Well it probably had to happen someday ... lost my first deer

TheCoachZed

TheCoachZed

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Southern NB, aka "Canada's Bible Belt"
Shot a nice 7-pt at 8:20 AM today. Nothing fancy, but a respectable deer, and bigger than what at least 50% of the locals shoot around here.

I made a bad shot and I knew it right away, but thought it was going to work out. Shot him at 15 yards with a crossbow, and I saw the arrow sticking out of his front shoulder after I pulled the trigger. I was worried he'd run, but he stumbled to his front knees, got up, did the funky chicken for a couple seconds, then took off into the brush. Then I heard that big crash that always accompanies a deer's demise. I figured, no problem, I must have punched far enough into the ribcage behind the shoulder blade that I took out a lung or heart.

Waited 20 minutes, although I was sure he was dead. Went to where I heard the crash and ... nothing. No sign. No arrow. No blood. No hair.

Spent the next seven hours looking high and low. All I found was an apple where it shouldn't have been, right where I heard the crash. I think he had it in his mouth when I shot him and he dropped it there.

I'm seriously disappointed. This was by far the nicest deer I've ever shot. Nothing to brag about, but the culmination of a lot of years of apprenticeship shooting small bucks and does. I put a lot of work into this spot, spent years scouting it, and thought I'd finally see the payoff. Nope!
 
Any of your buddies have a dog?
If so, got get it and head back out, you might get lucky again.
You could go back in the morning and watch and listen for the ravens or magpies that have found your deer.
There are those that are going to loose a deer (eventually) and those that have.
It is bound to happen sooner than late.
Rob
 
I've been there and it totally sucks. I missed my first ever deer which was a horrible start to my hunting adventure and wounded a nice mule deer last season with the bow. That's two out of well over 30 animals over 12 years, it doesn't get any easier and will probably happen to you again. There are a lot of things that can go wrong when out hunting, I always wait for a good clean shot and it's still happened twice to me so far.

Like Remyltr said, wait for the ravens and maybe you'll get a chance to find the head.
 
This is only the "culmination" if you quit hunting. Wounding loss is an unfortunate reality, because we aren't perfect and shyte happens.

However, if 40 years of bowhunting experience and hundreds of animals tracked means anything... my 2 cents;

- the crash is a "red herring," ignore what you heard, it could well have been another deer spooked by the wounded buck.
- if the arrow stayed in the shoulder as you described, the buck is bleeding and the blood is leaking to the ground. Were you in a treestand? With a high entry wound it may taken a few dozen yards for the blood to start falling to the ground.
- go back and start over in the morning (hopefully no rain or heavy frost tonight to disapate the bloodtrail)... and go SLOW.
- watch for blood on the sides of saplings, trees and tall grass... also flip leaves along tight trail passages as the blood is often on the underside of hanging leaves.
- start at the last place you visually saw the deer and do not advance until you find a drop of blood... it helps to have a partner to leap frog and keep you oriented on the route.
- mark the last blood with TP or flagging or have your partner stand there and wait until you find more blood while scouting ahead.
- do NOT advance because you found a track or hair (unless you can see that the hair was cut by the broadhead)... only blood sign should be taken as sign of your bucks passing.
- watch for crows or vultures or fox and coyote yipping.
- be prepared for the buck to start backtracking, and rapidly changing directions, particularly when it is close to expiring.
- the buck deserves another full day of searching (IMO)
- once the trail seems exhausted, think about where you have been and search a couple of the unlikely spots you have bypassed on the trail.

Good luck.
 
Anytime you are bow hunting and believe you have made a poor shot, give it time before you go tracking. I have been all gung ho in my younger years bowhunting and lost deer due to it. If it lays down and you track it, you risk jumping it and losing it if it hasn't bled out. It happens to even the best hunters in the world. Do the best that you can!
 
North of 7 said:
Anytime you are bow hunting and believe you have made a poor shot, give it time before you go tracking. I have been all gung ho in my younger years bowhunting and lost deer due to it. If it lays down and you track it, you risk jumping it and losing it if it hasn't bled out. It happens to even the best hunters in the world. Do the best that you can!
Click to expand...

