Same ole Story

[rescue2087]

So I shot at a buck this AM around 830, that was running across a field I was hunting, he jumped and stumbled, turned back the way he was going and ran into the woods. I felt pretty good about my shot and went looking for blood a little later, but found none. I walked probably 50 yards to the woods, saw him jump up and move, I went to the area he was and found blood, it was bright red. I decided to leave and come back this afternoon, when I returned and starting following his trail, I'm finding large spots of bright red blood, I tracked surely a mile around the river bank the entire way, crossed the river once found blood, and second time across the river I lost the trail. Anybody wanna give me your thoughts on this, I've got a couple pics, the first one is the initial blood I found and the second was probably 200 yards on down the trail. I found drops along the way and at least 6 larger areas like the pics.

 

[duckduck84]

Any bubbles or tissue in the blood? Shot distance and aiming point?

You said he was running across the field did he stop before you took the shot?

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk

 

[rescue2087]

Running when I shot approximately 110 yards, I felt like the shot placement was good, he jumped, stumbled and turned around. No, I never found any tissue just the bright red blood.

 

[muddyboots]

Bright red blood is usually a muscle hit. Non fatal.

 

[rescue2087]

What I was thinking, I gave up the search after he crossed the river the second time, hopefully he will survive.

 

[duckduck84]

Running when I shot approximately 110 yards, I felt like the shot placement was good, he jumped, stumbled and turned around. No, I never found any tissue just the bright red blood.

Running at 110 yards is a difficult shot. Depending on your point of aim, specific spot vs "the deer", it probably hit no man's land around the low shoulder high leg.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk

 

[GRIT]

It looks and sounds like you hit him low in the brisket to me.

 

[rescue2087]

I feel terrible about it, this has only happened to me one other time in my life, but it's much worse this year being in Morgan Co. and the herd in such bad shape. Hopefully he'll be ok.

 

[duckduck84]

I feel terrible about it, this has only happened to me one other time in my life, but it's much worse this year being in Morgan Co. and the herd in such bad shape. Hopefully he'll be ok.

It happens, sadly. Has happened to me twice as well. At least you gave it a good search and did your best to recover.

Sent from my LG-H820 using Tapatalk

 

[southernhunter]

Just happened to me on a nice mature buck. It's not a good feeling but I guess all we can do is try to learn from it. Likely not we should have done but more likely what we shouldn't have done.

 

[Spurhunter]

My thoughts? You shot at a running deer then promptly went and jumped him up. You got exactly what should be expected.

When will grown men develope enough patience to not run straight to a deer that would probably lay there and die and jump it up? And what happened to only taking ethical shots?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[megalomaniac]

sounds and looks like a hit just in front of the vitals. No way to recover the deer without a catch dog. Coinflip whether the deer will survive or not.

 

[Bone Collector]

My thoughts? You shot at a running deer then promptly went and jumped him up. You got exactly what should be expected.

When will grown men develope enough patience to not run straight to a deer that would probably lay there and die and jump it up? And what happened to only taking ethical shots?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I agree and disagree. There is one thing I have learned in 25 years of hunting and that is there is no right one way to do things. Sometimes the things that conventional wisdom tells us will work fail, and other times what conventional wisdom says will fail, works. Bowriter, when he was here would have said he did the right thing. John was tough to get along with sometimes, but whether you liked him or not, he knew his stuff and had a lot of experience. There is also a thread in this forum, about a book on tracking wounded deer with a dog that, the guy that has tracked a bunch of wounded deer, said go get your deer immediately.

He said, he felt good about the shot, so I think he did the right thing. He said, when he jumped it he backed out, which I also think is the right thing.

Here is an excerpt from the other thread. The OP wrote this and it makes sense (also has a Bowriter reference):
"Probably the biggest challenge to most of our conventional thinking is the idea of "waiting" after a shot. Over the last five or six years, I've stopped "waiting" and unless I'm continuing a hunt attempting to harvest multiple deer, I move quickly. I can remember Bowriter posting about doing this almost 15 years ago and thinking he was crazy. This makes sense, though. I've treated gunshot victims in the field for about 25 years now, I can honestly say I've never told a gunshot victim to get up and run. I've never seen a doctor do that, either. He explains why very well in the book, common sense. If the shot is determined to be a "gut" shot, then you withdraw and wait several hours. Otherwise, track the deer down as quickly as possible."

