Took a doe for meat at first light on opening day and just as I squeezed the trigger, she took a weird turn and I gut shot her by accident. Good blood where she went down initially but none anywhere else. She made it to the swamp and it took me three hours to find her. When I did she was partially eaten and completely covered in huge black flies and maggots.

I field dressed her and washed and washed her in the creek but to no avail. I had to leave her.

I am just so sick and so sorry I treated any animal like that.

Damn are you sure it was the same deer? Three hours isn't very long and it wasn't that warm

That's what my wife said - I had mosquitoes on me before daylight. I would have never believed it if I hadn't seen it. That swamp is really full of bugs.

Can maggots even hatch that fast?

While that seems to be on the far side of the spectrum, chit happens.

Go kill another one. You didn't mean to do it. The end you gave her probably wasn't that different from the one Mother Nature would have handed her anyway.

No. 2-3 days.

Look it sucks but is unfortunately part of it. You shoot enough of them you are going to lose one eventually.

We try everything in our power to avoid it, but sometimes it happens.

Buddy I think you found someone else's deer

Dang hate that. Get up in the saddle again screw ups happen.

That wasn't your deer I'm guessing.

I've lost 2 in my lifetime. It makes you sick but it will happen if you hunt enough. It's just part of it. You just do all you can to avoid it and keep on trucking.

most definitley

This.

Better go get your deer

" The flesh fly is found near carrion, excrement, and decaying organic matter. It has a characteristic checkerboard pattern to the abdomen and has 3 dark stripes on the thorax. These flies can get quite large. Instead of laying eggs, flesh flies give birth to live maggots, which are either deposited or dropped mid-air. I was once standing in a motel room in Costa Rica and a flesh fly deposited a larva on my arm. Within less than a minute the larvae began to attempt to bore into my skin."

Quoted from entomology expert witness site.

That's it! I'm staying the hell out of Costa Rica!

There were no other hunters around and no one shot anywhere around me. It was my deer, I am completely certain of it.

I've killed dozens of deer and helped recover hundreds in my 48 years and am very experienced. I was just about to go get the neighbors dog to recover her when I finally found her.

I think I'd give up Costa Rica, not hunting!

Some flies lay live maggots that eat immediately.

Could you see a bullet hole?

Oh yeah. There was a clear entrance and exit hole with the contents of her stomach on the outside of her left side.

Stuff happens man. I shot one last year too far forward and down. I pretty much blew the left front leg off and it was hanging by a thread of meat. Found her and put one between her eyes with the pistol. I felt pretty much the same way you did.

If you hunt long enough, you will lose one eventually. Don't worry about it.

You found somebody else' deer. No way a deer got maggots in 3 h. Either way, she will feed lots of animals and keep the food chain going. It is a crappy feeling though.

yep, that's just part of it......but IMO that wasn't your deer.

The deer you found was killed several days before you found it.
May not have been shot on your property either.

shake it off, it's probably happened to every deer Hunter out there, if not it will eventually. it's just part of hunting. you said it in your original post, " it was an accident".
get back in the saddle cowboy

You found a doe that had been dead for several days. No question about it.

Rather by your hands or not, deer die horrible deaths. They don't grow old and die in their sleep on the recliner. Cold weather, starvation or being eaten alive by yotes. Being gut shot was probably a "Good Death" compared to how lots of them die.

Not to mention what the aliens do to them.

I'm not so sure...About 1Oyrs ago me and a friend both killed deer on a bow hunt one morning in Marion (Perry Co.). It was one of those cool morning but hot days in early bow season. We took the deer back to camp, hung them,skinned them both washed them off. We went inside for about an hour to grab something to eat and when we went back there were yellow jackets and big black/green flies all over both deer. The flies had already "blown" both deer and there were egg sacks and tiny maggot crawling on both deer. We discarded both of them since they were covered. Wold not have believed it either had I not seen it.

Since you've givin up hunting do you mind if I hunt your spot?

