Finding hit deer

[Guest bigbuckmiddaugh]

your new to hunting and its a great sport and good eating.

Is there anyone else whom or you know that has a few years(say 10) under there belt. They could give you some good info.

It sounds like you didn't get enough penetration. When ever you shoot a deer in the rain, you best make sure you got a real good shot or hit on the animal!

Even if you do, get a lung shot, that rain wash's the blood away very very very fast. So, soon as you hit one, get after it ASAP! a slight drizzle is good or just a very very light sprinkle won't hurt. Hunting in rain, i say thats a no no.

I wouldn't be shooting them no more in the front shoulder! Go the for the biggest target! The lungs! The shoulder is bad shot, you want behind the shoulder. I'm sure you know that! Other than that, practice, practice, practice....until your confident enough to make a good clean shot. If your hunting from stands, shoot from that elevation to see how your hitting, shoot sitting down, shoot with your hunting cloths on. If you hunt in the cold (like 10 degrees) shoot your bow when its cold, it will hit differently! If you have questions on anything like that, post them before it happens. All the guys and gals will be happy to help.

[Tominator]

Re: Finding hit deer

well, if you got through the shoulder bones, you probably hit lung, heart, windpipe, or all three and the deer should be nearby. if it didn't get through the bone, there's a good chance the deer will be ok.

[Doc]

Re: Finding hit deer

The question is.........did you shoot her where you aimed? I know....I know...The shoulder is not where you're supposed to be aiming, but recognizing that you may be new to the sport and after some of the posts and replies that I have read, I have to ask.

You didn't say how much of the arrow was sticking out. Did you ever find the arrow? Did you do the circling thing? How high or low in the shoulder was the hit?

I'll bet you probably got poor penetration, and the deer will probably be ok. That's just a guess and perhaps a bit of wishful thinking.

I know there are a lot of people who disagree, but I do not even go out if there is any appreciable rain. Especially in the afternoon. Meager blood trails can wind up virtually impossible to follow when rain has had a chance to thin it out and wash it away. It really gets ugly around here where you have all kinds of fresh fallen maple leaves with little red spots on them. The one thing that makes night trailing even possible is the fact that blood reflects back at you when you shine a light on it. When it is raining or has rained, everything reflects back at you.

It sounds like you have already done what could be done and have finally given up. My advice is to accept the fact that you have lost this deer and get on with your hunting. Perhaps more practice or something to make sure you stay away from that shoulder.

Doc

[horst]

Re: Finding hit deer

Well I answered this in the other room but Ill paste it in here as well.I bowhunt off the ground a lot and theres a huge difference most of the time in the blood trail, or at least the first part of the bloodtrail, in shooting one from ground level and shooting one from an elevated stand.Heres my 02 cents worth, hope it helps.

Quote:

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People on tv always say the best shot is right behind the shoulder blade or in the very middle of the shoulder blade. And thats were i hit her.

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Candy, dont aim for the shoulder blade.With a gun its a good shot, with a bow you often dontr have enough energy to get through it into the vitals, always try to aim behind the shoulder.

When you hunt from ground level with a bow, like I often do you will run into poor blood trails at the point of the shot quite often.From a treestand you get an angle down through the deer, the lower exit hole gives you almost an immediate blood trail.With a bow from the ground the arrow passes straight through, the chest cavities gotta fill up with blood befoe you start find a good blood trail.If you bowhunt from ground level make sure to watch the deer after the shot, pinpoint where it goes out of your line of sight, wait a few minutes and mark that spot.If theres no blood where you originally shot this will be your new starting point for trying to bloodtrail them.Dont rush in and mark the spot, wait a few minutes, and go in quietly to mark it.

Getting back to not having a lower exit hole to bleed out of, your entry and exit holes will both be up on the deer, when you start tracking dont concentrate to hard on the ground, look up on leaves and tall grass at about the level of your hips or stomach, often times a deer thats not leaving much blood on the ground will rub it off on these things as it runs, you just have to look up a little higher to find it.Eventually if its a good hit it should turn into a good blood trail on the ground but dont expect to find it there right away.

Listen when the deer runs away to what direction it goes, if you cant find blood right off this may be your only clue as to what direction it went after leaving your sight.Look for tracks, if the ground is soft enough you can sometimes follow them quite aways on tracks alone.

Waiting was a good idea, if your not sure about the hit wait even longer, a good shot, double lung i only wait about 15 minutes, a questionable shot Ill often leave t till the next morning if it isnt real hot out.If you hit the shoulder blade again consider it a questionable shot and wait, you dont know how far the arrow went in, you might only get 1 lung and it takes them longer to die.Dont push the animal.and remember try not to hit the shoulder blade.hitting that coupled with shooting from the ground very often you wont find any blood at all escpecially if the arrow didnt go in very far.Good Luck