Recovery mission for hit buck

Badseed

WKR
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Jul 10, 2020
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Last night I had a nice broad side shot at a bruiser buck a mere 38 yards away and downhill. After releasing the arrow I gave the buck 5-7 minutes to curl up and die before I started to look for him. I felt pretty confident in the shot so I thought my wait was long enough. The terrain here is nasty brushy for most part and we had a late heavy snow that downed a ton of trees last winter which made things even worse. Anyways, I searched for this buck for a while without seeing any blood trail, only going off of where I saw him run until he left my line of sight. After a bit of a search, I find the back 6” of my arrow covered in blood but nothing else. I searched for an an hour past dark and only found 1 more small drop of blood about 40 yards from the broken arrow. I started the search again this morning and spent 5 hours smashing through brush with my dad and we still didn’t find the buck. We did find one more small drop of blood about another 40 yards from the other drop but thats it. I am completely baffled. At this point I am frustrated to have wasted an animal but I am also trying to figure out what could have happened.

The shot was certainly in the front half of the body because the back half of him was blocked by an oak tree. I am using ramcat broad heads which have never allowed a buck to travel more than 100 yards after being hit. The my arrow is covered in blood which leads me to believe it was a good hit. I have been fortunate and have never needed to be a great blood tracker so I am willing to take any pointers your have. Here is a photo of the arrow and the size of the blood droplets. I just want to recover the buck at this point.

efa7412dbdb4f71e4a83e0d9bd296a63.jpg

801215c26720b7ae72112500e1513d62.jpg



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OP
Badseed

Badseed

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I didn’t hear anything abnormal after release or impact. In fact, I remember thinking how quiet my new bow was after the shot.


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robby denning

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Last night I had a nice broad side shot at a bruiser buck a mere 38 yards away and downhill. After releasing the arrow I gave the buck 5-7 minutes to curl up and die before I started to look for him. I felt pretty confident in the shot so I thought my wait was long enough. The terrain here is nasty brushy for most part and we had a late heavy snow that downed a ton of trees last winter which made things even worse. Anyways, I searched for this buck for a while without seeing any blood trail, only going off of where I saw him run until he left my line of sight. After a bit of a search, I find the back 6” of my arrow covered in blood but nothing else. I searched for an an hour past dark and only found 1 more small drop of blood about 40 yards from the broken arrow. I started the search again this morning and spent 5 hours smashing through brush with my dad and we still didn’t find the buck. We did find one more small drop of blood about another 40 yards from the other drop but thats it. I am completely baffled. At this point I am frustrated to have wasted an animal but I am also trying to figure out what could have happened.

The shot was certainly in the front half of the body because the back half of him was blocked by an oak tree. I am using ramcat broad heads which have never allowed a buck to travel more than 100 yards after being hit. The my arrow is covered in blood which leads me to believe it was a good hit. I have been fortunate and have never needed to be a great blood tracker so I am willing to take any pointers your have. Here is a photo of the arrow and the size of the blood droplets. I just want to recover the buck at this point.

efa7412dbdb4f71e4a83e0d9bd296a63.jpg

801215c26720b7ae72112500e1513d62.jpg



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Man this is happened to me, and I’m so sorry to read this. The best advice I can give you at this point is get as many guys out there looking for him as you can. If it was a lethal hit, he’s probably within 500 yards. I’m so sorry.


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Rich M

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Jun 14, 2017
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Welcome to archery hunting. It sucks to lose a deer. Sorry you get to do that, most of us been there.

Wait 30 minutes when you see the arrow go thru the heart. 60 minutes for lung shot. 6 hours for gut shot. 5-7 minutes for an animal you see fall over. Once they get up and run, the odds of recovery go way down.

At this point go out and look for buzzards.
 
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Feb 15, 2019
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Agree with some of what was wrotten above, you went too quickly, and prob bumped him in the search. Also, finding blood trails when its drops is tough and if you aren’t a “good self described tracker” then you prob aren’t very good at all, no offense but that a scenario when its time to call for help. Most likely this buck is dead somewhere, unless you hit it in muscle only,. But given you found the back
Half of your arrow with that kind of blood but no huge trail, my guess is you hit shoulder blade, and the arrow was broken off when the deer was moving off, but the shoulder muscle kept the wound sealed pretty well. Most likely a lethal shot, but depending on your coyote and predator situation that deer may never be found even if you had a whole team out there looking.

