Tracking/biology question

[courtgreene]

Last week I shot a deer with a bow. The shot entered the left lung aft of the shoulder and continued through the right beneath the shoulder. After the shot he took off running. All of that is normal... Here's where it gets odd... I trailed him for a while following the blood drops. There was good blood for about forty yards, then almost a pool of blood where he obviously stopped and I think laid down (based on the leaves being matted and soaked in a deer sized area) but that's where the bleeding just STOPPED. No more blood and no deer. I had a good idea where he was headed and I did find him at least another thirty or forty yards from where the blood drops stopped, but how is it possible to bleed like crazy and then go that much further with no blood left dripping?
Mostly I'm asking two questions. Is that normal? And what's going on physically that could have made this possible?

 

[BigBore45]

his chest cavity filled with blood and when he laid down the chest cavity emptied and his heart rate and blood pressure was probably falling as well. all this combined slowed the blood trail. how he got back up? well i guess he was a tough deer.

 

[rcmodel]

Yep!

He laid or fell down from blood loss.

Trying to breath laying there pumped the blood out, and normal clotting occurred.

So, he got back up and made it a little ways further already weak / dead on his feet from blood loss.

rc

 

[BigBore45]

or what RC said. all in the same. hey RC where you at in Kansas?

 

[courtgreene]

Thanks. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

 

[Knotlost]

A piece of fat or other internals can " plug " the hole as well.

 

[buck460XVR]

While blood may not have been obvious, a deer double lunged with a bow will bleed thru the nose from trying to breathe with an air sac full of blood. Thus with every breath he will expel blood. A mortally wounded deer will breathe heavily and the blood will be in a mist or light spray. It will not fall directly into the trail like blood leaking outta a hole in the side. I'm betting there was blood, just not the heavy trail you started on.

I trailed him for a while following the blood drops.

Most every pass thru double lung shot I made on a deer with a bow made a blood trail that could never be described as drops. It generally looked like you took a garden sprayer, pumped it up and took the nozzle off. Not only did blood spray heavily from the wound, but it also sprayed heavily from the nose. They never bedded down within' 40 yards but fell down and generally didn't get back up. If they did get back up, they made enough commotion and noise that you knew exactly where they fell dead the next time. But every deer is different as is every shot and their reaction to it. Not everything in hunting is textbook. Glad you found your deer. Sounds like you made a good shot and did a fine job trailing it.

 

[gspn]

Yep!

normal clotting occurred.

+1. When he laid down he essentially put pressure on the wound. Clotting occurs, blood trail diminishes after that.

 

[buck460XVR]

+1. When he laid down he essentially put pressure on the wound. Clotting occurs, blood trail diminishes after that.

Generally takes 2-5 minutes for blood to clot. Double lung shot deer don't last that long for clotting to be a major factor. Fat blockage or loss of blood pressure is more plausible. Blood still clots after the animal dies, which is why many times we find large masses of coagulated blood in the cavity and on the ground. Many times, the blood in the noses of lung shot deer will become plugs from coagulation. Still the animal was dead before it made a difference.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yeah when he fell he dumped blood, but was near the end, as has been stated, but he may not have "sealed the wound"... ever head of a "death rattle"? Well a fall or a stumble as they are trying to get away sometimes frightens them, and they are often already bothered by the sting of the wound plus the feeling they get from the blood loss...it was a buck, and sometimes instead of dropping down you get a "death lunge" at the end. They give a couple of final effort leaps, and land dead. He stumbled, fell, dumped the blood, then got up one last time...hence the break in the trail and you found him a short distance beyond.

LD

 

[Patocazador]

As long as you didn't jump the deer by following too quickly, he probably did as Loyalist Dave suggested.

I have seen numerous situations the same as yours. They run out of blood and fall or make a last dash for about 20 yards. When I find the big splotch of blood, I make concentric circles about 5-25 yards out. They are usually laying there dead.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yeah that's a good method... with that puddle of blood you know he hasn't gone far. I use a single shot rifle...well a flintlock,... and like archers I wait a good 15 minutes or so before going to look for the deer. I pushed a deer I'd shot once, to the waiting arms of another hunter who didn't share...I started going after it a couple of minutes after shooting.