No doubt

Shake it off and move on man chit happens. Dont beat yourself up over it.

No, they cannot.


Chit happens. Move on and get over it. Practice your shooting. They're animals, not humans. There will be other deer and the one you shot will be consumed by other animals and nature.

chit happens dude, get over it. Nobody likes it when it happens but it happens. Don't beat yourself up, let it be a lesson and move on. Don't quit doing something you love to do. If we didn't hunt and reduce populations, deer would die a lot worse death than that. Get back to it as soon as you can

Goose.....is dead. Ya gotta let him go.

Did you see where Val Kilmer has signed on for the Top Gun remake. Sorry...taking a slight diversion.

a Top Gun remake?!?! NO! thinking you can improve on the original is like thinking you can remake the Mona Lisa or the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel...you can't possibly improve upon it.

That director will be writing a check that their actors can't cash.

To the OP, I shot a doe beginning weekend of bow season and hit her high. Found two drops of blood before losing her in the overgrowth. It sucks, but it does happen.

Wow you just took Trumps 'all Mexicans are rapists' to a whole new level!

I wouldn't lose sleep over it. Get back in the woods and mow one down.

Thanks guys - I appreciate the sentiment.

Thanks guys - I appreciate the sentiment.

It was his deer. Stuck a doe with a crossbow about a month ago. Hit her kinda back so I decided to give her a couple hours. By the time I found her 4 hours later, the yotes ate part of her shoulder and she was covered in flies and fly larvae. Cleaned her quick, meat still smelled fine, she's been mighty tasty. Here's a pic:

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Like everyone else said it happens you shouldn't like it but as long as you did everything you could to recover the deer there is nothing else you can do, except go shoot another one.

I know it makes you sick, but that's part of it. I've lost a few over the years.

If you sell your stuff(guns, climbers, ladder stands, i got first dibbs.

It happens. Don't give up just practice on your shooting if that was even an issue. I've lost several over the years mainly due to being impatient or something between me and my target like a small Branch.

You probably should give it up if it bothers you that much. Just stick to meat from the store. None of it ever suffers before it's put in those plastic packages.

Asking for a friend, if you give up hunting can he turkey hunt your places?

not same doe

Man you say your an experienced hunter so you should know of dozens of similar stories. Most hunters try to make clean shots but its nature, your in the wild and nothing is granted. She made a last second turn and it was a bad shot. Its not like you were careless about it. You needed to be back in a tree about 45 minutes ago.

Not the fence jumping kind. The flying saucer, Fire in the Sky, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alf , Mork from Ork type.

This is the reason I cannot wait for one to die out after I shoot it. No telling what else will get to them before you do. Not to mention I like to get on their trail before they get half a mile away and you cannot hear them crashing.

Dang it I would probably just quit shooting does not hunting.....shooting a doe like that probably has given you some bad mojo

Before I shower you with "don't quit, it happens to everyone" support....

Lease location and price?

You're not a very good shot are you?

God Bless,
David B

Happens to the best of us. Don't let it make you quit.

Sounds like a troll. OP, you're pretty mature in age to just fall apart emotionally.

"The swamp is really full of bugs.", you said. Well, yeah. So are planted pines and other types of terrain. Are you that inexperienced as a hunter or outdoorsman?

I'm the last one to want to waste an animal (except pigs, yotes, coons & opossums; I chose turkeys over these animals) and really, I don't want any animal to suffer but I wouldn't let such an episode ruin my life and stop me from hunting responsibly.

I still think you threw out a big hook and you're reeling it in.

What I don't get is the "good blood" comment. I've never seen a gut shot deer bleed "good blood". If you do find anything, its usually stomach contents or bile.

That's the part that throws me off.

Yeah, me too Bigbamaboy. Good blood on a gut shot doesn't happen... unless you got into something more than gut.

Troll, imo.

You gonna lose more than one! At least it didn't get hit by a car!

Something be a miss here.

I feel your pain! Where we are if one sits for more than five minutes it's asshole and eyeballs will be buzzard treats.