Been there done that myself. Lost the first one I ever shot at with the bow due to not giving him enough time. The angle he was standing at the bolt hit the shoulder blade on far side and didn't exit. He hit a tree and broke off the 6" of bolt sticking out.Went in after dark and we heard him get up and stumble twords us and then decided to back off and give him time but was too late. Spent about 4 hrs that night and the next day from first light until dark and never did retrieve him. I know it's terrible feeling but unfortunately it happens. All great advice given by everyone. As mentioned above about a dog we have retrieved a couple over the years we thought were lost because a buddy's beagle. Hopefully if possible you can get back out tommorow and give it another try. Good luck.
 
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hoytcanon said:
This is only the "culmination" if you quit hunting. Wounding loss is an unfortunate reality, because we aren't perfect and shyte happens.

However, if 40 years of bowhunting experience and hundreds of animals tracked means anything... my 2 cents;

- the crash is a "red herring," ignore what you heard, it could well have been another deer spooked by the wounded buck.
- if the arrow stayed in the shoulder as you described, the buck is bleeding and the blood is leaking to the ground. Were you in a treestand? With a high entry wound it may taken a few dozen yards for the blood to start falling to the ground.
- go back and start over in the morning (hopefully no rain or heavy frost tonight to disapate the bloodtrail)... and go SLOW.
- watch for blood on the sides of saplings, trees and tall grass... also flip leaves along tight trail passages as the blood is often on the underside of hanging leaves.
- start at the last place you visually saw the deer and do not advance until you find a drop of blood... it helps to have a partner to leap frog and keep you oriented on the route.
- mark the last blood with TP or flagging or have your partner stand there and wait until you find more blood while scouting ahead.
- do NOT advance because you found a track or hair (unless you can see that the hair was cut by the broadhead)... only blood sign should be taken as sign of your bucks passing.
- watch for crows or vultures or fox and coyote yipping.
- be prepared for the buck to start backtracking, and rapidly changing directions, particularly when it is close to expiring.
- the buck deserves another full day of searching (IMO)
- once the trail seems exhausted, think about where you have been and search a couple of the unlikely spots you have bypassed on the trail.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice, Hoyt. I can't stand know-it-alls, unless they actually have a broad range of experiences, and I know you do.

This is a bit of a weird spot, because it's in town and that means restrictions on where the deer will run during the day.

Leaving the stand, in the direction I last saw the deer headed: On the right hand, I have a low trail along the side of a river (the St. John River -- he certainly didn't cross it).

On the left hand, there's a ridiculously steep bank, then a busy city neighbourhood. There's a high trail that follows the top of this bank.

Both trails converge in a grassy point where they like to bed. There is no way to go between the two trails, as the bank is too loose, and any deer would tumble into the river.

I followed the high trail, looking down, and saw nothing. No blood, but that's not surprising; we had heavy rain within minutes of the shot. Walked to where the trails converge, saw no sign. Walked back via the low trail, which is where I expected to see him, but again, nothing. Not surprising, as a good bit of this trail was underwater, and he would have been bleeding on the right hand side over that water.

Went back to stand, did another thorough search of the stand area. Nothing. Went behind the stand in case he'd doubled back. Saw nothing again.

Headed back in the first direction, met up with a friend who's bowhunted for years and guides bear hunting clients, so he knows how to spot a trail better than I can. We both walked back the low trail to stand, saw nothing. I spent the rest of the day zig zagging up and down through the area looking for anything at all, but saw no blood, and frankly, the place is lousy with deer, so a few tracks and upturned leaves mean nothing. I jumped 5-6 deer, and within minutes of me shooting this 7, there were two bucks in the same place where I shot him. I could have probably shot both of them too, had I wanted to.

Anyway--like I said, spent 7 hours looking and didn't see so much as a drop of blood, and the on-and-off downpours certainly didn't help.

I'll probably go take a look again for a while tomorrow; I suspect at that point the crows will be my biggest help.

I know there's only two directions he could have gone, and didn't see any sign at either exit point, and I covered the ground in between pretty carefully, with experienced help. There should be blood somewhere, but it sure didn't show up for me. So the eye in the sky might be what it takes. At least I have a nuisance tag, so I can go get some meat somewhere else if all I end up with is a rack.
 
hoytcanon said:
This is only the "culmination" if you quit hunting. Wounding loss is an unfortunate reality, because we aren't perfect and shyte happens.

