Sat AM I shot my first deer with a bow. Arrowed her just behind the shoulder at 35 yds. She carried the arrow with her for about 25 yds then left it behind. Me and my buddy tracked her blood trail within about 15 mins of the shot. We found where she lay down but apparently we pushed her and she crossed the fence and disappeared into the adjoining property.
Lesson learned! Always give em some time before stomping after the deer, no matter how bloody the trail is!

15 minutes?!!!!!!!!!! I don’t even track that quickly after a rifle shot! Glad you learned a lesson. Although it seems no matter how many times i tell a guest to under no conditions get down and track your deer before I come to you, they always do, and it usually makes for a lot more work or a lost deer. Guess your buddy isn’t a bow hunter either if he didn’t advise you that 15 min was a little quick. My general rule is to not even leave the stand for an hour after the shot. If I’m unsure of the shot 4 hours, or if weather will allow over night

Ouch. Must be a bad neighbor if they wouldn't give you a chance to recover the doe. My personal rule of thumb if I don't see the deer fall is to wait an hour before I get down and check the arrow. Depending on the type of blood on the arrow I'll either proceed from there or back out and wait longer.

I got down that soon just to check the arrow. When I saw the blood I made the error in judgement to pursue it too quickly.
Make that 2 lessons.

Watch it fall=half hour.

Watch it run=hour minimum and look at arrow/sign at point of impact with arrow.

Questionable sign=6-8 hours.

Known poor shot placement=8-12 hours

Thanks Matt
Good advice

FWIW
When gun hunting I've never lost a deer. Lung or heart shots every time. Having never killed one with a bow before, I just got too eager and pushed her. There's nothing to loose by waiting at least an hour anytime.

Other property owned wouldn't let you go after her...???

I know some folks that drop them in their tracks and get relaxed and then watch them get up and get gone.

I shot a nice buck about 4 years ago with my rifle, went bang flop, saw the white on his belly as he laid there . About 1 minutes late reply. , he gone. I still haven’t figured out what happened. Critters are tough.

Great advice right there Matt!

Oh heck no........here we go....I got a feeling someone might find themselves hunting somewhere else next season.....

top cat,
We don't know the property owners. I guess we could have just gone and looked for her but we thought since we dont know them maybe we better not. It was just a judgement call at the time. I HAVE crossed a fence without permission before knowing they wouldn't give it if I asked but the deer was literally only 10 yards away

Sad fact is the places that I hunt is if you wait over night you'll more than likely find coyote leftovers. Wait for the optimum shot angle and practice, practice, practice. Hate to hear you lost the deer.

You likely back slapped him......It's one of the most common calls that trackers get during gun season. Pretty much the same story every time....Deer hits ground immediately....sometimes they flop around....sometimes they don't even move much.....eventually though they get back to their feet and are fine......All that likely happened was that you grazed it across the top of the back and shocked its spine causing temporary paralysis.....temporary being the key word there.



BTW.....I had a hunter admit to me the other day that he was tracking the deer 9 minutes after the shot... …….You pretty much have to make yourself do the right thing in this situation. It's hard to though.....I've chased after them myself in the past.

https://greatdaysoutdoors.com/2018/10/tips-on-tracking-a-shot-deer/

that article came into my Inbox - not sure where it came from (maybe the app from the state of AL for logging kills??) -- anyway, read the "tips" on tracking a shot deer, and esp the advice towards the end -- "new school of thought" ...

I’d have to strongly disagree with that theory. In the vast majority of cases you’ve either mortally wounded the deer or you haven’t. Once the shot is fired, what’s done is done. Getting in behind him and chasing him is not likely going to turn a non-lethal hit into a lethal one. If the deer is mortally wounded then he’s gonna want to bed up quickly. Why not let him do that? All you’re gonna do is push the deer farther and farther away from the hit site by getting on him too quickly. I don’t care if he does clot up or this and that…..if you’ve smoked him through the liver, guts, etc…..he’s gonna bed up and die. If he’s only been scratched up then it doesn’t matter anyways. Most deer that are hit hard will be recovered within 100-400 yards if left alone.

The exception to this rule for me is a leg hit with a gun. Waiting isn’t gonna help with that one. You might as well go in with the dog and see if he will bay up. He may or may not eventually die from his injury but what’s more likely to happen is the coyotes will eventually catch up with him and finish the job.

i agree 100% with your disagreement w/that dude's theory - based on my own experiences, the times i've pushed deer (which i admit i've done a long time ago), it's never turned out well for me ...

I shot giant buck with a messed up rack a few years go. He had an injured back leg that caused one of his beams to grow almost straight out the side of his head giving him like a 30" spread. Anyways when I climbed into this new tree that I was going to hunt it was dark and I didn't climb as high as I thought I did and by the time I realized it I was scared to climb higher because he had been moving through right at first light. Anyways he came slipping in from my 10 oclock really quiet and I didn't see him until he was 15yds out. There was some brush between me and him so I tried to stand up real quick but he saw me anyway and froze. After a minute or so staredown he turned to walk away so I drew and shot him broadside at like 10yds as he was walking. The arrow went in a little far back and high but I could've sworn it still go the back of both lungs. The buck ran out to about 80 yards and stopped with his head down and I thought for sure he was going to fall over right there. But then he walked over to the other side of this log and laid down so I just sat there and watched him through my binoculars. After 45 nerve racking minutes he got his feet under him and slowly walked away. I gave it another hour for him to get settled back down somewhere and then I got down and slipped out the back way home. Three hours later I came back and picked up his trail, arrow looked good, blood looked good, but about 100yds from where he laid down the first time I heard him get up. Backed out for another five hours and came back, lost the trail 150yds from the bed I jumped him out of and never saw that buck again. I had to go out of town that week and was unable to look for buzzards but I know that buck died, where or how much longer is a mystery and I lost that property due to a sale after that season.

I guess the point here is yes let them lay as long as you can stand it and even if the blood looks good you never really know. If I can find one of my old trail cam pics of that buck I'll post it up.

I shot my best buck in leg and like cnc said I had good blood and jumped him 500 yards from where I originally shot him and put him away for good

I never trail one immediately after I shoot it unless I see it fall. Ive always said if they are dead, they'll still be dead in a few hours when I come back. If you gut shoot them, let them lay as long as you can stand it. Ive seen a buck gut shot one afternoon and still be alive the next morning when we found him.