Deer hit. I need some advice.

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deermaster

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Shot a decent buck tonight, probably equal too or bigger than my current best. I shot him slightly quartering away, and he kicked at the shot. I saw him run off for 40 yards or so before I lost sight, running wide open. I found one patch of blood about 20 yards from the hit. It was about 15 drops, ranging from quarter size to BB size, stretching about a 15 foot trail. The color of the larger drops was the same as a buck I shot through the shoulders with a muzzleloader a couple weeks ago, dark red and smooth, no bubbles. The tiny spatters were bright red and smooth, like that of a leg hit. We could not find any more blood, and I was with an excellent blood trailer.
We stopped looking due to loss of light. Its gonna be in the teens tonight, so the meat will be fine, and we are going to spend the day looking tomorrow. What do you all think?
Rifle was a 30/06 with 150 gr core loks. The SP ones, not the Core Lok Ultras.
Thanks for any info.
 
Take yourself several things to mark the trail with. You need at least 3. Depending on how tall the brush is, it can be as simple as a piece of police type danger tape or some white handkerchiefs tied to sticks. Put one at the place you first see blood, then another at the last place you find it. Start looking for the next blood drip in a line formed by the markers. Keep adding markers (recycle the earliest markers if you need to) until you have a good trail marked. Deer don't tend to zig-zag when shot but they don't go in a true straight line either.

Good luck.
 
We looked for blood for about 50 yards past the last spot, and could not find a thing. I guess what my original question what do you think about the hit, from what I said his reaction and blood looked like? It looks like we are going to have to find him with out blood.
 
I've heard they will kick their hind legs when they are gut shot, but I can't back that up with any experience of my own. Hopefully he didn't get too far and you find him right away tomorrow. He ought to be moving pretty slow by tomorrow regardless.
 
If he did a mule kick, only time I personally have ever seen that was a heart hit.....but I have seen deer go well over 200 yards shot through the heart, and a couple elk double that.

I shot a deer that left a trail like you describe, and he was dead about 150 yards from where I almost gave up lookin, quartering away, through the bottom of the lungs and took out the bottom third of the heart. Left maybe a couple table spoons of blood total.
 
Rifle with 30/06 with 150 gr core loks, that is a good thing.

What was the distance and conditions? Was this a standing shot? was this well within your rifle comfort range? What I am getting at is what are the chances your hit was off target?

I have a good feeling you will find the deer with some luck. If there is some water in the area like a trout stream or small pond, be sure to give them all a real good look. I have seen enough deer head to water since they feel the burn of their injury's. I know of several that were found under water.

Good luck and give it your all! :)
 
If he did a mule kick, only time I personally have ever seen that was a heart hit
Click to expand...

I have had several heart shots were the deer reared up like the Lone Rangers horse Silver with a front leg kick. Had one last week, and I just knew it was a dead deer that just didn't know it yet. 20 yards was all she wrote. ;)
 
Was he head down and running like heck?

Was his tail tucked?

Did he crash through anything while you could see him or did he go over and around?

If the answers are yes, yes and crashed through, it is a fair guess that it was a heart shot and that he will be dead not to far down the way, most likely in a straight line as DOYLE said.

Not a certian thing but worth thinking about.
 
sounds like you hit the boiler maker

the dark blood spots sound like you got a good heart shot , I don't know where you live but I've seen little blood with deer that have a lot of fat around the heart and it tends to plug the hole so to speak, and not much blood comes out instead it stays in the body more. Any heart shots I have made , and quite a few , the deer have only ran around 100 yards but never in a straight line usually a gradual curve towards heavy cover or water like others have said. I would start a circular tracking from the last blood trail moving forward from the last blood. GOOD LUCK
 
I will add to the circle search. Deer tend not to double back. If you saw him run for 40 yards then start where you shot him. Then as it was mentioned use some markings so you can look back to see where the last one was. Mark every time you see blood. When you get to the last place you can find it walk a straight line (from your last few marks) for 10-20 yards. If you don't pick up blood then go back and start at the last point. I then like to do a search (for lack of a better term) in a baseball field pattern. Your last point being home plate. You basically walk back and forth from the 3rd base line to the 1st base line which will get wider as you get further away from home plate (your last known blood). While one of you is doing that have the other person push ahead and check the thickest stuff around. Also another +1 on looking around water. He shouldn't be too far, sounds like a good hit. As long as you didn't push him too hard after you shot him he likely laid down not that far from where you last saw him.

Good luck
 
We do the circle track with two or three people if it is real thick. We hunt gnarly places in planted pine that you can only see a few feet in front of you Sometimes you have to get on your hands and knees to get through it. One person will stay with the last sign and the other circle. That way you can call out to tell exactly where you are in relation to the last sign.
 
The only thing you can tell from a deer's reaction is hit or miss. Even that's not a given. There are certain reactions that you will NOT get from a miss, but it's entirely possible to shoot a deer right through the heart and get virtually no reaction. To say that this or that kick or jump means a shot in the heart is entirely unjustifiable.

Personally, I would doubt that you have a heart shot because it's unlikely that you'd hit the heart without hitting at least one shoulder bone. If you hit a shoulder, you should be able to see the deer not using that leg when it runs or most often see drag marks along the trail from that leg.

The color of the blood is also not necessarily a very good indicator. Sometimes, yes, sometimes no.

On the other hand, the lack of blood could indicate a heart shot. Think about it. If you destroy the heart, there's no blood pumping. No blood pumping equates to not much leakage. Heart shot deer often have lousy blood trails. It's another reason, among several, why I don't ever intentionally aim for the heart.

I know just one thing for sure.... You'll either find him and we'll know what happened or you won't and you'll always wonder. I've got a couple "always wonder" myself.
 
Nothing significant to add:

+1 on flagging the blood drops you find - we use TP so it will dissolve over the winter and we often don't go back the way we came to remove it

+1 on circle method - I found my first deer that way. Uphill bow shot, a loop of intestine plugged the hole, and it was raining like a biblical flood. It was piled up under a very small bush. Small enough that I thought there was "no way a deer could be hidden in that"

30-06 with a 150 core-lokt, my money says it did not go very far.

When you find it, let us know what happened.
 
Hope you find him.

My dad shot a doe on Monday night and went back at 8am next day and it was nothing but bones and fur. I bought him a $100 surefire sweet a$$ light last year and he left it at camp. He told me he couldn't find the deer, because all he had was a crappy $5 6volt flashlight that I left in the blind. So he figured he would go back in the morning.

He thought he hit it a too far back and it went Up hill with little blood so he thought he might have just nicked it. Most of the deer I have shot with my 7mm either dropped or ran down hill.
 
Sounds like a good deer that you don't want to lose AND also sonds like a possible gut shot (i.e. it can run a kazillion miles and then hide under a bush and die. My experience is a lot of animals run straight, if they turn it may be only one turn. In any event listen to the guy that suggested a DOG. Even in areas where dogs are illegal for hunting- they can often be used to recover game.
 
I'm not thinking this turned out real good for deermaster. I'm hoping he found him this morning and is doing the evening hunt.......
 
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