Feeling bad.

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okiewita40

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Jun 9, 2007
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Well here is the story. I was out deer hunting. saw a nice doe. Took about a 65 yard shot and hit her. Got to the spot of the hit. Found some fur, some lung material and lots of bright red blood. I tracked the blood trail for over 30 yards across the hill where I watched her go.

So here is the part that is killing me. I tried to track her for the next 7 hours. I searched all over the hill. Around and over the hill into the next draw. I never was able to track her down. This was the also the first deer I have ever shot. My only hope is since this is a very well hunted and packed public hunting area that some one else found her and took her.
 
some one else may have seen her running, shot her (again), and assumed they made the kill. It happens often around here. It's not unethical on the part of the second shooter, because if he or she shoots and misses, but watches a deer fall down dead with a hole in it, the only logical assumption is that they killed it, and the only logical reaction is to take it to the freezer. I've seen it happen twice in the last three or four years, not to me, but to other hunters I know.
 
Did you look under logs and tangles? I have seen them just shy of burrow under something to hide when injured. We tracked a friends doe down one side of a hollow, but she disappeared at the bottom, a soft sand creek. No tracks either way, and no blood anywhere, but from where we came. She had crawled completly under a large log in the dry creekbed. Couldn;t see her at all without laying on your belly. And couldn't tell what it was without a light.
 
If you found lung material at the spot of the hit, she didn't go far. floorit76 may have your answer. Coupla years ago I watched my youngest son shoot a nice buck @ 150 yards. The way the buck reacted, I told my son that he broke both front shoulders and the buck wouldn't go far. Two hours later I sadly told him he musta missed, cause we couldn't even find one drop of blood after making circles for two hundred yards from where we last saw him. I walked back to the stand to make sure we were looking in the right area when my son waved to me he found it. It was one jump from where he shot it. Both shoulders broke and the lungs blew out. We had walked by it continuously looking for obvious blood. It had jumped into tall marsh grass and buried itself in it outta sight. My son found it by stepping on it.
 
I agree that they in hide really well. Under a log or even burrow into tall grass. Another thing is that you should wait awhile to track them. Sometimes they just lay down and bleed out. But if pushed they keep moving and you might not ever catch up. Also it's not real unusual for another hunter to claim another hunters deer even if it's down. Don't ever get into an arguement over a deer. Somebody might do something everyone will regret. A few guys buried and in prison over stuff like that. Sadly, not every deer that's shot gets found. I applaud your effort to find it.
 
They hide WELL. If it is cold enough, keep looking. A dog helps when you can't find it yourself. They can run farther than you think too, even with a wound that would drop us.
 
If the dog knows how to track deer.
That deer is still laying out there somewhere and unless you hit her to far back(gut shot) then I would start at the point you found the blood and start circling and keep opening up the circle every time you make a full 360 circle.
When and if you find more sign mark the brush with a piece of white toilet paper and keep circling for sign.
Generally,from my experince hunting the rugged hills of Central Texas, a wounded deer wont run uphill and will try getting into something very thick.
If gut shot they can make a considerable distance even in that condition.
Good luck and hats off to you for trying as hard as you have to recover the animal.
 

If the dog knows how to track deer.

Yeah, for sure.

I have a Labrador bitch and a terrier dog. Teaching them to track was very easy indeed. I really would suggest that anyone that ventures into the field for deer more than a couple of times a year should have access, at least, to a dog.

It might be worth thinking about a "syndicate" approach to this access.

But, i don't want to hijack the thread, good work on the op for the determined search he carried out.

steve
 
It happens. I lost my first this way when I was twelve. We found her a couple of weeks later with the arrow still lodged in the rib cage about 40 yards from where she was shot. I can't believe we didn't step on her when we were looking for her. You feel bad about it, but use it as a learning experience.

