Thanks fellas!


I’ve got us another story……

One of the tracks from a few weeks back was for Super Tree Farms Guide Service in Union Springs. You can find them on Facebook if anyone is interested in checking them out or booking a hunt…. It was opening weekend of gun season to be exact. The buck we tracked was a high back shot that did the classic “hit the ground then get back up and run off”. We tracked it for a pretty good ways before calling it off after finding blood high up a some sedge grass that confirmed the high hit we suspected.

Well, Kent called me this morning and said… “You’re not gonna believe this……I was sitting in that same stand yesterday afternoon when I heard the craziest bunch of crashing around down the holler from me.” He said “ I thought it had to be two bucks fighting.” Well, this morning he went back to the same stand again and noticed some dogs coming from that same area where he heard the two bucks fighting the evening before and decided to just walk out in there and check it out. I guess what he had heard the evening before was not two bucks fighting but rather the buck he had shot trying to fight off a pack of dogs.

The buck had been seen on camera numerous times prior to being shot but hadn’t showed back up since. It makes me think he was staying bedded up and barely moving around within a small area. It makes sense when you think about it. The more an injured deer like that moves around, the more he exposes himself to predators…..just like the pack of dogs. He was found with his head locked in a group of saplings and had to be cut out. Somebody said earlier in this thread that they thought these types of wounds might eventually die of infection. This story makes me wonder though if nature ever lets it get to that point. The severe wound is likely making them a marked target for predators. It’s like blood in the water…..

This was sho nuff a crazy ending to this story. Shot opening weekend....recovered this morning.

Heck of a buck. Keep the stories coming.

Wow, and seeing where the deer tore up that ground fighting off those dogs!

One of the bucks we found a couple weeks ago that I suspected of being chased by yotes had his head locked in some bushes as well. They must be putting their heads on the ground trying to gore the dogs and eventually mess up and tangle them in the bushes. They have to be running them up in there with some extreme force to wedge them to the point of having to be cut out. We didn't have to cut the one we found but it took two of us to bend the tension off the bushes and get it unstuck.

Here’s one more pic of the buck from the story. I talked more with Kent this afternoon about what possibly might have happened. He said that when he finally got the deer unhung from the trees that it wasn’t even stiff yet…..which means that it hadn’t been dead very long. We think now what might have happened was that the noise he heard WAS actually bucks fighting. He said he thinks maybe another buck was fighting with this one and he got his head hung in the process. He also said that he didn’t hear any dogs barking the evening before which you would have very likely heard if the dogs were on him. He thinks the buck stayed hung up in the trees all night and the pack of dogs found him this morning. That scenario does seem a lot more plausible when looking at the evidence. He also confirmed that the original shot was indeed a high back shot just under the skin at the top of the shoulders. It makes you wonder if the shot wound played a role in it or if it’s just a crazy coincidence.

It’s amazing what deer can live thru. The wound on that buck is huge. Glad the guy found him.

I think the dogs ate that hole in him when they took him down. It’s kind of odd though because they typically go for the butt first. Maybe he got gored by another buck and the dogs started at the wound or something. Its a strange situation for sure.

Call just came in......

Hunter reported shooting a BIG buck this morning just after daylight. He said he knocked it down and thought it was dead. He went and got the truck and was driving around to pick it up when he saw the deer walking off through the woods. This sounds like a high back shot but I'm holding out hope that maybe he went under the spine or something. There's not much blood and he was only able to track it a really short distance. We're gonna give it until 11:00 and then track it. That'll give him 5 hrs to hopefully weaken if he's hurt.

To be continued.......

If you shoot a deer and it hits the ground go check it before going to the truck. I don't understand some people.

After reading all these stories of deer dropping and then running off a while later, I now put another one in them when they’re on the ground.

when I was younger I was so scared of a deer getting up after I was thinking it dead. I was so tight wadded and didn’t want to mess any more meat up or waste a round I’d get my pull up rope band tie as many wraps around the deer and a tree. Never drove back to one trying to escape though.

Not much to the follow up story on ths one as expected. It turned out to be a classic back-slap. We tracked it for a ways before calling it off. I almost have to make Otis track these hits now. I think he somehow knows they aren't hit good.


Yeah fellas......if you shoot one and he hits the ground like a sack of taters, you better watch him and keep your gun ready for a little bit. If he starts struggling to get up then put another round in him.

I have also learned to keep the deer scoped and watch for any movement for several minutes. If there is any movement, there is another round headed their way. Too much time, money and effort put into getting one down, only to get one there and have him get up.

Thanks for sharing the tracks; I'm sure the stories help us all as much as they entertain us.

And I literally haven’t ever heard of it happening before this thread. But it obviously happens

I killed 100+ back in my gun days, never backslapped one (luckily)

Will have this info in mind though when my kids start hunting with rifles

I only recall having done it once myself that I remember…..It was a nice 8 point right across the road from jlbuc’s house years ago. I dropped him in his tracks in a cutover. I saw the movement of him kicking around for 10-15 minutes or so but couldn’t see the deer because the understory was too thick. He eventually got still for a while and I started to get down out of my climber. As I was in the process of getting down, I looked over and he was standing up. Before I could do anything he took off…… and that’s the last I saw of him. I didn’t have a clue what happened at the time….. now looking back on it though, I realize I that I likely whacked him across the top of the back.

I get calls on all kind of hits but I’d say this is probably the most common call I get.

Call just came in for tomorrow morning………….

The hunter said that his son shot a GIANT buck this evening. They can’t find any blood but dad said he found what looks like gut matter in the field…They’ve looked for about 50-75 yards and couldn’t find any blood or anything so they backed out. This call sounds really promising if what they’re reporting as green diarrhea looking stuff is really from a gut hit. The deer will hopefully go a few hundred yards and bed up if the yotes don’t get after it. The rain is thinning out for now….hopefully it’ll stay light overnight.

To be continued…….

Got him! Dad wasn't lying either.... he's a toad. Pics to come.

Always curious to see what "Giant" translate into.. Cool awaiting pics.

Waiting for pics and story!