Help with wounded buck

[jaspermac]

I shot a buck yesterday at dark. As you can see from the pic, I think I hit him in the shoulder but maybe a tad forward. 270 wsm eldx bullet. I trailed him 400 yards with good blood and several spots where he laid down. I went back today and found a little more blood. What do you think? Lethal?

[Mission408]

Hard to tell, good luck.

[Twist]

Literally no way to tell from that one picture.

That said, if you trailed him for 400 yards and didn’t find him on a rifle shot, he either lived or ran a really long way and then died.

[PYBUCK]

not lethal right away. He may die from infection.

[Stuck]

My wag. If you hit shoulder and you trailed him 400+ yards the bullet isn’t going to kill him. If the bullet would have gotten into his chest cavity he wouldn’t be running very far without lungs.

[coker737]

Probably just missed a vital part. He will die IMHO of blood loss. It will be slow...Wish you the best.

[TX_Hoghunter]

Where you located at? Your best bet now is to find someone with a dog to help. Good luck.

-john

[Sasqy]

You should have left him be !
400 yds and blood puddles, says you kept pushing him.
Best of luck, get a dog, or watch for buzzards.

[RiverRat1]

Unless you nearly missed and barely hit skin he's dead.

Had a guy out here track one a few years ago that far. Finally jumped him the next day and he bolted like he wasn't even hurt and cleared a fence easy. They stopped looking and I found him this year about 40 yards past the fence he jumped.

I've never cleaned a deer shot with a rifle (even the ones that made it a long ways) and didn't see massive trauma inside.

I'd wait a few more hours and get a dog. Or slow track when sun is high with a gun of course.


Good luck.

[bowhunterhelm]

You should have left him be !
400 yds and blood puddles, says you kept pushing him.
Best of luck, get a dog, or watch for buzzards.

This, I think you were bumping him out of his beds trailing him.