The Hunting Beast

I hit a buck this morning to far back, the arrow looks clean and a had a faint odor, a little sticky but not slimey. After the shot the buck ran a short distance then stopped. I caught a brief look at him walking away funny. Broadhead had whitish hairs in it. Do you think intestines or maybe just some fat? I plan on going after work or in the morning.

mike_mc, Yes it Sounds like a low belly hit if there are white hairs present. Hard to say with so many angles that factor into what was hit. Also, were you in a stand or on the ground? How close was he?....you get the point. Probably a hit that will require some time for that deer to die. JMO but Id wait til morning. I hope you find him but if not, don't let it get you down. Good luck.

He was broadside about 20 yards, I was maybe 16 feet high. The reason I want to go tonight I heard coyotes and it is public land, I would feel more comfortable knowing I was the only one out there. But I would like to hear opinions.

Coyotes or not... Wait till morning.

dan wrote:Coyotes or not... Wait till morning.

now just a minute...when you said you see no reason to wait 1/2 hour...did you mean, search almost immediately or wait hours? but in no circumstance would it be helpful to wait 1/2 hour. meaning you were gaining nothing?

just wanted to be clear

jigglestick wrote:

dan wrote:Coyotes or not... Wait till morning.

now just a minute...when you said you see no reason to wait 1/2 hour...did you mean, search almost immediately or wait hours? but in no circumstance would it be helpful to wait 1/2 hour. meaning you were gaining nothing?

just wanted to be clear

Yes... I see no reason to wait a 1/2 hour.
With a good hit the deer will be dead in less than two minutes. With a bad hit it may take from 2 hours to never dyeing from that wound...
Depending on the hit there is plenty of reason to wait 4 to 12 hours on a liver or gut hit deer... But waiting to track a deer hit in the heart, lungs, or flesh is just giving it time to rest, clot up the wound, stop the adrenalin flow ( blood thinner ) and lower the heart rate, which all will result in a poor blood trail and less bleeding.
The only reason I would wait on a deer hit somewhere other than guts, liver, or intestines is if the property was small and potential to push the deer where I could not track it existed.

I respect the heck out of you Dan but the last thing I do Is get on a blood trail with In a half hour even If I think It's a great shot. Where we see that arrow go Isn't always the case and sometimes when these arrows hit ribs they can ricochet off of a rib and do a 90 degree turn. I know you've been Involved with allot of blood trails but I have also so I'm just giving my experiences with the 1,000's of blood trails and gut piles I've Inspected and been Involved with. Every blood trail I've been Involved with I'll dig Into the gut pile and see what damage was done. I've learned a ton from this and allot of times was shocked with what I saw.

Where we see that arrow go Isn't always the case and sometimes when these arrows hit ribs they can ricochet off of a rib and do a 90 degree turn.

Shultzy, on any of those blood trails where you found that your arrow did not go where you expected, where did it go? Cause if it was guts, liver, or intestines you should of backed off and waited the proper time... Anywhere else keep at it.
To further my point, give me one type of hit.. Any, other than liver, guts, and intestines... That kills the deer in 15 to 20 minutes? Even if there was such a hit, pushing it would just keep it bleeding out and kill it faster.
But really, good hits kill within two minutes, bad hits take hours. There really is not much of an inbetween. The deer that are hit in intestines, liver, and guts actually die from poisoning. with intestine and guts there is often no blood at all. You have to wait with these animals. Deer that die from blood loss die when they run low on blood. Keeping them bleeding is
very important on the marginal hits. How many times do you track a deer to its bed and the blood stops there?
Working as a guide, and running deer camps my whole life, I have tracked hundreds of deer. When I switched from waiting the 1/2 hour to hour everybody claims you wait to tracking immediately I doubled my finds on marginal hits... I can think of several deer that would have likely lived from the hit if I left them to clot up.
1lung hits are an excellent example... When left alone long enough to clot up and wander off they often live a couple days, sometimes they survive the hit. But when you push them it makes them gag on there blood and they loose energy quick...
This is not something I am making up, its medical logic. And I can see dramatic results since I started tracking this way.

Shultzy, on any of those blood trails where you found that your arrow did not go where you expected, where did it go? Cause if it was guts, liver, or intestines you should of backed off and waited the proper time... Anywhere else keep at it.

Never has any of my arrows ricocheted but being on others peoples blood trails I've saw It often. Not every time on a blood trail can you tell If It's guts or not. That's why I say nothing Is ever an absolute. Years ago my dad swore he missed a doe at 10 yards being that's where he thought he saw his arrow go. At dark he got down to look for his swing and a miss arrow and couldn't find It. We went back out an hour or so later to help dad find his arrow and low and behold we find his arrow full of blood. 60 yards down the trail there layed a double lung deer dead.

