APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

I always see hunters on hunting video's approach a dead deer and always poke them in the butt or in the eye to see if they are still alive. Has anyone came upon a deer that was still alive, and if so what did the deer do and more importantly what did u do?

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

yeh a deer playing possum will definetly give you a scare but you gotta take your time. If you allow your game to sit long enough and not rush in there (which it sometimes appears to be happening on these hunting tapes)......your game 99% of the time will have bled out and no need to worry about it getting up. But always touch em with a stick...I prefer to touch the eyeball. If it shall jump up at you trust me instincts and reactions will take over.....Also these guys on these tapes are letting their game lay at least 30min. it just looks like they are rushing in there.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

I shot a 3 pointer in 2000 at the base of the neck with a 30.06 using a 150gr. Hornady BTSP handload. The shot was a little over 150 yds as the deer was walking across a clearcut. The deer went down at the shot, I unloaded my rifle and climbed down and proceeded to walk to the deer. I was about 10 yards away from it when the deer jumped up and tried to run! The deer's front legs were not working so all it could do was push itself along with its hind legs. I bolt another round in my rifle as it was still unloaded at a the time and shot it in the neck again. During skinning it, I found the first bullet at the base of the neck, jacket and lead seperate with no penatration of the muscle. All I can guess is that it was a bad bullet or it hit something going across the clearcut. I have never seen a bullet do that since, and the rest of the bullets in that box performed without a hitch. I still don't walk up and poke one, but I damn sure to load my rifle when I get out of the stand now.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

There was a story a few years ago about a hunter around our area had shot a buck. He thought his deer was dead and when he got close, the deer got up and attacked him. He had left his rifle behind and ended up fitting for his life. He was able to kill the deer with his knife. I never take chances after I heard that story..

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

this reminds me of prob. the funnest thing i have ever seen. my grandpa shot a doe at around 8am opening day. at 10am we walked over and asked him if he got anything.

'i am pretty sure i hit him but i didn't see him go down" so we walk over to where the deer was at when he shot and blood was everywhere. 50 yards late laid his doe. he walks up to it and sits on it's back and lights his pipe. well it just so happens that deer wasn't dead and it go up and started running with my grandpa on top. after 15 or so yards paps falls off and lays in the snow. when we walk up and ask if he's alright the first thing he says is "hell no, when i hit the snow it put my smoke out and got it all wet and the darn thing looks broke" [&:] it still makes me giggle when i think about it. oh yes for everyone wondering we found the doe later on in the day

now i always poke them in the head with the barrel of my rifle just in case

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

I had a friend who was a game warden, well experienced with deer and their proper handling. He made one mistake and it cost him dearly. He had a report of a poacher's work and went to the site. He saw what appeared to be a dead doe lying in a field. He approached it and grabbed it by a leg, to drag it to his car. The doe wasn't quite as dead as he thought and she kicked his hand with her hoof, laying open his palm. After this episode, he could no longer hold a pistol, and thus ended his career.
Always look at the eyes. If their open and glazed, they're usually dead. If they're closed, beware!

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

im glad you asked that Ive always wondered to and I always hope the deer jumps up when the hunter pokes them on tv Id just like to see the look on bill jordans(or who ever) face when he pokes the deer and it jumps up I had a friend one day who shot a doe and he drove down a little while later to toss it in the truck and when he got there it jumped up but couldent move its back legs so it was just dragging its self along I dont remember where his gun was but he diddent have it so he grabbed the closest thing to him which was a hammer and had to finish it off with that

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

A guy my Dad knew, a tree climber by trade and big and solid like Paul Bunyan, shot a doe. He confidently walked up and straddled the doe to gut it without checking for deadness. The doe jumped up so, by reflex or stupidity, or both, "Paul Bunyan" grabbed the thing in a bear hug and starts to wrestle it. The little doe beat the livin pi$$ out of the lumberjacka$$ and put him in the hospital with lacerations to his abdomen and broken ribs.
MORAL: CHECK FOR DEADNESS!

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

i was taught ot approach them from the rear...then poke the eye if it doesnt move when you are close...if the eye blinks when you poke it you better do something about it....never figured out what to do......depends on how alive it is i guess......but i always approach it from the rear and always keep my gun loaded.....if it gets up it should be fairly easy to put it down......unless its REALLY alive and takes off.......

