Deer hit. I need some advice.

Status
Not open for further replies.
I had a doe disappear on me a couple weekends ago. 15 yds, 00 buckshot in the throat & upper chest area. Found a 3 or 4 12" + pools of blood, bright, some bubbles. Blood on trees, 2' off the ground. 50 yds later, nothing.

On the trail/path a few yards away, we found one small, single spot of blood. 3 of us circled a 400 yd radius, looking in every low spot or brush pile she could've hidden in.

Nothing. No idea where she got to & no remains found.
 
To me, it sounds like one of two things: 1)a grazing shot, just under the belly. Enough to draw blood initially but certainly not fatal. or 2) a liver shot.

A heart shot deer will normally take off on a "death run", running into trees, etc. A liver shot deer will display dark blood and not much of it and may run a long ways before succumbing to the wound. A gut shot deer will not have much blood, if any, as the hole gets plugged from stomach contents. Usually a gut shot deer will lay down within 100 yards or so but may take several hours to die. If you jump it, it may go for miles.

One thing I would try is to get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and put it in an old hair spray bottle and mist the area after the initial blood contact. If the peroxide contacts any body fluids, it will foam up. Mark the spot (toilet paper works great, one sheet at a time) and move another two feet and try again. It's slow going but it works...I've personally trailed two deer this way and recovered them both with very little "visible" blood trail.

Also, since it's been a couple of days since the initial shot, take note of any crows or ravens that are congregating in the area and calling. They may lead you to your trophy.

Keep at it and good luck.
 
He never said where he was aiming before he shot. Over the years I have shot deer through the shoulder, right behind the shoulder, and low behind the front leg, and on an unsuspecting animal these shots all rendered the old "mulekick", the went a few yards and piled up usually not more than 50 yds though. I usually employ the "leapfrog" method that is similar to the circle thing the other repliers mentioned however I never go alone!!! and I usually like to bring as many as 4 or 5 people, extra eyes, yada yada. Okay slightly quartering away, mulekick, ran at least forty yds out of sight. Look for some grass and for a close thicket and search those arease for a speck of blood, and really there is alot more sign to a wounded deer other than just blood. There's hoofprints, broken branches, scuffed dirt, disloged rocks, hair on a barbed-wire fence, I have seen a huge pile of entrails hanging from a barbwire fence, they usually don't go far without guts, anyway scuffed leaves, just way too much unanswered questions to this story. I hope you found it, if not keep looking. Good luck!:)
 
If you were with a guy that thinks he can tell where a deer was hit by the color of blood or lack of bubbles you might need to find a better tracker. Myths. Other than that I've had deer hardly leave any blood for the first 100 yards and then bleed like a stuck pig only to find them piled up 50 yards further. The gut shot deer I've seen tend to bleed enough for trailing for the first bit and then the trail will vanish. I'll agree with the heart shot death run, it seems that a good share of the time a lung shot gets a buck and a gut shot the deer will hunch up. Kinda like you would do if someone punched you in the gut. I've also seen butt shot deer buck and none of this is set in stone. If I had to guess I'd say he hit a leg down low. Don't get much blood from those.

More than likely a lost deer.

LK
 
Hey everyone, thanks for all the help.
I did not find the deer. We went back to the last drops of blood, and starting walking circles. Nothing. We walked the entire area where the deer was last headed and found nothing. We then went back to the last blood, and started walking straight to the left, just blind searching, and happened to stumble across one puddle of blood, about a 6" circle, about 150 yrds from the last blood. I got really excited, thought the deer was down not far away, but that was the last sign we ever found. We then walked circles around that entire area, probably 400 yards in every direction.
Best I can figure, it was a liver hit. The blood was dark, and the deer was on his feet for much longer that he would have been had it been a heart hit, plus the fact that he was standing atleast once and did not go down. It appeared he was bleeding on the ground only when standing still, there was just not blood other that puddle and the few drops we first found.
Is the deer dead, unfortunately, yes. We just did not find him. Property lines prevented us from searching further in the general direction he was headed past the last blood. Atleast 400 yrds was covered in every direction from the last sign.
Thanks again for the advice, I really appreciate it.
 
My Best and Worst

Thanks for closing the loop on that. That is a bummer Deermaster. I know because I have been there. A few years back I arrowed a deer; a bad hit too far back. Found some bile and occasional blood spots. On the third day of the search I heard a mob of crows and eased toward them. When they flew off, I sat and let them settle back in and moved toward them again. When in the general area where the crows had been carrying on, my dog Kyna made it obvious that she smelled something in a beaver flowage. That is where we found him in two feet of water. He turned out to be my biggest deer, but after three days he was rancid and I could not get any meat from him, only the mount. He went probably 3/4 of a mile from where he was hit. Luckily I didn't have property lines to limit my search.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top