I had him in my sights this morning but apparently made a bad shot. No excuses. We tracked until we ran out of blood then looked for a body and looked and looked and looked. Sad day in Sava
Well that sucks. Is the area close enough that you can go back and do a grid search? I had one deer that up and vanished on me, and I only found it by doing a back and forth rectangle. Only took about 20 minutes. Maybe the crows or magpies can help worst case scenario.
got water near by? that is where it will head and the thickest xyz foilage it is possible to find. bunch of years back tracked one ( bow shot not mine) by flashlight for several hours. Then my friend said to give up and as a second where in the x are we and how do we get back to the Truck. i looked up caught a glimpse of the moon between cloud banks and said this way- 3/4 of the way back to car we found the deer. Other than stunbling on it likely would not have collected either. We must have been pushing it ahead of us until it ran out of steam.
The lope WWW took with the revolver this fall was similar, couple hours of hunting, then several hours of tracking (it went to private property, so then homeowner permission paperwork). Got him, but...
That's too bad, that "where's my deer?" is an awful feeling. Hopefully you just clipped him gently and he shows up on your cams again. If not, mother nature will take care of it in short order.
Maybe you should have shot, then took pictures... Ahh, that's stinks you didn't find it, Dennis! You shot it behind the front shoulder?
Yes. It was a bit more than a quartering away shot but I thought I hit it perfectly. It rocked him but he must be a tough old bugger. Tougher than me. I am seriously considering this to be my last year of hunting. Can't take this stuff too well. Hate hitting something like that and not recovering the animal.
Have you given up, or are you going to take another look yet? Many times it seems that they end up just beyond the area searched when I have been out the next day to help find them. I agree with Chris on the water thing. Seems to be an instinct for them to cross water to try and lose their scent trail or something. That's a nice buck Backwoods. I hope you try a little more before giving up. Round up some helpers and get the quads out. Even if he made it off of your place, I've never met a neighbor who wouldn't grant permission to look for one.
I sent the guy who I think shot it the pic. He was hunting property that adjoins my dad's place. I haven't heard anything from him.
Put a dog on that bloodtrail. Even one that isn't trained to sniff blood. Labs are excellent at this if you know anyone with a lab nearby. Start him at the point of impact. Show him the blood. Then hold on.....he's gonna pull like hell haha. If I were closer Bentley would find him for you.....dead or alive.
Have any young, experienced hunters in the area that might go looking for him for a small reward? Just get them started on the blood and let them go. That’s a nice rack.
Don't do that my friend, I have experienced it too and it is heartbreaking but is just part of deer hunting.
come across a few of those during my time in the woods nailed a buck during gun season few years back- old codger. he looked like he went up normady beach on d-day. old and new wounds some were from the bow season of that year.
Go here... United Blood Trackers – Trained Tracking Dogs in the Ethical Recovery of Big Game find someone close to you and go get that deer. Service should be free (at least it is in NH). But tips are appreciated. Looks like there are several in Michigan. Not sure if any are close to you. Good luck!!
It is just possible that you might have been pushing him ahead of you , seen this a lot in my time. I would start another grid search as they also will sometimes hook back to the orginal area. They will also tend to take down slope terrain and hole up at the bottom. just observations from tracking over the last few decades. Here is a real good one from about 15 years ago, small public hunting ground maybe 5 acres, long and only about 75 ft wide we were still hunting about the third day of season- weekend hunters all gone so not much being disturbed. friend jumps a deer get's a shot off - 44mag Ruger carbine . says he hit it shows me where, I did find blood very little, He is color blind to reds. Any way i worked to the best i could I never came up on the deer ,but I found his 44mag slug and it was sticky so it was his and he did hit it as to where don't know. I just happen to see some glint in the track thought is was some blood reflecting sunlight. he still swears I planted that but I didn't even own a 44 mag of any type at the time and it was the same type of bullet he was using - astronomical odds. It was laying on top of a leaf. I think the load was lite on powder charge- happens once in awhile even on factory cartridges which these were.
