Learned Something ......Maybe?

[sweetinlow660]

This is very typical of a liver gut shot deer...I have tracking dogs and have tracked 2 this season one was liver and out the guts died in a pond about 300 yards out...the other my wife shot straight through the guts and died about 200 yards out but both of them were given ample time to die...sometimes they die quick but most of the time the only thing that will kill these deer is time both of the deer that we recovered this year shot this way were recovered 19 and 24 hours later...i would personally give no less than 12 hours before I took up a track on a deer like these if left alone they will not go far and will die...and people can say well I wanted to get to him before the coyotes or the rain or whatever pushes them to track sooner than later but tracking him sooner won’t make him dead only time will tracking him sooner will push the deer and never be recovered...but for sure if I had the means to shoot again I would...putting this all out there just because it is what I have learned from tracking deer especially going on multiple calls with the dogs

I agree. Ive got tracking dogs also and time is the most important factor in a liver shot deer. I guess for me the biggest thing I took from this incident was how the deer stood statue still for so long without even twitching an ear. Had he not been in an opening where I could see him I would have assumed he kept running or bedded down somewhere. I think it explains why so many people go to check the arrow and look for first blood and never find the deer. Had I not been able to see him I think he would have done exactly like he did when my gun misfired and slowly slipped off in a different direction than what I had thought he was going and since he wasn't bleeding much and wasn't running to leave any noticeable tracks to follow recovery would be questionable at best without a dog.

[Thunderwolf13]

^^^absolutely good point

[TX_DReezen]

Definitely hard to give them time when the suspense is killing you, lol. Wouldn’t blame you for trying to put a round through him while he was standing there. In my eyes, it’s unethical to just watch them suffer until it finally dies. Misplaced shots happen, so no reason to be beat up about it!