What are the odds I find him??
 

I shot a pretty decent buck tonight. It was chasing a doe at about 120 yards. I got it to stop and took the shot. I saw him buck and kick his back legs up real high. He took off and ran about 20-30 yards and stopped right on the edge of a woods. I watched him for a minute or two and then came to my senses and realized I needed to re load my muzzle loader. While I was reloading I lost sight of him. I waited about 20 minutes and decided to walk down to where I shot to check for blood. As I was walking down to were I shot I somehow spotted his horns sticking up in the weeds about 5 feet from the woods edge not 30 yards from where I shot him at. As soon as I saw the horns I pulled my gun up and watch through my scope trying to see if he was alive or not. I watched for about 10 minutes and I was only about 20 foot from him. At that point I just froze thinking that if I backed out or got closer I might spook him. I couldn't tell which way he was laying so I took one step to the right to try to see his body and he jumped up and took off. I did not push him and further as it was almost dark. There was some bright red blood in the weeds where I saw him standing but not much blood at all where he was laying at.

A guy I work with has a dog that is trained for tracking deer and he is meeting me there in the morning. I am hoping I wasted his time and the deer is found easily but I didn't want to take any chances since there was not a lot of blood where he laid down at.

The guy with the dog said lots of times he does not find a bunch of blood once they bed down. He seems to think it was hit good since it didn't run very far before it ran off, plus it let me walk to within 20 foot of him. This is the first time I have shot a buck and not recovered it right away, I won't be sleeping real good tonight.

Bright red blood, bedded down right away. Possible lung shot. My guess is, had you waited longer, he probably would have died right where you found him laying.

You will most likely find him in short order in the morning. Around these parts this year, I haven't heard of one deer being left overnight that the coyotes didnt get to first. They are bad this year. I'd be tempted to go out now and look for him.

My Guess: You find him within a few hundred yards of where you last saw him. Good luck!

On another note, I shot a buck this year. Double lunged him, and the bullet shrapnel even lacerated his heart. After I shot him he ran to the edge of a tree line, head down wagging his tail. He then walked behind some evergreens and never came out the other side.

I walked to where I shot him, and to where he stopped at the edge of the tree line. I then walked to the evergreens he walked behind. This semi circle was maybe about 30 yards total distance. Didnt find a speck of blood until right at the evergreen. He was piled up under the branches of the evergreen.

Lung shots in my experience sometimes don't bleed much, especially if they are high lung shots because the blood pools inside the body. Don't,let the lack of blood worry you. I've had several deer that were hit well not leave good blood trails. They are usually found dead nearby.

Very good odds,deers reaction suggests a chest shot. You did not mention any leg problem. Suspect he died on his feet within a couple hundred yards if he made it much farther with out bedding again.
Hoping its your case where a chest wound pulls in air as well as expel it. A lower third of body cavity holding pooled blood. Looking forward to pic.!

I too am looking forward to the pics..... because that will mean that we found him. I am meeting the guys at 8:00 AM. I will definitely let you know. Hopefully the coyotes don't destroy him before I get to him in the morning.

On a side note, do any of you guys on here have dogs trained for tracking deer? I have heard of a few people "have a dog that finds deer". But this guy has trained the dog for this purpose much like a police dog would be trained. He said she is still young but has a good track record. He said she will not only track the blood but the specific scent of the deer. He said that if I take her to the spot that I know the deer laid down he will be on it. He said there could be 20 deer in that woods between tonight and tomorrow morning and she is trained to stay on the "cold track" and not the new deer who have been in the area. The only reason I did not go out tonight and look is because he is coming in the morning. He said there could be minute blood specs that I can't even see and if we start tracking through them it could make things harder for the dog in the morning. He did a track for a friend of mine during bow season, similar scenario. The guy liver shot a buck and when he went to find it he kicked it back up. He stopped there and the dog came in. Tracked straight to it 1/2 mile away.

Got lots of dogs but never tracked wounded deer with them.
Guess if i went and got one each deer they would catch on quick.
There is theory each deers inter digital scent is unique,that would help alot.
Have had hounds want to run them,they seemed to have a very easy time of it!.
Big ol stinky rabbits to them.

My guess is you won't find him while you are playing on your computer

I am sure of that, like i said above I didn't want to go in and ruin the track for the dog since he volunteered to come over and look.
On my way to meet them now.

Good luck!