Shot a buck, opinions....
10-23-2003, 09:47 AM
#14
Fork Horn
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Fulton County, IL
Posts: 482
RE: Shot a buck, opinions....
Grab a couple of buddies and comb the area...hard! Make sure to be thorough...and once you think you' ve exhausted all the places that this deer could be...do it again. Check near water, known bedding areas, etc....just don' t give up!
First deer I ever got w/ a bow was a gut shot at 30 yards out. 30 minutes after the shot, it started raining. Quickly called my two best friends to help me locate it...just in case I needed a couple extra set of eyes. Found some blood, but had to wait until the next day to pick up the chase. Was just raining too hard and we kicked it up a couple of times. So, I marked the last place we saw blood and had a very bad night' s sleep. When we went back the next day, we combed the area again and found him about 150 yards away from my stand curled up under an overhang in the hill. Must have covered that area a half dozen times already (in the dark), but we found him.
I hope you find your deer. Good luck...your hunt isn' t over yet.
First deer I ever got w/ a bow was a gut shot at 30 yards out. 30 minutes after the shot, it started raining. Quickly called my two best friends to help me locate it...just in case I needed a couple extra set of eyes. Found some blood, but had to wait until the next day to pick up the chase. Was just raining too hard and we kicked it up a couple of times. So, I marked the last place we saw blood and had a very bad night' s sleep. When we went back the next day, we combed the area again and found him about 150 yards away from my stand curled up under an overhang in the hill. Must have covered that area a half dozen times already (in the dark), but we found him.
I hope you find your deer. Good luck...your hunt isn' t over yet.
10-23-2003, 10:48 AM
#17
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: PA
Posts: 9,085
RE: Shot a buck, opinions....
good call on leaving him id say.....if hes hit and hurtin at all hes going to be within a few hundred yards being you didnt spook him or anything...he will bed and over night die hopefully.....try to find the trail...walk in the direction he went and look good and hard....he should be close if hes hit hard at all....you could hit a major artery or wind pipe or something important.........good luck.....hope you come home with a good story!!!
10-23-2003, 11:49 AM
#19
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Blossvale, New York
Posts: 21,199
RE: Shot a buck, opinions....
Your description is to vague or uncertain to really say. I mean how high is HIGH? It' s possible you shot right above everything and just got some back muscles or whatever from your description. It' s possible you hit high on the shoulder plate which slowed it down but never got into the vitals. It' s also possible you got a good hit. We' ll find out today I guess. I always take the trail at least a few yards right off to see what kind or trail we' re talking. Rarely do you find much blood if any right at the spot of the shot.... even with a blow through of both lungs. It takes a hop or two to get something flowing. How high were you, what angle(broadside, quartering, steep etc). How far could you see him run? Did you mentally mark his route as he took off? Too many questions to give you a thumbs up or down. Even if I' m going to let the deer be for a while I will very quietly walk it out for 40 or 50 yards to gain more fresh info. If you should jump him in that short distance it' s no problem as he' s a hurtin' puppy if he only went that far before bedding.
10-23-2003, 04:22 PM
#20
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Baltimore MD USA
Posts: 96
RE: Shot a buck, opinions....
You said you wanted opinions, so...
You bowhunted in the rain.
By doing this, you eliminate the one way to follow a shot deer (the blood trail). So now you have to wander around blindly and hope you stumble upon it. As it wasn' t a perfect shot, the deer is likely to have gone a decent distance, and holed up in some thick cover where it' s hard to see. You might find it, and you might not.
Had you shot this deer on a dry day, your odds would be far, far greater of recovering this deer. And if you hunted this spot a day or several days later, there is a good chance the deer would have given you a shot eventually- so hunting in the rain *may* have cost you this deer, and may have caused the deer to be raccoon and fox food instead of gracing your table. I don' t blame your shot- no one makes a perfect shot every time. I haven' t, and anyone who hunts long enough has been there. This is why many won' t hunt in the rain.
It is your responsibility as a hunter to search as hard and long as you possibly can. Do that, and you may be rewarded by finding this deer in fine shape. I hope you do, and I hope you draw a lesson from the experience no matter what happens.
Good luck.
You bowhunted in the rain.
By doing this, you eliminate the one way to follow a shot deer (the blood trail). So now you have to wander around blindly and hope you stumble upon it. As it wasn' t a perfect shot, the deer is likely to have gone a decent distance, and holed up in some thick cover where it' s hard to see. You might find it, and you might not.
Had you shot this deer on a dry day, your odds would be far, far greater of recovering this deer. And if you hunted this spot a day or several days later, there is a good chance the deer would have given you a shot eventually- so hunting in the rain *may* have cost you this deer, and may have caused the deer to be raccoon and fox food instead of gracing your table. I don' t blame your shot- no one makes a perfect shot every time. I haven' t, and anyone who hunts long enough has been there. This is why many won' t hunt in the rain.
It is your responsibility as a hunter to search as hard and long as you possibly can. Do that, and you may be rewarded by finding this deer in fine shape. I hope you do, and I hope you draw a lesson from the experience no matter what happens.
Good luck.