However, if 40 years of bowhunting experience and hundreds of animals tracked means anything... my 2 cents;

- the crash is a "red herring," ignore what you heard, it could well have been another deer spooked by the wounded buck.
- if the arrow stayed in the shoulder as you described, the buck is bleeding and the blood is leaking to the ground. Were you in a treestand? With a high entry wound it may taken a few dozen yards for the blood to start falling to the ground.
- go back and start over in the morning (hopefully no rain or heavy frost tonight to disapate the bloodtrail)... and go SLOW.
- watch for blood on the sides of saplings, trees and tall grass... also flip leaves along tight trail passages as the blood is often on the underside of hanging leaves.
- start at the last place you visually saw the deer and do not advance until you find a drop of blood... it helps to have a partner to leap frog and keep you oriented on the route.
- mark the last blood with TP or flagging or have your partner stand there and wait until you find more blood while scouting ahead.
- do NOT advance because you found a track or hair (unless you can see that the hair was cut by the broadhead)... only blood sign should be taken as sign of your bucks passing.
- watch for crows or vultures or fox and coyote yipping.
- be prepared for the buck to start backtracking, and rapidly changing directions, particularly when it is close to expiring.
- the buck deserves another full day of searching (IMO)
- once the trail seems exhausted, think about where you have been and search a couple of the unlikely spots you have bypassed on the trail.

Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thanks for posting HC. I haven't had to track one yet but this info really helps when the time comes.
 
BTDT. Spent three hours tracking it to where it made a pretty hard 90 degrees turn (near as I could tell) before it thundered in a few hundreds of yards further, after crossing some really rough logging slash, and a creek.
Took a break, ate lunch, went walkabout to let the rest of natures crew do their thing for a couple hours, came back to a pretty good crew of ravens and magpies, and one coyote. But I did recover the buck, the mess was pretty much external, don't figure it cost me more than a pound or two of burger.
Still felt crappy enough that I bailed from a planned three day stay in the area, and headed home.

Also, have used a pair of pliers to retrieve a arrow head and piece of arrow shaft, from a buck's backbone, after it had carried it for a year (knew they guy that pinned it and lost it the year previously). Tough buggers, they!

If he didn't stir the bolt head around inside his ribcage, or chance into a cut artery in the shoulder, then there is pretty good odds that he will be around again next season, or later in this one.

Just one of those things. Some guys will get all 'ethics' about it, and truly, I hope it never happens to them, but the odd are it will if they hunt long enough. Best you can do is to practice, try not to repeat the mistake, if you think you made one, and carry on doing as well as you can.

End of the day, the ravens and coyotes gotta eat too, and nothing is truly wasted, it's just....a drag...

Cheers
Trev
 
trevj said:
BTDT. Spent three hours tracking it to where it made a pretty hard 90 degrees turn (near as I could tell) before it thundered in a few hundreds of yards further, after crossing some really rough logging slash, and a creek.
Took a break, ate lunch, went walkabout to let the rest of natures crew do their thing for a couple hours, came back to a pretty good crew of ravens and magpies, and one coyote. But I did recover the buck, the mess was pretty much external, don't figure it cost me more than a pound or two of burger.
Still felt crappy enough that I bailed from a planned three day stay in the area, and headed home.

Also, have used a pair of pliers to retrieve a arrow head and piece of arrow shaft, from a buck's backbone, after it had carried it for a year (knew they guy that pinned it and lost it the year previously). Tough buggers, they!

If he didn't stir the bolt head around inside his ribcage, or chance into a cut artery in the shoulder, then there is pretty good odds that he will be around again next season, or later in this one.

Just one of those things. Some guys will get all 'ethics' about it, and truly, I hope it never happens to them, but the odd are it will if they hunt long enough. Best you can do is to practice, try not to repeat the mistake, if you think you made one, and carry on doing as well as you can.

End of the day, the ravens and coyotes gotta eat too, and nothing is truly wasted, it's just....a drag...

Cheers
Trev
Click to expand...

Thanks. That's kind of how I feel.

Really not sure why shot was off. I've been practicing more than usual. I definitely should have waited to look but his stance looked good after I Shot and it sounded like a dead deer. I guess I will have to learn from this.


But I'll look again and see if I can find him. There are only so many places he could go in there.
 
Hoyt is dead on !
He totally described a experience I had.

A buddy of mine arrowed a deer a few yrs ago and looked for 12 hrs. Using TP to mark blood trail.
He ran out of blood. Colin called me and another guy to continue looking.

