Where was he hit?

[pyrobow]

Several weeks ago I shot at an nice buck. Recovered arrow showed nothing but fat, no blood. After a couple of hrs we started tracking, we located where he had gone out in the brush and stood for a while. There were 2 Quarter size spots of blood about 3" apart. We ran 2 dogs on the trail for more 1200 yards picking up only small blood blood spots scattered. We called off the track, calling it a survivable hit. We only track with dogs on lead and do not have a catch dog.

We have been watching cameras for 3 weeks now with no sighting. We are beginning to questions our thought on where he was hit.

[Deer Tracks]

Where was he hit?

Was he a regular before you shot him?
Sometimes they will avoid the area for awhile.
We had one wounded that didn't show up on camera for a whole year. We assumed he was dead. We found white hair and a couple small spots of blood. Put the dog on him. She jumped him pretty quick, ran him over a mile but he never bayed up. We didn't find him and he quit showing up on trail cam pics. He was pretty regular at feeders before so I assumed he was dead. Suddenly here he is showing up daily. We shot him and found a scar across his belly.

Fat and very little blood sounds like brisket or high back to me.

[pyrobow]

Very regular for several weeks before. He had show up that the same feeder the year before at the same time of the year. We are on 9600 acre ranch with this feeder being to the center of the ranch. 24 feeders on 9600 so there is a lot of country between feeders.

My hope is that he is avoiding feeders. We have our thoughts on where it hit. Just looking for ideas from others that have experience in reading the signs.

[PecanBayouRat]

I'm willing to bet you put one through the backstrap and just hit him high. 100% survivable and he'll come back eventually.

[splitfinger]

Several years ago I shot my best buck ever on Sept. 29 (opening day) however, I managed to hit him square in the shoulder blade with only about 2" of penetration. I found the arrow (broken off at the back of the insert) about 50 yds. from the shot with very little blood on the shaft. He stayed away from the property until Dec. 24 of that year and once again returned to this feeder site. I saw him for 2 more years on camera at night only. Never again a daylight pic of him.

I bet he is still alive, barring an infection and will return sometime in the future.

Doug Key

[bloodtrailer28]

Sounds like a backstrap shot to me. We had one like that a few years ago tracked him 200 yards or so only finding a few small spots of blood. He showed up to one feeder a week later then dissapeared. We found him dead in the spring looking for sheds and guessing he died from infection.

[pyrobow]

This is the way we interpreted the signs.

Fat from one end of the arrow to the other. Brisket just behind the front leg. This is the only area that we could think of where there would be little to no meat.

Two blood spots about 3 inches apart. Low hit Entry and exit close together. Hits higher up the body, if you get blood dripping off the body from higher up the spots should be farther apart.

1200 yards of tracking after a 2 hr wait with few and small spots. More than likely not lethal. We never found signs of bedding down. The only times we more than a single drop can probably be attributed to the deer stopping for a few minutes.

Backstrap shots, will usually show at least some blood on the arrow and in my experience it will be towards the back of the arrow. I have tracked 3 deer on our lease that I called off. I told the hunter that they were backstrapped. All the deer showed back up in a short time with a wound up high.

We are still learning to read the signs and hope to get better. Sika, I agree with you the buck is low hit and probably alive. I would just love to see him show up again.

[pyrobow]

oops

[txtimetravler]

That’s a great pic!
What trail camera is that?

Hope you get another pic of him for some closure.

[pyrobow]

It is a Cabelas camera. Not sure what model

[sierracharlie338]

Man that stinks. Hope you find him. Sounds like brisket/belly shot to me.


Sierracharlie out…