Bad hit and tracking…..your thoughts

If you shoot a deer and the hit was not “quite” perfect, lets say liver or guts what would you do? I would say weather warranted leave it at least a couple of hours then go back. We had a situation last night where a buddy calls us to help him track his deer he just hit. He told us it was hit way back. We indicated that he should let it go overnight (was supposed to get down to 47) and we would help him this morning. He didn’t want to do that and was going to look for it right away. We had to drive 30 min to get there. He was out looking when we got there. We joined up and we kicked her up almost right away. We once again said we should wait until morning. But he wanted to keep going. We tracked about an hour and we were still on blood when he just gave up…. I hope he went back this morning but I doubt it. I just think that is wrong.

When in dought back out. He defiantly should have let that deer go over night and he more than likely would have found it in the morning in the first spot you jumped it at.

I agree with Steve… when you know you made a bad shot… back out. A liver shot will kill… it just takes time. More so than not, the first spot they lay down, is where you will find them in the AM Pushing them will expire them also, but doing it at night, is not an ideal condition. I will admit, I am guilty of doing the same about 11 years ago, on a nice buck. If I would have waited, I would have one more on the wall, unfortunately, I got the horns, chewed up, after the neighbor found it in his cornfield with the combine … a month later….

If i know i smoked a deer but i didn’t hear it go down, i still wait about 2 hours If its a gut shot, the best thing is to wait either over night, or if you shot it in the morning go and look for it around noon or there after. The deer will die!! bumping it out of its bed declines your odds of finding it significantly Like Big G said, more often than not it will die in its first bed if its undisturbed.
In your case LL, i would have told your friend “either we back out or im not helping!” IMO i wouldn’t want to be part of a tracking job where the person is impatient or just stubborn.

Where do you draw the line on waiting to make sure your not pushing it and wasting an animal? What is the point of waiting till morning if the meat is going to be rotten anyways? I agree with letting an animal lay if the shot is not perfect but if its 50 degree’s over night how much meat is really going to be left.

My hunting buddies and I have a motto that majority rules.

Tell the truth to your tracking partners and let the group decide whats best. We have learned the hard way over the past few years that emotions can get the best of a hunter and a deer can get pursued too quickly.

So far this year, we are 1 for 1, and the hit was a marginal one. Hopefully we can keep it up.

One of the first deer I hit was in the area of the last rib. Luckily there was snow on the ground and I followed the blood trail about a half mile. We left and got there in the morning and he was still alive,,,but he was almost out. The best thing to do is let them lay down and they will die right there. Your friends deer probably would have died sometime in the night and more then likely it would have taken most of the night. The meat has to cool down then get warm again the next day before it produces gas before it goes bad. If they would have found him in the morning before noon he would have still been good to drag out.

The whole idea of waiting is due to the fact that a poor hit will take much longer to end that deer’s life. A gut shot deer could take 7 hours or better before it will end the deer’s life. If it’s an evening hunt, a majority of the deer meat should be good if found right away the next morning.

couldnt have put it better myself. it dont rot if it aint dead

Unless I see or hear it drop, I back out and give a minimum of 3 hours if I can on a good shot. If it is a bad shot, well I give it as much time as I can and sometimes that is over night.

My thought. Bonehead that shouldn’t be shooting deer anymore.

My feeling are the same as most above if they don’t go done within site leave them and come back in dew time pending shoot placement