RattleSnake1

The only time I've ever seen the "mule kick" or "heels to the heavens" as I call is because of a heart or hard double lung shot. I've seen with both bow and gun....had them stop after a distance and trot off only to be DEAD not far from where I lost sight of them. I'd say be out there in good daylight....move from point of shot to where he entered cover, and GO SLOW...look for his tracksnot just blood...GOOD LUCK! Keep us posted!

JagMagMan

It`s ok I understand, but I did not want to push him, so I just looked on the field and very little in the forest because i will be there tommorrow, and I just wanted some other opinions from more experienced hunters, That way we all learn, better for us and for the deer
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First, I have to agree that it was probably NOT a gut shot! Gut shots are almost alwaysthe predicable, hunch-up
My best guess is that it was a miss. However, a good hit is sometimes harder to tell than a miss, especially if no sign was left at the spot.
As for "pushing the deer,"it is BETTER not to push a poorly hit deer, you'll lose the deer 90% of the time!
That said, I notice that your original post was in the early afternoon, so this was not an evening hunt, hindered by darkness I presume?
If it was a morning hunt, you should have looked for him after a couple of hours!
I've found too many "missed" deer, because the hunterwent bythe deers reaction to the shot!They were too eager to get backon the stand, instead of following up on the shot.
I am not saying that this is what you did, but as far as I am concerned, hunting is over after pulling the trigger, until you are 100% certain that the deer has been missed!
I am sure that its probably pretty cool where you are at, so I'd be in the woods at first light! Not hunting, but hunt-ing for this deer! My partner, and I oncehad to call off a search due to losing a blood trail and running out of flash lights. The next morning we found the buck in a shallow creek!
It probably died minutes after being shot, and was still edible!
Again, I'm not trying to be a prick either, but we cannot let a deer's reaction, determin whether or not we search for them!

Chuck7

Elmer,
Sorry you lost your deer. If there are no turkey vulchers or black vulchers circling ,you probably missed it. Thanks for posting. I have learned alot from hearing the different replies. I mostly post on the religious part of this forum and miss alot here so I sincerely have learned alot.This information was a first for me and I have over 4000 post.
God bless,
Chuck7

kim398pl

Hey. I have seen this happen too many times. It seems everytime I kill, they do this. The backs legs kick up higher than the head,I have actually had one do a flip for pete's sake. I have had them run off nad stop as well.

My guess it was a good lung, heart shot. The adreline made the deer do this. He probably stopped to try t catch a breath.

When you go back, go back to where you were. Then go back to where the deer was first standing (try to take something with you to mark the blood tril in case you loose it and have to start over),Start walking in the direction the deer ran, looking for signs, then when you get to where the deer stopped. ook around in circles for any signs. If you know which way the deer ran after that, head in that direction. Remember to look left and right, the blood can sometimes not be on the track due to them running nad it slinging some.

My best guess is that is was a heart.lung shot, sometimes those do not blled alot outside the body, especialy if you did nto hit the artery. They will bleed internally instead. If he ran about 40 yrds then stops. My guess is that he will be 30-50 yrds from where he stoped at.

I have actually had one run 100 yrd before falling out and dyiing. Just be careful not to walk to fast or too muhc to mess with any evidence. But like I said. I am not sure how the other feels, but if this was a heart or lung shot, there may not be much blood if any at all. That is just my experience.

Good Luck
Kim

wis_bow_huntr

Usually when you shoot a deer in the guts, theyll hunch their back and tuck the tail between the legs. If you hit that deer in any of the vitals, he more than likely will kick like a mule. But if he just ran a few yards and turned around and looked, and trotted off, he may have been liver hit or totally missed. Check a near by water source. He should have produced some amount of blood at the site of the shot or shortly after. No matter where he was shot, he may have headed for a water source. Deer can actually heal pretty damned fast once they hit water. Ive seen deer shot through the liver, not much blood, head right for water and lay down and drink for 5-10 minutes just to get back up and run off as if nothing ever happend only to hen be shot later in the season.

DougMD

Sounds like a hit to me, and not in the guts. Go look for him and let us know what happened. Good luck!

trophyhuntr

heart shot

NY Bowhunter

That's a hard hit deer IMO. Good luck finding him.

lhook7

I agree with most of the others. The deer is hit hard and not gut shot. I have never seen a gut shot deer react by doing a mule kick. There is also the possibility that you shot low and nicked his belly, I think that would also result in a mule kick.

Let us know how it turns out. Good luck.

DeerWhisperer

Although all are just our opinions we can not tell you because we were not there. You will need to use your own judgement on this. do a little investigating where you shot the deer, where you say it stopped and looked at you and a good 50 - 100 yds in the direction you saw it go. if you still see nothing walk back to where you shot the deer in a zig-zag pattern and if you still see nothing it was most likely a clean miss.

I shot at 1 a few weeks ago with my muzzleloader the deer jumped about 7 feet in the air. when it came down i did not see it run away or anything. But i could not find it.had 2 buddies helping me look also, finally came to the conclusion that i missed.