Lost a deer for the first time
12-12-2015, 03:22 PM
#11
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Allegan, MI
Posts: 8,019
Sorry, but I can't go along with that first line. I've only had to track one deer of many I've taken over 6 decades of hunting with a gun and all the rest went down within my sight. Archery hunting is different and you need to know how to track. It's amazing how many times I read where people have lost deer while archery hunting and it appears many were because of shooting too far or just plain not knowing what to do or how to track after hitting an animal.The OP didn't say what he was using when he shot this deer he didn't find or if he was on the ground or in a tree stand. Knowing those things might give us a clue as to what happened, but this sounds like it was shot with a gun and at a chip shot distance to not have a clue as to what happened or where it went. IMHO the OP owes it to the deer and all ethical hunters to do a lot more than he has stated before he gives up. Some may not agree, but that's life! I wonder if the OP would have quit after an hour if this had been a big buck, rather than a doe!!!
Last edited by Topgun 3006; 12-12-2015 at 03:26 PM. Reason: Spelling
12-12-2015, 03:29 PM
#12
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2015
Location: Germany/Calif.
Posts: 2,664
A couple of tips. It depends on if you have any landmarks. I shoot a lot of pastures and fields so there aren't any. The ground looks different anyway when you walk out looking for spore. I set up some sort of marker a simple stick will do, pointing at the spot where the bullet hit. A little toilet paper marked and you can walk back look down your stick and make sure you are searching the right spot. It is really easy to be 20-30 feet or more off.
I take a roll of toilet paper with me so I can mark what I've already checked. I walk in kind of an ever widening spiral.
Take periodic breaks, tracking is the kind of thing that can numb your thought process, your vision can blur.
Remember where they came from, not always but often enough to be a trend, when wounded, if they don't hunker down soon, they will reverse direction and head back the way they came. The best explanation I have heard as to why, is the only safe direction is the one they just came from.
I think every hunter ought to have a dog or access to a dog.
I've spent an hour covering a couple of hundred square feet, sounds like you kind of half assed it some. Ethically and practically, you just can't do that sort thing.
My first bow hunt I lung shot a Mulley, he took off up hill into the Chaparral, I walked around all hunched over for a couple of hours. It was getting way hot in there by the time I gave up. I actually tripped over him on my way back to the truck. I learned a lesson that day, you have to use a system and you have to be thorough. If you walk past it, you are looking for nothing.
I take a roll of toilet paper with me so I can mark what I've already checked. I walk in kind of an ever widening spiral.
Take periodic breaks, tracking is the kind of thing that can numb your thought process, your vision can blur.
Remember where they came from, not always but often enough to be a trend, when wounded, if they don't hunker down soon, they will reverse direction and head back the way they came. The best explanation I have heard as to why, is the only safe direction is the one they just came from.
I think every hunter ought to have a dog or access to a dog.
I've spent an hour covering a couple of hundred square feet, sounds like you kind of half assed it some. Ethically and practically, you just can't do that sort thing.
My first bow hunt I lung shot a Mulley, he took off up hill into the Chaparral, I walked around all hunched over for a couple of hours. It was getting way hot in there by the time I gave up. I actually tripped over him on my way back to the truck. I learned a lesson that day, you have to use a system and you have to be thorough. If you walk past it, you are looking for nothing.
12-12-2015, 04:03 PM
#14
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 592
Well that is odd. A lung shot without a trace of blood? How long did you wait after shooting to trail it? I am guessing you may have been a little high of the lungs - too high for the lungs and too low for the spine. You then hit nothing to bring them down and little blood is lost, and they can even heal up and live. This can happen from the ground, although from a tree stand it is less likely because of the angle. See http://www.fieldandstream.com/answer...nd-below-spine . And you are sure you hit it?
12-12-2015, 04:08 PM
#15
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 592
Sorry, but I can't go along with that first line. I've only had to track one deer of many I've taken over 6 decades of hunting with a gun and all the rest went down within my sight. Archery hunting is different and you need to know how to track. It's amazing how many times I read where people have lost deer while archery hunting and it appears many were because of shooting too far or just plain not knowing what to do or how to track after hitting an animal.The OP didn't say what he was using when he shot this deer he didn't find or if he was on the ground or in a tree stand. Knowing those things might give us a clue as to what happened, but this sounds like it was shot with a gun and at a chip shot distance to not have a clue as to what happened or where it went. IMHO the OP owes it to the deer and all ethical hunters to do a lot more than he has stated before he gives up. Some may not agree, but that's life! I wonder if the OP would have quit after an hour if this had been a big buck, rather than a doe!!!
The direction she ran was towards the rancher's house, and leads off to a huge ranch to the east, about 400 yards from where I shot her. My guess is that I didn't hit lungs, but must have missed by micro inches, if so.
There simply was no other place to look. I guess you'll have to believe me.
My point of the post is that there was no trail of any kind to follow and it is odd to me.
12-12-2015, 04:09 PM
#16
Typical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Northern WI
Posts: 853
For a lung shot 15 minutes would probably be OK. I usually wait 30 minutes. More if it is not a good shot. Still wondering about the certainty of the hit (hair?) and where the hit was. As I mentioned, if you were just a little high, you could miss the lungs and that could result in virtually no blood.
12-12-2015, 04:14 PM
#17
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 592
I honestly don't think that I did it poorly. The area had a slight creek bed with some trees, mostly cut alfalfa. There was a slight rise from the field to the road, searched it a lot, and a small knoll that was cut short. That is the one I got onto and glassed. The only other area was the house of the rancher. Didn't see anything there either. I counted the deer in the escaping herd, and they were all there, except the one I hit. I simply felt that there was nothing for me to go on anymore, and I had no access to the big ranch on the other side of the street.
12-12-2015, 04:18 PM
#18
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 592
For a lung shot 15 minutes would probably be OK. I usually wait 30 minutes. More if it is not a good shot. Still wondering about the certainty of the hit (hair?) and where the hit was. As I mentioned, if you were just a little high, you could miss the lungs and that could result in virtually no blood.
12-12-2015, 04:20 PM
#19
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: N-E PA.
Posts: 1,787
12-12-2015, 04:30 PM
#20
Typical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 592
I been hunting 40 years and lost 1 with a rifle and 2 with a bow,and strange things happen. The buck I lost was shot on a mountian and I tracked blood down the mt.,across a blacktop road and about 1/4 mile into the heavy cover all with about 12" of snow on the ground! The blood just stopped and there was so many other tracks,I never did find him even after looking a day and a half..NOTHING. It's all a part of hunting my friend...
Thanks for the encouragement.
