xi32

hey guys today we were doing a push to try to get a friend a deer well when we were walking the woods i kicked up a nice buck he ran about 70 yards and stopped broadside i put the crosshairs on his shoulderand squeezed the trigger and the buck ranoff 5 minutes later i heard are freind shoot. we went to where he was and he said he shot at a buck that was carrying its rearleg butwas running full blast through a field well we all went back to where i originaly shot and we found where he was standing and to my amazment my bullet was laying on the ground with a lil blood we follwedthe trail and found 2 lil bone fragments and 1big piece about2 inches long well the trail tapered off about 100 yards we grid searched the entire area for a mile and half at least and found nothing. theonly thing i can think is i hit a limb and it deflected the bullet into the hindleg.what do you think its chances of survival is if it doesnt get infected. also any ideas on whymy bullet would be on the ground where he stood . thanx and by the wayit was muzzlloader season so chances fora second shotwerent good thnax again

Bocajnala

hmmm.... sounds like maybe you hit something...or you just didnt have enough gun to penetrate.... I dont shoot ML, but were you loaded right?
-Jake

xi32

yes i was loaed right 100 grains of pyrodex powder and a 250 grain shockwave bullet. and the day before i shot a buttonbuck at 102 yards by my rangefinder and got a pass through so yeah it was enough gun

Bocajnala

hmmm well the only thing i can figure is you must have caught something in front and deflected the bullet.... or steel plated deer....
-Jake

teedub31

I know guys say they will be OK but I have a tough time believing that too many deer survuve shattered legs long term.

kingofspring

Coyotes and buzzard bait

xi32

so you guys think his chances of making it arent good thats what i thought to man that sucks i guess ill start looking for buzzards

xi32

well i went back out and picked up the trail again today and tracked for a mile just his tracks and very little blood everyonce in awhile. i could tell they were his tracks cause the leaves were scuffed from his backleg i finally lost all sign and called it quits but in this whole time i never found where he had bedded down at all i feel like crap. guess ill wait it out and watch for buzzards and listen for coyotes

spudrow

At least you gave a good effort to find the deer. That's about all you can do. Sometimes stuff happens. It's really difficult to deal with once you lose a deer. I lost my first this year during archery season and thought I lost another one, luckilyI found him the next day.Let me tell you I was ready to give up bow hunting because of this. Just remember if you lose one feel confident it isn't going for naught, it goes back in the food chain.

Spudrow from Mo

coyote#68

If you have a dog take it with you their noses can find anything that touches the ground and they dont have to have any training to be able to track a wounded deer I have had beagle pups that have never saw a rabbit find deer for meafter the blood stops.Good luck and I hope you find him!!