Gut Shot Deer - bow


ToddS

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All: Drew and released on a nice 8-pointer tonight. Shot was quartering too...

Sound of hit at 30 yards was impressive (rage 2-blade)...illum-nock revealed (what I thought) to be a good hit. Buck immediately reacted and bolted uphill about 50-years or so...head up full boogy....then stopped looked around for 3-5 seconds then bolted back downhill in general direction from which it came. tail from what I recall was normal(down position), and run uphill and downhill was more along the lines of what the heck was that!

arrow recovered....red/brown tip to nock.. initial location revealed brown hair and chuck of tissue size of 1/2 my thumb..I think intestine. impact spot was lots of brown/reddish spay...arrow covered in same.

shot at 6pm w/ 1 hr of daylight. got down and searched impact area at 6:30pm...lots of goop at impact zone...nothing else beyond 5 yards...

Although I searched field/wood/river edge for sign no additional sign.... I do not believe I bumped him....backed out and pan to go in after the morning hunt.

thoughts?

I've replayed countless time on my mind...I thought it was a good shot.

gosh, i hate the thought of a loss deer............

Edited by ToddS
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I hope you find your deer I have been there. It sounds like you got a better hit than you think I've seen them hit hard in the vitals and not bleed untill they fill to the entry/exit hole which may be a bit if he was running hard. You did the right thing by backing out and giveing him time.

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it depends on where the arrow ewent in and where it went out. sounds as if you did get gut. best thing is wait atleast 12 hours. then go try and find him from your last spot you saw him.

if the arrow went in 1 lung, liver and then gut, you should find him dead pretty close, as long as you didnt bump him.

good luck

Tony

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I think you did the right thing by backing out. As long as it's cool and the meat isn't going to spoil it's not hurting a thing. I have to agree with Tony, you definitely got Gut, but you might have caught the back end of a lung and the liver, especially with a quartering to shot. If that's the case, the deer shouldn't be too far. He acts like you hit him good with a "what the heck was that" reaction and if the tail was down, that's usually a sign they are hit pretty hard, at least in my experiences. Again, I think you made the right choice by backing and good luck on finding him in the morning. Make sure you let us know how it turns out ;)

BTW, Welcome to the forums:D

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Lots of arteries in that area.....if you have an exit hole, with arrow in hand, great chance the deer is bedded down within 100-150 yards, dead or near dead, walk very slow, and bring tissue, mark every spot...take your time, if he is not dead, he will be bedded in the thickest crap possible...right now he had to go get water....head there if you lose your blood trail...keep us posted, and best of luck..we have all been there. al

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Lots of arteries in that area.....if you have an exit hole, with arrow in hand, great chance the deer is bedded down within 100-150 yards, dead or near dead, walk very slow, and bring tissue, mark every spot...take your time, if he is not dead, he will be bedded in the thickest crap possible...right now he had to go get water....head there if you lose your blood trail...keep us posted, and best of luck..we have all been there. al

I agree with this good luck finding him take the whole day and search everywhere if you lose your blood search a grid!

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UPDATE:

First, thanks for the suggestions. There's a good news/bad news end to the story....the good news is I found the deer, the bad is the meat is a total loss.

I reported last night that the deer bolted a hundred yards or so further into/up the field,stopped for a few seconds then bolted back down the field (across my face from right to left about 100-150 yards out) before disappearing. Funny thing is I searched high and low for about three hours this am before I decided to return to the point where I saw the deer stop to look around on the ground for any sign. For whatever reason I decided to walk further up the hill/field and low and below he was about 40 yards higher up into the field! The deer obviously headed up a hedgerow and cut across the field at some point during the night before ultimately laying down and expiring.

The dag gone foxes got a hold of his hind quarter and devoured just devoured it. Green fly's where also all over the back half of the deer. In the end, I saved the head and will make a nice texas mount. The (spoiled) meat will go to benefit the birds, fox, raccoon, etc.

Although I really bummed about not getting to enjoy the meat at least I found him. A quick study of the entrance hole revealed a slightly aft shot which must've just nicked the liver.....one thing I will tell you all is the 2 blade rage broadheads are incredible - after years and years of fixed three blades I'm now a believer.

Now time to go boil the meat off the skull....talk soon.

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Congrats on finding your buck, I have a very similar story which took place on the 2007 season. Unfortunatley I never recovered the deer, poor shot placement. I allowed nerves to get the best of me, at the time I was rather new to the bowhunting society. Needless to say, I am what you could call and addict now. As for the Rage broadheads I know of a few people who hunt with them and are completley satisfied with them. Just this past month my fiance's cousin harvested a doe using the rage broadhead. September 22 I do believe. I was on my leave from Iraq, anyways, continuing on with point of the story. The shot was placed a little farther forward than planned. The broadhead caught the back half of the front shoulder, it didnt seem to slow the hit in the slightest. Suprising after hitting the bone the broadhead shown no sign of damage. A deffinent eye opener, Rage has won the heart of yet another bowhunter. Although it will take a little more than that to pull me from what I am already confident in what I know works...The Montec G-5's 100 grain. Anyways, Best of wishes on your season friend.

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