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

I must be too ethical because it is one shot, and down he goes down. Either by a little luck, or skill, or God's will, I have never had to hope the deer I shot is dead.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

One of my hunting partners shot a small buck on a drive. We all saw it dropin its tracks. About 5 minutes later we got to it and we all stood there for 20 minutes catching our breaths and talking about the morning hunts. My freind who shot the deer said time for a gut pile and got out his knife. He bent down and grabbed the leg......the deer started kicking and kicked his knife hand stabbing my freind hard into his leg. The tip of the knife was stuck in his leg bone. Luckily after a bunch of stiches he was fine. He's very cautious to this day!

Good Luck!

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

I have learned to approach from the rear. Once there and having poked it in the haunch with a stick, i move around to the head and poke the eye, ...cautiously and with loaded gun handy. So far so good...
Don't know what I'd do if one jumped up and came at me..hopefully the right thing.
I sometimes have a pistol with me when I hunt and when that is the case it makes things a little easier since I have a free hand.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

Yeah I approach them from the back and poke there eye. This is if the eye is open that is. If the eye is closed than you better back up and put another shot into it.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

Quite a few years back in Jersey during the noon break an Ambulance pulls up to the woods area and they put this nut case in the ambulance. Seems he jumped from a tree limb onto a doe with a knife in an attempt to take the deer by stabbing it. The doe kicked his ass all to hell and back. Heard later he got several hundred stitches.

I walk up and at a few yards look him over real carefully then poke an eye. Had one that was sholder shot and he had a good size 8 point rack. I could see him squirming went in close and decided that slit the throat thing would be dangerous. so I backed off 25 yards proped up and ended the problem.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

Wow u fella's have some stories for sure;) Has anyone read that story, i think its off whitetails.com.......where a guy in texas and his hunting partner are like a few hundred yards away, and in the morning one of the hunters shoot a nice buck and he dropped him in his tracks, and when the guy goes over to look at his trophy he lays his rifle in the deer's wrack, and then the buck jumps up and takes off with his rifle in his horns......several minutes later he see's his friend come out into the feild where his partner was and he was waiving his hands and walking towards the guy who is in disbeleif that this deer just stole his rifle........when his buddy gets to him he say's"thats it, i quit deer hunting for good, when deer start carryiing weapons, its time to call it quits!!!":D

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

I shot a stag buck (buck with velvet and no testicals) a few years ago in the head with my 22-250. When deer hunting I always carry a pistol in my bag just in case. Well, for some reason I didn't bring my pistol with me when I went down to the deer I just shot. I guess I figured, head shot, no chance the deer is still alive.

I went down there and got about 10 feet from the deer. The deer picked his head up and looked at me and jumped up like he wasn't even hurt! Good thing he ran the other way because I didn't even have my knife out of my pocket!

Well, turns out I hit him a little lower than I thought. I learned an old lesson all over again that day. If that would have been a rutting buck, there's no telling what would have happened. From then on, no matter how sure I am of the shot, I always give the deer about 30 minutes and when I aproach the deer I always have a loaded gun ready.

I recovered the deer about an hour later after my heart settled back down I made sure he was dead!

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

When approaching any wild animal it is important to be cautious and respectful. It is also best to approach from the rear so if they do get up and flee your not in their way. The poke on the rump or eye is further safety measure but really if doing either a deer playing possum can hurt you in this proximity. What I always do is inspect the indicators for hit quality and possible placement(ie Blood trail, reaction or if they drop I keep a loaded rifle trained on them for several minutes from my original position looking for movement or lack there of). After the shot listen to them fleeing, in wooded areas you will often hear them crash, I have heard them cough their last breath, bears will often moan...all indicators. I never am in a big hurry to rush off after the shot, I take my landmarks for positioning of the trail and then collect my thoughts and stuff. Never assume I will not need my rifle or bow, so it is always reading if the event should arise. As I approach any game I will look for any sign of life, head moving, breathing..if they are alive the chest cavity will move. If I encounter an animal that is living I put a finishing shot into them at safe distance, basically when ever possible...I don't think walking up and stuffing in their face is the smartest move. If no sign of life I have never poked the rump but was taught look at the eye before handling, like mentioned if closed or any movement he/she is alive.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

These things do happen. A guy at our place one time shot a buck at about ~80 yds or so with a 243 dropd him in his tracks. Well after a couple mins or so while they were waiting to go up to the deer , they see the buck get up like NOTHING happend and run off. Not one drop of blood we got about 10 men to search the enire area for hours...nothing. Dont always think they r dead just cause they drop after you shoot ; )

