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?

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[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.

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[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.

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[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?

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[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?

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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?

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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.

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[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.

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[Spurhunter]

No reason to bash people at all

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

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[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.

 

[Dbllunger]

As far as whether to track or not track immediately, there are arguments I could make for both sides. You do what you feel is right for the situation.

As far as shooting at a running deer for an initial shot, I'm with spurhunter. I can never see that as an ethical shot. I will never do it and I have preached to my sons over and over to never shoot at a moving deer. It just isn't right in my opinion.

The first pic looks like bright red lung blood to me. Maybe a single lung? Who really knows. Take whatever lessons you may have learned and apply accordingly next time. Good luck.

 

[Bone Collector]

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.

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I just responded and tried to say it as nice as possible, but you and a few others have a bad habit of telling it like it is, in a not so nice way. There are better ways to explain stuff. I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to start an argument, but others noticed it too. I have been down this road with you, Setterman, and few others on the turkey forums. Some of you guys think you know everything and no one can tell you different. You may know a lot, but teach people instead of belittling them.

I put part of your post in bold. No one taught me to hunt i had to learn myself and sometimes the hard way. You can tell people they messed up, but calling them unethical and basically implying they are idiots is not the way to go about it. You've been hunting for 30 years, why not say, "hey in the future, you need to try to stop the deer, or not shoot, that is a low probability shot and generally results in a lost deer." Then he learns and does it right next time. Hopefully...

 

[Spurhunter]

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.

You know your opponent has lost the debate when he "throws the baby out with the bath water" (i.e. if one shot is unethical, then ALL shots must be unethical).

 

[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.

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I just responded and tried to say it as nice as possible, but you and a few others have a bad habit of telling it like it is, in a not so nice way. There are better ways to explain stuff. I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to start an argument, but others noticed it too. I have been down this road with you, Setterman, and few others on the turkey forums. Some of you guys think you know everything and no one can tell you different. You may know a lot, but teach people instead of belittling them.

I put part of your post in bold. No one taught me to hunt i had to learn myself and sometimes the hard way. You can tell people they messed up, but calling them unethical and basically implying they are idiots is not the way to go about it. You've been hunting for 30 years, why not say, "hey in the future, you need to try to stop the deer, or not shoot, that is a low probability shot and generally results in a lost deer." Then he learns and does it right next time. Hopefully...

I admit I am not good at sugar coating stuff when talking to a grown man. If something needs to be said, just come out and say it. Men shouldn't get their feelings hurt. Obviously when dealing with women and children, more tact is necessary. I apologize for being so blunt. Nothing personal to the original poster, but this lost deer thing is an epidemic. I believe if you shoot at a running deer or go jump up a wounded deer you are going to lose most of the time. I am not calling the OP an unethical hunter. I am saying he took an unethical shot. Hopefully he learns from that. This isn't wing shooting with a shotgun. It's very difficult to hit a target the size of a deer's vitals at 100 yards when it's moving at that speed. Most of us can't do it, unless we are dang lucky. I was taught to respect the animal I hunt enough to only take ethical shots with a very high chance of a quick humane kill. I have lost 2 deer in my 30 years hunting and it kills me to know an animal is suffering or dying a slow death because of my mistake. I saw a facebook conversation the other day where the participants were laughing at the "tndeer boys" because they have never seen so many lost deer. One comment was "tndeer boys start asking for a tracking dog before their feet ever hit the ground". That's not the reputation we want IMO. Furthermore, no one on the world wide web can help you find a lost deer. I just get tired of seeing "better luck next time" or "it happens" or my favorite "go redeem yourself tomorrow". Just because you go kill another deer tomorrow, there is still a wasted or suffering animal out there. I believe some of us that were raised to be ethical hunters must stand up for what's right and try to eliminate the idea that any shot is worth taking. I'm expecting a bashing so I'll go ahead and pick up some Tuffskin at Walgreens.

 

[rescue2087]

You received a very brief version of my day looking for what I thought was a nice buck, I waited the same amount of time before going looking for the deer as I always would, and when he jumped up and moved, I left the area. I was simply looking for advice on the description of the blood, you haven't got the first clue of what kind of ethical hunter I am. So I'm a horrible person/ hunter for taking a cheap shot at a running deer, geez hope that's the worst thing I ever do. My feelings aren't hurt one bit, frankly I'm pissed off.

 

[Coldfusion]

I don't want to jump in the ethical vs unethical argument on shooting a running deer, but I know for me personally i DO NOT shoot at running deer. I'm sure alot of people here have killed way more deer than me and probably shoot more, but I do shoot ALOT and i don't shoot at running deer. Often times a quick snort will get them to stop. If they won't stop then I'll go after him tomorrow. I have missed deer though and it does suck. Fortunately I've always located all that I've hit. Don't beat yourself up, it's done now just learn and move on.

