Lets Talk - wounded deer / tracking

So just a hypothetical (sort of based on an actual event) to see what people's thoughts are. I'm not questioning anyone's ethics or skills, I have been reading some of the people posting here for years and know you are skilled and accomplished hunters but I'm just curious.

You've just shot a deer. You waited for it to turn broadside, had a steady rest, were well practised and your gun was dead on when you checked just days before at the range. You hear the impact but didn't see it. The deer jumps like it was hit hard, runs a few yards then just stops, standing there, presenting an easy follow up.

Do you take the follow up shot?
 
There's only two kinds of hunters who have never lost an animal. Beginners and bull####ters.

Your (anybody's) next shot on game is a culmination of a lot of things. There's your shooting ability, chosen shot placement, presentation angle, caliber, bullet choice, ability to deliver under pressure as well range, elevation and windage. How about obstacles between you and the target? There's a lot of things that can go wrong with this master plan during preparation and execution, and that's assuming it was a good plan in the first place.

I doubt that anyone plans, hopes and prays that their animal runs a 1/4 mile and after a few hours and a meager blood-trail manage to find it with failing light and a sigh of relief. Most people are sort of shocked when they shoot something large, tough and mean and it stands there and looks at them. That's not part of the plan, your plan isn't working and if your plan isn't working its best to quickly change to plan "B". Shoot it again; you've already had your chance to do it right. Now it's time to do the right thing. Or don't and wait for the day that you'll regret it.
 
jbmauser said:
So just a hypothetical (sort of based on an actual event) to see what people's thoughts are. I'm not questioning anyone's ethics or skills, I have been reading some of the people posting here for years and know you are skilled and accomplished hunters but I'm just curious.

You've just shot a deer. You waited for it to turn broadside, had a steady rest, were well practised and your gun was dead on when you checked just days before at the range. You hear the impact but didn't see it. The deer jumps like it was hit hard, runs a few yards then just stops, standing there, presenting an easy follow up.

Do you take the follow up shot?
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I'd think it was odd, possibly a bullet failure, and poke another in the same spot.
 
Dogleg said:
There's only two kinds of hunters who have never lost an animal. Beginners and bull####ters.

Your (anybody's) next shot on game is a culmination of a lot of things. There's your shooting ability, chosen shot placement, presentation angle, caliber, bullet choice, ability to deliver under pressure as well range, elevation and windage. How about obstacles between you and the target? There's a lot of things that can go wrong with this master plan during preparation and execution, and that's assuming it was a good plan in the first place.

I doubt that anyone plans, hopes and prays that their animal runs a 1/4 mile and after a few hours and a meager blood-trail manage to find it with failing light and a sigh of relief. Most people are sort of shocked when they shoot something large, tough and mean and it stands there and looks at them. That's not part of the plan, your plan isn't working and if your plan isn't working its best to quickly change to plan "B". Shoot it again; you've already had your chance to do it right. Now it's time to do the right thing. Or don't and wait for the day that you'll regret it.
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That my friends, is what experience sounds like.
 
jbmauser said:
So just a hypothetical (sort of based on an actual event) to see what people's thoughts are. I'm not questioning anyone's ethics or skills, I have been reading some of the people posting here for years and know you are skilled and accomplished hunters but I'm just curious.

You've just shot a deer. You waited for it to turn broadside, had a steady rest, were well practised and your gun was dead on when you checked just days before at the range. You hear the impact but didn't see it. The deer jumps like it was hit hard, runs a few yards then just stops, standing there, presenting an easy follow up.

Do you take the follow up shot?
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Absolutely, without hesitation I’d take the second shot. If I see a solid hit, I don’t reload, just wait, watch and listen. Can usually hear a death moan, gargling, or crash within 30sec-1min. Then wait! There’s absolutely no hurry. Give it 15-20 minimum before moving. Often I’ll wait for backup to come if I’m group hunting.
 