Yesterday my wife shot a doe with her .308 and not one drop of blood. My wife is a good shooter and does not take a shot unless she is sure to hit, so I kept on looking, just following kicked up leaves and such. We were standing in a clearing scratching our heads when my wife said 'there it is!' She was laying dead less than 50 yards from the shot, with the only blood right in the vicinity of the fall. It was a frontal /front quartering shot, put a hole in the esophagus, lung, and destroyed the entire front right quarter. Some folks would look, see no blood and say they must have missed.

All you can do is do all you can, which it sounds like you did. Better luck next time!
 
you made a good effort at looking for it probably way more than most hunters would of.
im sure a dog would be able to track it and find it a dead deer can be very hard to spot if there is no white showing they blend in very well in the woods.
 
my uncle and I have walked circles all over a deer all but stepping right on him. only way we found that one was because his tail moved a little. He wasn't even hidden, just blended very well with the leaves. I've lost one after a dead knock-down hit behind the right shoulder. Then he got up and left, no blood, hair nothing. Followed tracks and found droppings, but he vanished into the brush; went back later and not even a buzzard in sight. that was a good .30-30 hit at less than 100yrds shoulda been DRT.. it happens. Best thing is to be prepared for follow-up shots and learning to track and have a dog handy IF you can.
 
Next time when this happens resist the immediate urge to start tracking. When you know you have a hit animal based on the blood trail. Sit and wait 30 minuts. You want the animal to bed down and bleed out.

With a wounded animal thats what they want to do is to bed, but if they are pushed at all then you can be tracking them for hours on end. With a high probability of loosing the animal.

Years ago I hade a miniture schnauser mix. That was my companion everywhere I went. He loved going in the field with me and would lay patiently waiting for me to do my thing. And when I did he would trail to the animal. It got to the point if a buddy had lost a animal they would comew and get me and Farley, I'd put Farley on ground and wait a minute then we would be off.

He always found the dead animal.
 
It's amazing what an animal can do after being hit in a fital area. I had one that I later learned was double lunged and pin holed (hit no bone). We found that certain colored lung blood where I hit it from about 75 yards away. I figured we'd wait 5 minutes or so. After 30 minutes of looking I started wondering. I know the area like the back of my hand searching high and low, Finally my buddy "shusses" me. "Listen, he says". We could hear a distinct air sucking sound. 15 feet away in some high pasture grass behind a tree we saw it and put it down. Just think it that had been a 200 pound man? He'd go down like a sack of potatoes. Even after 60 years of hunting it never ceases to amaze me of how strong thier survival instinct is.
 
Want to findout if you got it and it died near buy, wait a week and watch teh skies for scavanger birds. We find some poached deer on our land this way, they shot from teh road, the deer runs off, they take off.
 
I don't like the idea of using a dog, it's not legal here and I sure don't want my bird dog chasing deer. How do you know the dog would be tracking the same deer?
I can see it if the dog is well trained and will track and not chase and is legal where you live.
 
d2wing, What state do you live in? I was under the impression that all states now allow the use of game recovery dogs. Most of them do NOT allow you to be armed with gun or bow while tracking with the dog but they have pretty much all pulled head out of lower orifice and realized that game recovery is extremely important. Most also require your dog be leashed.

okiewita40, I too applaud the length of time you put in trying to recover your deer. As most everyone else said, after taking the shot, wait for at least 20 minutes before you go after it. Sit still and use your ears. More times than not, with a good hit, you can hear a deer "crash". Let them expire. You do this out of respect for the animal as well as not to push it. I've seen deer with blown out hearts run for hundreds of yards before dropping because the hunter got all excited and went head long after it right after the shot. Even gut shot deer won't go a really long way before laying down unless they are pushed.
 
A big thanks to all of you for the encouraging words. This is the first time I have ever shot a deer. I am 44 and this was only my second year deer hunting. I was raised hunting small game and birds.

I am already looking forward to next year.
 
Were you using an adequate rifle and ammo? Seems like decent shot placement if you found lung material. Did you listen for the deer?
 
Don't beat yourself up too much. Sounds like you did all you could. Besides. The buzzards and critters need to eat also.
 
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