I'm imbarrassed to say this but.......the other guy was freaking amazing !!!!
He must have been part beagle.
Good Lord ....a drop of blood on a leaf. 50 ft away a drop on a twig. Another 50-60 ft another drop on a twig.
I didn't believe him a couple times and spit on the TP and wiped what he said was blood.
Yup it came up red !!!

A couple hrs later and about 1.5 km we found this big buck and finished him off.
We jumped 4-5 more deer on our travels that day.

I was amazed and humbled by this guy ...truly.
Good luck , go get em.
 
One thing I have learned over the years is a deer can be "right there" even though a few hunters swear they've searched every inch of the bush. Point being? A dog really is mans best friend when it comes to recovering game and makes recover extremely easier.


My hound and I are available evenings if anyone around me ever needs a hand finding deer.
 
I hunt in close proximity to the Saint John and Kennebecasis Rivers and have had more than a few wounded deer take to the water before expiring. I hope you find him, as has been mentioned a good dog can be great for recovering lost game. Be sure to keep the dog leashed as there are a few CO's in the greater SJ area that love to charge guys using a dog to recover lost game with harassing wildlife and whatever else they can possibly get to stick.
 
I've lost 2 bucks over the years. Both were real nice 4x4+ mule deer. On the first one I hit him hard broadside, sweet spot, maybe 20 yards or less. 303british 180 igman (never use that again). Like normal he hunched up hard and came off the ground and i expected him to land, stumble and drop. I could see the wound in my scope when i took the shot and silly me.... did not reload right away.
He landed a took off like nothing happened. I waited 20 minutes and walked his blood trail, easily found and lots of it. He went 50 yards. I saw him laid out and a big pile of foamy gellied blood that came out his mouth and nostrils. I got 10 feet away and from laying there dead he just jumped up and bolted off thru the pines. tracking him again we found lots of blood, on ground and on trees as he went. Followed to a near cliff face that no human was going down without mountain gear and we never did recover him. I searched for 2 days in the low land below that drop off and never found him.
2nd one i shot in the head at 30 yards, I saw him flip right over backwards with hooves in the air. I was confident he was dead on impact so walked over behind the hump of hay bales and no fuggen deer. I stopped listened and all i heard was the sound of a fat guy snoring after a beer binge. It was the buck choking on blood. I snuck in and all i could see was him leaning against a tree at 10 yards but only showing his ass. no shot. But he sounded like he was dying so I just waited. Somehow he realized i was there and off he went like nothing was wrong with him. I gave quiet chase and saw where he stood was again what looked like a gallon or 2 of foamy, gellied blood on the ground. Dead deer right? Well, I followed the blood trail thru the woods and into the next 20 acre hay field and no deer anywhere in sight. Not possible i thought WTF??
So go get buddies wolf cross tracking dog and he's on the scent. But he stops at the edge of the feild in a spot where there is blood all over the grass like something laid down and rolled around. Lots of blood..... In the end we surmised that some type of predator, a black bear or a cougar was in the vicinity of the kill and nabbed it as I was tracking it. Or aliens took it LOL

sh*t happens man, what's cool is you are here sharing it with us and we can all tell you feel sh*tty about it, and that's a good thing. Chin up ;)
 
Hoytcanon is spot on, I just helped track a deer in the dark and it's not an easy task. It all ended well and we recovered her but with all the Oregon grape on the ground turning red it was slow going at first. Lots of backtracking to the last blood drop, slowly search for blood and fresh tracks. It can and will happen to anyone over time. Hopefully you can find it, even if it's for personal closure on the event.

Try not to beat yourself up over it, look at it as another learning experience that hopefully makes the next hunt more successful.
 
Greg is bang on, and as already mentioned, you may not have found your deer because he is still on his feet.

It gets overlooked a lot because we plan for the perfect scenario, not the worst case...like a shoulder shot, but a big factor with shoulder shots is the broadhead.

Decades back I pounded a big black bear in the shoulder with a Wasp 125 3 blade shooting 82#

it penetrated far enough to smash the/a blades (I found a piece).

I recovered all but a couple of inches of my arrow, broken off down the trail, with no blood on it.

From that point on I stopped using broadheads with flimsy removable blades and started using cut on contact Bear Razors. If your broadhead has to punch through bone before it starts to cut a channel it loses a lot of it's energy and may not penetrate deep enough to kill.

If you bowhunt, plan to spent hours on your hands and knees searching for pin head sized drops of blood and hope you see him go down from the stand.
 
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