Edmund

Ok, here is the story. I shot a REALLY BIG 8 point buck tonight. I gut shot him. When i got out of my stand I looked for my arrow. Because a was about positive i hit him in the guts. I walked about 15 yards, then i heard the buck get up. He trotted my way then he trotted down a cattle pasture and i saw him go in the timber he is along a creek. So I looked for the blood right were i shot him and it was light red and watery. I didn't go on any further because i didn't know if he bedded along the creek and was watching me. total he ran maybe 200 yards that i saw. But it didn't look like he had too much trouble jumping the fence by my stand. And his tail was up going through the pasture but he wasn't movin too fast. I know i should of just snuck out and not even looked for my arrow but i learned. Im going to look for him at first light. Sould i follow him from where i shot him or from where i last saw him. Do you think i'll find him. Please help

ArcticBowMan

I'd say try and find your arrow first, hopefully you can get some clues as to how your hit was. Mark the location where you last saw him, and where you know there is blood to follow. You can get rid of alot of the trailing if you find blood where you last saw him and start from there.

Be patient and persistant, and hopefully you will find him. Good luck tomorrow.
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Lilhunter

maybe, give him 8-10 plus hours from the last time you pushed him and hopefully he wont be to far from the last place you saw him at. Figure they'll get up and bed and usually travel appx 100 yards bed after bed. As long as you dont push him anymore he should be findable...if you keep pushing him he's long gone!

knobby

start tracking him from where you shot him....for the experience
gut shot deer sometimes do not leave much of a blood trail due to the guts popping out of the holes and plugging them up...see if you can track him to where you saw him go into the timber

wait atleast 6-8 hours...more if you can. Sometimes life and impending weather wont allow you to wait longer tho

take a friend if you can...the blood trail may be sparse and it helps to take turns searching for blood... and a roll of TP to mark the places you find blood....it often helps when you lose the trail to be able to look back at the TP and see the direction of travel

take your time and you should be able to find him....if you already watched him go 200 yards he probly didnt go much further before he laid down

** I almost got him but I refuse to take a marginal shot **

kc_bowhunter

why did you gut shoot him? because he was a huge 8 pointer? That animal spent 3-4 years doing the best he could... It's up to you to honor him with enough tracking time.... more than just a brief look with a flashlight. I am talking 6-8 hours of tracking. Be prepared to walk around for quite a while

muzzyman88

Been there done that buddy!! I would say give him a lot of time. If you did in fact shoot him in the guts, he will start getting sick and bed down. Chances are, if you let him bed down and stiffen up, you can sneak in there tomorrow morning and find him beded, possibly dead. Take you time, look for the arrow first. Though mine wasn't a gut shot, my deer went a long way before I found him. Look for as many clues as possible in the area you shot him, and in the direction you went. It will give you a better picture of what happened and help you make a choice of what to do next.

Good luck, I know how you feel! I hope you get him in the morning!!