Recovery mission for hit buck

[BFR]

Bummer, but it’s part of archery hunting.
Won’t reiterate what has been said, been pretty spot on. Just a little tidbit I learned in tracking hard hit, hard running critters is that they will generally run in a relatively straight line until they drop or stop. Blood is sparse because of the distance they travel and the speed, once they stop or slow down you will probably find it closer together, but not necessarily bigger. Also, once they slow down they start changing directions looking for a hidey hole.
Keep in mind when getting you get your line directions go back as far as you can and mark your blood spots, a “straight line” is dependent on obstructions and terrain. Good luck, hope you find him.

 

[The Ri Guy]

I feel for you man.

I whacked everyones dream 3x3 toad a couple years back, classic heart shot jump-kick, hunting partner over my shoulder confirmed good hit, we watched him go into a 15 yard diameter pile of brush, never came back out that we could see.

Waited an hour, blood went 60 yards to last confirmed sighting, then stopped. Never recovered him after 3 days of looking until we got snowed over.

 

[jpmulk]

Might have hit him high in no mans land. A few years ago my dad shot a mule deer buck during rifle season. When he cut him open, he found 6 inches of arrow in the buck high in no mans land. He actually met the hunter that had shot the buck with his bow a month prior.

Or you had a good hit and the buck is piled under a log. Buddy of mine shot a bull at 40 yards. Same thing as you, watched the bull run out of sight. He never found blood or his arrow. Two weeks later, he followed the ravens and found his bull had run straight uphill and then died and rolled under a pile of logs.

It always sucks to lose one.

 

[hh76]

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.

I had that happen on my last archery deer. Arrow caught lungs, and just a sliver of heart, and lodged in the opposite shoulder. I searched for blood for probably 30min and found nothing. Luckily I had heard him go down so my grid search didn't take too long. After finding him I backtracked his route and only found one tiny drop.

 

[Andrew12gauge]

What is a WKR?


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They’ve been known to steal a BOAL


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[long hunter]

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.

Did not want to mention the possibility of a gut shot , depending on the time period until the part of the arrow was found and looking at the picture the blood on the arrow looks very dark and grainey. the other part is a lot of hunters when blood trailing a animal only look at the ground, pay attention to the brush and leaves up from the grond say around the 3 ft mark.

 

[Brewski]

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

Ya that's downright stupidity. Major problem #1.

 

[jjohnsonElknewbie]

I haven't seen it mentioned yet, so I would suggest getting a few buddies and grid searching the area. If its as thick as you said, you couldn've walked by him already. Depending on temperatures where you're at, if he's dead the bloat and stink should be getting pretty ripe by now. That should aid in the search effort.

 

[LostArra]

My 2 cents (and probably worth less): Based on Billy Goat's eagle eye and the nock separation plus the location of the arrow break. I'm guessing the broadhead hit a big bone on opposite side. If that big bone is the humerus, he's definitely dead. If radius or ulna, probably dead depending on the steepness of the shot angle.

What broadhead? Fixed blade?

 

[Laramie]

I have seen that almost exact situation - 6 or so inches of broken arrow covered in blood and almost no blood trail. I was guiding when it happened. Very high hit that turned out to be non lethal (for at least a few days) as we saw the animal again 4 days after the shot. My guess is that deer is still alive.

 

[Texasbuckeye]

Wrong thread

 

[Badseed]

I have seen that almost exact situation - 6 or so inches of broken arrow covered in blood and almost no blood trail. I was guiding when it happened. Very high hit that turned out to be non lethal (for at least a few days) as we saw the animal again 4 days after the shot. My guess is that deer is still alive.

I hope thats the case my dad and I spent another few hours this morning and didn’t find anything. I noticed some vultures circling near us for a few seconds then they left so they must not smell anything either. They wind was blowing from a variety of directions this morning and neither of us caught any death smell. I set a camera back in the area where I had been watching him to see if he comes back so I guess we will wait and see.


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[elkhunterUT]

Sorry to hear this - If you have hunted long enough, something like this is likely to happen. Sucks bad when it does!! At this point, I would recommend grid searching, looking for someone with a blood trailing dog to help you, and watching for birds and hope for the best.

Best lesson learned to carry forward - give 30 minutes even on the confirmed best hits with a bow.

 

[Blowdowner]

Steep downhill shot, perhaps it lodged low in the opposite shoulder leg with no exit.

this makes sense with the amount of arrow broken off.

 

[wytx]

Watch for the ravens, they'll lead you to it, not vultures.

Good luck and keep looking at least a another day or 2.

 

[Indian Summer]

Steep downhill. Not much blood. I’d bet you hit high. Might have hit shoulder blade.

Google up blood tracking dogs in your area and get it over with. The sooner the better. Let us know what happens. Good luck.

 

[CApighunter]

If you spent that much time trampling around the area it may have buggered up any kind of remaining scent trail for a dog. If you're in nor cal I might be able to help out with my dog. Shoot me a pm if you want.

