Need some advice on this one...

[Mao]

First off, this is my very first post. I just want to say hey and that I have really enjoyed reading the info. on this site. I need some help...Here is the scenario... Last night, just before dark, I got a shot at a big buck. It was in an open field at about 50 yards. He was standing still, slightly quartering to me. I hit him with a slug and on impact he hunkered inwards bringing his front legs in and his head toward the ground. He then wobbled to gather himself and was stumbling for about 25-30 yards. I thought he was going down. He then broke into a full sprint across the open field and went into the woods. I was sure I smoked him. This all happend around 5:15pm. We went back and found bood where he entered the woods at around 9:30pm. It was spotty at first but then got decent. He zig-zaged up towards the top of a hill in the woods to an opening, cut back to the woods, cut back to another opening, then back to the woods. We stopped to mark the last blood when this big buck stood up out of bed and fairly slowly trotted down the hill. We stopped trailing immediately. We were within 10yds of him before he got up. We also passed him trailing within 15 yards twice and he sat tight. However, there was not a whole lot of blood in the bed. I guess the thing that I do not get is that the distance from where I shot the buck to where he laid down to bed was not more than 350 yards. I watched him sprint across the open field until he went into the woods. Once in the woods, he bedded not 75 yards. So he went from a full sprint to bedding down in under 75 yards. If figured if I did not hit him good, he would not of bedded down that close. Also, there is limited pressure in the woods that he was in. The neighboring areas however are pretty high pressure areas. I was only able to go and look for him this morning for about 35 min. before I had to go to work. Due to the rain last night, I did not see any blood. Any suggestions on what to do next? I would appreciate any input and what do you think the chances of finding a deer like this are? Thanks and sorry about the long post.

[gavennn]

If you think he is hit good enough for him to lay down and expire I would use past experience in the area to guide you. I would look around water sources. I would look in the next thick spot close to where you jumped him up from the bed. Look for leaves that turned up from where you jumped him up out of the bed and see if you can follow him from those. Look for lanes of broken branches anything that might give you a clue as to his direction of travel.

This type of thing happens. Good luck in trying to find him.

[Big H]

My advice is to not post on a public website that you shot a deer after legal shooting time. Sunset yesterday was 5:03.

[Fish-n-Fool]

If you made a fatal hit he is laying dead in that woods; from your descrition it sounds like you should have backed off of him until the morning (hindsight is always 20/20); if he is bedding down and continues to circle back into the woods he is hit hard. I would search that woods top to bottom - start by making small circles until you cover the entire woods. Search any cover in the area as I have seen them crawl into a "rabbit thicket" you can't walk into and die.

Good luck and do not give up - it sounds as if he may be there in your woods.

[bowhunter1023]

If you made a fatal hit he is laying dead in that woods; from your descrition it sounds like you should have backed off of him until the morning (hindsight is always 20/20); if he is bedding down and continues to circle back into the woods he is hit hard. I would search that woods top to bottom - start by making small circles until you cover the entire woods. Search any cover in the area as I have seen them crawl into a "rabbit thicket" you can't walk into and die.

Good luck and do not give up - it sounds as if he may be there in your woods.

:yeahthat:

[Mao]

Big H,

I realized I incorrectly put the time this happend after I hit the post icon. (Guess I better re-read a little better). I got home at 5:15pm. This all happened at about 5pm or just before. That is what I meant to say. Newbie mistake. I am aware of the regualtions and I do follow them.

[ohio hunter]

Big H,

I realized I incorrectly put the time this happend after I hit the post icon. (Guess I better re-read a little better). I got home at 5:15pm. This all happened at about 5pm or just before. That is what I meant to say. Newbie mistake. I am aware of the regualtions and I do follow them.

Sorry for the long-winded post....

I was wondering about the time too when I first read your post. Makes sense now!

As for the deer, a few years ago, I shot at a nice buck. He had followed a doe that I let go by and down into hollow, where I lost site of her dur to the contour of the land. When I shot at the buck, he jumped and brought his legs in as if I had hit him, but when his feet hit the ground, he was at a dead run. When I went to look for signs of whether he was hit or not, I found no hair or blood. I thought maybe I missed him but decided to follow the tracks in the dusting of snow we had, he took the same general path as the doe. I finally found a speck of blood, but not much at all. I lost the blood trail and tried following the tracks in the snow. Still no more blood. I went back to where I last saw blood and noticed another set of tracks heading in a different direction. I started following these tracks and started seeing a mistin pattern of blood, like it had been sprayed from a spray bottle. I followed this for 100 yds or so, and found the buck dead. It turns out he blead (sp?) out inside. I found him about 2 hrs after I shot.

