huntinfool14

Tonight at about 5:45 my sisters boyfriend called me wanting me to help him track a buck he just shot. I got over there and we started tracking him. Jeremy said that he heard the "thump" when the arrow hit, and the deer fell, broke the arrow got up and ran off. Ok, we get to the spot and we find the back 3 inches of his arrow. 1 tiny spot of blood. I got to thinking about the hit and I think he got a shoulder shot?? Jeremy is shooting a Hoyt MT Sport 70 pounds 28 inch draw. We follow where the deer went for about 40 yards and no blood. Finally about 40-45 yards into it we find blood. From there on it was off and on sometimes good blood sometimes not. We get about 150 yards down the trail and can here a deer rustling in the leaves. I shine the light up ahead and for a split second I see eyes. We sat there thinking for a moment and then moved on. I said we will get to where the deer was at and if he wasn't still there, we would get out of there until morning. Of course we get there and he wasn't so we back outta there.
1.) The temperature is going to be in the mid 40's tonight, will the meat be spoiled in the morning if we find it before the coyotes?
2.) Was this a heart shot?? And how much farther do you think he will go? I know we jumped him, but he gave him an hour, and we thought he woulda shoulda been dead by then?? I dunno Jeremy really coun't give me that good of a description on the shot..

Rack-attack

Its not a heart shot or he would of been dead. There ia a good chance you will find him though, it sounds like he was week and did not whant to get up when he heard you coming. maybe liver maybe one lung, who knows.

Give it a good effort tommorrow, good chance that deer is down!

Matt / PA

huntinfool,
First off you made a mistake in going even a step further after you jumped him......but that's over and done with. You may have gone too far but you did the right thing by backing out.
Sounds to me like a shoulder, neck or maybe even a spine hit.....not all spine hit deer severe the spinal cord. Chance are it is a shoulder with some lung.....it's not both lungs or he would be very dead by that time. I don't think any ordinary chest or body cavity hit would have knocked him down.....something was hit that shocked his nervous system first.
The meat will be just fine overnight.....but when you get back to that spot where you stopped don't expect to find very much blood from there on out. They tend to bleed much less after they bed for a while.
Go slow......have extra help handy if you need it because there may be a lack of blood, and or the deer may still be alive.
Check you regulations book and make sure that you can carry a bow while tracking a deer on Sunday....not sure if you have Sunday hunting or not.
If not.....boy thats a tough one. If I was expecting to maybe find that deer crippled but still alive in the AM.....well theres the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law. You'll have to make that choice, but it wouldn't be fun to find that deer bedded and alive and all you guys have is sticks and rocks. <img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

Go slow, think like a deer, and if all else fails on a blood trail......get a grid search going with some guys you can trust. Don't get every yahoo you can find.....just guys who might know what they are doing and will listen.
Good luck and hope ya find him.

Edited by - Matt / PA on 10/26/2002 21:40:02

huntinfool14

Rack- I know with a heart shot he shoulda been dead but it had heart blood, and deer with heart shots will go pretty far(so i've heard)
Matt- I knew we made that mistake but he wasn't sure at that time it was the same deer. We can hunt on Sunday, and I guarantee that MY bow will be with me just incase too. Thanks for your guys help, I will let you know tomorrow how it goes. Hopefully we can find him..

skeeter 7MM

He'll be ok overnight first off. Get their nice and early look for ravens and magpies in the tree tops, often birds will point in you in the right direction, if the blood trail is thin or not their. I would say he is dead, maybe a heart or a liver. Lack of blood could be the result the arrow is blocking the wound channel. It doesn't sound as though he was real healthy, so he probably will bed and not get up if not over pushed or the yotes didn't push him. If you loose blood circle back, look for ridges, valleys, deep thicket, they will usually head in deep if they are hurt. Grid search is good, but like said make sure the guys involved are good and don't mess up any sign that might be down.

Good luck, I am sure he is down and will be found in the daylight, much easier to spot those small drops of blood, than through a scope of a flashlight.

Sooner_Hunter

okay tonight......give it a shot tomorrow

&quot;Size isn't important, but it HELPS!!!&quot;

OlMossyHorns

I think that deer is down, and with just a little bit of searching you should find him, keep us posted.

dick_cress

Couple of questions.
How far apart were the drops and did you find any pools of blood on the track?
What was the color of the blood?
Any bright pink with bubles?
How did the buck react to the shot?

Recovering the back 3&quot; of the arrow means that 25&quot; remains in the deer. BTW it is not uncommon for a deer or elk to break an arrow off or pull it out.

You should find your animal, maybe even have it by now.

Bowhunter

huntinfool14

We found the buck. It was about 5 yards away from where we stopped last night. It was a neck shot. Thanks for everyone's help. He was in a real thick brushtop and we couldn't see him when we left, plus our lights were going dead and couldn't see very well.




Edited by - huntinfool14 on 10/27/2002 18:41:30

Sooner_Hunter

Glad you got him.

&quot;Size isn't important, but it HELPS!!!&quot;