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Iowa Outdoorsman

Iowa Outdoorsman

New Member
Ok, I bad a terrible shot on a huge buck. Not exactly sure what happened, but I gut shot him. I was running a camera and was able to tell that he was bleeding badly and had a huge chunk of flesh hanging. I sat in my stand an hour after he walked way and the I walked back to my truck (opposite direction) and left, not returning for 7 hours. I had great blood for a few hundred yards. He washed off in a river and then it started drying up on the other side to the point where it just disappeared. This animal spilled several pints of blood and I even found stomach content in some of it, but 2 days later I have not found him. How far will he go? Is he likely to circle back at all and head back to where he normally hangs out? Any suggestions?
 
By your description, I'd say he's dead by now. Pretty much the standard answer is to look for crows, possibly eagles....listen for coyotes at night and grid searching. Check by water because they get thirsty when septic.
 
He was on a creek when I lost his blood. In doing some aeriel study, I have found 2 ponds within a couple hundred yards of where I lost blood. Both are at the ends of smaller finger coming off the main draw. Should I look around those ponds?
 
I would say yes, check around the ponds. I gut shot a deer back in '03 and found him dead after 7 hrs. in a creek so they do go to water.
 
1. Look around/in all water withing a half mile of the spot.
2. Check the thickest cover you can find near water.
3. Look some more.
4. Look for crows, hawks, eagles, vultures, and listen for coyotes.

He should be dead, you just have to find him. Hang in there.

Matthew
 
A friend of mine gut shot a deer a couple weeks ago on a Saturday moring about 7:30am.We found the buck Monday afternoon.It was dead but hadn't been for very long.There was blood bubbling out of the exit wound when I walked up on him.But he was only a 1/4 miles or so from where he was shot.
I never did believe much in watching for coyotes and crows thing.There is enough dead animals on the highway to keep them busy.
I would look in every thick place in the area.Around every pond,creek or river.If you don't find him doing that,look again.A gut shot deer is going to die,you just have to find him.Good luck
 
Thanks guys. Hey Archery, were you guys still on blood when you found the deer monday afternoon, or were you just looking in places you thought he might lay down?
 
Iowa Outdoorsman said:
Thanks guys. Hey Archery, were you guys still on blood when you found the deer monday afternoon, or were you just looking in places you thought he might lay down?
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doesnt help now, but next time give him a lot more time. 7 hours is at an absolute minimum 5 hours to short of what you need. Always go next day weather you shoot him in the morning or the evening. I prefer 18+ hours, but thats just me.

Good luck. If you look hard enough you will find him.
 
keep looking

Talked to a guy tonight that found a buck he shot during early mzldr. Said he loked hi and lo, in and out, everywhere. Except one spot. Said he thought it would never go out there. Guess where it was. Been 5 or 6 weeks now, but he found it yesterday......... keep looking, no spot is too unlikely to search. Good luck!
 
I've gut shot two through the years, and found them both in the water after a day or so. I also liver shot a deer a few years back. I found him over three weeks later. There was an area with a lot of blow downs along a river, and there was no way to check every one of those. I waited until a hot late Nov. day with a heavy east wind, and my nose actually found him. There was no way I would have ever found him because he had crawled up underneath a pile like a rabbit. I did tag him, took the rack, and still have the memory, and the lesson.
 
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