Tips to take away from this:
1. Wait for a clean shot where the whole body is exposed
2. Wait longer before moving. The time guide listed by Rich M is good. You can go look at site of impact sooner to just see if there is blood or an arrow pass thru, but unless you see the deer crash, let it die.
3. Get better at tracking. Only way to do that is track every animal and shoot as many as you can. If you have no ability to do this, call for back up help early
4. Lighted nocks allow you to see the exact impact so there is no guessing. They are a very minimal investment for reassurance of where the animal was hit
5. This will happen again most likely. Mentally prepare for this and do everything you can to prevent it on your end (all the above, plus practice practice practice), but even then, sometimes things happen and You will hit an animal and it will not be recovered.


Also, put a few arrows into a target to make sure you are shooting where you think you are. Possible the sight got bumped or something so for reassurance, use a target.
 
OP
Badseed

Badseed

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5-7 min?!?!?!?!!! Dude!

I have shot numerous deer and in my experiences, I’ve never needed to wait any longer but fortunately most all of them have been heart lung shots. This situation is obviously different. The odd thing is that after I shoot a deer, I watch him as long as I can, when he runs out of sight I close my eyes and listen to focus on the sounds that are made. With this buck, I heard him hit the dead branch near where the arrow laid but nothing else. Had he laid down nearby and was startled by my moving his direction, I cant really imagine a situation where I wouldn’t have been able to hear him take off. Im in California and the earth is dry as a popcorn fart here, everything makes noise. Most likely he continued running after being hit and was out of earshot initially so my advancements shouldn’t have started him. This whole situation sucks.

Im going back out tomorrow to look again and broaden my search radius. Im guessing my question at this point is, based on the blood on the arrow and the few drops I found, is there a chance the hit wasn’t fatal?


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Lets think of a scenario where the hit wasnt lethal: high shoulder above vitals, front of the ahoulder in the brisket, and thats about it…what in either of thise hits would cause your arrow to break off?

That arrow was lodged in that deer and it broke off. As deep as it broke off the hit was inside the deer at least 8-10 inches, if not 15. That would not happen unless the shot was in backstrap/vertebrae, and then you likely wouldn’t have that kind of blood on the arrow like you do, and you probably would have a bigger part of your arrow found.

Most likely that deer is dead somewhere, or will be dead sometime soon.
 
OP
Badseed

Badseed

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Lets think of a scenario where the hit wasnt lethal: high shoulder above vitals, front of the ahoulder in the brisket, and thats about it…what in either of thise hits would cause your arrow to break off?

That arrow was lodged in that deer and it broke off. As deep as it broke off the hit was inside the deer at least 8-10 inches, if not 15. That would not happen unless the shot was in backstrap/vertebrae, and then you likely wouldn’t have that kind of blood on the arrow like you do, and you probably would have a bigger part of your arrow found.

Most likely that deer is dead somewhere, or will be dead sometime soon.

Those were my thoughts also. I have had arrows break like that before but under closer inspection, the arrow hit the lungs and heart so it was just a little too close to the shoulder blade was my assumption. In that situation, the deer died quickly and only made it about 60 yards.


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huntnful

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Just thinking out loud, but if it was super brushy, that deer could literally bound down through 100 yards of brush in a matter of seconds. Probably why the lack of blood, or very hard to find blood. Maybe it started flowing after his initial sprint down the mountain. Probably need to widen the search and hopefully pick up the true blood trail out a little ways from the shot. Good luck!!!
 

Erict

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near Albany, NY
Did you smell the broken arrow or blood drips for any indication of intestinal hit?

There is no replacement for a good strong white light when blood tracking in the dark. It really helps to see WET/SHINY spots in dry conditions like in your pics. Be methodical and when you have limited sign make sure you aren't obliterating small drops by walking in likely trails a deer used to escape.

Good luck.
 

30338

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Jun 2, 2013
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Steep downhill shot, perhaps it lodged low in the opposite shoulder leg with no exit. So high entry and no exit wound could result in a fatal shot with little blood. I would try to get a dog on it as soon as you can.
 
OP
Badseed

Badseed

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Did you smell the broken arrow or blood drips for any indication of intestinal hit?

There is no replacement for a good strong white light when blood tracking in the dark. It really helps to see WET/SHINY spots in dry conditions like in your pics. Be methodical and when you have limited sign make sure you aren't obliterating small drops by walking in likely trails a deer used to escape.

Good luck.

I didn’t smell it specifically. I cant smell very well anyways. Regardless, the blood color looked similar to all other deer I have taken so I had no indication that it was anything less than a good frontal shot.


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