I hit a trophy buck this morning with the bow. We had about 5" of fresh snow. There was blood right where I hit him. He bleed on both sides and it was spraying. After about 300 yards the spraying was much less. In all I tracked him about 800 yards and he never bed down. He was running the entire time. I have shot numerous bucks and tracked many as well but never had a deer spray blood and never stop running. Eventually the snow started to melt and i could no longer find blood. Thoughts? IS he worth tracking with a dog?

Thats a stupid question all deer are worth tracking with a dog. This honestly has me worried that you have access to a tracking dog and are not using the resource. This is sad that you asked if you should use a tracking dog. I would use one for every deer I could not find within 50 yards if I had the resource. This just saddens me that there are people like this out there.

I don't have the resource of a dog and would need to pay someone $1,000 to drive 7 hrs to try. If I had a tracking dog at my fingertips you can bet your ass I would use it.

Play Nice WestTex!!
Lazer, YES put a dog on it. Also, did you give the deer time to lay down? If it was bleeding hard it should have laid down. If you did give it time, not sure why it kept moving. Even with bad hits I've had, the deer has tended to bed down. If you have a dog, put it on the trail.
-Jake

I thought it was a good hit. I waited 2 hrs before getting on it and through the entire 800 yards he was running. We could tell he was running becuase of the tracks in the snow. It throws me for a loss why he never laid down or even walked.

sounds just like a deer I shot years ago. It was a straight down bow shot and I ended up hitting one lung and she sprayed like crazy at first and then it started slowing down but she ran forever. i tracked her through a backyard, across a road and after about 1,000 yards I found her dead. My guess is that you got a one lung shot. If he is running and blood is slowing down that is probably good news (IE close to death). Bet if you go to where you last had blood and start circling you will probably find him. I'm assuming somehow you can't track footprints in the snow anymore. Obviously if you can then just follow him as he is probably walking dead. Dont give up! You will find this buck! Post pics when you do...

Oh the detail help clear the story up. It sounded like you had a dog at the lodge and you were debating whether or not he was worth the time. This makes me feel tons better that there was more to the story. But still my answer would be yes if you can afford to get the dog up there.
I revoke my previous comment.

Also my deer had hardly any blood trail when I got within 100 yards of where she piled up. Bet your buck is dead within 100 yards of where you lost the blood.

I'm with pgrace on this one, find the buck close by, on your own. I personally could not afford to dump that money on a dog to find it, I would look until I found it. If its your trophy of a lifetime then maybe you should get that dog. If you had blood for that far and the deer didnt bed, I'd say when he did lay down, he didn't get back up. I found one last year that far, no blood for the last 150-200 yds. Look for any possible prints or scuffed up dirt or leaves in that direction, don't give up or lose hope.

I would keep looking no mater what...you know with that much blood he's going down...I freak out when I lose a rabbit so I definitely would keep looking...and you need to find a friend with a dog...you might want to try someone with a little house dog ...you'd be surprised how long some little dog will keep looking for a scent once they get on it...a lot of dogs you think aren't any good have a lot of hunt in them once you give em a try

You have to work with them and praise them so they get excited and some of them will run that smell down..especially when there's blood...