Paunch shot whitetail.

[Tommymcgary]

740am October 31st I shot at a nice buck at 15 yards from a 18 ft high up treestand I rushed the shot and thought I totally missed. He jump back and stood 15 yards from where i shot him for about a Minute just looking for something but couldn't tell what happened then slowly walked off. I sat in my treestand until 10 am because I thought I missed. I went to look at my arrow and found the last 8 in had some blood on it so I went over and looked at where he was standing and there was a good amount of blood. I waited until 1130 to start looking, mind you I didn't know where I hit the deer. I followed a good blood trail for 200 yards about 100 from my treestand. Towards the end I found some bloody digested corn so I back off but I may have pushed him in the process. I waited until 9am November 1st to start looking. It rained so the blood mostly washed away. I've looked for 7 hours so far without luck. Can someone give me some insight on this please.

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[U.P. bownut]

About the only thing I can think of is to look on the United Blood Trackers website ( unitedbloodtrackers.org ) and see if there are any trackers in your area.

[Tommymcgary]

This is in pa. We can't use dogs.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Wlog]

Grid search. If you've already tried that maybe you pushed him a long way. If you can't use a dog, check his bedding areas. I've found lots of dead deer in there beds while scouting.

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[crankn101]

Almost all the dead heads I find when shed hunting are within 50 yards of water.

[JoeRE]

Most stomach shot deer travel less than 300 yards before bedding and they tend to seek the thickest cover in the immediate area to bed down in. Did the blood trail start zig-zagging toward the end of your tracking? Hurt deer do that when they are looking for a spot to bed.

If you bumped him then its hard to say how much further he would go, its possible he would go a long ways or just go another couple hundred yards and bed down in secure cover again - he will be dead by now there is no doubt about that.

You are left with trying to narrow it down. Most badly hit deer will head downhill (or at least not climb much) because I am sure its easier when an animal is in bad shape. Liver shot deer do seem to seek water, I am not convinced gut shot deer all do but its worth a try walking all the nearby waterways. I would just start grid searching from the last point of blood out making sure to check close all nearby thick stuff. If you know this buck very well, often a specific buck will go back to a core bedding area to die if he can make it that far. I hope you find him.

[xpauliber]

Also, check nearby water sources such as creeks or ponds or hidden waterholes. We have found several deer that were hit back bedded in creeks or floating in ponds.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[dan]

Deer is dead... But it can take 12 hours to die with that shot. Get a dog if you can, its just a matter of finding it.

[PK_]

No law says you can't take a good blood trailing dog for a walk. If he happens to stumble across a dead deer, well that's just great.

[PLB]

No law says you can't take a good blood trailing dog for a walk. If he happens to stumble across a dead deer, well that's just great.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[Tommymcgary]

I looked today for another 2 1/2 hrs without luck. He didn't zig zag he started to circle then went straight. I also found white hair. Does this mean anything?? was on my hands and knees going through some of this stuff. Think he would of crossed a main road?? There so many thickets and so much corn!!! Ahhhhh it's bugging the out of me. I'm going keep after him!

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[PLB]

Do you have help? The deer is dead. Get some people together and grid search the area. You are basically looking for a dead deer now. 300 yards from hit in all directions. We've literally walked right by dead gut shot deer so the more eyes the better.

[ Post made via iPhone ]

[UPbowhunter]

The deer is dead. Water. If you bumped him he will look for a very thick hole to hide in. I had the same thing happen a couple days ago my deer actally died 5 yards from my canoe the next afternoon. 20 hours is not to long to wait on gut shots.

[ Post made via Android ]

[Milk Weed Seed]

I say he has gotta be dead. I'd focus on water and the thickest nastiest cover around 1st. Best of luck finding him.