How many of you have had this happen?
 

Tonight I had a nice doe walk out in front of where I was sitting, on the edge of a corn field. I decided to take the shot, and when she was in what I thought was my clearing, I took it..well the arrow nicked a branch and I ended up hitting her in the stomach.
I feel ****ty that it was not a clean hit, we lost the blood trail but I am going out again in the morning to try to find her.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Good luck and don't give up. You have given her the time needed to expire now
you need to find her.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Good luck finding her. Hey check out the water sources in the area.Gut hits often make them go for water

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

This type of situation is bound to happen to someone eventually. We are human and can't possibly see every single tiny branch that may be in the way of a shot. The good thing is that you are putting the time in to find her which is admirable. Alot of people would have given up because they didn't want to "waste" their time. Good luck and like cardeer said, she's probably headed for water.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Been there done that![:'(] But don`t` give up keep looking!! she is out there some where?? And yes water is a good place to at least to check out. It would be a good idea to take along some friends to help look. Just about every bowhunter i know has made a bad shot from time to time but it`s what you do after the shot that makes the deference. I wish you the best of luck finding her!!

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

The deer is dead, you just have to find it. Water is a good place to look, but don't get locked into one way of thinking. How far did you trail her last night? If you are quite confident its a gut shot, I'd wait 8 hr minimum, should this ever happen again. Looking in the closest, thick nasty brush areas is probably a good place to look also, just look hard because in thick places like that you can be within feet of your deer and not see her. Good luck.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Good advice! As long as you didn't push her too soon, you still have an excellent change on recovery.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

yup, i've had it happen to me as well...not a good feeling. i didn't give up on my deer and eventually found it...i walked past the deer less than 10 ft. away three different times in a thicket. i finally just happened to walk right up on it...

don't give up on it and i'm sure you'll find the deer. good luck!

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

I did the same with my 7pt last year. 10 yards and I clipped a balsam branch. Was I PO'd. I new it was bad so I marked the spot I last saw him(It is really thick where I sit so it was close) checked the arrow and went home for the night. I called a couple of buddies and we went out in the morning at 9 am and found him at 9:30am. He was still alive but was just about gone so we punctured his lung so he would expire. He ran within 100 yards or so of my stand. We had no sign just followed trails and came upon him.

Good luck to you, hope you find her. It happens to us all and we all get upset with it but we just have to add it to the memory banks as a lesson learned and try hard to keep it from happening again.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Another thing to do is listen for crows. They will find a gut shot deer pretty quick. If you hear a bunch of them in the direction you think she went be sure to check it out. This has worked for me in the past. Best of luck finding her.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

all great advise. "DON'T GIVE UP' the animal is dead take some friends and spead out follow trails look for blood, look in or near water. I gut sot one last year and found her in a creek about 200 yards from where I shot her. Never push a gut shot deer!!!

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Yep... ticked a branch I didn't see once on a nice buck which had literally ran in to my rattling bag. Fortunately, it deflected to right behind his ear and dropped him in his tracks. Took a minute to figure out what had happened after he dropped like a ton of bricks.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

THis is always a good idea.

Don't give up.:)

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Had that happen to me on the first shot I ever took at a deer. It was a nice little 4x4 chasing a doe. I took the shot and I saw my arrow deflect off a branch and then fly under his head. I'm glad I didn't hit him and wound him. Never did find that arrow in the snow.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Been there with the gut shot. Shot a doe but my arrow hit a twig that deflected it to her gut. Fortunately, she didnt' go but 15 yards and I put a second arrow through the boiler room.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Ive had it happen. Judging from past experience. Start looking around were you shot her at. I have trailed deer and lost the trail up to 300 yards +. and then we end up finding them less than 20 yards from were we shot them. GL dont give up

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

I had a bad hit this year. I'm not sure what exactly happened. I think the edge of the broadhead deflected off her shoulder. The deer was directly broadside and the entrance wound was perfect but the exit wound was way back. I found little acorn piece in the blood. She only ran about 20 yards and bedded down. I thought she was dead, so I got up close to her. When I realized she was alive I gave her another shot which did the job. Sometimes freaky things happen. You just have to find her! I thought I heard that especially w/ gut shots that they don't go far if you don't push them. I got lucky.

My new toy this year is a gps. I'm thinking the plotting feature (all gps's have) will work great for finding deer. It will help my be able to check every little nook and cranny.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Me and my 2 hunting buddies went out this morning, looked and looked and could not find her...I really don't know what to do. We walked along every trail that split off from where we last saw blood, my one buddy walked all throughout the woods (it is a small section of woods) and didn't see a thing, we found alot of bedding areas and there was nothing, we even crawled into thickets and were looking but she just wouldn't show up. We combed through every spot that we could think of. Is there any way she could still be alive? There was only one good blood spot, and then it slowly trailed into nothing. I feel horrible knowing that there is a deer out there somewhere, that I wounded.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

-EDIT-

We tried not to push her lastnight, I just wanted to get a general idea of where to look in the morning. But my one friend did drive a 4 Wheeler down there, do you think that could have pushed her out of the section?

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

Sorry. It sounds like you gave it a true honest effort to find her, which is commendable. A deer hit in the guts will die. In a few days you may smell her and then can have some closure at least to where and how far she ran. It's hard to say if hte 4 wheeler scared her, depends on if deer are used to them and you were on a road they are common to. It is a bad feeling now, but time eases it a little, and you gave it a hard search.

RE: How many of you have had this happen?
 

it would be a shorter list to tell you what i have not shot, trees, limbs, vines, neighbors a/c unit, good luck, and it happens to the best of us