Will he come back?
 

So I had a nice 8 walk down my clearing last night. I had dumped some doe estrus on the ground and he came quickly from a 100 yards out. I couldn't draw back without him seeing me because he was walking straight my direction. Once he past my stand I decided to draw back. He never slowed down and started to walk into the woods away from me. With me being nervous (woulda been my first big buck) I decided to try and shoot him in the shoulder although he was walking at an angle away from me. Long story short I missed right by him. He took off in the woods and I heard him stop once and blow. After that was silence. I got outta my stand to check my arrow. No blood, no hair, no anything. Got back in my stand hoping he would randomly come back. He never did. So my question is will he come back anytime soon? Although he looked my direction once he never seen me. Sorry for the long post, thanks.

how d you say good by in deer talk !!!

He will come back. Maybe not when you are in the stand, but if it's his home area he will still be around. Deer can't just up and flee the country anytime they get spooked by someone or something. They can change travel routes though.

Big bucks don't really relocate. They do go nocturnal though

Well thanks for the help. Maybe I'll get lucky and see him again sometime soon. Hopefully this time I'll get a kill

OK MY 2 cents
if he never say YOU, he really has NO idea what happened, so there is NO reason he wouldn't come back
a prime example and a funny one is
I had a good buddy come hunt my place, and he is KNOWN for messing up at time of shot
he missed the same buck 4 evenings in a row hitting a tree or shooting under the deer, and each time, the buck bolts, snorted and then he walked away
ALL clean misses (thank GOD)
and then a week later he actually killed it , a 120 inch 8 pointer!
in my many yrs bow hunting (30+) I have had several bucks, get spooked by silly things like dropping something or? actually getting busted and still came back next day or later in the season if a buck left the area every time something spooked it, they would never have a home range, be on the run all the time and thats a way there WAY more likely to get killed and THEY know it
if there is a reason for the deer to return and its on its home turf, they will come back
look at it this way, odds are that buck walked thru there hundreds of times and NEVER had anything happen, the ONE time something does, ain't going to chase it away forever, all the more so if its NOT sure what even spooked it, for all t know a BIG branch fell or?? some idiot just happened into his area and then left HAHA!
(just teasing here LOL)
it can be best to give the area a little cool down time, but that honestly comes down to how many places you have to hunt and IF that deer seen YOU or not

A lot depends on the time of the year. 2 days ago a neighbor cleanly missed a nice 8 point. He has a food plot which attracts a lot of does and last night the 8 came back running does. He didn't miss this chance. They forget and get stupid during those few "special days". It is going on right now in my area and 3 of us neighbors filled our buck tags last evening and all the bucks were snorting and chasing.

As was said if that is his home turf he will be around. If he was just passing through on his search for does he may not ever be seen again. We get dozens of bucks on our trail cams during the rut that are only on cam that one time and are never seen again by anyone in the local area.

We had a huge three legged nontypical buck (was missing the lower potion of his left front leg) on our cams for three years in a row during the exact same nights (Nov 11th or 12th) and that was the only days it was on cam or even seen for those three whole years.
No clue what ever happened to him, just disappeared. I suspect he died during a very icy winter we had in the area a couple years ago. After all he only had one hoof to dig through the crusty/icy snow with.

I beg to differ sir, but yes they can and will. If he feels any kind stress or pressure his will pack his suitcase and leave. It being the rut might save the day, he usually come back if a estrous doe is nearby.

It may seem that way but they usually don't.

I manage a lot of hunting property and mature bucks don't just pack up and move.

They do get elusive enough that they might as well be gone though.