Bad Shot

[Montana Craig]

I had a bad shot this morning around 9:50 AM. This was my first archery hunting shot so I wanted it to be good and not take any risks. Everything felt good, it was close, less than 30 yards on flat ground. I heard a loud wack like I hit a tree after recovering the arrow the arrow hadn't hit a tree and had blood on it.

I waited an hour before tracking I found blood right away and some had bubbles and it was dark red. So I assumed I got liver, lungs, and shoulder blade from the wack sound. I slowly tracked it about 120 yards and I jumped it. So I stepped back and waited until 1:30 PM.
Started tracking and found some huge blood clot looking blood with dark spots. Went less than 50 yards and the blood seemed to disappear. As I was trying to find any blood when the deer jumped up and was out of range. So I watched again until he disappeared 100 yards away.

I then waited until 6 PM and started tracking again finding small spots of blood and more of the clot looking blood spots. Around 7 I saw two doe spook out but no buck. Kept creeping and looking expecting to find the buck dead. At 7:30 I found the buck he got up and jumped to cover. He then walked through the trees with a little limp and stopped at 65 yds no clear shot. I tried to close the distance to get a shot but no luck and didn't want to push him off the property. He was 100 yards from where I lost sight of him in the afternoon and maybe 250 yards from where I shot him in the morning.

While watching him he was licking around his left front shoulder and there was no visible blood or stained fur anywhere. I was able to get a few pictures through my binos and from what I can tell I hit low right behind the front right shoulder and it came out in front of the front left shoulder. The last photo shows the bed he was laying in from 2-7 had very little blood.

What are my chances of finding him dead in the morning? Or does he have a chance of living at all? I just feel terrible about this whole situation. Any help is appreciated.

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[realunlucky]

Well he must be hit fairly hard for you to keep bumping him and not just blowing out of there. I'd guess you'll turn him up close to where you last seen him. Doubtful he'll be dead but hopefully he'll be more under the weather and you can get another arrow in him.

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[Yoder]

I agree. The fact that you jumped him multiple times tells me he's hit pretty good. You keep finding blood and keep jumping the deer. It's a good sign you might get him if you can pick up the trail tomorrow. All the deer I've lost, the blood trail just stopped and I never seen them again. Some people might think this is messed up but I always consider how the deer would die in the wild. Even a bad shot with an arrow is more humane than starvation or being eaten alive by a predator. I always try to make the best shot I can and exhaust every effort to find them but it happens. Good luck. Let us know what happens.

 

[Rich M]

Ive found the clots before but not the deer that made them.

Go back in the morning if you can and stick another arrow in him. He should be near where you last saw him.

Bow hunting sucks pretty much. 99% of all archery hunters have a similar tale. 75% of those have 2 or more tales like this. Par for the course.

 

[Travis907]

It happens to the best of us! If a hunter says it’s never happened to them they are a liar or they haven’t hunted much! Stay positive!

Since you jumped him up several times and he has only traveled 250 yards from where you shot him, tells me he’s injured pretty good and you should find him in the morning! They are a hardy animal and don’t want to die easily!
Good luck on your recovery tomorrow!

 

[Montana Craig]

So I went back the following morning just after sunrise in case he moved in the night I wouldn't bump him with me seeing him. I went to the far edge of the meadow 100 yards from his last sighting and glassed without seeing anything.

I decided to follow his track from his previous bed to the edge of the meadow but couldn't find a speck of blood. I figured he wouldn't be too far so I started searching the local 100 yard area. After that I opened it up to the fence line that was 300 yds away, an irrigation ditch, and a swamp which in total was around 50 acres. After walking 5 miles and hours of searching I felt like I covered the area as well as I could.

He must have been pushed out by a bear since there was poop every and calf elk carcass or possibly another hunter moving through after dark or before sunrise.



