The Long Night

[SloppyJ]

Hell of a buck! Good work, at least you salvaged it. Might have found him last night but it was wise to wait.

 

[KHNC]

Well aware of meat care - we are ok on this one. Coyotes got one hindquarter.

IF a coyote got a hind quarter, You are NOT ok on this one. But that is a nice buck.

 

[PNWGATOR]

What a TANK!

Congratulations.

 

[TxxAgg]

Nice buck. Glad you got him!

 

[Macintosh]

IF a coyote got a hind quarter, You are NOT ok on this one. But that is a nice buck.

Care to elaborate? Not sure what you are getting at.

Re leaving them overnight, a gut shot deer isnt going to be left overnight, its going to take +\- overnight to die. Its all about odds—yes, there is a risk of meat spoilage due to temps or losing meat to coyotes, but there is also a very high likelihood of losing the deer altogether when you bump it out of its bed and it takes off without leaving much of a blood trail. The issue is when you arent sure. Personally I think we have to be (and mostly are) capable of making judgement calls like that based on where we think the hit was based on visual (I really like lighted nocks!) and blood on arrow and at site of hit, time, temps, local predator population, etc. I am certainly not going to armchair quarterback someone else’s approach when I dont have all of those details.

Great buck, congrats!!

 

[EdP]

Blood pumping out both sides and pink blood showing that at least one lung was hit. How long does it take for a deer hit like that to die? Maybe I am wrong but my thought is the deer is dead within 15 minutes. Ultimately this deer was found within 140 yds. Backing out and leaving it overnight is not my way of doing things but it is being pushed by many of the hunting shows. I think they just want good camera light to film the recovery, not because leaving a well hit deer overnight is ethical.

 

[twdjr]

Congrats on the great deer and recovery!

 

[woods89]

Great deer!

I've followed up too fast and pushed them, also saw a deer that my brother killed have coyote damage because we waited 2-3 hours to track. Both ways can bite you, and it's always a tough call.

I think waiting overnight is pushed more than it should be in hunting media, but there's times I would make that call as well. Just completely depends on the situation.

I'd also add that since I my dad has a blood tracking dog, I'm way more inclined to track after dark than I used to be.

 

[Macintosh]

Blood pumping out both sides and pink blood showing that at least one lung was hit. How long does it take for a deer hit like that to die? Maybe I am wrong but my thought is the deer is dead within 15 minutes. Ultimately this deer was found within 140 yds. Backing out and leaving it overnight is not my way of doing things but it is being pushed by many of the hunting shows. I think they just want good camera light to film the recovery, not because leaving a well hit deer overnight is ethical.

I wasnt there. Cant say. It worked out reasonably ok this time so not much to fault the OP for. 15min is too short by any measure I’ve ever heard (30min being shortest time Ive ever heard recommended), and I disagree on the reasons this is pushed—its pushed because people want to recover more deer and in the long run waiting longer is a better way to do that in the big picture (individual circumstances depending). I personally one-lunged a deer a few years ago and proceeded to follow it for 2 hours, bumped it, and finally backed out—I had pink frothy blood and thought the hit was good, but didnt pay enough attention when blood didnt continue as strong and I didnt find it within 200 yards. Found it the next morning, it was about 40degrees overnight and have never had coyotes get there first around here—dead but still warm. I agree if you have multiple solid points of evidence indicating a very good hit Im following within 30min to an hour, but having seen what I thought were good hits turn out to be significantly farther back than I thought I wont second guess.

 

[peppy870]

Been there, done that! Glad you found him! He's a dandy!

 

[molliesmaster]

Sorry @roosterdown

Guys, I have started a discussion in a new thread to follow up on leaving animals overnight. Let's take that discussion over there THREAD and not derail/takeaway from a really nice bow kill.

Heck of a deer and I'm very glad you found him.

 

[roosterdown]

No worries guys. As with all things, it's reasonable to have lively debate and to disagree. That's what makes America great, and I would hate to live somewhere where the citizens cannot have such discourse.

Last year I shot a really good deer (avatar pic), and thought I likely got one lung and liver. I was correct; he was unfortunately still alive in the morning, but had I gone after him that night I would never have recovered him.

This one was very very similar - but 1-2" difference of arrow placement meant I double-lunged him (barely) when I thought I might have only got one lung plus liver.

 

[sierracharlie338]

That’s a stud congrats.

 

[KHNC]

Care to elaborate? Not sure what you are getting at.

Re leaving them overnight, a gut shot deer isnt going to be left overnight, its going to take +\- overnight to die. Its all about odds—yes, there is a risk of meat spoilage due to temps or losing meat to coyotes, but there is also a very high likelihood of losing the deer altogether when you bump it out of its bed and it takes off without leaving much of a blood trail. The issue is when you arent sure. Personally I think we have to be (and mostly are) capable of making judgement calls like that based on where we think the hit was based on visual (I really like lighted nocks!) and blood on arrow and at site of hit, time, temps, local predator population, etc. I am certainly not going to armchair quarterback someone else’s approach when I dont have all of those details.

Great buck, congrats!!

Where in the Original Post did it say gut shot? Coyotes carry all sorts of disease. Are you saying that there is ZERO chance of rabies or some other crap being transmitted from the saliva of the dirty dog eating the entire hind quarter? IMO this is a wasted deer, except for the antlers and the cape. But hey, maybe thats all he wanted anyway. Only the hunter knows in this case. I lost one in NE to coyotes after i trailed a couple hours in the evening. Bumped it and came back at first light. Entire buck was eaten except for the meat on its face. It was a skeleton. It died 30 yds from where i saw it last.

 

[WMDM]

Hell Yeah! Congrats!! And great decision playing it safe. I've seen so many get away from being bumped.

 

[GSPHUNTER]

Great buck. To bad about hind quarter. Damn coyote.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Awesome whitetail! Congrats on the recovery.

 

[BowTrout]

Congrats on a tremendous buck!

 

[Macintosh]

…Coyotes carry all sorts of disease. Are you saying that there is ZERO chance of rabies or some other crap being transmitted from the saliva of the dirty dog eating the entire hind quarter? IMO this is a wasted deer, except for the antlers and the cape. But hey, maybe thats all he wanted anyway. Only the hunter knows in this case…

Eaten or not it’s never zero. I dont think its likely that a rabid coyote is involved in eating the deer, and think if reasonably well trimmed its also unlikely to be transmittable through the deer. Together I think that makes odds of rabies extremely low. As described I’d trim the eaten area and eat the rest.

 

[roosterdown]

A few more photos now that the dust has settled. Taxidermy is underway, and the butcher has 85-90% of his meat in-process for tasty smoked sausage products, save the tenderloins and backstraps (whole, of course). Good luck to everyone this season. Hunt hard, be well.