As for the ethics or lack there of of the shot, that depends on how fast the deer was running. A full out run, unethical IMO. If the deer was running full speed I agree he shouldn't have taken the shot. If it was at a trot, personally i'd try to stop him, but if not, not unethical IMO. He probably just made a bad shot, thats not unethical, just unfortunate.

 

[Spurhunter]

My thoughts? You shot at a running deer then promptly went and jumped him up. You got exactly what should be expected.

When will grown men develope enough patience to not run straight to a deer that would probably lay there and die and jump it up? And what happened to only taking ethical shots?

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

I agree and disagree. There is one thing I have learned in 25 years of hunting and that is there is no right one way to do things. Sometimes the things that conventional wisdom tells us will work fail, and other times what conventional wisdom says will fail, works. Bowriter, when he was here would have said he did the right thing. John was tough to get along with sometimes, but whether you liked him or not, he knew his stuff and had a lot of experience. There is also a thread in this forum, about a book on tracking wounded deer with a dog that, the guy that has tracked a bunch of wounded deer, said go get your deer immediately.

He said, he felt good about the shot, so I think he did the right thing. He said, when he jumped it he backed out, which I also think is the right thing.

Here is an excerpt from the other thread. The OP wrote this and it makes sense (also has a Bowriter reference):
"Probably the biggest challenge to most of our conventional thinking is the idea of "waiting" after a shot. Over the last five or six years, I've stopped "waiting" and unless I'm continuing a hunt attempting to harvest multiple deer, I move quickly. I can remember Bowriter posting about doing this almost 15 years ago and thinking he was crazy. This makes sense, though. I've treated gunshot victims in the field for about 25 years now, I can honestly say I've never told a gunshot victim to get up and run. I've never seen a doctor do that, either. He explains why very well in the book, common sense. If the shot is determined to be a "gut" shot, then you withdraw and wait several hours. Otherwise, track the deer down as quickly as possible."

As for the ethics or lack there of of the shot, that depends on how fast the deer was running. A full out run, unethical IMO. If the deer was running full speed I agree he shouldn't have taken the shot. If it was at a trot, personally i'd try to stop him, but if not, not unethical IMO. He probably just made a bad shot, thats not unethical, just unfortunate.

You can post all the excerpts you want from ONE guy. In my 30 years of deer hunting 95% of the unrecovered deer I've heard about involved an impatient hunter going straight to the deer and jumping him up. And shooting at a running deer is ALWAYS unethical. I know on this forum everyone is PC and coddles people instead of telling the truth but it's time we start calling a spade a spade. I'm sick of logging in everyday and seeing more and more stories about lost deer.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[cbhunter]

Wow......

 

[EastTNcowsNwhitetails]

I think The does are coming back in heat and spurhunter seems to be cycling as well. Back off man hes trying his best. Take it easy. If u dont wanna read about it, dont.

 

[EastTNcowsNwhitetails]

No reason to bash people at all

 

[Spurhunter]

I think The does are coming back in heat and spurhunter seems to be cycling as well. Back off man hes trying his best. Take it easy. If u dont wanna read about it, dont.

Taking unethical shots and then jumping the deer isn't "trying his best" and it's time we start saying it. I was very blessed to have a father that taught me ethical shots and how to recover deer. Everyone didn't have that and until we start calling it what it is they aren't going to know any better.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Spurhunter]

No reason to bash people at all

Not bashing anyone. He asked what we thought. I spoke the truth.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

 

[Hunter 257W]

I've killed at least as many deer running as I have standing - to say a running shot is always unethical simply isn't true. It never occurs to me to try to get a deer to stop when they are running by. That takes time and you don't have much time with a running animal. I swing and shoot. I've never lost one that was hit by doing so and I don't believe I'm all that great of a shot to the point that I'm the only hunter who can do this. There's always a chance of wounding any animal you shoot at so if you want to go that route to define "unethical" then we should all quit shooting at anything.