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[ScreamingPotato]

Agree with the others about it putting a hurt on him if he's staying down like that, but your description sounds like a non-fatal hit as well. I've tracked brisket hit animals before that went down like that, they keep licking the wound so it keeps bleeding (I guess) and lots of red blood clots. I think that deer will survive if he's not dead yet and sounds like you put in solid effort to ensure he's not down in the area.

 

[Rich M]

Sucks, but you gave it a good go. Hope the next one dies quickly.

I have no idea about the lost one. The one in my example was never found and my telling the landowner helped the neighbor talk him into kicking us off the land. The neighbor used to do illegal stuff like bait and hunt out of season, but he never told him he hit and lost a deer. Taught me how to stay quiet about this stuff.

 

[BryGuy]

I shot this buck last year first day of rifle. Granted he was in the middle of rut but had a nasty wound from what I decided was an arrow that pierced bottom center of both lungs weeks prior. Buck was walking as though he had nothing going on, I only found it when I field dressed him. They are tough animals and have surprised me several times by what they can live through. I have also lost an archery deer that I would still put money on having hit it with a fatal arrow, but never found it - 3 days looking and even more feeling sick to my stomach thinking about it.

 

[OXN939]

I had a bad shot this morning around 9:50 AM. I just feel terrible about this whole situation.

To begin with, you did a much better job of tracking and following up on this animal than about 90% of hunters and exerted as much effort as possible to find him. Big props for that right there.

Archery hunting is tough. I shot a whitetail buck two years ago that had a wild blood trail for about 150 yards, and then petered out into almost nothing. Did concentric circles for two hours until I was covered in sweat and low on hope with about ten minutes of daylight left, and fortunately found him piled up under a fallen tree in a little ravine that I'd walked by probably five times. It was mostly luck that I was able to recover him, but re-checking the parts I'd already covered that were tough to see paid off.

Fingers crossed your luck improves for the rest of the season.

 

[ForkieLivesMatter]

Happens to the best of us. That shoulder stopping arrows has lost more deer for hunters than gut shots ever have. I aim 2 ribs back from the shoulder (on perfect broadside) and center punch the lungs. Another thing I see people have trouble with is quartering shots. Quartering away you aim for the opposite leg, I don’t shoot at quartering to or straight on shots or walking away shots. Works for some but for me isn’t worth the risk. He sounds alive, hope you get another shot at him!

 

[Little Joe]

I heard a loud wack like I hit a tree after recovering the arrow the arrow hadn't hit a tree and had blood on it.

The loud whack you heard is from hitting bone, not soft tissue. Probably shot low and hit him in the front leg. With a front leg shot he can go a very long way. Good chance of survival.

I have tracked a number of deer others have shot during archery with pretty much the same description as your scenario. All the deer were allowed lay down for hours before tracking. Some were hit in the evening with tracking starting at first light the next day. A lot of blood at first. All tracked until the deer stopped bleeding. As expected for a non-lethal leg shot, none were recovered.

 

[TheGDog]

Sucks, but you gave it a good go. Hope the next one dies quickly.

I have no idea about the lost one. The one in my example was never found and my telling the landowner helped the neighbor talk him into kicking us off the land. The neighbor used to do illegal stuff like bait and hunt out of season, but he never told him he hit and lost a deer. Taught me how to stay quiet about this stuff.

BLEEP man.. I recently had to learn m y lesson the freakin hard way. Long story shorter I took a shot (rifle) at a not good angle (not quite Texas Heart Shot, but very heavily quartering away), but figure the relatively close range and the 168gr Barnes TTSX should handle it no problem. Extremely steep terrain. He fell right down. But then sorta lurched while upon the ground and fell over this boulder. From the looks of it I was like Heck Yeah, he's toast! I finally get over there and NOTHING! No blood. No intestinal matter (which I thought I'd probably see due to the angle). Since I saw him fall over that boulder... I presumed he'd be right there in the Manzanita hedge on the below edge of that boulder. Nope. Then whilst I'm standing their bewildered... I hear something and look below me. About 50yds down I see the side of (I presume it was him, but I'm not sure yet because there were 3 deer, the Doe, the Buck I shot, and another one which I couldn't see directly.) and one side of the antlers.

