JJ3
Well-Known Member
My son in law shot his first buck on Wednesday morning, but then we had to work to get this deer. We waited 20 minutes and went to the spot in the field where the deer had been standing, and found good blood. As we approached the edge of the woods, though, the deer got up and ran. It had laid down within 40 yards of where it was shot and there was a good pool of bright red blood. We backed out and waited an hour.
When we started tracking it we tracked for an hour over a half mile with continuous blood into a thicket -- I felt sure we were about to find it -- sure enough we did -- it took off running again. We followed until we lost the trail when it headed across a field at full run. Late afternoon I put them back on stand to hunt, and I decided to keep looking. Wandering around in a wet thicket looking for a needle in a haystack, I found a few more spots of blood 400 yards from where we had lost the trail. I followed a faint deer trail to where it looked like he may have headed out into a neighbors field. I introduced myself to the neighbor when he came out that evening and asked permission to look on his property Thanksgiving morning.
After the morning hunt, we walked out the neighbors field and I found him off the edge of the field in the hedgerow. That deer travelled over a mile from where he was shot and about 600 yards from the last blood spot we had found. Unfortunately coyotes had gotten the hind quarters overnight. But the neck and shoulders were still good. It looks like he only stopped twice after our initial bump and died overnight as the neck meat meat was still warm in the 39 degree temps.
Nice 8pt with 15 1/2" inside spread. Looks to be 3 1/2 from the jawbone. 210 yard shot was low and clipped bottom of left lung. I was surprised he traveled as far as he did with the blood he was leaving behind.
When we started tracking it we tracked for an hour over a half mile with continuous blood into a thicket -- I felt sure we were about to find it -- sure enough we did -- it took off running again. We followed until we lost the trail when it headed across a field at full run. Late afternoon I put them back on stand to hunt, and I decided to keep looking. Wandering around in a wet thicket looking for a needle in a haystack, I found a few more spots of blood 400 yards from where we had lost the trail. I followed a faint deer trail to where it looked like he may have headed out into a neighbors field. I introduced myself to the neighbor when he came out that evening and asked permission to look on his property Thanksgiving morning.
After the morning hunt, we walked out the neighbors field and I found him off the edge of the field in the hedgerow. That deer travelled over a mile from where he was shot and about 600 yards from the last blood spot we had found. Unfortunately coyotes had gotten the hind quarters overnight. But the neck and shoulders were still good. It looks like he only stopped twice after our initial bump and died overnight as the neck meat meat was still warm in the 39 degree temps.
Nice 8pt with 15 1/2" inside spread. Looks to be 3 1/2 from the jawbone. 210 yard shot was low and clipped bottom of left lung. I was surprised he traveled as far as he did with the blood he was leaving behind.
