gut shot? buck

[bobbyo]

You did good not to push him. He will stiffen up overnight he will be limping more pronounced tomorrow, but he will be able to run off on you with three legs. he will just bed sooner. You are going to have to stalk him like an unwounded animal. It would be nice to have a spotter and other shooters. I think with a little help and little luck you will get him. Second shot.

[coueshunter84]

What type of broadhead? I dont know how much blood deer carry in their system.. But you have 750-1000 c/c on the ground if that bone belongs to a full sized cow. Thats alot of blood loss for a human, I would think deer carry less then we do.. So hes going to be weak also. But I would also say venous blood, and more then likely out of his hind quarter. Judging by your story.. Good luck tomorrow, and dont let this get you down.. If you cant get another arrow into him, odds are he will survive.

[longshooter]

Good luck on finding your buck dude.......

[COUESAZ]

I do not know how i did not see that he stood there for that long. But you are right that is not as much blood when you think of it being that long in a spot. I am glad you saw him again. Maybe this next trip you can finish it out. Good luck.

[TREESTANDMAN]

That is a lot of blood for a coues buck to lose. I would guess you cut a good vein or even artery if not some of the gut/liver based on the amount of blood. If it was just a muscle shot it would not have bled that much. I would have guessed him to die had you not said you found him the next day. Good luck on stalking him to finish him off man. I've had the same thing happen and it is not fun.

 

Sincerely,

 

Mike

[Coues Archer]

Hope you find him second shot. I had the same Sh#t happen to me in december at a monster. And is doesnt feel too good well hope you find him. Good luck.

[second shot]

Well it was a good and bad morning. Found the arrow and it was a complete pass through. I'm thinking it's a leg and very low gut shot. The front half of the arrow has very little blood but a good amount of fat smeared on it. That leads me to believe it went though the gut. The back half of the arrow is covered in mostly bright red blood but a little bit of darker blood too.

I had my dad out helping me. We went in from a different direction today because of the wind. We glassed until about 8:30 but nothing was moving. We planned to walk slowly through the area we last saw him with my dad about half way up the hill and me in the small wash at the bottom. At about 10:00 my dad spooked the buck from his bed. I watched the buck run about 200 yards into a juniper stand of about 15 trees. I saw the the wound and it definately went through the front of his back right leg. I had my dad walk down to me to hear what he saw. He said he didn't think the buck saw him but probably heard him because he was walking through some very loud brush. By the way the buck was running he was definately hurt bad. He trotted fine but didn't take off like a bat out of heck like a normal buck would.

So we came up with a plan for dad to get high on a vantage point and glass and I put on a stalk. I went into the junipers at the point the buck did. I was 10 stinking yards from him bedded with a perfect window at his vitals when the wind shifted and he busted me. Had the wind not changed this would be a whole different story. My dad watched him run up and over the hill, marked the point where he crossed and off we went. The other side of that hill was nothing but sparse mesquite and cactus. We glassed for a bit before I started sneaking through the only place there was for him to bed with good cover. He was no where to be found and I was out of time. So now I'm pretty sure he's going to die in the next few days of not sooner. I have to wait for next weekend to go out again and look. If he's still alive then and I get the chance I'll take him, but I suspect I'll be tagging a very stinky rotten buck. Either way I think I'll find him becuase he's not moving far.

Thanks for all your input. I'll definatley post the results of how next weekend goes.

[4Falls]

I for one am glad you are sticking with him. Alot of guys would have given up and moved on long ago.

[GameHauler]

What about blood in his beds where you jumped him

or on the trails to or from the beds?

I still feel he is not hurt that bad but may be way wrong.

I gut shot animal is so sick they just do not want to run

and you should see him hunching.

Him not running like a bat out of does not concern me either

and the fact your dad jump him from a ways away also

leads me to not think he's gut shot.

I would think he would have stayed put till the last few feet.

 

I don't know Buddy.

Good Luck

 

[second shot]

My dad didn't find where the buck was bedded before he jumped the first time. After I spooked him there was a small pool of blood about 3 inches across. It was darker red but that may have been because of the dark dirt it was on. We went where he was bedded yesterday afternoon and it looked as if he'd stopped bleeding because there were only drops lying around. It was like he circled a few times before lying down. My thought about the blood today was that him running opened up the wound/s again. Without getting a look at his left side I can't be sure if the arrow just passed through his leg or went leg then gut. When I hit him yesterday, and he jumped the arrow was definately sticking out his right side, I don't know how it passed all the way through unless it still carried momentum as he jumped in the air. I thought yesterday that it surely would have fallen out the way it went in. I'm not giving up hope that he will be alive when I find him next weekend. But he sure is in a bad state as of now.

