Lost my first BP deer today

[jtmattison]

I put a roundball into a deer this morning at about 12 yards quartering away and I lost it :cry:
I'm so sick over it I can hardly think of anything else.
I trailed it for over 500 yards and it went onto private property where I had to give up the trail.
I went to the landowners house but was greeted by angry dogs and nobody was home.
At the spot where I shot it there was a pile of hair and a chunk of flesh. Later on the trail we found a chunk of fat.
The blood trail was just small drops every few feet.
When it traveled uphill it bled good, downhill the blood stopped.
This deer traveled through some very tough terrain. It jumped about ten feet straight down into a ravine and climbed back out the other side.
I'm just sick over this.
Luckily there was snow on the ground or I would never have tracked it as far as I did.
The weather is warming up into the 40's but the meat should still be good for a day or so with the foot of snow we have.
I will try to locate the landowner tomorrow morning and look for it some more.
I won't sleep tonight thinking about that animal out there.
Looking for some encouragement and consolement.

Huntin :cry:

 

[Hoyt]

Sounds like a hit in the brisket.

 

[noahmercy]

Sorry to hear about that, pard. My hat's off to you as well as others on this forum for the great display of ethics. You are doing all the right things, and if you don't find the deer, it certainly isn't for lack of trying.

Think positively and sleep well...you're an honorable hunter and if the animal is hit in the vitals, you're almost sure to recover it. If not, it might very well recover.

 

[Stumpkiller]

In such cases, we call our local Sheriff and ask them to help us approach the land-owner. I'd also contact the DEC (or your state's equivalent game wardens) and relate your story. Unless the landowner is a real hard-case they'll usually allow access if you are monitored by a gov. agent like one of the above.

NOBODY wants a deer to die needlessly. We do have a few folks with posted land locally that will thank you for the tip and hang your deer on their pole . . . but even that is better than a "lost" carcass.

Sorry it ended this way, but it may not be over yet. Get on the horn! :thumbsup:

My second worst ever "blood-trail" took five hours to finish, but I did find the deer and all ended well. It had only traveled 300 yards or so, but it was in extreme cover and, even with an entry and exit hole, the fat and clotting plugged the holes up and there was hardly a drop every 10 feet +/-. To really complicate things, it lay in a spot where hunters had passed nearby several times and the deer had circled within the clump of cover. :hmm:

My worst ever was a down-angled arrow into one lung after smacking the spine. The deer dropped about 10 yards from me, and then bounded off after I started out of the tree-stand after giving it a few minutes to expire. It laid still for 30 seconds, and then gained it's feet and wobbled off drunkenly with me in mid-tree. I spent TWO DAYS of a canoe-in hunting trip trying to find that deer (an 8-point NICE buck). He made it into a flooded hemlock & cedar swamp that was knee deep & deeper with grassy hummocks and boggy rafts. I'd find blood here and there, enough to show he was doubling back and jinking at right angles, found the fletched half of my wood arrow floating in the swamp 100 yards from my stand, but I never did recover him. I did fan patterns and spirals for hours in every direction from the last sign. :cry: I was devistated and absolutely miserable. I thank God that with 32 notches on the game pole that's the only deer I ever drew blood and shaved hair from that I did not recover. Have not been in a tree-stand in the 15 years since.

 

[dave63]

I'm probably telling you guys something you already know, but here is something I never thought of until an old bow hunter told me. Something that requires alot of patience, but makes sence and does work.

After you make the shot, and your certain it was a good one, just make note of where the deer was headed, and take a nap for 30 minutes. Well maybe not take a nap, but stay where you are. It'll give the dear a chance to stop and lick his wounds and hopefully bleed out where he stopped to rest. If he hears you dogging him, he'll run till he drops, which can be a long way. If he feels like the threat is gone, he'll stop.

It also gives the animal a chance to just "go to sleep". I'd rather die like that than being chased.

Did you check the closest water hole? Every deer I've ever gotten (okay, it's only three) was found within a few feet of a creek or pond.

Dave

 

[KyFlintlock]

What matters is what you did when you took the shot (ethical, running shot?) and what you are doing afterwards to recover him. It sounds like you are making every attempt to recover the deer, GOOD FOR YOU! Sometimes, bad stuff happens, regardless of how careful you are.

Good luck

 

[jtmattison]

It was a perfect, clear shot. The deer was standing quartering away at about 12 yards slightly uphill. I was sitting on the ground facing away so I shot turned around to my left. Everything was right, except that the deer didn't drop. I will enlist the aid of a game officer today to pick up the trail again and follow it onto the private property. God, I hope I find it.

