it work all the time? no, but I would guess more people find there deer on marginal shots if they wait a while, instead of going right after them and pushing the deer hundreds of yards away.
Good luck finding him and as stated before the best thing you can do now is make concentric circles around last blood and hope to either find the deer or more blood.
Good luck finding him and as stated before the best thing you can do now is make concentric circles around last blood and hope to either find the deer or more blood.
In this case I don't think the deer even bedded down. Unless I read something wrong! lol
I also think it was definitely a front shoulder hit. At 30 yards you will get very little penetration even if you are shooting high poundage. Good luck finding him.
11-16-2011, 03:42 AM
#6
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location:
Posts: 21,043
Different hits have different ideologies on how/when to take up tracking. There are those who will tell you to push a shoulder hit deer (actually, any flesh wound).
In general, I think waiting is a good idea. Not always.
In general, I think waiting is a good idea. Not always.
11-16-2011, 05:54 AM
#7
Typical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: southwestern va
Posts: 753
im in GMMAT's school of thought......some hits you back out and let the deer bleed out and die (like a one lung or paunch shot), while others I thought you were supposed to push as well to keep the wound from clotting over (like the buck in this post).
11-16-2011, 06:35 AM
#8
Fork Horn
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Upstate New York
Posts: 411
Leg, shoulder hit I usually keep on the track if I have enough men to help but only if I am certain of POI, if not, I wait. Pick up the track today from last blood and grid search. Good luck but it does not sound like a dead deer.
11-16-2011, 05:10 PM
#10
Boone & Crockett
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Eastern PA
Posts: 12,745
After reading and re-reading your post, I am assuming the buck was facing left. They way you described it, it sounds to me as though your POI was more left than you wanted, the arrow hit the shoulder, deflected left cutting the brisket which would account for the black hair. What I believe you now have on the property is a deer that should survive provided the wound does not get infected. Also, depending on where the shoulder was hit, he may or may not have use of his leg.
I am a firm believer that if I do not see the animal fall, I wait a min of 15 mins, go to where the animal was standing when I shot and try to determine a hit or miss either by locating my arrow or any sign of blood. If a hit is confirmed and no 'gut' smell on the arrow, I wait a minimum of another hour. If the arrow does smell a bit gutty, I will wait a minimum of 4 hours before taking up the track. Thank goodness that I have yet to gut shoot a deer. But sooner or later it may happen and I will go take a nap or whatever to pass the time.
I am a firm believer that if I do not see the animal fall, I wait a min of 15 mins, go to where the animal was standing when I shot and try to determine a hit or miss either by locating my arrow or any sign of blood. If a hit is confirmed and no 'gut' smell on the arrow, I wait a minimum of another hour. If the arrow does smell a bit gutty, I will wait a minimum of 4 hours before taking up the track. Thank goodness that I have yet to gut shoot a deer. But sooner or later it may happen and I will go take a nap or whatever to pass the time.