Many moons ago I shot a doe with my bow. The broadhead (Simmons) cut nearly every rib on her left side in half. She ran a couple hundred yards, at least. I tracked her the last 75 yards by smell. When I found her, her stomach was laying outside her body and had ruptured. She was covered in 1000's of fly eggs. No maggots. She ate just fine.

Thats Awesome, when you sell your stuff price it cheap, it will go faster. If you quit hunting our deer number will go up... Thanks for your support..

Ain't No way I'd ate that chit

We all have made bad shots. A hunter who says they haven't is either a liar or they haven't hunted very long. It's part of it. Shake it off and be ready for the next one. We all have or will loose a critter at some point.

How did the deer's eyes look?

Ditto.

For the record OP, if you're a true hunter, you couldn't give it up if you tried. 99% of us have lost a deer we've hit. 100% of us are still hunting. It sucks but it's part of it.

Dr. B

If you quit, turn in your man card. This thread has too much whining !

Hey, maggot gotta eat too.

Shoulda seen the other side. Guts hanging out where the Killzone opened her up and shoulder gone from yotes. Pulled the backstraps and hams, rest went to the "gut pile". Good eatin!

A. It happens, we've all lost deer...
B. Flies in this part of the world don't have maggots in 3 hrs
C. Shoot better
D. 9 pages of of BS about somebody gut shooting a deer

Probably used a 223, drove a Ford, etc...

Speak for yourself buddy

Our club just lost our 5th good buck of bow season. Lost 5 recovered 0. Pretty frustrating.

People need to qualify before you allow them to cripple or waste your mature bucks. Some outfitters make you prove you can shoot.How many were shot at distance over 25 yds ???>?

I have no clue how many Ive killed...300 or so I imagine...
I can count on one hand the number Ive got blood from and not found, but it happens...I dont like not knowing or finding a carcass later...
To many unknown variables to point anything out, poor marksmanship, miniscule caliber...I dont know...but it does happen...

I would say you guys need some practice. That is not normal.

One was shot at 20 yds head on. Two were 30 broadside. One was 20 quartering toward. Last was 30 quartering toward. None were my shots but I have screwed up too. Makes me sick.

a head on bow shot is a fool. So is a quartering to shot. Those people need to learn when to shoot.

I agree, 100%.

I can't remember ever losing a deer with a rifle, lost a couple with a bow though.

I apologize for starting a stink pile in the aldeer forums - just stating how I felt about an awful situation.

There was hog sign in the area 3 weeks ago but none last weekend. Maybe the addition of a deer will draw the hogs back for a bit.

Dagwood, that is awful and embarrassing as a hunter. Not the fact that you're not finding your bucks but that you've got hunters shooting head-on shots; quartering toward shooter shots. (with bows).

There may be people out there that disagree with me but there are more that do. I'd be pissed if my club allowed a bunch of unethical bow hunters to cripple up many of my club's bucks because they're taking low percentage shots.

Broadside or quartering away are higher odds shot and the type of shot the hunter needs to be patient for.

I am a bow hunter. I have lost deer too and I took a straight-on shot at a deer with my bow when I first started bow hunting and an older, wiser bow hunter scolded my ass for it and explained to me why I should not take those low percentage shots and I got it. I get it now and I don't do it.

Last year I shot an 8 point out of a shooting house around mid morning. I gave him just a little bit gathered my gear and went to find. It had been only 20-30 mins. He had only went about 50 yards. When I found him buzzards were already on him. I have had to run coyotes off, several times, on bow kills that had been shot less than an hour. Speaking about coyotes, I have shot two in two hunts. One white one, late afternoon hunt, that might have weighed 25 pounds and one big dark sucker, mid morning hunt, that would weigh 50 pounds. Carry on. Keep hunting. It happens. Just try to not let it happen very often is all you can do.

Chit Happens....i've shed a many a tears in the woods ....and I hope to shed a bunch more....I'll never give up on Hunting...02