Need Serious Advice

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BuckHunter511

BuckHunter511

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 23, 2011
Messages
1,064
City & State/Province
Cumberland County,Tennessee, U.S.
Okay, so it finally happened, I missed my first deer. I know that its something that will happen to everyone (I was just thinking on how I haven't done it this morning driving down) :bash: . So the story: I left my apartment this morning @ 2:40 AM after having only a little over two hours of sleep due to work. I make the drive down from Cookeville to Crossville for the rifle quota hunt on Catoosa WMA, I am tired as hell but decided on the drive I would do an all day sit in my favorite (and only good spot) since I hardly have time to hunt because of school and work. I get to my spot after having slight difficulty finding my tree that I always hunt out of. Now, for some reason the tree was a lot harder to climb than I recall (insanely hard bark). I get up in the tree about 40 minutes before day break, I am a firm believer in "early bird gets the worm". Nothing all day, except seeing a hawk nail a squirrel and being fooled by squirrels. Now note that this is a spot where I had multiple legal Catoosa bucks running does left and right the previous year. I had a nice day talking to the Lord in my quiet time and snoozing lightly when the sun was feeling good and warm. I make it all day being very quiet and about 30 minutes before sunset, I hear the uneven footsteps of a deer coming my way. It was a lone doe moving leisurely, but kept checking her back trail. So I know either more does or a buck is following her, so I get my gun up and get ready and sure enough about 5 minutes later a buck with at least 5 points on one side (4 points on one side rule) comes cruising up the trail. He seems cautious, as the wind direction was kind of swirly, I pick the nearest opening and as soon as I see his chest, I gently squeeze the trigger. The deer does not bang-flop, something I have never personally experienced and kicks and runs a few yards, looks back, and then trots off into a very very thick thicket without blowing. I wait 15 minutes and check the spot where he was last standing, and all I can see is that the leaves are disturbed from him jumping and running. There was no blood or tufts of hair. Now the reaction of him was something that hints that he was not wounded, and upon walking up to the spot there were a few twigs that I did not see that may have hindered the shot. I got down on hands and knees to check for blood and penetrated the thicket after about 35 more minutes to do a quick zigzag search to make sure he wasn't dead. So my question to you guys is do you think there is a possibility of a hit? Also, what would be the chances of seeing deer in the same area tomorrow? It's my last day off work and I am wondering if it is even worth the sit if I blew my hunt like this. Sorry for the story, I had to recreate it via a keyboard to give you guys the same picture I have in my head.
 
I wouldn't worry about running him off. He doesn't know he was being shot at. As far as the hit goes, it sounds like a clean miss.
 
rem270":a3b5ajkj said:
I wouldn't worry about running him off. He doesn't know he was being shot at. As far as the hit goes, it sounds like a clean miss.
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Completely agree. Gunshot, thunder, they don't know the difference.
Hit it again Sunday.
Good luck, I bet he comes in again tomorrow. 8-)
 
My advice is serious. It may or may not be worth anything. :D

Yes, hunt the same place tomorrow unless you have another spot that would be better. Your activity there today isn't a factor.

About the shot. The deer kicking like that makes me think that you hit it. It's really hard to say. The angle of the shot and impact point are factors that affect whether he put down blood or if the blood just built up on the inside. I've seen deer kick and jump forward a few steps, then stop and look around before flopping over. Another clue is whether he ran with his tail up or down. These are not hard fast rules, but if threw his tail up and ran he probably was not hit. If his tail was down and possible flicking, he is more likely to have been hit.

How far did you search? I know that you don't want to disturb the area tomorrow if you are hunting there, but a more extensive search might turn up something. Last week I recovered a buck that ran hundred yards without putting a down a drop of blood. It's amazing that they can do that.
 
I would go back again. I also wouldn't discount a good shot being put on that deer. A lot of ML bullets rapidly expand and do not exit. I've had some not bleed for the first 30-40 yds and fall within 100. With today's wind a tuft of hair may have been blown a good ways before it reached the ground. A kick can mean a hit. Most deer living have never been shot before and may act as if nothing happened. I've shot a deer eating that went right back to eating. While I was scratching my head it fell over dead. Rare, but possible.
 
Urban_Hunter":2329zi2b said:
I would go back again. I also wouldn't discount a good shot being put on that deer. A lot of ML bullets rapidly expand and do not exit. I've had some not bleed for the first 30-40 yds and fall within 100. With today's wind a tuft of hair may have been blown a good ways before it reached the ground. A kick can mean a hit. Most deer living have never been shot before and may act as if nothing happened. I've shot a deer eating that went right back to eating. While I was scratching my head it fell over dead. Rare, but possible.
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Wow.. That would be crazy!
 
Buddy shot one yesterday and it kicked its hind legs then walked around like normal then paused and was flickering his tail while it was down then just feel over. I'd look some more bubba!
 
