Gut shot deer found!
 

My arrow went a little left (should have known as it has done this before) so I got the guts. Arrow had blood, but not a drop elsewhere. None! Looked for a little trail fairly close in, just to get a feeling of the general direction, but no luck. So I came in and met with my men's small prayer group - among some more important matters, like my good friend's marriage, and a young mother's cancer, we also prayed I find this deer. And I gave thanks for not absolutely needing that deer to feed my family.

This morning, I walked almost on top of it. In a high grass area! It was across the small creek in an area that I guessed it might be in. At any rate, I am very very happy! Not much of a deer, but a doe for my antlerless archery tag.

I am glad you found her.
Congratulations on going, and looking until you found her.
That says a lot about you as a hunter.
Was it cool enaugh for you to get any meat from her?
I hope so.

Deer was still warm when found, so I don't think it was more than 2 or 3 hours dead. Then, we quickly hung in the 35 F north wind for an hour or two before registering. Should be fine as long as I do some trimming of meat in some places.

X7
awesome, hate hearing the story of ..."well we had ta go"...glad ya hung in there.
congrats on a doe..i find em smarter than most bucks. gettin in close is a feat in its self.

Glad you found her... happens to all of us at some point... you did the right thing by backing out and being persistant...

I just deboned it and the meat is in the freezer chilling. I will take it in tomorrow to be combined with beef for burger. I will let everyone know how it is to eat. I tried to avoid any meat with part of the body cavity on it but for the most part I did not lose much. I even got the outside rib meat, minus the fat, leaving the meat between the ribs. Also, I did not cut out the tenderloins on the bottom of the spine in the body cavity.

when you gut yer deer, there is a sack on the inside that will peal outta there...leaving all the meat eatable. usually if ya dig yer fingers in the back by the tender loin, you can grab this "membrane?" and it will pull everything with it...considerin ya cut the esophagus and azzhole out. gl.

All the meat is 100% fine. 2-3 hours is nothing !!