ON another note... hogs are dangerous too. We had a guy attacked on our place one time after he had shot the hog with a 270. He left his gun at the stand and when he went up to it he got charged and trampled him and tore him up pretty bad. He finally was able to get his gone and shoot him in the head. I think he got up over him somehow .. he was lucky

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

My cousin and I were out two years ago, he got a pretty decent weighted 8pt buck, we walked up he kicked it even, nothing...he drug it up against this bank and kind of sat it up on it's hind end to let the entrails fall out while he dressed it, he bent down and started to cut open the hide running down the sternum, dang thing "WOKE UP", he was standing between the buck's back legs and it beat the heck out of him trying to get away, I reacted quick enough and picked it up at about 15yrds with my revolver so it didn't get away, but he had to get a dozen stitches over his left eye where it kicked him in the face!!!!

I guess he should have checked to see if it were still breathing!

Sometimes, it's a good idea to poke them anyway, if you've never been kicked by a dead deer, give it more time, it's a nervous thing I guess, kicking them is supposed to get "all the juice out".

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

The only deer I ever helped recover that was alive when we found him was neck shot with a muzzleloader @
75 yds. Deer traveled about 400 yds. and laid down. We found the deer
with a tracking dog in a terrible cut-over thicket. Went to water, like many do. Only deer I've ever seen, alive or dead, with his eyes closed. When we approached, he grunted loudly, got up and went about 75-80 more yds. and laid or fell down again. We got to him and finished him off. Not a big fan of neck shots because of this experience. Or head shots. $.02

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

I shot a nice 8 point three years ago through the boiler room and it dropped in its tracks. it was about 75 to 80 yards away. I chambered another round and kept him in the scope for another couple of minutes just in case he were to awaken and run. I did not wait very long and got down out of my stand to go look at him. When I got there he was still struggling to breathe---but was not going anywhere. I decided to put another round through his lungs to put him out of his misery. He died less than a minute later. The experience has made me approach with caution.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

The first mature buck i ever took I was 15 and shot a nice 140 class buck in the neck, only shot i had and took it and put him down like a rock, when I got to him i was so wxcited i just wanlked right up to him, he kicked me in the legs with his hind legs and nearly knocked me down, when i got my balance i jumped back and put another in him. Then two years ago my father in law and myself, got to go to alaska for a black bear hunt, when he took his bear at 150 yards, it fell in its tracks. i weas videoing it all and he even poked it with the gun barrel when we approached it. It never moved, but as we stood around it talking about the hunt, I was right in front of it with the camera, it raised its head up slow, looked at me and started the death moan, I was really kickin up gravel trying to get away from it, but I was lucky it never moved other than that, didnt even need another shot. CREEPY:)

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

our farm hand shot a small buck and it hit the ground he walked over to it and it got up and ran he thinks he hit the antler and it blacked out. a few days later i had my non-hunting brouther out with me for his frist time and i had him sit on a fence line one morning. just bfore we left he shot a 5x6 buck the frist and last one i ever in our area it was shot at 25 yard then ran ten feet and looked back and fell over when we walked over to it i saw no blood or bullet hole so when it moved i jumped onits back and cut its neck wide open i did not want this one to run off too. in the end he hit 1" from the bottem of the ribs with the .270 135 gr sending rib splinters all over the rib cage we even found hole corn in its heart.

i was told that if you tuch it in the eye with the rifle it will blink no matter how much it wants to be playing dead when bear hunting and its playing dead i think gun by eye is a good thing

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

I HAVE HEARD STORIES OF DEER JUMPING AND RUNNING ALOT. LAST SEASON A FELLOW FIREFIGHTER SHOT A BUCK AND LOADED IT IN HIS TRUCK AND DROVE BACK TO THE CAMP HOUSE TO SKIN IT. BEING AN OLDER HUNTER HE HAD TO GO GET HIM A CUP OF COFFEE BEFORE CLEANING HIS DEER, WHEN HE HEARD ONE OF THE OTHER GUYS YELL THAT HIS DEER WAS RUNNING AWAY. TRUE STORY. THEY DID FIND THE DEER AND FINISH HIM OFF.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

Last year I shot a 4x4 bull elk. It was a heart/lung shot. He went about 10 yard and laid down. I waited about 15-20 minutes before I walked up. He tried to get up but did't have the strength. Two shots with a .45 to put him down for good (I carry a side arm). I am always careful when I approach a "dead" animal.

RE: APPROACHING DEAD DEER?
 

Only deer I've seen get up after a shot were those taken with a bow and the hunter rushed in not allowing enough time for it to bleed out.