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[FLTENNHUNTER1]

None of us was there to determine the speed of the deer, what angle the deer was traveling, how well of a rest the hunter had when he took the shot, the particular ballistics of the firearm used, and the hunters shooting skills. I have shot many moving animals but have had many years of practice. If it is a good shot for me I take it. Most of my moving deer shots have been under 50 yards and at those ranges the bullet is there in a fraction of a second and pretty much impacts where you aim with very little lead. I will not shoot at a deer if they are doing that bouncing like a rabbit style running.

 

[duckduck84]

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.

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I just responded and tried to say it as nice as possible, but you and a few others have a bad habit of telling it like it is, in a not so nice way. There are better ways to explain stuff. I didn't say anything, because I didn't want to start an argument, but others noticed it too. I have been down this road with you, Setterman, and few others on the turkey forums. Some of you guys think you know everything and no one can tell you different. You may know a lot, but teach people instead of belittling them.

I put part of your post in bold. No one taught me to hunt i had to learn myself and sometimes the hard way. You can tell people they messed up, but calling them unethical and basically implying they are idiots is not the way to go about it. You've been hunting for 30 years, why not say, "hey in the future, you need to try to stop the deer, or not shoot, that is a low probability shot and generally results in a lost deer." Then he learns and does it right next time. Hopefully...

I admit I am not good at sugar coating stuff when talking to a grown man. If something needs to be said, just come out and say it. Men shouldn't get their feelings hurt. Obviously when dealing with women and children, more tact is necessary. I apologize for being so blunt. Nothing personal to the original poster, but this lost deer thing is an epidemic. I believe if you shoot at a running deer or go jump up a wounded deer you are going to lose most of the time. I am not calling the OP an unethical hunter. I am saying he took an unethical shot. Hopefully he learns from that. This isn't wing shooting with a shotgun. It's very difficult to hit a target the size of a deer's vitals at 100 yards when it's moving at that speed. Most of us can't do it, unless we are dang lucky. I was taught to respect the animal I hunt enough to only take ethical shots with a very high chance of a quick humane kill. I have lost 2 deer in my 30 years hunting and it kills me to know an animal is suffering or dying a slow death because of my mistake. I saw a facebook conversation the other day where the participants were laughing at the "tndeer boys" because they have never seen so many lost deer. One comment was "tndeer boys start asking for a tracking dog before their feet ever hit the ground". That's not the reputation we want IMO. Furthermore, no one on the world wide web can help you find a lost deer. I just get tired of seeing "better luck next time" or "it happens" or my favorite "go redeem yourself tomorrow". Just because you go kill another deer tomorrow, there is still a wasted or suffering animal out there. I believe some of us that were raised to be ethical hunters must stand up for what's right and try to eliminate the idea that any shot is worth taking. I'm expecting a bashing so I'll go ahead and pick up some Tuffskin at Walgreens.

I don't want to get in the middle of the other arguments, but I will say this about the Facebook thing. Who cares? The whole point of a forum is to share info and have relevant conversations. I doubt anyone on this forum has lost more deer compared to any other hunters. We are just more likely to discuss it on here and ask for help.

When I started hunting I did not have too many people to call that could help me with anything. The first deer I shot I misjudged the distance and hit low. I had no idea at the time. I was just crawling around looking for this buck that I could not find, but felt I had a good shot on. I was SICK. It was the guys here that helped me track as far as I did and ultimately learned alot about what happened.

Since then I have lost a doe that my hunting partner did jump up and she crossed property lines, we could not get her, and I grazed a doe this year rushing the shot at last light. Every single one has upset me, I've learned from it, and do things different now because of it. Both deer I've shot since the doe early season have gone down in sight, barely even moving from where they were shot.

My point is, you have good arguments to what you're saying, but many of us didn't have fathers, uncles, etc to teach us so we ask here. Nothing wrong with being blunt.i could, however, give a crap less about what some guys on Facebook think. Especially considering I doubt any of them could explain the statistical variances of a heavily populated forum and the successful kill vs lost deer posts to me with mathematical accuracy.

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[southernhunter]

There's a guy that has been on several tv programs, he shoots at running deer all the time with a recurve bow! What is unethical to one may be a chip shot for another. I am not a proponent of shooting at running deer but that's mainly because for me it would be unethical because I am not that good of a shot and I know I'd just wound the animal 90% of the time. Still yet no matter how good we may be human error is always a factor. I wanted to hunt with my recurve this year but I didn't because it would be unethical for me to do so because I don't have the required skill set for it yet and would likely make a unethical shot but lots of guys do so it's ethical for them. It's solely up to the individual to decide what's ethical or unethical for themselves. I doubt any of us can say we have never made the wrong decision before. Learn from it and move on.