disappointed and confused
 

this past weekend i went out with my dad, brother and uncle for the ohio youth gun season. on sunday morning i hit a doe, after i shot, my dad and brother came walking over around the point headed towards me. when they were walking, they spooked the doe up and she took off again. after waiting about a half hourwe went to look for blood.at first there wasnt any blood, then about after 10 yards it started. after tracking her for probably 50 yards, i saw her stand up and walk off very slowly waving her tail from sideto side. at this point is was about 10:15.so we headed back to camp and went back out ataround 2:15.i started from where i last saw her, and once again ibooted her out of her bed.this time she ran for about20 yards then began walking. i could see that she was limping pretty badly. well to shorten this up, i sat for probably 15 minutes with my uncle and followed the blood until it just stopped.we looked around the area for any other sign but couldnt find anything. i was curious if anyone could tell me where i might have hit her. sorry about the long post, i was just unhappy not being able to find her since we had to leave sunday night to drive home. thanks in advance.

RE: disappointed and confused
 

you might had hit too low and to far forward placing the bullet a bit under the shoulder... that could also be the reason the was severly limping... from my guess you shot her through her leg and didn't hit much of anything else...

RE: disappointed and confused
 

Impossible to tell exactly just based on that information. Which leg, color of blood, was it dripping or spraying, what were you shooting, do you think you pulled the shot?

RE: disappointed and confused
 

Do you thinkyou might ofhad another shot on her while you were tracking her?Sounds like she might make it!!!

RE: disappointed and confused
 

It is hard to tell from the information given,but it sounds like you may have just hit a leg.

RE: disappointed and confused
 

she was standing about 60 yards away broadside facing to my right. it looked the blood was dripping. i was using my Winchester Apex muzzleloader. when i shot i think i was aiming a little low on the body right behind the shoulder. and yes, i would have definately had a shot on her while tracking her. i know now that when i track a deer i will bring my gun along.

RE: disappointed and confused
 

at least you learned something, if you watch the good hunting videos (ones where the recovery isnt staged) even the bowhunters nock an arrow when they think they are getting close. Hopefully this deer will live and you have learned a valuable lesson.

RE: disappointed and confused
 

sounds like a gut shot. you should get walkie talkies. they come in handy when tracking deer because your dad or uncle can flank her or set up down from were you may push her. we always use them when me and my buddies go out. don't get anything special. walmart has decent brands. Motorola walkabout's are what we have and they have saved use quite a few deer including a really sneaky buck one year. he had circled use several time and was somehow walking right between use, but he was bleeding. caught him in a gully and all of use unloaded. YA MAN IT WAS AWESOME. boy he sure was good eating that night at camp. yep walkies are worth there weight in gold. good luck and get some walkies.

RE: disappointed and confused
 

Disregard jimmy da foot'sinsightful words...obviously he got headbutted at the bar to hard one night[&:]!

I agree tough to tell but probably a flesh wound of some sort in the front leg area. After 4 hours if she got up and again moved off she isn't gut shot or anything. Number 1 rule never assume, always be prepared to shoot again if required. My hunting partner this season shot a buck, we let him be for a bit as he wasn't sure how good he was hit. When we started back on him hebumped and my partner had to give him a finisher. Turned out on the quartering shot he got a bit far back and must have got the liver and possibly one lung. While the buck didn't go far, he was far from expired at that point either. I have no doubt he would have died in that bed had we left him longer but the point is both my partner and I were prepared to have to make a second shot if required to ensure the animal was collected and suffering was as short as possible.

Best of luck

RE: disappointed and confused
 

Well at least you gave it the "ole college try" to try and recover her .... I know your down about not recovering her but you gain a lot of experience and learned a very valuable lesson ... a lesson that most likely will allow you to recover more deer in the future which in MHO is worth 5 doe's ... I have deer hunted 25 years and learn something just about everytime I go out ..this is YOUR post so I won't tell you what a REALLY stupid thing I did yesterday that most liklycost me a "Local Legend" monster buck ... BUT I hope I learned from it ...Good luck in the future !

dd