LD

 

[ridgerunner1965]

it sounds like if i understand correctly, that the arrow exited in the brisket area?

if thats so, its common for the thick hair,thick hide and layer of fat to often plug the wound.

ive seen it even with high powered rifles.

i saw the same thing last year with a deer a buddy shot from a tree stand with a 308 with good bullets. good shot but steep angle, exited the brisket. deer only went 50 yrds but blood trail only went first 20 yrds.

 

[elkhunterCO]

He musta stopped by the deer hospital to get stitched up, and then on his way home he got carjacked in the deer ghetto and that's where you found him.

 

[courtgreene]

That's gotta be it.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Sounds like you made a high lung shot.
I've seen deer run off like you describe many times.
Most of previous postings can play in to this. Clotting and fat plugs do happen. Also, due to blood engorgement, the lungs will shift and this will block off exit wounds.
Every deer I've ever shot with a bow did exactly the same thing.

I've had the opportunity to observe a number of deer hit in open areas and now understand the dynamics of it.
I even once shot a large buck with my .257wby and watched it make the death dash, lay down. 30sec. later, he got up, and walked in a half circle for ~100yds and crawled down in a brushy ditch where he expired. Other times, I've "lost" one and it took my fiest (small squirrel dog) where she took a whole minute to trail the deer and find it 100-300yds from where I lost the blood trail. She's already in her 6yr life earned her "keep" with the deer she's found!!!

If you hunt long enough, you'll loose many more....
My brother and I lost 2 elk in Colorado in '03 the exact same way. A stiff cross wind in the canyon between us and the elk that we couldn't feel, caused us both to miss by 10" 2 250yds due to wind drift. Both elk were facing same direction and both got high lung hits. I muffed a second shot 5hrs later on one of the elk I'd trailed. The next day, other hunters got both as they were on horse back and found them back with the herd we'd shot them out of.

A friend who exclusively bow hunts and has run an outfitting service in Idaho has shot elk and deer with a bow only to find the animal one or more days later grazing with the herd, sometimes with the arrow still sticking out, broad-head first out of the exit wound !!!
Only a cns (central nervous system- brain/spine) or heart shot is a sure kill.
I've even seen "bad" shots hit the femoral artery in the "ham" kill deer in a shot distance/time....

Hunting is "dynamic". Many, many factors can come into play and result in a lost animal. I've had mortally wounded squirrels crawl into a cavity high in a tree and be lost. I've watched deer crawl into amazing places to avoid being found after being fatally wounded.
That's the reason I've always seen the advice to wait 30min after hitting an animal to begin tracking. This avoids pushing them after they may have stopped bleeding before they die.

 

[gamestalker]

I've often seen this exact same thing happen countless times. It appears to me that animals will lay down in an attempt to use dirt / leaves to clot the wound. But if the wound is fatal, they will often die where the lay down if left alone long enough. This is why when an animal runs off after the shot, archery especially, but also with firearm shots, it's best to give them some time to lay down for at least 30 minutes before starting the tracking process.

I can't begin to tell you how many deer and elk I've seen lost, or not found until a day or two later because the hunter refused to give them that 30 minutes to an hour to lay down and die. When you push them they will run dead basically, this can lead to poor blood trails, lost sign, and the animal dying more than a mile from where they were hit. Now where I hunt, coyotes can be a big issue if the shot is in late afternoon, so we try not to let the sun set before starting to track. But this is what head lamps are for, you can only hope you find them before the coyotes do.

But animals do get lost after the shot, it happens to the best, this is why it's called hunting, and not killing.

GS

 

[brainwake]

a couple of years ago, my wife took a shot on a buck.

We tracked it for a while, then lost the sign.

We went and got one of the dogs and tracked some more. But she went in a direction that we were sure he couldn't have gone.

After a long day we finally gave up.

The next morning, one of the other dogs drug up a bloody skull...with nothing but a spine attached. The coyotes had cleaned it up over night.

Nothing goes to waste in the woods...