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Wounded- need help

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IowaDave

PMA Member
I shot a really nice buck last night with my muzzleloader but I have yet to find it. I'm hoping to get some thoughts & advice- here's what happened:

The deer was broadside at 160 yards. I was laying on the top of a terrace, so I was prone and my rest was rock solid & I was steady. After the shot, I couldn't see if he kicked or what he did exactly because of the smoke, but he ran (fairly hard) in the direction he was facing with his tail down.
When I shot him he was on the other side of a wide ditch in a combined corn field. I saw him run about 150 yards and then I saw him run into the ditch at which point I couldn't see him any longer.
I went home and waited for 2 hours, came back to look for blood. I didn't find any so we backed out & came back this morning. I went back to where I shot him from and had my buddy stand where the deer was and we started over. We didn't find a drop of blood until about 60 yards from where i shot him and at the spot of the first blood, it was heavy & sprayed everywhere...there was a spray over 6 feet of area. It appeared to me that most of the blood is bright red, there were a few areas that had bubbly blood and I found some tissue in that area that I couldn't tell what it was- definitely not gut material, I don't think it was a part of a lung, liver maybe? From there there was fairly good blood every 3-5 feet (a spray every now & then, multiple drops in other spots) for another 80 yards in the corn field and we found where he went into the ditch. The blood after the first spray was also pretty bright red, not very thick, but there were no more pieces of tissue.
We tracked blood into the ditch for about 20 yards and it just stopped. We were on our hands & knees and made circles in the area for 2 hours and didn't find another speck.
I'm in the process of going back & fourth thru the ditch 5' at a time to look for blood or the deer, but I had to bring my buddy back to town.
I'm including pics below. What I'd like to know is where do you think he was hit from what I'm telling you, how far might they travel hit like this and any ideas on why he would have stopped bleeding.
I'm going back out so I won't be able to respond to any questions until tonight, but any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks!
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That deer is dead....somewhere. I would guess that the chunky matter may have plugged up the wound hole but ???? Thats a lot of blood on the ground in the photos...some definately looks like it was bubbly at some point. I'd be looking hard in the bottom of that ditch or look for some water near by...good luck
 
I would guess some kind of artery, due to the spray. As for that chunk you found could it possible be clotted blood? it does not appear to be muscle tissue (I may be wrong) and my second guess would be a chunk of liver. The blood appears to be farely dark. In all honesty I would guess liver shot. This is a highly fetal shot. As to why he stopped bleeding i would guess lack of blood and blood pressure. I think you will find him keep trying and good luck.
 
I hit a deer in the brisket once that bled just like that & same blood color. However I did not have any air bubbles. If it was hit in the brisket, it's not dead. Hopefully it's a liver shot. I helped a friend earlier this week recover a liver shot deer. We determined the direction of travel and found him a few hundred yards from last blood. My experience with livershot deer is that they will continue to head the same direction of travel and not waver too far left or right or up and down. Just my personal experience.

When you're about to give up, walk a little farther. Good luck and I hope you find him
 
Seems like a good amount of blood in the pics that you showed with good color. If your close I can lend a hand if needed if you want to PM me your general location.

Best of luck and happy looking.
 
That deer is dead....look for crows circling!

ya never know.

I agree with Waukon1 tho...when you are about to give up...push through a little bit more.

Good Luck!
 
head towards water via that ditch and look in the thickest spots along the way.

I agree, that tissue looking stuff looks like a blood clot...plus the spray is classic artery action...go get him:way:

Hope you have a follow up with harvest pics
 
Can't help but think if it was artery he would be expired within 100 yards and the bleeding would have continued. They bleed out very fast in arterial sprays, massively, with each heart beat losing vast amounts of blood and succumb quickly. So I doubt artery but let's hope so!

On the other hand, a low brisket or muscle can bleed like CRAZY at first then just stop-much like you described. Imagine slicing your bicep and how much blood initially you would have-you could stop it though shorty. Artery or any cardiac flow-impossible. Unfortunately all blood can have "bubbles" while froathy more elevated "foam" like blood that has each "bubble" touching and elevating off each other is usually lung. Bubbles sepearated by a mm or so may in fact still be muscle, liver etc..hard to say.

I don't like that he stopped bleeding so quickly which makes me think muscle and I have unfortunately hammered a few low that bleed very well for 50 yards then stopped. Good news is they both made it til the next year.

