Good luck finding him

Well ???????????????

Did you find him yet????????

How "high" is high? Over the spine or under. Over the spine, I doubt at all if you will find him, and I doubt if the shot will be fatal, unless infection gets in. Keep hunting the area hard though, you might be able to get another shot at him. If it went under thoug, chances are that it will be fatal.

There is definately a consesus about backing out. When in doubt you did the right thing. Sooooo, what happened? Did you find him?

Uh-oh Bobco a consenus has been reached.. Guess your gonzo

It sounds like you hit muscle. However, even a shot that does not hit heart, lungs or liver can still hit a major blood vessel. By backing out, the deer laid down close by. He either bled out, or the wound stopped bleeding. Unless there are predators around, he's either dead close by or he will recover.

Actually, if it was a muscle wound, the best thing to do is get on it.

Bob, if it was a muscle hit and you "get on it"... you'll run that deer into the next county, if not the next state. Unless of course I'm misunderstanding your meaning of "get on it". Like Barnes, the only shred of hope when a shot goes under the spine and fails to enter the chest is nicking a vessel. You simply will not recover a deer from a meat only hit in that region.

Now, I guess there is a slight chance you'd get 'em... so long as you pushed him toward traffic... he may run out in front of a bus. Hey, where's Cardeer when you need 'em. [&:]

That may be true. But, it is also not-fatal unless the deer bleeds out.

Deer beding and resting up = coagulation = less blood loss.