Huntin

 

[KyFlintlock]

I ask God for help finding them at times too. :winking:

I hope you find it as well, but my buddy arrowed one this fall and we never found it. Well, we didn't find it THAT eve or the next day. I found him 3 weeks later and he was quite healthy, until the roundball ruined his day. So, if you don't find it, it could be as the others mentioned: The deer could heal from it.

 

[jtmattison]

Well, I went back out today with a clear mind and started from scratch.
I paced off the distance and it was 29 paces. A bit different from my original thought of about 12 yards. Regardless that doesn't make much difference.
I closely studied the hair from the deer. There was quite a bit of it and it was mostly off-white colored with the tips of it brown. Some fatty tissue was on it but very little. There was a strip of flesh that looked like it was shaved off. Maybe just a grazing wound?
With these clues I believe I hit it in the brisket.
The blood trail was gone today, it melted away with the snow in our rising temperatures.
I did get with the DNR guys for some help.
Where I lost the trail it was imposible to pick it back up. Last night deer had been through there and tromped the snow into mud and as I said I had no blood to follow.
I think that deer has nothing more than a flesh wound and a good education on guys wearing blaze orange.
If the deer expired, hopefully someone else found it. If not, the coyotes had a good meal.
The DNR guy told me of a deer that was shot yesterday and someone else found and claimed it. Maybe it was mine, I doubt it but maybe it was.
This certainly was a learning experience for me.
I'm still upset over not getting that deer but I rest with the thought that it lives on, smarter than it was yesterday.

Huntin

 

[musketman]

You at least made the effort and follow-up effort to find it, that's a heck of a lot more than the multi-shot hunters in my area would have done...

Perhaps the deer ran to a house where the family bread winner has just lost his job and his kids are hungry, you just provided them with several meals and the children can go to sleep knowing there is food in the house...

Doesn't that help makes you feel a bit better than the coyotes getting it?

 

[brushbuster]

in this south texas brush country it makes it real hard to track a shot animal ,sadly i must admit to loseing animals as well ,last year i hit a deer high in the lungs ,she hit the ground on the spot and kicked a couple of times got up and made it 20 yds to the brush. she left a lot of blood where she fell but icouldnt find any blood once she hit the brush,i walked and crawled for two hours and found nothing and since it's usually warm down here time is of the essence or the meat will spoil.two days later a neighbor called me and told me.he found a dead deer on his place Two Miles up the road .i went to look at it and sure enough it was the deer i shot.i flat could not believe that deer went that far. as i waited about ten minuts before i went looking for her

 

[Dave K]

Years ago I lost a deer and looked for nearly 2 days. It too went further than I could have imagined. The day I shot the deer I knew it left the property I was hunting and I went to the neighbor for permission to search for it. He agreed, no problem. After I gave up, I said the farmer if you find the deer call me, I will tag it since I killed. I feel it is the only right thing to do. After all the deer didn't ask for it. Any rate, 2 weeks later I get a call from the farmer that there is a dead deer in his corn field and he tells me exactly where. Since it was gun season and I didn't want shot, I said I would be down at noon to tag it. I find where he said it was and all that was there was a gut pile! You could tell that this gut pile did not come from a deer that died that day. I ask the farmer if there had been any successful gun hunters this week. He said YES. There was a guy that came here at 7 am and had his deer loaded and left at 8am. Well, at least the deer didn't go to waste!

 

[Stumpkiller]

That's sure not the outcome that we'd all hoped for. You can take some comfort in knowing that no lost deer is ever wasted. If it wasn't tagged by another hunter then lots of wildlife just got a windfall in their despirate little struggles with the harsness of winter. Everything from coyotes to chickadees to voles & beetles benefit from a carcass.

Don't dispair too much. These things happen. You gave it a thorough attempt to follow up. :thumbsup:

 

[jtmattison]

Thanks to all of you for your encouraging words.

I feel bad that I didn't recover the animal but I sure did try.

I'm going to take this as a learning experience and make sure to the best of my ability it doesn't happen again.

HAPPY NEW YEAR AND GOOD HUNTING TO ALL!

Huntin

 

[Dave K]

You are right Stumpkiller, it wasn't the outcome I was looking for. I had called my friends in to help me in the search, but we failed to find the deer. I now also know another thing. If we have taken on the resposiblity to hunt we must be able to accept that we at times may fail. I do all I can to prevent that, but it is life and I am not above being less than perfect. I practice hard and often and that includes tracking skills. Yes, I have laid in bed at night recalling the shot and the reaction of the animal. I have been out until dawn looking for a deer that was better at hiding than I am at tracking. It never gets easier, but I try to make sure it doesn't happen, but that is not always the way it really is. :results:

 

do you know the land owners cause if they say you cant get the deer the shariff nor the dnr can help u out its now the land owners