Anthony14

Hello all, I went hunting for my first deer season this last month. I was walking down a trail to my hunting spot and saw a gorgeous 3x3 lurking at 120 yards away. I had a broadside shot down a hill at about 120 yards. I shot the deer with my .3030 and as a result of the hit, the deer just walked away slowly. I made a follow up shot and think I may have missed as it ran slowly into the tree line and disappeared. I waited about 30 minutes and started tracking and looking for blood. (at first i thought i missed the deer completely but I absolutely had to check and make sure for myself and the deer) There was quite a lot of blood and I followed it for about 30 yards through very thick brush. It was getting very dark so i decided to come back at first light and continue the search of this extremely rugged terrain before I found myself lost in the freezing cold. All in all, we searched over 5 hours for the deer and found no sign of blood the next morning as there was heavy frost and rain the night before. I can say to myself that me and three buddies gave it a very honest and ethical search, looking for the deer and any signs of it for hours over a 200 yard square area. The terrain was too rugged to explore any further as there was a straight drop to a river below that no human could climb. Do you think it was a possible gut shot? What could i have done differently? Could it have made it to the river down a seemingly impossible slope? I am new to hunting so any advice is appreciated. Thanks

ManofTheFall

By what you are saying how the deer reacted that definitely sounds like a possible gut shot. If you think you gut shot a deer you should give him a minimum of 6-8 hours before you start tracking it. That was your big mistake.

rockport

Gut shot deer want water pretty badly.

Was the blood real dark?