Well one of the bucks I was after ended up getting hit yesterday and I was just wondering what opinions are on the chance of survival. It's a buck I've watched for several years during the rut, so it'll be a little sad to think he got wounded, never recovered, and crawled up under a tree and rotted away but that may be the case. I talked to the guy who hit him and he shot at him while he was trotting and ended up hitting him farther back because he didn't compensate for him moving. He hit him kind of by the back flank area maybe just a little forward from that. The arrow only penetrated about half way and both the arrow and broad head fell out. He bled pretty good for the first little bit of the blood trail then it turned into small drops and then disappeared completely. I ended up seeing the buck after they had shot him and he was on a dead run away but wasn't stumbling or anything that I noticed but he never turned to the side the guy had hit him on so I never did see exactly where he wounded him. I helped them look until it got dark for more blood but never found any. This morning I went and looked in the oak where he had ran into and never ended up finding any more blood or him. What's probably most irritating is these guys didn't show up until about 9 this morning to start looking for him again and by then it was too hot to hope to recover any meat off him. It really sucks to see such an awesome animal go to waste and be gone, but just wondering thoughts on his chance of survival or experiences with wounded animals?
Chances of survival after being wounded?
- Thread starter Oneye
- Start date
3855WIN
Well-known member
If they got guts, it's a dead deer. Hindquarter only with poor penetration means he could survive. Any sign of stomach content on the arrow?
TimeOnTarget
Well-known member
Exactly this. guts means a dead deer every time. Gut shot deer usually don't go terribly far if you don't push them.
Southern Elk
Well-known member
So he shot at him with a bow while he was running? That's inexcusable!
He shot at him while he was running through a small opening, yes. Then when they didn't start looking until it was 60-70 degrees out today that bothered me more.
As for guts I don't believe there were guts in the area but he said the shot sounded weird when it hit like it was hollow. It was only a 35-40 yard shot with an expandable broad head, I would have expected a pass through or better penetration that close through the guts but I could be wrong. The deer was running fine when I saw him, he didn't seem hunched over or anything. I guess I can hope he hit him more towards the leg area and he shows up again, but there was quite a bit of blood at the beginning of where he hit so I kind of doubt it.
Doublecluck
Well-known member
The only animal I ever lost was a antelope 2 years ago, 45 yard shot with a 70lb bow, 29.5" draw length and the only expandable I have ever shot at a big game animal. Hit very slightly forward (shoulder)and seemed to penetrate very little but after looking at the blood trail and Watching him bed figured I would come back the next morning to a dead lope. Next morning nothing, found him 2 days later alive and well .5 miles away, after getting permission stalked within 30 yards of his bed, he jumped and the arrow flew out. Last year we saw him twice with nothing but a scar to show.
duckhunt
Well-known member
I have been told if they are hit anywhere in the body cavity they will die.
LuketheDog
Well-known member
Like said above, if the animal is hit in the body cavity it will likely die from infection if not from trauma.
sbhooper
Well-known member
If the gut is hit-dead deer for sure. If anything else is hit, bets are off. I have seen white-tailed deer with scars from where they were hit with bow shots (one of mine). A friend shot a big buck near my house a couple years ago and the arrow was sticking out of both sides of his chest. A center-fire hunter killed him several weeks later no worse for wear. There are lots of variables, but if the hit sounded hollow, I would say from my experience, that it is a gut hit and the deer is dead probably within a quarter mile. They don't bleed much.
What a way to go, a slow painful death until the coyotes catch up to it. I hope that guy punched his tag and called the hunt over.
sbhooper
Well-known member
If his ethics allowed him to take that bow shot, I would bet that he did not punch his tag.
He did not, later in the day a game warden stopped them the same time he did me and his tag wasn't filled. Unfortuantly some people don't fill there tag until they've wounded enough to actually find one. He took a bad shot, waited too long to try and recover it, and didn't punch his tag. No respect for him.
5Speedjim
Member
If the deer wasn't dead some place the next morning from a gut shot, it should heal up. A clean cut from a arrow heals up faster than a Bullet wound.
