MarquetteMagnum

5 days later this year found the buck I wounded. no good sleeping those nights. I work 2nd shift and am up in the woods at first light and looked till I had to go to work at 4pm. yes, the deer was a loss, the wolf's got him. I got lucky finding this deer. he went 1 1/2 miles as a crow flies and probly closer to two by the way I figure he went. and the birds helped me to only it was crows. by the way my buck was shot in the guts and there were 12 inches of guts hanging out of him after the shot. I backed out till the next morning, when we jumped him and he made his long jurney. he probly lived three days with that wound.

This is all learning, everything! This year I sucked and I learned from it. next year will be better for me and for you.

furgitter

Im not one to give up on a search as long as I think the wound will cause the animal to die. But how many here would put in the same effort to retrieve a wounded squirrel, or a wounded opposum? I get the feeling not many would. Somehow the whitetail has become a more respected animal, and deserves more. They are all animals, you cant walk away from a gut shot oppossum and call someone a bad guy for doing it to a deer.

FtWorthHunter

You know, I've never thought of it that way and you are most likely right. I don't know how many hogs and aoudad's I've let run wounded. Since both are nuisance animals, I don't give it much thought.

Ben / PA

Cloud, we have all, or will lose deer at some point. It's the way that you went about it that is a problem. One hour is just not right.

russ4411

Give the guy a break. I am sure that most of you have lost a deer sometime or another. It happens to the best of them.

beer hunter

People actually hunt possums??

Father Forkhorn

I think something that perhaps ought to be considered is that no one tells you how long to search for a deer. As I read everyone rise up in fury, I realized that it's a topic no one ever mentioned in hunter safety, has never come up in a discussion I was present to, and I've never seen anything in print on it. Cloudwalker probably hasn't either, especially if he didn't grow up in a hunting culture or learned from someone experienced. I don't think it's fair to hammer him when the matter is so surprisingly obscure. It sounds like he tried for what seemed to him a sufficient amount of time. A gentle correction would have been enough on someone who was obviously feeling badly.

Cloudhunter wounded a deer, and the deer hunters wounded Cloudhunter. The second part of that is much worse.

Dixon

My thoughts exactly.

furgitter

Ive known of guys who will leave a deer in the woods if its too small. Thats a sin in my book! Cloudhunter did what he could, and everything eats something. The coyotes or wolves get that one. Better luck next time. I wouldnt let my kids track a deer alone untill they had tracked 20 wounded ones. Now I feel ok about it.

rybohunter

Pal, you deserve every slam that is going to be tossed your way. There is not a single excuse to justify not recovering a deer that only traveled 20-25 yds after the shot.