Aldeer.com

Recovering Deer

Posted By: Standbanger

Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 02:31 AM

Toughest, longest, easiest, most insane, they can be bow or gun.

My shortest and easiest bow recovery 15-20 steps heart shot.

Muzzleloader hunting in Jackson County shot the deer at 4ish p.m. loaded the nice buck in truck at 9 p.m. the buck ran off a cliff rough drag.


These are a sample
Posted By: 3bailey3

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 02:34 AM

both xbow kills with a short recovery this season!
[Linked Image]
Posted By: 3bailey3

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 02:36 AM

[Linked Image]
Posted By: 3bailey3

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 02:40 AM

i lost a good buck two years ago, we trailed good blood from right after dark to 9 pm and he cross a highway with no blood. buddy works for the foresty comm. found his horn two years later about 200 yards from where we stopped!
Posted By: Rocket62

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 03:08 AM

2014 in Little Coon Creek Valley I drove in with my truck then hiked up to nearly the top with my Summit climber. That was a 1500 yard hike, up in elevation about 900 ft. I took a big donkey headed doe, about 130 lbs. she ran 70 yards and it took me a while to find her because the blood trail went right through the snow cover. After the snow began to melt off I finally found her.
Anyway, I had to drag her through massive thick two year cutover while carrying my rifle, pack, and climber. I was breaking saplings with my bare hands, stumbling around tripping over limbs, basically tearing myself up. It took me 4 1/2 hours to get back to the truck ith her and my gear.
Posted By: Frankie

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 03:12 AM

Finding deer never been a big problem but getting some of them to the truck was MOFO's.
Posted By: metalmuncher

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 03:35 AM

Easiest with a bow was about 3 feet, straight down. It went down like I'd hit him in the head with a hammer. Drove my truck right to him. The shot was straight down and it spined him.

Honorable mention for easy/bow was the first deer that I killed with a bow. I had gave up on the blood trail and was going to go back to camp and get tracking help. When I approached my four wheeler, my little 6 pointer was literally laying half a step from the back rack.

Toughest with a bow was a 170 lb 7 pointer across the same creek twice, 3-4 hundred yards mostly through a cutover that you had to almost climb through and then a 200 yd. drag uphill. Most of the drag was through the same cut.

I've had a blue million of them drop in their tracks from a rifle shot and a good many that I could drive right up to.

Toughest with a rifle wasn't tough to find but tough to get back to the truck. Several years ago I was on a hunt hunt alone at Choccolocca WMA. All my buddies and my son had to work but I had taken a vacation day to hunt the rut. About 7:20 I shot a buck trailing a doe and a few minutes later a buck chased another (or the same) doe by me and I dropped her too. Only then did I remember that I was about 3/4 miles behind the gate. I had a buck, a doe, a climber, my pack and a ton of clothes to get out. I had them both field dressed by about 8:00am or shortly after and when I got everything loaded in the truck it was well after 3:00pm. I slept real good that night.

My and a friend spent 5-1/2 hours dragging his huge bodied 7 pointer out at Skyline that had dropped off several benches before expiring.

I had killed a 9 not far from there several years before that only had to be dragged about a hundred and fifty yards. Unfortunately it was about 180 feet elevation change. I would climb up a step while my buddy held the deer from sliding back. I'd grab a tree to hold to while we pulled the deer up a couple feet. Then he'd do the same, wash, rinse, repeat. We were much younger then and it still took well over an hour, maybe close to two.

Posted By: foldemup

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 04:32 AM

I shot this doe from 16 yards aiming at its right side. On the way to the stand, there was a doe in the field at 35 yards. I had adjusted my sight for the 35 yard shot, but the deer ran off before I could shoot. I forgot to move it back to 20 yards when I got up in my stand. I somehow shot over the spine and hit the opposite side of this deer and opened her up. She didn’t go far at all, but I called bowtarist to come run his dog for fun.


[Linked Image]

Posted By: CKyleC

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 05:08 AM

Toughest/Longest....

Early muzzleloader in KY, public land...Time hasn't changed yet, so 6:30ish is last light.

Sunday afternoon hunt, all of us have to be at work monday morning. I had just started thinking about packing up and my buddy shoots.

He insisted he hit it, so we continued to look for blood. FINALLY found blood at 8pm. Got the deer to the vehicle at about 10:30.

Got home at 3:30am. Clocked in at 7:30.
Posted By: coach2

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 11:00 AM

Man!!!! You guys are hardcore!!! If it’s not going on the wall I won’t even shoot unless someone is with me!
Posted By: Chiller

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 02:30 PM

Originally Posted by coach2
Man!!!! You guys are hardcore!!! If it’s not going on the wall I won’t even shoot unless someone is with me!


X2
Posted By: Groundhawg

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 03:26 PM

Originally Posted by Frankie
Finding deer never been a big problem but getting some of them to the truck was MOFO's.




"Finding them is easy...." Yep, all you have got to do is shoot them with a .243 using 100 grain Remington core-loc ammo. smile
Posted By: 3FFarms

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 04:43 PM

Someone used to have a sig line that read, “Don’t let a dead deer kill ya.”

I remember being very close to passing out trying to load a big 9 point in a ranger by myself one time. I eventually left him where he was and went for help. Wish I’d known the floorboard technique then.

I’m very selective about the where and how I shoot deer now. Typically the fun ends once the trigger is pulled. My dad had some sage wisdom years ago when he said, “don’t screw up a good hunt by pulling the trigger.”
Posted By: Frankie

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by Groundhawg
Originally Posted by Frankie
Finding deer never been a big problem but getting some of them to the truck was MOFO's.




"Finding them is easy...." Yep, all you have got to do is shoot them with a .243 using 100 grain Remington core-loc ammo. smile


Or a few 357 rifle 158 sp . Just wait for the right shot
Posted By: Frankie

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by 3FFarms
Someone used to have a sig line that read, “Don’t let a dead deer kill ya.”

I remember being very close to passing out trying to load a big 9 point in a ranger by myself one time. I eventually left him where he was and went for help. Wish I’d known the floorboard technique then.

I’m very selective about the where and how I shoot deer now. Typically the fun ends once the trigger is pulled. My dad had some sage wisdom years ago when he said, “don’t screw up a good hunt by pulling the trigger.”


Back then it didn't matter . Big does I'd just gut and throw them on my back. Big bucks I'd gut,, hook up my strap and go . I've dragged some so far the hair got rubbed off

Can't do that now age caught up with me.
Posted By: Southwood7

Re: Recovering Deer - 12/03/22 06:11 PM


I have 2 that were pretty rough and I had to call in help.

First was Dec of 2017. I pulled the trigger on a nice buck at 9am and had him loaded at 115pm. We had to drag him up a steep hill side and could only go about a foot at a time and hold on or he would slide back down.

The second was November of 2018. I shot my biggest buck to date and he ran straight downhill into a bottom and died. This buck was 161lbs field dressed. The shortest way to drag him out was back up the way he ran but the slope was too steep and the wet leaves and rocks made it impossible. We opted to drag him out the long way which was still uphill. I think I had him loaded around 2pm.

I can tell y’all with absolute certainty I would not do either of those drags today.
© 2024 ALDEER.COM