Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Tracking ?

DOR

DOR

Life Member
My old man hit a 140ish buck this 8AM and the shot was slightly quartering to at 7 yards and he was up about 20 feet. He hit high in the shoulder blade area and got about 7 to 8 inches of penetration. What has your guys experience been with a shot like this? He was shooting a Black Widow 55lbs with 125 grain steel force heads.
How would you guys handle this one? He has decided to start looking at 2PM. The deer ran about 100 yards and is now in a CRP field bordering a small trout stream

I know what I have seen with this type of shot....just curious what you guys have seen and how you would proceed.
thanks
 
Several things come to mind as you probably already know DOR...

More than likely he only got one lung.

The blood trail won't look like much because of the single entry wound and the high hit. He will just be filling up internally.

The deer should bed down within 200 yards if not pushed.

Give this one lots of time and you should find him in his first bed.

If pushed the blood trail may not exist.

Did the arrow break off inside the deer?

I've seen a single lung hit deer travel a long distance if pushed too early.

Good luck and let us know the outcome!
waytogo.gif
 
With that kind of angle at 7 yards, the arrow should have found at least one lung for sure. He did the right thing by waiting, but if he did only get one lung, time may not be as much of an issue as with other shots. Hopefully the buck bedded down right away and he walks right to him. Did he happen to notice how hard the buck was running after the shot? Did the shaft break off?
 
My initail thoughts mimic yours Ghost. What time would you start looking? My dad is a bit old school and he will be anxious to get after it. I have instructed him to call me before he heads out. I will give you guys an update as I find out. Unfortunately, I am at work till 7 PM
frown.gif
and can not help out today.
 
DOR...I really hate to say it...but I would almost be inclined to wait until the morning to start.

Problem is the high hit. No real chance he got any of the major blood supplies to the heart.

Also, I don't think that the blood trail will be super easy to follow with the high hit.

As hard as it is to do, and I know, I would have to wait this one out. Better safe than to jump the deer right before dark and have totally lost his direction of travel.
 
Ghost, I'm inclined to agree with you. However, convincing my dad over the phone from work to take that route may be a bit of a challenge.
 
Ghost, the dorsal aorta runs somewhat high along the back I believe (might be back further than he has hit, I'm not sure of the exact shot placement). Maybe he will get lucky. Time will tell.

Anyone else with experience with this type of shot?
 
Sounds like a dead deer with 7"+ of penetration with that angle but I would still give it till at least 2pm.

Sounds like the deer traveled at least 100 yards ... did the buck run that distance until he went out of sight or did the buck take it's time?

Is the arrow still in him or did it break off? Was it a two or four blade head?
 
If you can leave it until tomorrow you're very lucky. Here you'd have a skeleton left and that is it, ravens, coyotes, eagles, they all find them faster than we do. Good luck, let us know how things turn out.
 
Onecam, he was shooting 125 gr steelforce heads with the bleeder blades. Carbon arrows arrow fell out at about 80 yards . The deer stopped breifly and then ran hard down the hill into the CRP.
 
Dor, ghost has lots great advise in this case. I hope One cam is right and he may very well be right. Try to hold him off as long as you can. I know that is tough to do when he wants to get out there and find him. Make sure you let him know that going too early has resulted in lots of deer that get away and looking too late never hurts anything. ( besides maybe the meat) Good luck in the morning...I hope it is in the morning.
 
It's best to give him time ...

Based on the bucks reaction -

[ QUOTE ]
The deer stopped breifly and then ran hard down the hill into the CRP

[/ QUOTE ]
I bet he is dead right now. Be sure to let us know.
 
OneCam...you may be correct...maybe not.

I would just prefer to play it on the safe side.

Me in 1999.....smack....arrow hits high in the shoulder blade and the arrow breaks off immediately and ends up being 7 inches shorter than the ones left in my quiver.

Deer's reaction...hard sprint for 60 yards, stops and looks back and stands for a moment...then turns and runs hard down the hill to the creek bottom.

I head home sick to my stomach because I know what just happened. Time 8:45 a.m.

Gather up a buddy and head out at 3:00. Not much blood but steady up until I find the first bed site. He bedded and layed with his entry wound in the leaves.

Blood all but dried up at this point and I started tracking in turned up leaves. Fifty yards further and the deer jumps up and is gimping but still going hard.

Darkness falls and no blood trail to follow.

Long story short...found the 168 inch non-typical a week later during 1st shotgun season and had to buy a cape.

Personally...I would still wait until the morning.
grin.gif
 
I'm with you Ghost! But I will bet my dad will be with Onecam. Its his deer after all! We will see! Every track job is different and when we try to describe these things it is very difficult to confey what the exact situation is....assumptions are made and in the end we might not have all the info we need to decide for sure. Thats the case here I'm afraid.

After 15+ years of bowhunting I have learned to play the old "better safe than sorry" card often. I may play it more often than I need to, but I would rather find a deer that has been dead for 24 hours than jump one that is not dead in 8. I will keep you posted!
grin.gif
 
Any snow left? My friend hit one in the shoulder last Friday and we gave it about 15 hours. Thank goodness we had snow to use because there was hardly any blood. We found 4 bloody beds, but we never did find the buck. I think we pushed him out of the 4th bed. I'm sure someone will get a good shot at a slow moving gimpy buck in the next couple of weeks. I agree with the rest of the guys. Give him as much time as your old man's patience can stand. Good luck.
 
Wait it out till the morning, alot of one lunged deer will run for hundreds of yards. I know it is hard but tell your old man to go to bed early and hit the woods at 7AM and he will find him in his first bed, and the meat will be fine.

Kratz
 
update:

My dad and brother have been combing the area over now for about 4 hours and have yet to find any further sign of the deer. There is a ton of CRP to look through so I guess if he did in fact get him, it may take awhile to locate him. I may have to spend part of thanksgiving day helping out if no luck is passed their way today. Once the deer hit the CRP the blood trail pretty much became impossible to follow. It has turned into a grid search.

I will update again later.
 
He is still out and about, my cousin picked his sheds up and the buck we actually go around 150. Makes my dad sick
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom