Swampster
Well-Known Member
Been a landowner and deer hunter for fifteen years and gut shot a deer for the first time today. Nice opportunity at about 120 yds facing left, but it must have either moved as I shot or I pulled to my right.
Spent twenty minutes looking and then walked to the house and got the dogs out of the barn. They found it fairly quickly and were giving it a hard time. I was within twenty feet but didn't shoot again because it had crossed my line. The dogs got it moving though and it went through the swamps back on my side. I could hear them fighting and it fighting back for about forty minutes. I finally caught up with them and laid it down with my handgun. I had another thirty or forty minutes dragging it through the brush and swamps with water over my knees in some places. I was a little paranoid about cottonmouths too because I have seen them out in this weather before - stepped on one in January a few years ago.
Finally got it to the roadside where I could get it in a vehicle. It was a mess - the dogs had really eaten up one of the hindquarters.
Field dressed and tried to butcher - eventually gave up after an hour and made dog food out of it. Despite washing for twenty or thirty minutes, there was still blood clots, feces, and bone everywhere in the meat and under the skin. I thought I could save the loins but even there was lots of blood and it smelled to high heaven. Hated giving up on that deer after all the both of us had been through. Looks like the shot entered at the hip and exited in front of the opposite one. I know I'll be sore tomorrow. I know I'll take an extra breath before I pull the trigger again also.
Spent twenty minutes looking and then walked to the house and got the dogs out of the barn. They found it fairly quickly and were giving it a hard time. I was within twenty feet but didn't shoot again because it had crossed my line. The dogs got it moving though and it went through the swamps back on my side. I could hear them fighting and it fighting back for about forty minutes. I finally caught up with them and laid it down with my handgun. I had another thirty or forty minutes dragging it through the brush and swamps with water over my knees in some places. I was a little paranoid about cottonmouths too because I have seen them out in this weather before - stepped on one in January a few years ago.
Finally got it to the roadside where I could get it in a vehicle. It was a mess - the dogs had really eaten up one of the hindquarters.
Field dressed and tried to butcher - eventually gave up after an hour and made dog food out of it. Despite washing for twenty or thirty minutes, there was still blood clots, feces, and bone everywhere in the meat and under the skin. I thought I could save the loins but even there was lots of blood and it smelled to high heaven. Hated giving up on that deer after all the both of us had been through. Looks like the shot entered at the hip and exited in front of the opposite one. I know I'll be sore tomorrow. I know I'll take an extra breath before I pull the trigger again also.
