Here is the situation. My wife shot a buck that we have on camera yesterday around 4:15 pm. This buck is an absolute stud. If all the folks that gave there guess on his size right he will be between 140-150 inches. My wife shot him at about 75 yards broadside. When I get to the spot where she shot the deer all I can find is about 3 handfuls of brown hair and a chunk of meat. I found hair on the ground and in a bush that was about head high. I know she hit him high. I'm thinking she hit him in the tenderloin or just below. I never found any blood just hair and a chunk of meat. I also found some hair on a tree where he went into the woods. So I know kinda which way he went. My wife says she heard a crash in the woods about 15 mins later in the direction it look like he was headed. We never found him last night and she went back and looked this morning and didn't find anything. My question is do you think that were she hit him was likely a fatal wound. I was just wondering because there is a creek bottom about 400 yards from where she shot him. I was unable to go today because of having to work and am going to go in the morning and walk the creek bottom. She wouldn't walk off in to the creek bottom cause she was afraid of getting lost. What do y'all think?

Seems like a wounded deer will always head for water, might be a good thing she didn't take out after him.
A dog would still be the best tool you could have here.

Sounds like she hit him high with no vitals. Deer probably will live but it won't hurt to look.

yep , she grazed the opposite side of the tender loin . if she was shooting from a tree stand . i've killed a few does that had been shot like this over the years . lol ,,,, one was a high shot with a bow .


good thing is he'll more than likely live .

That's what I figure. I told her that if he's not in the creek bottom he'll live. You know how it goes I got to give it one last look for her.

What was the reaction of the deer when she hit it. A lot of the time a deer hit high will drop like a rock. Then get up and go off to not be found unless you turn a dog loose on it to run it down and bay it. They will survive this type hit unless infection set it. Did you try finding someone with a tracking dog? 40 hrs after the shot is still not that hard for a well trained dog.

Good luck

She said that when she shot he tensed up and took off into the woods. Her exact words were that he tensed and kinda bowed up. He was already fixing to step in the woods when she shot him. so one step and he was gone.

Liver/guts if I was a betting man...I missed the top part of the post,what caliber? Sounds like she got him,just won't be any blood.It's happened to alot if not all of us,keep looking through spring.

We finally went back and looked in both creek bottoms and couldn't find him. I'm hoping we find him come turkey season. If not before.