cosmic said:
I'll make an effort to answer your question. This happened to me. I managed to make a poorly placed shot on a very large buck early in my hunting career. Buck was quartering toward me at about 125 yards, and it was my first hunt with a scoped rifle... Turns out the bullet skipped off a branch, causing the bullet to hit the deer in the rear haunch. Deer ran into a thicket and I lost sight of it. I knew I had hit it. Being excited, I immediately followed it. I was trying to sneak up on the animal that I believed was still in the thicket. When I got within 50 yards of the thicket, I began to make out the deer - it was laying down on its left side and squirming about with its back facing me. I decided to approach it with the intent of taking a follow up shot in the vitals. When I got within 20 yards it got up and took off. I tried to track the blood trail and lost it after 50 yards.
Fast forward to the following year and my buddy shoots a very large buck in the same area. Butcher comments that this buck had been shot in the rear left haunch, with no bone damage.
So the deer had survived. What was explained to me later by a very knowledgeable hunter - the wounded deer was attempting to seal its wounds by rubbing the wound on the muddy ground. Perhaps this is what your animal did after being hit in the haunch or the brisket? I suspect a lot of hunters mistake this behavior for "deer down", I know I did. I'll leave the cognoscenti on the board to point out my numerous other rookie mistakes.
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How do you know the bullet skipped off a branch?
 
saskgunowner101 said:
Not saying I never will, but 14 years so far, so good.
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Sometimes it sneaks up on y’a out of no where. I had my solid set plan, followed by my first oh #### moment this year. It’s a good thing the 92’ 44mag holds a couple extra rounds because the adrenaline got the best of me for the first time in my life. Brain wasn’t working correctly, less steady then ever before, and took a shot I thought I’d never take. Buck was down in 30 yards so it worked out, but it easily could have gone the other way, I surprised myself and it was humbling to say the least. I’ve been hunting 17? Years.
 
I have hunted big game for 65 years. In that span of time, I have had the privilege of "filling the freezer" a good many times.
In that span, I have also lost two animals. One was found two days later, (spoiled) the other was never found. I felt absolutely
"sick" in both instances. :(

But I would like to relate an occurrence that educated me a lot. I was working with my wife's uncle in the Canoe river valley,
north of Revelstoke, BC. There were a lot of moose in the area at the time, and the season ran right to the end of December.
"Red" and I decided we may as well take the moose we were allowed [any ###, any age]. The snow was very deep, so the
moose favored the skid trails and landings, because it was easier going for them, plus there was feed on the landings.

I tossed my old P14 into the pickup, and we headed out to the landing at daybreak. On the landing were 3 moose. Red says to
me...go ahead shoot that darker one on the left. I up and fired a shot, quite certain the shot was good. At the shot, all 3 moose
departed so fast I had no time for a follow up shot. They headed uphill away from the landing. Red said...what happened? At the
time, I had not a lot of experience, and I was convinced that the moose would be dead up the trail within a couple hundred yards.

I donned my bearpaws and headed up after them. Found a few blood flecks, but no great amounts, and the blood petered out.
Moose kept going up the hill, no sign of tiring out or faltering. I followed the tracks into the deeper snow, and after about 1-½ miles
I decided that somehow, I had just blown that shot and possibly skinned the brisket or ?? Headed back, finished the days work and
spent a semi-sleepless night wondering what had happened.

Next morning, back to the landing....guess what? 3 moose on the landing. Red says to me: "I think that darker one is the same moose
you shot yesterday....better try it again. One shot from the P14, a couple of shaky steps, and down it goes....others fled.

Autopsy - The first shot had passed below the spine, but above the lungs, and had not hit a rib going in or exiting. The wound was clotted
over and there was signs of minor inflammation around the wound, but I believe that moose may have survived if I had not shot it again, this
time somewhat lower, which ventilated both lungs.

It simply illustrates that what may seem to the shooter to be a good shot, Murphy is ever present, and can mess up our plans. Dave.

PS as a side point, that moose was a bull that had already shed his antlers in mid-December.
 
Dogleg said:
There's only two kinds of hunters who have never lost an animal. Beginners and bull####ters.

Agreed! I don’t care what anyone says, if you hunt long enough, think you did everything right, sometimes $hit just happens, it is what it is. Poor shot, no blood trial, no snow for tracking etc. In my 50 years of hunting I lost a few too.
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There is no better teacher for big game hunting than an apprenticeship of black duck hunting, and this is one area where it really shines through. Think you killed that black duck? Think again. I can't tell you how many have given me the slip even after appearing stone dead. Most of them I caught up with over the years, but a few I did not; they dove underwater into a hole where I couldn't find them, or slipped into a ditch and hid, even after they folded from the sky just like the birds in Nintendo Duck Hunt.

People who say they don't want to shoot their meat to pieces and they're confident with their first shot and blah blah blah need to remember your second should be better than your first if possible (to CNS, with little or no wasted meat). If you aren't confident of making that on the second shot, why are you so confident in your first shot?
 
jbmauser said:
So just a hypothetical (sort of based on an actual event) to see what people's thoughts are. I'm not questioning anyone's ethics or skills, I have been reading some of the people posting here for years and know you are skilled and accomplished hunters but I'm just curious.