If you did get liver he's dead somewhere. No doubt. As lethal as a double lung and MORE SO that one lung. Its not guts. May be muscle which could cause him to make it. If its liver he is dead....go get him! :)
 
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I agree with huntyak.I don't think it is artery blood.It look like he might have coughed up blood in the spray pic.Not that it was lung but he is sick.Possibly an organ like kidney or liver.
From my experience deer don't usually STOP bleeding all of the sudden.Its more likely he made a quick turn that was missed.
If I had to make a guess I would say kidney and intestines and the intestine might be plugging the hole.
 
Came home for some more water and to pack my supper.
Still no deer and no more blood either.
We combed the entire ditch back & forth 4' apart from each other for 300 yards on each side from where we last saw blood and haven't seen a thing.
Now I'm going to grab my waders and walk the full lengh of the creek.
Unfortunately, this isn't just a typical brome grass ditch. It's over 100 yards wide in some spots, runs for a full mile north & south, then forms a T and runs for another 3/4 of a mile to the east as it curves around. In the worst spots it's got jungle thick weeds that are 3' over your head, in the best spots it's chest high switch grass or some other dense thick-bladed grass.
I appreciate the comments, though! They've definitely made me want to keep pushing on even though I'm darn near spent!

If anyone else has anything to add, please do so.
 
That isn't a liver or major artery shot to me. The flesh on your finger look's to be muscle. Much like you would get with a leg or shoulder shot. That would also explain a large amount of bright red blood; then stopping suddenly. In reality the large amount of blood is only in the first minute or so after impact. After that the muscle starts to close the wound, and the animal will lay in good cover. I would take your weapon with you tommorrow, and be ready to follow up with a good kill shot. If you didn't push him too bad while looking for him; he shouldn't be far. If pushed; he may be a mile away.
 
Well, walked the entire lenght of the creek at a snail's pace scanning both banks for the deer, blood or sign- nothing.
Had someone at the spot of last blood for an hour looking for more blood- nothing.
I'm not going to give up, but it's not looking good and to say I'm demoralized would be an understatement; this is definitely the low point of my hunting career.

After going back & reading some of the posts, I have some questions....
For those of you who say the 'thing' on my finger looks like a clot- doesn't it take awhile for a clot to form? This was 60 yards from the shot, which would have been just a few seconds after i shot. I just didn't think blood clotted that soon, but I'm no expert, so I could be wrong.
I still don't understand why it took so long for him to start bleeding and when it did, there was that huge spray. And keep in mind, he was still on a full run at the place where I found the first blood- I know that for sure. And if he did in fact quit bleeding at the last place we found blood, it was only 100 yards or so from the first blood, so he only bled for what, 10 seconds? I'm perplexed and that's the most frustrating part of the whole deal....if I had a blood trial to follow, I'd follow it to the other side of the state for this deer, but to keep walking thru that hellish stuff with nothing to follow...I just don't know what to think.

Also about the 'thing' on my finger, there were a couple of them at that first blood sight. It definitely wasn't 'meaty' like a muscle would be , but it was solid, unlike I would imagine a blood clot would be, and it wasn't spongy like a lung. I've never really checked before....what type of tissue is in a brisket?

Anyway, like I said, I'll be back at it tomorrow afternoon when I can get some time off work.
Thanks again for the input!
 
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archery95 said:
ML season is closed today.Are you allowed to follow that deer tomorrow with a muzzleloader?
Click to expand...

I actually called the CO today and told him that I had one hit in case I found it and was wondering if I should put my muzzy tag on it or what I should do (he told me to call him and he'd 'figure it out then'). I didn't ask him about if i could shoot him again if he's still alive. I need to call him again in the morning & ask.
 
Also, for those of you who offered to help (both via the thread & PM), thank you very, very much for the offers! I've got 3 other people besides myself helping, so I think I've got it covered, but I really appreciate the offers!
 
Good luck, I don't see any reason he wouldn't let you tag the buck with your muzzleloader. That is what you harvested(if you find him dead and don't have to shoot him again) with. Also like others have said when you are first going out to look for him, watch for signs of crows or vultures when you first arrive. I'd also listen for howls and signs of yotes at night. Or even go out and call them and see if you can't get a response because if the deer is dead, I would imagine yotes are there getting a meal. Good luck
 
I have had a number of experiences with liver shot and artery shot deer, but all with archery. Your deer is dead, but it's definitely not an artery hit. They won't go 100 yards if you hit an artery. They can bleed very hard at first, and then almost completely quit when hit in the liver, but they always die. They'll go as far as you push them. Since you let him lay, he's not far, you just have to find him. Best wishes.
 
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