Will a spooked/shot at buck return to the same area?

[dpr64]

Missed on a long shot (350 yard) this morning and thought I hit it.. Waited, nothing showing so I moved up to where I last saw the nice coues buck and low and behold, jumped him! I had to run to a clearing and tried a running 40 yard shot but missed. No blood anywhere, not a drop.

 

Question is, will he return in the next few days or head for the next county? Wondering if I will waste my time if I go back next week?

Thanks for any info!

[TexasHunter]

I missed a buck one morning and shot him on the next hill over the next.

[dpr64]

My legs are way too bad to do a 'lot' of hill traversing... I am shot after about 1.5-2 miles of up and down and had to turn back before I ran out of steam..

[ready2hunt]

In my experience, spooked or wounded, as long as you are not pushing them, they will only run as far as they need to create distance and find shelter to hide in. There has been many time I seen them jump, sprint or bounce to the next hill and then go into stealth mode and walk another 100 yards. I think they do that because they know they can't see you and know your far away but are unsure of danger up ahead. Give it some time and glass at dusk and dawn in the area. If it's not dead i'll bet you find it again within a mile.

[dpr64]

So another few outings in a couple of days might pay off? It is not wounded, just spooked/alerted!

[lancetkenyon]

Just because you found no blood does not mean he is not wounded. Just saying. Unless you can see torn up ground from running hoofs and know exactly the path he took for at least 50 yards, you might easily miss blood.

 

The 350 yard shot, no sweat. I would think he would stick around. The pushing him and then 40 yard shot as he was running, scared the crap out of him. I have seen them stay within a mile, but I have seen deer run off into the sunset as well.

[QCwtAddict]

I missed my buck last year and he showed up in literally the exact same spot the next day. But the buck did not know where the shot came from and we did not jump the buck.

[SunDevil]

shot one of two bucks one evening several years ago. accidentally shot the small one. bigger buck was right back in the exact same spot the next morning!

[Eagle mountain ranch]

Yup I've shot a coues deer at one of our favorite glassing spots, went in the very next day and my hunting buddy shot his, same spot I shot from. Mule deer seem to push to the next zip code it seems though in my experience. Goodluck keep at it.

[mattys281]

He'll definitely be back, unless you spook him out for a few days in a row. Deer have escape route to evade predators, so when it works it only reinforces that they're onto a good system.

[metau]

The only Coues I have shot was with my bow. The bush he was standing in front of when I arrowed him was the same bush I found my arrow in the weekend before when I missed him.

 

Don't push them and they will hang around.

[swcruiser]

Also depends on the country. If its a sanctuary for the buck and he cant go to far without running into crowded territory its likely he will be back. A single distance shot doesn't usually send them running unless they can figure out where the round came from. 350 is kind of middle territory though. Did he run right when the shot wouldve hit? Seems strange he wouldve let you get within 40 yards before he bolted.

[Zeke-BE]

Ive seen them stay on the same hill before. The most Ive seen them spook is 700 yards as the crow flies but but and over that huge hill. Only one time did we scare them that he kept running and running, down in the flats and he kept going out of sight from my old 10x binos back in year 1999.

[wildwoody]

He'll be around.now this is what this site is about, hunting talk not arrogant BS. Love everyone experience's