 

[CC11]

Here's one for ya. Years back I had a bull come down the trail to the wallow I was sitting on. The trail he was coming down would take him straight across the hillside above me or he would have to turn right to come into the wallow. When he got to the trail junction, I thought he was going to keep going so I drew and got ready to stop him, but as soon as he stepped out he started to turn to come down the trail to the wallow. I got him to stop, slightly quartered to me with the top of a white fir just barely covering the bottom of his vitals. At 18 yards I hugged my pin tight to his shoulder and just over the top of the fir. Shot felt perfect but when the arrow got to him it kicked ever so slightly but disappeared right behind his shoulder. I gave him 15 minutes and as it was getting dark decided to get out of the stand and at least trail him to where I heard him coughing 50 yards up the hill, figuring for sure he'd be laying right there. Not much blood and no arrow, I got to where I had heard him coughing and he was nowhere to be found, so decided to leave him overnight to avoid bumping him.

Next morning my brother and I blood trailed him a couple hundred yards into a draw where we completely lost blood. Spread out the search and looked high and low to no prevail. Finally at 11:00am I was crawling through a reprod patch in the bottom of the draw and the got a strong whiff of elk, then bumped an animal out. I hurried to where he had been bedded and found a bed full of blood. Now I'm really confused, how could this bull still be alive?

He ran down the draw past my brother then quartered over the next ridge. We finally caught up to him bedded up in an open pine stand where I put two more arrows in him before he finally expired. Both of us were blown away, my arrow hole from the night before was perfect on the crease of the shoulder, midway up and down, but he had lived for almost 17 hours before we finally got him. Upon butchering, the first arrow got the nearside lung and part of the liver. Only thing that makes sense is my arrow caught the tip of the fir tree and kicked the arrow just right, and with him slightly quartered to me, that it angled back into his body. Crazy what an animal can live through.

 

[Badseed]

I appreciate all the advice, tracking offers and honest opinions on the wait time. At this point I have all but concluded that perhaps a branch from the oak tree kicked my arrow leading to less ideal point of impact on the buck. I shoot my bow all year to maintain proficiency so this should have been a simple shot. The angle wasn’t drastically steep by any means, he was maybe 8-10’ lower in elevation than I was at 38 yards away. Im shooting a bow with 70# draw using axis arrows with 50 grain inserts and ramcat broadheads. Those broadheads wreck havoc on the internals if they don’t pass through so my assumption is that perhaps the arrow entered high, hit the opposite shoulder and perhaps penetrated the bone enough to lodge itself in the bone and minimize the amount of damage the broadhead edges would otherwise inflict. A high entrance point would also suggest the possibility that the elbow or shoulder bone could break off the tail of the arrow shaft as the buck ran if it was close enough to the bone and logged in the opposite side. The muscle around the shoulder could close in and restrict the blood flow explaining the lack of a blood trail. These assumptions support a scenario where the arrow shaft would be bloodied but have a limited blood trail. Depending on how high the shot was or the exact point of entry, the broadhead may not have punctured the lungs which would enable the deer to run further than expected. My limited wait time could have pushed him if he was bedded nearby. I have yet to see ravens or vultures in the area so there is a chance that the buck is injured but not fatally injured yet. I set a camera back in The are where I originally shot him with the hopes that he may return. These are the most logical conclusions I can draw based on the facts and what little evidence I have found. The idea of the animal suffering for my impatience is really bothering me. I never want this to happen again so I am trying to make this into a learning opportunity for me and anyone else who thinks this cant happen to them.

Hopefully soon I will see the buck on my camera again.

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[Jaden Bales]

I appreciate all the advice, tracking offers and honest opinions on the wait time. At this point I have all but concluded that perhaps a branch from the oak tree kicked my arrow leading to less ideal point of impact on the buck. I shoot my bow all year to maintain proficiency so this should have been a simple shot. The angle wasn’t drastically steep by any means, he was maybe 8-10’ lower in elevation than I was at 38 yards away. Im shooting a bow with 70# draw using axis arrows with 50 grain inserts and ramcat broadheads. Those broadheads wreck havoc on the internals if they don’t pass through so my assumption is that perhaps the arrow entered high, hit the opposite shoulder and perhaps penetrated the bone enough to lodge itself in the bone and minimize the amount of damage the broadhead edges would otherwise inflict. A high entrance point would also suggest the possibility that the elbow or shoulder bone could break off the tail of the arrow shaft as the buck ran if it was close enough to the bone and logged in the opposite side. The muscle around the shoulder could close in and restrict the blood flow explaining the lack of a blood trail. These assumptions support a scenario where the arrow shaft would be bloodied but have a limited blood trail. Depending on how high the shot was or the exact point of entry, the broadhead may not have punctured the lungs which would enable the deer to run further than expected. My limited wait time could have pushed him if he was bedded nearby. I have yet to see ravens or vultures in the area so there is a chance that the buck is injured but not fatally injured yet. I set a camera back in The are where I originally shot him with the hopes that he may return. These are the most logical conclusions I can draw based on the facts and what little evidence I have found. The idea of the animal suffering for my impatience is really bothering me. I never want this to happen again so I am trying to make this into a learning opportunity for me and anyone else who thinks this cant happen to them.

Hopefully soon I will see the buck on my camera again.

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Hey man, a learning experience is all you can ask for after not finding a buck like that. Hindsight is always 20-20. Hopefully he pops up on your cams! Keep us in the loop.