Down in the dumps.

[kenton]

I've always been a believer that if you want praise for success, you have to take the ridicule for failure. With that in mind, I have to admit that Tuesday morning I shot a nice whitetail buck (150") and couldn't find it. I think I hit him a little high and spent all day tracking and looking through all the nearby bedding areas. I think its been 11 or 12 years since ive lost a wounded animal so Im pretty disappointed in myself.

 

[406LIFE]

I'd suggest you get a tracking dog. I think because of the size of the deer it'd be worth it. Sucks to loose any animal. I haven't lost one in several years, but I still think about it. It was "just" a doe, but a life I took and couldn't utilize.

 

[Idratherbehunting]

The largest animal that I've wounded that I couldn't recover to this point was a turkey, and I felt pretty bad. I'm sure there will come a point it happens to me as well. Keep your chin up. I'm sorry.

 

[Irrelevant]

It happens. Just last night four of us sat around a fire and all of us had lost animals. Some it was due to inexperience, others poor shots or poor conditions, other just seemed to be bad luck. As long as you tried to find it, tried to the point of exhaustion (or a bit beyond), no one will fault you for it.

 

[Kevin W]

Hunt long enough and the probability of losing an animal goes up. The part of not knowing the fate of the animal is the worst, I feel for you regarding that. There is always a chance though that the buck survives.
One late muzzle loader season I got a nice 10 point buck that came into our picked corn field to feed acting totally normal, no limps or stiffness. I say that because upon breaking him down to pack out I found green section along one of the backstraps, making that backstrap pretty much totally unusable. At one end of the green was a mass and in it was a mushroomed .30 caliber bullet.
Later on I ran into the neighbors and we traded stories from the deer season and sure enough they had a story of a nice 10 point knocked down as it ran straight away. They tracked it but lost the trail and the buck was unrecovered and presumed dead. I told them my story and while they couldn't positively confirm it was the same buck if i had a 100 to bet you know where my money would be. Hang in there, the buck you hit may be alive today or in another hunters freezer!!! Kevin.

 

[mottlet]

I pulled a piece of an arrow shaft out from between the backstrap and backbone of a buck I was breaking down for my dad last weekend. Dad said he didn't limp or show any sign of an injury, 'cept maybe his goofy little rack. But he was likely just a goofy little-racked buck. If high shots miss the spine and don't get infected, deer seem to recover from them pretty well.

 

[idnative1948]

I pulled a piece of an arrow shaft out from between the backstrap and backbone of a buck I was breaking down for my dad last weekend. Dad said he didn't limp or show any sign of an injury, 'cept maybe his goofy little rack. But he was likely just a goofy little-racked buck. If high shots miss the spine and don't get infected, deer seem to recover from them pretty well.

I will agree with the last sentence here. I posted a pic earlier of the broadhead that was stuck in the tailbone of a little 3-point buck I took during rifle season this year. It was totally healed over by what we quessed was last year.

 

[redwoood]

Its amazing what a whitetail deer can live through. I shot this buck one rifle season with a 270. He dropped in his tracks. When I walked up on where he fell he was no where to be found. A lot of hair and a little bit of blood. No trail to follow and never found him. The next bow season out of the same stand I got another chance at him. The pictures aren't very good but he definitely had some damage to a couple vertebrae. I don't know how he could even walk but he didn't have a limp to speak of. Amazing animals.

Moral is...if you hit him high he just might make it. It happens more often than one would think it seems.

I hope you get another crack at him.

 

[pointingdogsrule]

It will happen sooner or later. If you feel that it was a mistake on your part, then learn from the experience.

good luck to all
the dog

 

[duckhunt]

That sucks but it happens to all of us.

 

[kenton]

Thanks everyone, hopefully he survived. I don't really expect to see him on camera since i haven't seen him at all this year, but last year he was around quite a bit so anythings possible.

 

[LopeHunter]

Nature recovers everything. I take a lot of pride in making a good shot. I spend a lot of time at the gun range. I check to make sure the scope bases are tight, etc. I try to shoot from sticks or use the backpack as a rest. Even so, have ended up with unfortunate results on a few shots. I shoot until the animal is down so that resolves most situations quickly. When a shot is not optimal, bothers me. If it did not bother me, I would stop hunting.

 

[Idahoarcheryhunter]

Happens to all of us at some point, after 8 days of elk hunting this September I finally got a shot off on a nice bull the last morning of season, to this day I have no idea where that arrow landed ( word of advice black fletchings look cool but are very impractical) aka don't run 3 black Blazers because it makes your arrows look cool. Tracked him for half a mile lost blood and looked for the next two days. Punched my Tag and called it. Never easy but it's part of it sadly