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Is he alive?

J

Judge8604

New Member
I shot a buck the other night from my tree stand. The buck was walking towards me at a somewhat 45 degree angle. The shot distance was 15 yards. My arrow entered right in front of his shoulder blade in the neck slightly above dead center and exited dead center in the opposite shoulder blade. Complete pass through with a 4 blade slick trick. After the shot he ran 20 yards and froze, blood poured out of his neck really good and sub par out of his shoulder. He then walked 40 yards started to rock and then bedded down. I thought he was done but he got back up and walked 20 yards bedded down for a couple minutes and got back up. He did this a total of 5 times before I slowly backed out. I gave him 18 hrs and came back to look for him. I followed descent blood for 60 yards after I last seen him but lost his trail. What do you guys think?
 
How did the blood look? There is a chance your arrow never hit lung and only hit brisket meat. If that happened, he would bleed pretty good for a while but eventually clot up. If you only hit meat and no vitals there is a chance he will live to fit another day.
 
Hard for anyone who didn't actually see it to know...maybe tough even if you did see it. But it sounds like a dead deer to me.

NWBuck
 
Could you see blood coming out both sides or entry/exit holes? You may have got one lung sounds like to me.
 
I made this EXACT shot two years ago with a muzzy broadhead on a doe. She ran 10 yards and stood in the brush for 10 minutes.l coughing and licking her nose. I tried to tuck another arrow in and deflected then she ran off. Absolute puddles of frothy lung blood where she stood. I tracked her about 400 yards and lost blood. We found her dead in the corn two weeks later when the farmer ran it. She stopped bleeding about 200 yards prior.

I'm certain you hit one lung. My thought is the deer is either dead within an hour or they will live aside from an infection.
 
Tough call without actually seeing where the entry/exit wounds are. More than once I've found that they were not where I was certain they were at the shot. IF you hit a lung, even just one lung, with a fixed blade broadhead, the deer is dead. You may not find it but it is dead. Only way a deer might survive a single lung hit is with an expandable that failed to expand and even then, chances are good it dies eventually. If you did not hit a lung then it's a tossup as to whether or not the bleeding stopped before his heart did. Let us know if you find him.
 
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http://iowawhitetail.com/forum/phot..._Editor_001&s=+&prod=albums&ins=orig&alb=all#

This is what came out of him after I first hit him. The blood came out really well and there is alot there. What I don't get is that every time before he bedded down he would start to rock. He did breath with his mouth open but I never seen blood come out of his mouth or nose.
 
My guess is dead deer. As others have said though, it's a tough call. Especially without seeing the shot. I'd search like crazy and if he can't be found, get cameras out all over that place.
 
LYON said:
My guess is dead deer. As others have said though, it's a tough call. Especially without seeing the shot. I'd search like crazy and if he can't be found, get cameras out all over that place.
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Agreed! I bet the blood trail petered out cause his pump was starting to run dry. Bet he's within 1/4 mile of where you lost the trail.

Good luck.
 
He also tried crossing a deep creek a couple of times but always backed out from it. I lost the trail as he was circling around a spot next to the creek. I'm not for sure if I lost it because he went down into it or what. I had a descent blood trail the entire time so I'm so confused and really upset over the ordeal. I messed up
On the shot and that's what bothers me most of all. I'd rather of missed him completely.
Any tips of areas to look? I know guy shot deer like water but I'm thinking for this guy I'm going to have to look in the thickest stuff I can find. 200yard cordon?
 
I would start from the last spot you had blood- get a buddy and grid out the place- cover every inch you can if you are pretty sure he is dead. I think he is dead- and if not near water- could have crawled up into a brush pile. I have found a few bucks where all I could see was part of the rear end sticking out of a wood pile
 
Walk a perimeter and grid walk the middle. Start with a couple hundred yard square and walk a line every 10 yards or so. That is about 3 miles, should take maybe an hour and a half? If he's not there, expand. Look under every piece of thick brush that you can. Look at both sides of logs etc. Good luck!
 
Yeah he's going to be I some thick stuff. He didn't swim the creek because you broke a shoulder. It's amazing that I swear that's a picture I took too. Unfortunately I pushed mine thinking she was dead soon after. I'd recommend finding a smart dog and takin a walk.
 
Many people concentrate on looking for wounded deer near water. I know that sick (eg. hemorrhagic disease) deer go to water because of fever, but I strongly suspect that wounded deer are found dead near water because as they get weaker, it is hard to go uphill & easier to go downhill. Frequently the result of downhill ends in water. I know the last bad, but fatal hit I had was tracked to a creek bed that he couldn't get out of. Don't think he was going for water just ended up there. Don't mean to change the subject, just throwing it out there for thought.

Good luck finding your buck!
 
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