You've just shot a deer. You waited for it to turn broadside, had a steady rest, were well practised and your gun was dead on when you checked just days before at the range. You hear the impact but didn't see it. The deer jumps like it was hit hard, runs a few yards then just stops, standing there, presenting an easy follow up.

Do you take the follow up shot?
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100%. On rare cases sh@t happens. Did it this year on my antlerless mule deer. Easy 125 ? 150 ? yard shot, all felt good. I heard the whump of bullet impact, deer humped up ran in a half circle down hill, got all wobbly, then shook its head firmed up its posture and started to walk normally, shot it in the neck.

First shot was upper heart and both lungs. Deer was “dead and didn’t know it”. But I’ve seen the head shake and firmed up posture lead to animals taking off for a good distance before dropping dead or just buggering off with a marginal hit. Better to have them down with an unnecessary bullet than many hours of tracking.


As Dogleg pointed out hunt long enough and you get into a rodeo regardless of your skill sets or how much you practice.
 
One night at the supper table I found this in a roast. A 2 1/2 year old (?) Whitetail buck, probably someone shot him as a spike and wondered if they missed. Animals are tough, gunshots are not neccesarily fatal.

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Dogleg said:
I hope your streak continues, but they never do.

One man's 14 years is plenty of people's 14 weeks, and that's nothing at all to others in a situation where 14 days will easily surpass a serious, long and productive lifetime. The right 14 hours will be enough to match most.
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I've read some of your other posts, and you've obviously shot a metric #### ton of game, so maybe I'm seeing things a bit narrow, through my style or way of hunting. The furthest shot on a WT for me has been 310 m, some in the 180 m range, but most way less than that. I get a thrill out of getting close, but too lazy to take up bowhunting I suppose. This year I rattled a buck in from over 300 m ending in a 40 meter shot...if I would have poked a hole in him when I first saw him, it would have been a much easier haul back. But I had to see if he'd keep coming in on me lol. Some guys are lucky, and some make their own luck, which is probably what I do. And again, I don't think a follow up shot or things going wrong (because that's life) means a guy is an arsehole. I do think planning to pop 4-5 rounds in whatever game animal is silly though.
 
MiG25 said:
One night at the supper table I found this in a roast. A 2 1/2 year old (?) Whitetail buck, probably someone shot him as a spike and wondered if they missed. Animals are tough, gunshots are not neccesarily fatal.

View attachment 638361View attachment 638360
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Over the years I have shot 4 head of game that were carrying a bullet from a previous season in them. One big cow moose had a 22 lr bullet up against a rib.
It had broken the rib, but did not penetrate into the heart-lung area. Animals are resilient, and survive terrible wounds sometimes. Dave.
 
In 1987, I took a mule doe that ran over a kilometre approximately 1600 metres after a 270, 140 grain hammered both lungs and shattered the heart. 100 metre broadside shot and I put the bullet right where it should be and she ran to the far end of the coulee, danced around in circles spraying blood like a sprinkler, then ran back, almost to the same spot she was standing when I fired the rifle. I remember my father screaming at me, "Ah god dammit, you gut shot her!" He ragged on me the whole time as she was bouncing too much for either of us to get a sight picture on her for a second shot. I remember how stunned he was when we opened her up to see the damage to the heart and lungs.

Three seasons back, I had my neighbour's son join me on a hunt. I rattled in a buck and he made beautiful shot. I watched the hair part through my scope as I was aiming on the buck as well in case the kid missed. I saw the hole and the hair part and the red spray on the opposite side. The buck should have dropped on the spot. The kid made a perfect shot but that buck ran approximately 350 metres before piling up. Thankfully he ran straight down the cutline rather than into the trees so we watched his entire run. He ran full speed the entire way, as if he had no damage at all and then suddenly tumbled.

Two years ago, I hit a deer hard at close range. I saw the hit and it was in the right place as I saw the hair part. Blood was everywhere but I never managed to track that deer. I followed the blood in the fresh snow for several kilometres. There was so much blood sign it seemed unbelievable that this deer was still moving.

This past month, I either flinched or the stock moved on my jacket, but I made a bad shot on a buck in the bush at only 80 metres. I hit him low on the gut. Bloody terrible shooting on my part, but the buck piled up after a mere 40 metre dash. I was expecting a lengthy and frustrating pursuit through the bush and was shocked to find him piled up so quickly.

Sometimes the effects of the bullet and the response from the animal are completely unpredictable.
 
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