I'd had my rifle back over my shoulder w scope cover on, since I saw him fall off that boulder. And this terrain was extremely steep and tough. So when I spotted him, I started to fuss with un-sligning rifle and removing scope cover. But he got a burst of energy in him and trotted, not stotted but trotted away. Pretty sure it was him, since his trot wasn't straight and a little angled sort of away from what should have been entry wound region. So I worked my way down there. When he took off he chicaned around these two boudlers, so I had a good recognizable landmark for my bearing. I already knew I was running low on water. I side-hilled probably 250-300? Wasn't seeing anything. Doubted myself and went back to original location of shot (All of this expending gobs and gobs of energy on that steep isht). I was running with the notion that maybe the one I'd seen below was perhaps that 3rd wheel in a love-triangle? So scanned around again at original shot location. Then was gonna set about to once again going in direction he exited towards. And then... while I'm taking a break to rest and eat a snack before possibly side-hilling more.... KABOOM! ... ThunderStorm. Seconds later? Freaking rain and even sleet! FML. So then my brains like, "Well, if there was any drops you ain't seeing em now." So that coupled together with my exhaustion and now the rain and sleet and water close to zero. I had to make an executive decision for my safety, so I called it. Since I still had to climb DOWN this horrible endless Buckthorn-covered mountain.

Dude... the unholy ration of shitake mushrooms I got? Ooooh-hooo-hoo!!! All I'm gonna say is I better never meet those MF'rs in person or it's On.

So yeah man. Like you... Shiiiiid. If something like that ever happens again? BUMP THAT! Ain't no way in hell I'm telling anybody outside of my little family. Fvckin Aholes. All these mofos raggin on me without truly taking into consideration the dynamics of the whole situation. Nobody needs that sh!t in their life.

 

[Rich M]

Anyone who has shot a bunch of animals most likely has a one that got away story or two. All part of hunting.

Keep the stories around the campfire and things are good. Hope your next blood trail is about 2 ft long - straight diwn.

 

[Yoder]

Two weeks ago I had a great hunt and ruined it with a terrible shot. It was a spot I've never hunted but scouted in February. It was one of the first times I ever made a prediction about a buck being in a location and how he would travel without any camera intel or even doing an observation sit. He ran down off the top of the hill about two hrs before dark and bedded down 75 yards from me. I watched him for an hr until he finally stood up and started coming down a well worn trail behind me. The wind was blowing directly toward the only spot where I had a shot. I was so worried about him catching my scent and bolting when I should have been rehearsing the shot in my mind. He slowly came down the hill and stopped right at the spot I picked out 28 yards away. I think one of two things happened, either he took a step after I let go or I wasn't focused enough on my peep to sight ring alignment. Looking back on the shot, I clearly remember being more focused on where the arrow hit that my follow through. The arrow hit high and back. From the sound of it and how much arrow was sticking out I think I hit the spine. I expected him to drop paralyzed after seeing the hit but he bolted straight down the hill. I tracked him about a 1/2 mile with almost zero blood, the ground was soft and I followed his tracks. I've lost deer before but this one really bothered me. A gut shot will kill a deer in less that 12 hrs. The shot I made, he will either recover or die a slow agonizing death from infection. It was a painful lesson to take your time and make a good shot no matter what. Him winding me at the last second and not getting a shot would have been much better than causing unnecessary suffering.

 

[drra]

Keep up the good hunting! I had a similar situation as was described earlier, I hit one in the brisket area (rifle hunting) and it wasn't until the next day that I finally caught up to it to get a fatal shot. I'm pretty convinced it would have survived. If you hunt long enough this is bound to happen whether it be rifle hunting or bow hunting.