Your scent in the area disturbed it more than a single gunshot especially if you did extensive searching. It's human nature to want to go back to a successful spot but I would hunt elsewhere and then return midday to search more extensively as others have suggested. Check for a limb or other obstruction that might have affected the bullet. If you had a good sight picture when you squeezed the trigger then either you hit him, the gun is off or the bullet was obstructed. Best of luck.
 
I shot a buck last year with a 30-30, first time he was about 20 yards he jumped and ran about 10 yards and stopped. He looked around and I thought how could I have missed. I shot again and he ran off over the hill. He still didn't act like he was hit but I couldn't believe that I missed him that close. I waited about 30 mins and checked both areas where he was standing when I shot and found nothing, no hair, no blood. I started searching in the area he ran and ended up finding him about 80 yards away with two bullet holes on his right side and no exit wounds. He had just a tiny bit of blood trickling from one hole and nothing from the other. All the blood was inside his chest cavity.


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A jump or kick is a pretty realizable indication of a hit in the vital areas.

As mentioned before, rapidly lethal bleeding can occur INSIDE the thoracic (or abdominal) cavity and never make it to the ground.

I wouldn't rule a dead buck out.


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When a deer "kicks" at the shot it usually indicates a hit. A wounded deer doesn't always bleed immediately sometimes very little blood from a fatal hit. I'd still be searching...........
 
Absolutely the possibility of a hit. A mule kick usually means a dead deer somewhere. You get the "bang-flop" with high shoulder shot placement that strikes bone. Otherwise they are gonna keep going. I've had wound channels block up on the off side, and had bullets lodge in the off shoulder and had little blood for a good while as the chesst cavity has to fill to the entrance wound first.

Always assume a hit on any shot unless it's obvious you struck something else. Spend an hour at least searching for blood and sign before declaring a miss. We owe this much to the animal when we decide to take it's life. If you can't find blood, grid search in the last direction you heard or saw the deer go. Follow the disturbed leaves. They tend to run downhill and bury up in cover when hit. The first doe I shot this year bled very little. I finally was able to find her 2 hours later after grid searching. She had bled into the abdominal cavity and barely leaked a drop on the ground.

You probably need to check with the area manager too. I don't know how you check in/claim a deer recovered after the quota hunt is over.
 
The question that pops out for me is when you said the deer was approaching and as soon as you saw his chest you fired. Does this mean you fired into him facing you... like through the front of his chest rather than a broadside shot? And was this with a muzzleloader or high powered rifle? With a muzzleloader I've seen more deer hit and lost with this shot than I've seen recovered so I consider that shot a no no. I even hesitate to take that shot with a high powered rifle. I can understand the surge of adrenaline seeing a deer approaching then antlers then the sensation to shoot but if that deer is walking towards you I'd advise you to hold off on the shot. If he's not aware of you there he's probably going to afford you a much better odds of a killing shot during his approach. That being said most of the time at the shot a buck will do some kind of a kick when hit. Otherwise they will just whirl and run. If hit they generally won't leave much blood if any.
 
I shot my buck Thursday with a 250 gr Barnes TMZ at 25 yards and didn't get pass through. It ran about 100 yards with only 1 pin drop of blood on the trail. Didn't help that I shot the point of the shoulder but I was surprised.


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Well guys, I got in there this morning and hunted and had some does and a spike come through. I got down around 2 PM and went into the thicket ( a 10 year old clear cut) and grid searched for a good hour and a half. There were no disturbed leaves indicating a struggle or a hard run nor did I find any blood. To answer a few questions, the shot was a broadside shoulder shot through a hole in the brush. The weapon was a 7mm Rem Mag with the hornady american whitetail loads. I couldn't find any sign of a hurt deer anywhere. It bothers me that there is still a chance he is dead, but I covered the area hard and thoroughly and found nothing to lead me to a dead deer. plus its a good 60 acres or more of old clearcut regrowth, so it was hard to isolate an area to search, I just made a grid pattern of the general direction I last saw the deer head.
 
You tried. Unfortunately this sometimes happens. Maybe you learned some things that will help you in the future. Hope you have a great rest of the season.
 
Sounds like a miss to me, 7 mag to the shoulder will leave some kind of sign at the very least.
 
Probably hit it if you see the kick. Shot a doe a week ago, first time with ML. Because of the smoke, I could see the deer after the hit. I went down right away, was expecting to see no blood. Walked 50 yards to finally see blood. Lost blood trail because didn't bring my TP with me, went back to stand to start over. Found spots, and tons a blood, finally saw a whole bunch that was smeared then nothing. Searched 2 hours found nothing. My lesson learned was I searched way too soon and bumped the deer, was a liver shot I think. I went with the thought I missed it. I should have waited a good 30min, would have recovered it.
 

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