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Bad Shot Question

showstopper

PMA Member
I hit a buck this morning in the back hip. He was quartering to me and I was holding on his front shoulder waiting for a better shot. I panicked when he lunged forward and shot going into his right hip. The buck had blood running out of him for a good 500 yards. When he stopped to clean up there would be two piles of blood about six inches in diameter. I can post the video as he walked right past my trail camera. He isn't running and his tail is flickering as he walks.

Have you ever heard of a buck dying from a hind quarter hit without hitting an artery? He has lost quite a bit of blood. Thanks for your help guys!!
 
If you hit guts he is a dead deer. It will be tough towards the end of the search though. Muscle hits bleed a lot but are often not fatal. Good luck and don't give up hope!
 
Here he is 45 minutes after the shot. I'm pretty sure that I didn't get the guts unfortunately.



Here is a video of him the night before at the same place. Would have been a nice one to hang in the basement for sure. I still have the hunt on video minus the shot but not the same as the real deal.

 
If that picture was 45 minutes after the shot, I think he will recover. If it was broadside in the hip, the artery was not hit and as long as it did not get in the guts, you should get another chance at him.
 
Only problem is that tomorrow is likely my last chance. Maybe he'll wander down there again. I rattled him in last year only to spook him as I was turning to get my bow. Thanks for the feedback though. I think I'm done hunting bucks this season but feel good knowing that people think he will recover. I just don't want to have something of this size just perish without someone enjoying the buck or glorifying the size of this guy. I'll post my short video from this mornings hunt as I grunted him in once I get one of my high school students to show me how.
 
you should be able to tell by the blood trail if you caught guts or not or if you recovered the arrow. It is possible for him to die without hitting the artery but the chances are slim. I would not give up on looking for him. He looks fairly hurt in that video but he did just get shot which probably hurts. dont give up. you have his direction he headed across that field
 
Unfortunately I did the same thing a couple weeks ago. Long story short... saw the deer a week later and you could not tell anything ever happened. He looked and acted 100% Wouldn' t hurt to look around water just in case, but I'm guessing based on what you said, hopefully he should be nocturnally fine!
 
If that video is 45 minutes later he sure doesn't appear to be hurt too bad. My bet is he'll be OK, just sore.
 
Here is the video I recorded of the hunt. He walked out of the frame right before the shot. I had to record it off of my cell phone to get it on photobucket so it's not the best quality. I may go down to look for him this weekend again but think it is all a lost cause unfortunately. I am still pretty depressed but still thankful for the opportunity to get a shot at 18 yards. Going to switch back to a fixed blade so I feel confident for hard quartering shots since I passed up the shot earlier for a better angle with the Rage. Enjoy the video....
 
Did you find any beds while tracking? Because if the video is 45 minutes later and you kicked him up say 30-40 minutes after the shot, he definitely could be fatally hit and walking out to look for a quiet place to lay down...where's he headed in this video??? Do not let the body language fool you..they are tough and will walk normally when hit in the guts/intestine area. No way would I dismiss this hit as non-fatal. Wouldn't be surprised at all if you find him. How long did you wait to track him?
 
He never bedded down during the 250 yard blood trail where I got that trail camera video. I shot him around 7:15 and it was around 7:50 when this trail camera video was taken. I found where he stopped three times in the draw. He walked the final 100 yards of the draw in a ditch about chest high, then made one other stop before heading out of the draw to the north. He made it to the other side of the alfalfa field that leads down into a ditch that connects to a cedar thicket to the north and thick brush to the east.

I waited until 12:30pm that day to track him and followed steady blood for the entire draw until his last stop. I didn't find more blood until the next morning when I checked my trail camera and saw that he walked right in front of it. I looked about 150 yards from the camera in the direction he was going and found two drops of blood where he had entered the timber. Between Monday the 12th's frost and the frost that day that had both melted, there was very little blood that hadn't been diluted from the leaves.

If anyone thinks it is worth the look, I have a few people lined up for this Saturday to go down and look over the area along with surrounding properties who will allow me to do so.

Thank you for the replies so far, I appreciate the input!
 
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