Long-Term Deer Recovery

[Guest shwagy357]

I shot the biggest deer of my life last Saturday 12/6/08. I shot him at 50 yards with a .50 cal muzzleloader. I found a decent blood trail about 10 yards from the point of impact. Out of fear of jumping the deer, I waited until Sunday to track the deer. I returned Sunday a tracked the deer for about 100 to 150 yards before losing the trail. I have returned several times, but am having no luck finding the deer. I think I hit the deer in the upper back below the spine. Can this be a fatal shot? Every day at lunch I watch the mountain where I shot the buck for buzzards but have not seen any flying. How long does it take for buzzards to show up? What do you guys think I should next?

[Straight Shooter]

If yo hit below the spine, I'd think the impact would have broken the spinal cord and he'd dropped in his tracks. With little blood trail, I'd say you hit him in gut. I'd look for a water source on my next trip in to look for him. Good luck!

[wtnhunt]

Welcome to the forums.

If yo hit below the spine, I'd think the impact would have broken the spinal cord and he'd dropped in his tracks. With little blood trail, I'd say you hit him in gut. I'd look for a water source on my next trip in to look for him. Good luck!

Kinda thinking the same thing. What did the blood look like?

[Turkeygirl]

Where were you aiming on the deer? What did the deer do when he shot? What did the blood look like?

Check water sources and check thick stuff...

[Grizz]

Sorry to hear about your bad luck, but here are a few things you can try that I've had to do in the past.

First off, try to think back when you made the shot on the deer. When he ran did he take off with his tail up, did he look kind of hunched up as he ran, did he buckle when you hit him, ect?

As someone else has already mentioned, what color was the blood? Did it have bubbles in it? Did it have grit in it?

I recently took a buck in PA that I thought I had put a pretty good hit on. When I went to search for sign I found absolutely nothing, no blood, no hair, no tracks (b/c the ground was frozen). Luckily I had my dad with me and as I continued to look for sign in the field I shot him in, my dad headed into the woods in the direction we saw the deer enter into. We found the buck behind a berry bush in some thick stuff, but never once did he bleed out. I had hit him in the liver and caught the back of a lung, and the only reason I knew I had hit lung was b/c he had light, bubbling blood coming from his nose when we found him. All in all he ran well over 300 yds, but was hit hard enough that he didn't run in a zig zag pattern, but rather a straight line until he expired. Also when I shot he ran off with the does he was with, but I noticed they were running with their tales up and he was running with his tail down and looked like he was hunched up a bit, so that's how I knew I had hit him. Just letting you know of a situation that happened to me and hope that it might help you out in your quest to find that big boy.

And as other's have mentioned, check water sources and thickets. They always seem to die in the least likely places. Good luck!

[buckee]

That's a familiar sounding story. I'm still looking for ravens and buzzards, for my buck too

I hope you find him, and I mine, if, for nothing else than to learn from it.

[aksheephuntress]

.....I hope you found your deer....??

-that must of been exciting...yet, frustrating-