Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

any advice? cant find my buck.

livetohunt

livetohunt

Member
i hunted from my blind this weekend and on saturday night i shot a deer. he was about a 150 inch 10 pointer. i shot him at 50 yards with my 50 cal. muzzleloader at about 445. he kicked his back legs and took off hunched over like he was hit. my dad and i waited till 530 then went to look. we followed the blood for about 60 yards then jumped him and watched him run into a very small patch of timber. we heard him in there then it went silent so we slid out of there and decided to come back in the morning hoping he either died or bedded down in there. we came back in the morning and continued on the trail and found his bed full of blood, but then no blood after that. we searched the area all morning until about 1130, and couldnt find anything else. any advice or suggestions on whether you think he is dead or just wounded, or where to go from here. thanks for any input guys.
 
Sounds like he may have been hit a bit far back. If there is any water near by seach by it. If the nearest water is a creek walk in the bottom of the creek and look. If that doesn't work.........watch for the crows and listen for the coyotes. Your buck is out there, good luck.
 
Last edited:
It sounds like a gut shot. He more than likely headed to water because of fever. You will find him in or near water would be my guess. The last time I found myself in this position the buck traveled about 900 yards. Bedded several times, entered and exited a river without crossing and was found in a thicket I had walked by while trailing his tracks only, in snow, to the river. The snow was my blessing. I learned plenty from a tuff trail. I hope you can as well. Stay after him.
 
Last edited:
When a deer is shot in the abdomen, they go into hypertensive shock. This shock will make them feel very thirsty like blake said. I would follow the river bottoms or any place water might be with thick cover. The deer is dead, but hopefully you will find it. Actually, i know you will find it.......i have a good feelin.
 
I live on the outskirts of town and last week the Mayor shot a little buck. Just wanted some meat. Wasnt sure where he hit it. He waited and we started searching the next morning. Big chunks were in the blood for the first couple hundred yards. Then just small drips. Ended up tracking it through my yard and behind a school. Then the blood stopped. Searched the area and found more big chunks along a fence line. Then just small drips and it stopped again. He was going up hills. Down hills. Crawling under fences. We ended up searching about 7 hours and a little over 2 miles. Ended up finding him submerged under water in a tiny creek. All ate up by coyotes. Couldn't even see where he shot it ate. Just search and search and search. What I did was print out a map from google earth. Brough it with me. There was 3 of us and we searched every draw or piece of land there was in the area. After we had grid searched a area we marked it off and went to the next. Worked well.
 
Like Blake said, hit him back and he is dead. Look and look hard, hopefully you can find some spots of blood or another bed and pick up the trail from there.
 
thanks for the advice guys and there is a pond close by i am going to search there this afternoon. my problem is he might have gone onto the neighbors property and he lets NO ONE on there for any reason. so if hes in there im kinda out of luck, but im gunna keep searching the ground i can i hope for the best.
 
technically, its legal to go on your neighbor's property even without permission as long as you are unarmed.. DNR says you need to make every effort to recover the deer.. that may be a whole different discussion whether you want to cause tension between neighbors but it is legal
 
Ditches ditches ditches. Walk ditches in fields and timbers. A injured buck will always run to very thick cover where he can hide. So a deep ditch or a river bank is a prime location for a injured buck.
 
MadisonB&C said:
Don't you need a blood trail to go on a neighbors property, even if you leave your weapon behind?
Click to expand...

Not that I'm aware of. I was in this situation a few weeks back and after talking to the DNR they said it was OK and if I got tresspassing charges put on me to explain it to the sheriff and it'd be fine. I did talk to the landowner and he was OK with it so no big deal anyway. If the landowner in question is going to be a penis I'd talk to both the DNR and the sheriff before you talk to the landowner. You have every right to go look for your deer.

That being said, you are not allowed to keep going back day after day in hopes of recovery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom