Crazy hunt

[jmaas07]

Had a wild hunt today..plan was to sit midday to dark. My entrance is through a crp field, as I was sneaking through a real nice buck stands up, he was up wind from me and was looking away from me, I ranged him at 20 yards, at that point i crouched down in the tall grass and knocked an arrow. I peeked up to see where he was because I heard foot steps and saw he was walking away from me so i started to crawl at a somewhat decent pace and at the same time i was hitting the grunt tube. I stopped to listen after 15 or so yards of this and i heard a fast paced trot heading my way, i peeked up and saw the buck at 10 yards head on. I drew back while crouched down and slowly stood up, i was going to take the head on shot when another unidentified deer stood up and the buck turned in that direction, he was still quartering pretty good to me and looked like he was going to get out of dodge any second so I squeezed off the shot through the grass and heard what sounded like a good hit. I backed out and went back 5 hours later and i found 16” of the broadhead side of my arrow broke off and covered in blood, tiny bit of fat on the broadhead and 3 hairs that were shorter and were brown, then black then white tip. About 20 yards after the arrow blood started, slow at first, then picked up looking like spraying out of both sides, then it slowed down and then picked back up again, i stayed on blood for 150-200 yards and it was getting hard to see in the dark because it looked to be getting sprarse again so backed out. After the hit the buck ran like a son of a gun to the west, which was the direction he was facing and then slowed down, went about 15 yards north, then about 15 yards south, then back north again and then looked like he layed down, i didn’t see his rack anymore after that. In the 150-200 yards i was on blood there were no beds. I’m pretty sure i hit inbetween the chest and front leg and exited behind the back leg. The arrow was snapped off but there was no brush to snap it really, he was in tall grass for the most part so must have been his leg as he was running that snapped it. I talked to some people and opinions are it’s either a fatal hit and he should be dead not much further or i deflected off the front leg and it exited brisket. Hope I find him dead in the morning...thoughts on how i described the hit, arrow, blood and the deers reaction?

[crankn101]

Sounds like a fun hunt. I believe if you give it an honest chance tomorrow you find him.

Good luck!

[tgreeno]

Wow...Exciting hunt!

Good Luck finding him!!!

[matt1336]

Wow..... I wasn’t there, but perhaps a better shot should have been taken? Maybe a pass given to the buck so you could’ve hunted his bedding area another day? We all make mistakes, hopefully you find him.
The problem with frontal shots is that you’re not likely to get two holes in the animal. One hole doesn’t give the blood trail that two holes do. The deer bleeds internally making him harder to find.
Again, I wasn’t there so I don’t want to come off too judgemential. But people come to the beast looking for advice....my advice is, don’t take that shot from the ground. Not sure you were looking for advice tho, but you got it anyway

Anyway, from your tracking assessment, he seems to be hurting bad. Ive seen deer pace and look confused right before they die....that’s the picture the walking north, then south then north again gave me from your discription.
If it exited out of the rear leg, you had to have hit vitals. It’s just a matter of finding him. If it deflected and exited out the brisket...I think that was a suggestion that was given to you? You’d have lots of white hair laying at poi and fat on the arrow- with little blood.

[Kraftd]

Sounds like a dead deer. Based on your description, not sure how you could have come out through the brisket. If it deflected more likely to have been along the ribs and not made it into the vitals. Were you shooting through he grass, or was the shot clear? Even CRP type stuff can deflect an arrow too, then really hard to tell what you hit. I'd also agree with the walking back and forth being a sign of bedding or possibly tipping over. Good luck!

[jmaas07]

Sounds like a dead deer. Based on your description, not sure how you could have come out through the brisket. If it deflected more likely to have been along the ribs and not made it into the vitals. Were you shooting through he grass, or was the shot clear? Even CRP type stuff can deflect an arrow too, then really hard to tell what you hit. I'd also agree with the walking back and forth being a sign of bedding or possibly tipping over. Good luck!

I agree, not sure how it could have come out brisket. That comment was from a dog tracker I spoke to on advice on that type of hit. The shot was fairly clear, there was a bit of grass in front of me and the buck but I’d say maybe a depth of 6” or less and it was just in front of the buck, it was just dried out grass too, nothing that has any type of ridged sticks or anything. Im on my way back up now, got about an hr left to get there. Going to start at last blood and see if it picks back up again, I have about 200 yards or so more to go in crp type stuff before i hit timber, which is the mouth of a fairly wide oxbow, man I hope he’s dead in the crp

[Razorhead]

I think the deer is dead. Good blood on your arrow obviously indicates a pass through. Depending on the actual angle of your shot and how you might have caught some bone there is a decent chance you may have only hit one lung. I've had deer go well over 300 yards on a single lung hit. If that's the case he will eventually bed and be too weak to get up and go anymore. Good luck, hope you get him!

[oldrank]

Good luck !! Not sure what to make of the shot. I guess it depends on the angle. I shot a 4 pt about 15 yrs ago that made it 540 yrds. I hit him in the front shoulder n came out in front of rear leg. I got on him n bumped him once. Left n came back 5 hours later. He was dead.

My uncle shot a 7 point with a similar shot n he went about 300 yards. He had no exit. Entrance in the pocket between shoulder and neck. Good blood.

Shot a mature doe in the pocket n she went 100 yrds. Great blood.

All we're shot from treestands. It's all on the angle.

[Kokes]

sounds like a dead deer to me jmaas, best of luck today, fingers crossed you report back with some good news and a kill zone post!

[Rich M]

Broken arrow would appear to be from leg or shoulder breaking it as deer runs.

Sounds like a dead deer to me too. They can go a long ways while they are dead when they want to.

Did you find the deer, call in the dog, etc.????

[jmaas07]

Broken arrow would appear to be from leg or shoulder breaking it as deer runs.

Sounds like a dead deer to me too. They can go a long ways while they are dead when they want to.

Did you find the deer, call in the dog, etc.????

It’s a long drive, I’m just getting up here. Going to do all i can today

[Rich M]

Good luck!

[Joe68]

Good luck bud. Hope to see a picture shortly.

[matt1336]

GOod luck jmass

[jmaas07]

Well, just an update here. We got back on blood and flowed it to a river, ended up jumping the buck. My cousin saw him and said he was laboring, this was over 24 hrs after the hit