[coueshunter84]

What type and size of boradhead did you hit him with? If it was one of the small ones like the rocket ultimate steels then the wound is not as big and more likely to clot off faster, even with sharp heads. If its a big Vortex 125 with the 3" cutting surface then I would expect him to be dragging guts if you hit guts. So that might hel in determining if what all you hit.

 

And good job on not giving up.. You have stuck with it longer then most folks would have, and if nothing else you will end up tagging him out of shear persistance.

 

I hit one last January and "lost it" I hit him way far forward and the arrow went through the front of the left leg skimmed across the front of the brisket and never touched the right leg.. Also never made it into the thorax.. I had about 300cc of blood on the ground and a decent trail for about 45 yards.. Then nothing.. I spent almost 28 hours total looking for him.. A friend of mine seen him in the same spot again 2 weeks later sporting a big scar across his chest and pushing does again.. On the initial shot he was quartering away a little to much when the arrow hit.. I hit him with a First Cut one of the big 2 blade expandables. I had just a little blood on the arrow , a little fat and some muscle tissue. He jumped like he was heart hit, ran about 20 yards, stopped, and then swayed like he was going down. He caught himself and stood still for a few minutes and then started licking the wound. Every time he came back up from licking the wound his muzzle was covered with dripping blood. I would have shot again but he made it out of range by the time he stopped.. And I didnt have any reason at the time to think he wasent going to go down any second.. We sat and watched him licking his wound for about 20 minutes, I decided to get closer and see if I could get another arrow into him. He spotted me this time and by the time I got within range again, when I released he jump out of the way and ran off. I backed out and waited another 3 hours before going back in.. I still thought I had a good hit on him. We followed the blood out and lost the blood trail after a while. and ended up following tracks to the spot where he finally bedded. We had pushed him up again.. This time only a small pool of blood in his bed, and like yours still venous blood. And no blood trail to follow this time. We back out and came back early the next morning. Nothing was found of sign after that. We covered the whole hillside and everything on all side of the hill. About a mile square in a grid by the time we were done, and nothing.. I went back to the spot where I shot from and where he was standing, and strted looking at everything closely. I found his tracks where he dug in and ran after the hit, and got an angle from that. And things came in to perspective after that. To it being a way far forward hit. Also add the arrow and what was on it, and all the other evidence.. I like you had to work the next day and was not able to get back until the following weekend. I passed a couple of shots the next weekend due to still trying to find him. The season ended and I was not able to get back out.. My friend who lives in the area was out the following weekend and spotted him again.. Pushing does again like nothing was wrong at all. So I got lucky.. Hopefully your will either turn out wearing a tag or like mine.. Those are the 2 best outcomes.. And with your persistance Iwould bet the first option..

 

Keep it up and good luck.

 

Shane

[mr.smith]

It's possible the arrow fell out and that the blood along the length is from runoff. If that is the case I would think you only hit leg and maybe the pelvis which stopped the arrow. Deer carry a lot of fat on the hips and rump. Either way good luck pinning him down.

[TwoGuns]

I agree with Gamehauler, dont think the buck is dying. in my limited experience and opinion. hope you find him again. Did the arrow smell when you found it? Or have any green slime on it? Both would be signs of gut shot.

 

Good luck.

[second shot]

I'm about 90% sure I saw him today. I was walking to the last spot I saw him last weekend and on the way I jumped 3 bucks and a doe together. The buck I think was the one I hit last weekend ran off first. I wasn't able to see him from the side but he had the same size rack with the same busted point. I almost positive it was him but I would have liked to see him from the side. I walked all over the area and never saw him again. I'll get out again to look next weekend, I'd like to be 100% sure, but it looks like you all were right that it wasn't a fatal hit.

Also, I've never seen so many rutting bucks in my life as I saw this morning. Mostly small 3pt's and spikes but one definately stood out. I was glassing behind a group of 3 bucks and 4 doe when I saw a buck chasing a doe. As soon as I saw him I just said "Holy S@#$". He was about 3/4 of a mile away but it was one of those bucks you know breaks 110 without even having to study him. Tall and heavy.

If I don't seal the deal with the deer from last weekend before the season ends, I know where I'll be come August.

Thanks everyone for the input and encouragement last weekend.

Jason

[GameHauler]