leave them overnight?

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RackRocker

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You see on TV all these sales shows they say "That shot was a little far back let's just leave it til morning". Then they roll up in there and the deer ain't 30 yards from where they last saw it. Are they just that lazy to not go out and check? Half the time they make the call from the stand. You just leave it lay over night without going and at least looking? That just seems like an risk im not willing to take. I shoot deer to feed me not other animals.
 
RackRocker said:
You see on TV all these sales shows they say "That shot was a little far back let's just leave it til morning". Then they roll up in there and the deer ain't 30 yards from where they last saw it. Are they just that lazy to not go out and check? Half the time they make the call from the stand. You just leave it lay over night without going and at least looking? That just seems like an risk im not willing to take. I shoot deer to feed me not other animals.
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Does make you wonder.
 
I don't think they are too lazy to go find it,I think they are truely worried about finding it and don't want to push the deer.But it does make me wonder about the meat spoiling.I've seen them leave deer lay overnight,and find them the next day,looks like the middle of the day,with flys and bugs flying all around,looks hot.And they will be happy as a lark,as long as they found their antlers.They never will mention anything about the meat being bad.
 
I always go look, check for blood and then make a decision. I very rarely wait till morning. Only wait if I have heard or seen the deer get up.
 
It would depend on the weather and predator density for me. I would never eat a deer that laid out all night during our bow season and with rifle or muzzleloader I always just wait 30 minutes.
 
Too many variables to say yes or no for me.

How much daylight is left? temps? certainty of shot placement,etc etc

If the shot is marginal, and the temps are good for leaving it, why take a chance and push the deer out?

I have seen MANY deer never recovered inside a local controlled hunting enviroment because the hunter is excited, and gets down and begins tracking. Pushing the deer rather than letting it bed down and pass.

Most of the shots I see the celebrity "hunters" on TV shoot, and decide to wait for the following day, are good calls on the hunters part!
 
Many times they are hunting Nov and Dec in places where it's cold enough to let a deer expire and lay overnight. Regardless, I doubt most of them butcher the deer and take the meat home even if they find the dead deer right away. I have heard many of them say the meat will be donated to hunters for the hungry or a local food shelter or something like that.

Many times I have seen them leave the stand to go review the video of the shot on a monitor. If the shot looks sub-par then they will decide to wait until morning. If the shot looks good then they will head back out to the field to try and recover the deer that night.

I'm sure those guys are like anybody else who is fortunate enough to take a shot at a big buck. The idea of leaving them alone overnight makes them sick and keeps them up half the night waiting for dawn.
 
backstraps said:
Too many variables to say yes or no for me.

How much daylight is left? temps? certainty of shot placement,etc etc

If the shot is marginal, and the temps are good for leaving it, why take a chance and push the deer out?

I have seen MANY deer never recovered inside a local controlled hunting enviroment because the hunter is excited, and gets down and begins tracking. Pushing the deer rather than letting it bed down and pass.

Most of the shots I see the celebrity "hunters" on TV shoot, and decide to wait for the following day, are good calls on the hunters part!
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this
 
Nhill said:
Most of those guys only care about the antlers, and they will be fine come morning.
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Sadly, I believe this is true. I saw a show earlier this week where the yotes got the deer bc of a marginal (looked like a liver shot) that they waited on. He was pumped when he got to it.
 
If you have seen the Mathews DVD there is a fella who you can see the sweat Rollin off his forehead And he decided to leave his over night. That just ain't right. I don't see that as hunting more as killing and very selfish acts.
 
9 times out of 10 the coyotes get to them first in my neck of the woods. I must say though that worked for me at PI. I gut shot my 10 point at around 3 pm and watched him walk off in the distance. I made the decision to back away and it was a good choice. It was very cold that night and we found him the next morning about 200 yards from where I last saw him. I recovered all of the meat except the inside loins. I must thank
Slaughter-06 for all of the help tracking and searching.
 
Every situation is different and has to be handled as such! I dont like leaving them either, but sometimes its the best choice!
 
I will look at the arrow and decide then. In early season I am less likely to wait than later in the year. But if I preform a bad shot than I feel that it is good to wait until morning.
 
If I was confident with the shot, even a marginal one, I would start tracking and let the sign dictate what I would do from there. All the other advice included, looking at the arrow, how the deer reacted and such. If it's cold like Steven said, I'd be more apt to wait overnight, but I really don't like letting a deer ruin if I can help it at all.
 
All depends on shot placement and how my arrow looks. Like everyone else, I want to see my deer fall within sight.

I have waited overnight one time. It was very cold. I walked in and found the deer the next morning. She had walked a LONG ways before she died.
 
It needs to be cold (30s or below), not just cool, though, or the meat is at risk if you leave it for more than a few hours after a gut shot. A buddy twice let deer sit in 45-50 degree temps and the meat was ruined 12 hours later.

I have gone home, had supper, put the kids to bed, and then come back out to find the deer when I made a liver shot in 50-ish temps. I did not think the meat would keep overnight, but I wanted to make sure to let the deer expire without pushing it around. My brother and I trailed it through the swamp in the dark and found it in its bed about 5 hours after the shot. The meat was fine that time.
 

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