To further my point, give me one type of hit.. Any, other than liver, guts, and intestines... That kills the deer in 15 to 20 minutes? Even if there was such a hit, pushing it would just keep it bleeding out and kill it faster.

I've saw shots kill a deer with In seconds If they hit that big artery. Still though It's not a shot I'm pushing at that point. The next day during the light you betch ya I'll push a hind shot deer after an hour or 2.

But really, good hits kill within two minutes, bad hits take hours. There really is not much of an in between. The deer that are hit in intestines, liver, and guts actually die from poisoning. with intestine and guts there is often no blood at all. You have to wait with these animals. Deer that die from blood loss die when they run low on blood. Keeping them bleeding is
very important on the marginal hits.

Good hits are suppose to die quickly but this Isn't always the case. Wild animals don't follow the same rules as us humans do.

How many times do you track a deer to its bed and the blood stops there? Working as a guide, and running deer camps my whole life, I have tracked hundreds of deer. When I switched from waiting the 1/2 hour to hour everybody claims you wait to tracking immediately I doubled my finds on marginal hits... I can think of several deer that would have likely lived from the hit if I left them to clot up.

Your right Dan, many of the trails stop right there with no blood.

lung hits are an excellent example... When left alone long enough to clot up and wander off they often live a couple days, sometimes they survive the hit. But when you push them it makes them gag on there blood and they loose energy quick...
This is not something I am making up, its medical logic. And I can see dramatic results since I started tracking this way.

I know your not making this stuff up. We've had this discussion before about my dads doe last year. Last year he double lunged her perfectly. 20 minutes later he got down to leave and there she gets up 50 yards away and runs. Dads thinking no fricking way as he swore he drilled her perfect. He still swore he drilled her good so he only let her be for 2 hours and picked the trail up again. A 1/4 mile or so from where he shot her he finally gets this deer. She was perfectly double lunged. I know this Isn't the norm for a double lunged deer but please people don't tell me my dad was full of It. He's got a ton of expierence bowhunting 30+ years. My dads and excellent tracker and I know for a fact most other people would've never got this deer as her blood trail was terrible and the fact that she traveled a long ways. In my opinion she would've been dead In her 1st bed had she not saw dad when he got down. Your single lung analogy has weight to It Dan but I'm just not taking that chance. Plus I've never lost a single lung hit deer the way I've been doing It.

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you. It's just that we do things a bit different with the same success.

I've lost my share of deer and a couple big ones but have also recovered some that others may have given up on. I think to become a skilled tracker you have to be in on some bad hits so any time I'm on a poorly hit animal I just try and think of it as another part of hunting. Putting together a tough track takes a lot of persistance while keeping any thoughts of despair behind. When you find the animal tho, there's something special that you just don't get out of a double lung gusher.

Putting together a tough track takes a lot of persistence while keeping any thoughts of despair behind. When you find the animal tho, there's something special that you just don't get out of a double lung gusher

Awesome post 3dog!! Couldn't agree more!!!

guts and liver WAIT WAIT! Ive lost big deer to pushing a gut shot deer when I should have waited. Guts is always little or noblood, and usually the deer wont run away... in my expierence which is not much compared to most of you. A gut liver buck will usually goto water, and lay down.... if you are tracking with 8 hours, you will jump the deer prob within 100 yeards of you shot, and he will run his off with no blood and goto a very secluded hiding spot now that he knows a predator is after him, and you will likely never find him. Ive learned, the hard way.

This saturday I had alot of action, 6 bucks, and I shot a nice 9 point buck at 15 yards. He was coming up a point, out of a creek bottom and was very slightly quartring to me. Happend very fast.... like "oh buck ther!.. hes a shooter!!*click release on, draw bow*.., "its now or never"... THUMP..... that sound isnt usually good in my eyes, i like hearing thwack (some bones breakin) instead of the dead wet wood sound.

I climbed down, found arrow... covered in guts, so i slipped out the opposite way. I had already made up my mind that I was not trackin this deer until the following morning.

Found him 85 yards from my tree, and the hit was good, better than i thought actually. I hit 1 lung, liver and since he was quartering to me and close, the arrow exited his opposite side belly, and guts plugged the hole.

This deer did not bed, he walked... likley took a drink, crossed the creek and fell over dead.

I was NOT risking jumping that deer. I had NO problem waiting, and lost NO sleep because I NEW.... NEW i made the right decision and was VERY confident the buck would be found....

My best buck with a bow. I ve lost em, missed em, dropped arrows, busted, stand noise, didnt take shots when I sjhould... ect., I could go on and on, but ive LEARNED.

Great buck Brandon!! Congratulation's!!

Schultzy wrote:Great buck Brandon!! Congratulation's!!

thank you. my best bow buck, and not a slob... but im working on him. i can shoot 1 more buck after adoe, which should be soon

in short your either a good shot or a good tracker I will keep our tips in mind Dan!