TimeOnTarget
Well-known member
A gut shot is a dead animal. Intestinal/stomach matter leads to poisoning of the animal. It is fatal 100% of the time.
sounds like a not good situation. That is never fun. I wounded a deer one time with a bow and felt really bad about it. Hit him high shoulder but he survived. Saw him later on Trail cam. I had no excuse except that I made a bad shot. I also hit one low leg once with a rifle when I was in HS. Buck fever got the best of me early in my career a couple times. Bottom line is you feel really bad when you wound an animal....even if they survive. So I guess that we need to minimize that as much as possible and most of us accomplish that by taking only good, ethical shots. Most of us will not go our entire careers without losing a deer. I am already out on that. But I haven't lost one in a long time. Mistakes happen but taking a non ethical shot makes things go from bad to worse. Maybe you can do some hiking in the area and get lucky and recover this deer you have had this relationship with the last few years....and hang him on your wall and honor him. Would be the best of a bad situation and about the only way to fix this other hunters mistake at this point. Randy is a good role model for us all....and he practices what he preaches...so to speak. He routinely passes on marginal shots. One thing he said in a recent episode really stuck with me. He was talking about the ethics of hunting as it pertains to long range shooting. I know some people can shoot their bows 100+ yards or their rifles 1000...but that doesn't mean we should at an animal. He mentioned hearing of guys backing up to take LONGER shots at big game. This is mind blowing! I am happy when I can hit one at 2-300 yards...
Good luck with finding that deer and maybe the guy didnt hit him where he thinks he did. Taking a rushed, snap shot can sure make things blend together. May have been a worse hit then he thought...especially if he got little penetration. I would think a gut shot would penetrate just fine...no ribs to stop the arrow and ooooey gooy soft tissue.....who knows. Maybe he hit the hip bone and your old friend will be alive and well....just in time for you to ethically take him home with you. Good luck sir.
Edit: After re-reading your post the hit sounds a lot like me to muscle tissue. Bleeding a lot at first and then going dry. Again..why the poor penetration? Nothing in the guts to deflect or stop an arrow. Cavity hits that don't pass thru tend to have scarce blood and then bleed more as the blood starts to fill up the cavity and over flow..so to speak. I am not an expert at all at deer reaction and bleeding as it pertains to shot placement but I guess it doesnt sound like a gut shot to me. You saw it running away as if not injured....in my experience (and as someone stated above) gut shot deer feel sick and queasy...and tend to lay up and expire. Not run away like nothing is wrong. especially if they didnt push him and there was some cover for him to stop in after he was hit. You saw him going along in open country with not a care in the world. Also..coulda been a different deer he hit.
Good luck with finding that deer and maybe the guy didnt hit him where he thinks he did. Taking a rushed, snap shot can sure make things blend together. May have been a worse hit then he thought...especially if he got little penetration. I would think a gut shot would penetrate just fine...no ribs to stop the arrow and ooooey gooy soft tissue.....who knows. Maybe he hit the hip bone and your old friend will be alive and well....just in time for you to ethically take him home with you. Good luck sir.Edit: After re-reading your post the hit sounds a lot like me to muscle tissue. Bleeding a lot at first and then going dry. Again..why the poor penetration? Nothing in the guts to deflect or stop an arrow. Cavity hits that don't pass thru tend to have scarce blood and then bleed more as the blood starts to fill up the cavity and over flow..so to speak. I am not an expert at all at deer reaction and bleeding as it pertains to shot placement but I guess it doesnt sound like a gut shot to me. You saw it running away as if not injured....in my experience (and as someone stated above) gut shot deer feel sick and queasy...and tend to lay up and expire. Not run away like nothing is wrong. especially if they didnt push him and there was some cover for him to stop in after he was hit. You saw him going along in open country with not a care in the world. Also..coulda been a different deer he hit.
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5Speedjim
Member
I agree 100%. But since some fool was shooting at a running deer nobody really knows where it was actually hit. i meant since they waited until late morning to go look for it, if it was gut hit it was probably dead someplace by then.
