gtownbuckbuster

took the words outta my mouth... look around ponds creeks, heck they will even take to and follow dried up ditches cause they know it leads to water adn they just wont to lay in water to clot the wound if possible.. deer are super smart, also i saw someone say somethin bout a dog that is the best idea if you cant find blood

zrexpilot

It's not the calibers fault, if the shot was a little back you get the lungs but not the major arteries of the lungs, you just clipped them.
I hit an 8 pointer with a bow the same way and it did the same exact thing, I gave him an hour and still I pused him. A bad shot is a bad shot.
If you hit dead center of the vitals they expire quickly.

cal516

I had the same problem. Very little blood where I shot a deer. Arrow shot a little far back. I couldn't find her and called a buddy. I told him which direction she ran and he found her trail heading up a ridgeline. Sure enough; a pool of blood where she stood for a bit. It had been a good two hours before we found the trail. But the blood was strong from there and we found her still alive but barely. I gave her another arrow and she ran again but not far.....she expired a little after. Anyway, like the others have said...get your son back in the saddle. Every hunt good or bad is a learning experience and a great experience everytime. He will learn the spirit of the hunt....

A11en

I agree with what others have said, I'd step up in caliber or gauge. My 8 year old shot his first deer with a 20 gauge. He also shoots a .243.

Icetrey

Sounds like the pools of blood was him maybe getting slow. If you would have given him about 15min more, hey may have bedded there and died. Keep looking. Also he can probly handle a .243. Let he test a few smaller caliber guns and explain that the bigger the better. See what he feels comfortable with.

jklink

Thanks for the input. by the way, we were hunting near Evant, Texas. It's between Waco and Brownwood.

Jasonlester

True but a large caliber gives a bigger margin for error. The shock of a larger bullet does more damage and could have made the difference in taking it down on the spot or getting it to bleed out faster.

As for the boy. Keep him at it. Show him that you need to do everything you can to recover the animal (I think your doing this) and then get him back out there when he's ready.

zrexpilot

Thats a debate that will go on forever, but in 25 years of doing this I have seen large calibers wound more deer than smaller calibers. Why ? probably because hunters who use small calibers know what theyre doing. You cant make a bad shot and blame the caliber, no one knows for sure what a larger caliber might have done. The 22-250 leaves some nasty damage as well.
and shock doesnt come from larger bullets it come from velocity. Shoot a jack rabbit with a 30-06 and shoot one with a 22-250. the 22 will disentegrate the rabbit and the 30 will put a hole in it, thats shock in my opinion.
a 22-250 expanded diameter is about .42, a 30-06 is about .6 thats 2 tenths of an inch bigger hole, not a lot of difference. Not like when talking broadheads, theyre can be 3/4 inch difference in broadheads cutting diameters.