It could be that your deer blead out inside, thus no blood in the bed. I would try the circling method and see if you can't pin him down. From your description, it sounds as if you hit him with a fatal shot.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[CritterGitter]

First, welcome to the site. Good to have ya as a member.

I am torn on this one. A buck hit fatally with a slug should not go 375 yards. However, he let you get within 10 yards or so before jumping so he must have been in bad, bad shape.

My advice is to go look for him and scour the area throroughly. Then, do it all again, then get some buddies and search some more. As f-n-f stated, check the little rabbit thicket and briars, search any patch of cover. A weed-lined fence row is not to be over-looked. Get a dog or two to assist if you can. It sounds like you should be able to find and recover this deer, but if not he may not die. From the description of the shot it sounds like you hit him high and in the muscle tissue just below his spine.

Good luck.

Kyle

[trkyslyr]

Your best bet at this point is to use your knowledge of the property, and the direction the deer was headed when you last saw him, and start a grid search. Make sure to be very thorough, as deer will often tuck up under a small patch of thick stuff, and expire. Aerials can be helpful too, and keep in mind that the deer will most likely take the path of least resistance. Common sense will go a long way. Good luck, we all hope you find him.

["J"]

From what you described after the hit I would guess you hit the gut and that's why he was bedded and you got so close, from my experience gut shot deer tend to do that, most gut shot deer will die within 8 to 12 hours so I would wager he's down you just need to go do the ground work to find him. Good luck. If you have a dog or know someone that has one bring it along it's amazing what their nose can find.

[bakerboy]

Live and learn. It's really too late for much advice at this point. Hopefully, you have learned not to push a deer with a questional hit, especially after dark. This deer sounds liver shot, and should be dead, but after a few bumps, he may have got the message and fled the country. Look everywhere you can, and good luck.

[Monroe]

As bb said - burn this into your brain - when in doubt - BACK OUT!

Big H - that was really quick on the shooting time question - you been holding that in your back pocket just dying to use it on the first nimrod that "miss-spoke"? Go out and count shots tomorrow night and tell me how many hunters follow this regulation. :)

[bakerboy]

Live and learn. It's really too late for much advice at this point. Hopefully, you have learned not to push a deer with a questionable hit, especially after dark. This deer sounds liver shot, and should be dead, but after a few bumps, he may have got the message and fled the country. Look everywhere you can, and good luck.

It wouldn't let me edit my post for the poor spelling so...........

[Big H]

As bb said - burn this into your brain - when in doubt - BACK OUT!

Big H - that was really quick on the shooting time question - you been holding that in your back pocket just dying to use it on the first nimrod that "miss-spoke"? Go out and count shots tomorrow night and tell me how many hunters follow this regulation. :)


Monroe, Yep, been savin that one specifically for a situation like this! :whistle: :whistle: And all those shots after shooting hours are simply the guys that are using their muzzleloaders cleaning them out.:shhh: And why are you calling someone a nimrod?

BTW mao, have you found your buck?

[Mao]

I looked all afternoon til dark and did not find him. However, a 150 class buck was shot on the neighboring property yesterday. I hope that wasn't him.

[Monroe]

Big H - how dumb can I be? I totally forgot about muzzleloader hunters having to discharge their weapon after hunting. Geeze - all these years I just thought it was "Nimrods".

Sorry for the sarcastic tone.

Monroe

[Monroe]

Big H,
Since I am not a bible beater, I can't say that it is hebrew for hunter. I use the slang definition - foolish.

Anyway - thanks for reminding me about muzzleloader hunters discharging their weapons. All these years I thought that this was nimrods...

[Big H]

Big H - how dumb can I be? I totally forgot about muzzleloader hunters having to discharge their weapon after hunting. Geeze - all these years I just thought it was "Nimrods".

Sorry for the sarcastic tone.

Monroe

;)

[the dude]

I looked all afternoon til dark and did not find him. However, a 150 class buck was shot on the neighboring property yesterday. I hope that wasn't him.


really? i would hope it is. that way you know for sure what happened. go ask them if he was hit twice. my opinion is liver or gut, both of which he could go aways. good luck in your search!! keep us posted.

[Monroe]

Darn Monroe, Nice double post - I tried to say the same thing after my computer crashed - almost did it - but almost not.

?

[Mao]

the dude,

Yeah I agree with you. If I just wounded him, I hope someone else got him. I was just meaning that I hope I find him down today after work and the one the neighbors got was a different buck.