I knew ya'll would understand...

I'm with Nimrod and Purnacious. Getting off a shot at an animal isn't the same as getting a kill shot. Are you so starving in the woods that the mere chance sighting warrants a wounding shot? What kind of meat do you get from an animal taken this way? We don't do even coyotes like that. Bad business all around.

in the uintah basin you'd be right. back east there are places where you'll spend an hour on your hands & knees under a double or triple canopy w/near midnight darkness feeling for blood more than looking. the smokies may not have the elevation of the rockies, but they have thickets & hollers w/ cover as nasty as the carolina bays i just described. having hunted both, i'd rather pack out a bull elk on the wasatch back than a yearling whitetail in the alleghenies.

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it's not a sport unless the animal can kill you back

be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet

Like said before a hit with a arrow is not a death sentence.

I got a buck that had a been hit before.

nice divit where it took out the meat.

them shoulders can defleck a arrow very well.

or put it through a non vital area and well you get blood not enough to kill the critter.

When I punch a hole its vitals. some times they drop right there.
Often I hear the crash if not.

If you got additional tags be ready on the approach, a buddy may be inspecting the fallen. at least if your approach is silent.

Back in the mid-'70s, son and I were hunting squirrels while also working the area to move deer to an uncle who was bow hunting. Met up with him and he was tracking blood. The 3 of us combined our eyes to try stay on the blood. Had our Black & Tan hound with us just for exercise but he would not even look at a deer. We trailed all around a huge hill and finally a few clotted drops led full circle to where it started from. Then I found what my uncle had missed and that was the arrow. There was some blood on the broadhead but not the shaft. Since the arrow was meant for just ahead of the front leg, we figure that it may have been just a few inches low and sliced the brisket.

Martin

Don't patronize me. I've lived in Georgia, south texas, Idaho and the coast of washington. I am fully aware of what brush is. Surely you're not implying that 2 hours of following a blood trail is enough effort. That's pathetic. I've actually had good success tracking in brush. The blood, for me, seems to show up better on green than red pine needles.

what i'm saying is that every situation is different and making a judgement call on a computer forum is a lot different from making a judgement call in the woods.

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it's not a sport unless the animal can kill you back

be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet

How true that is! Lots of things haven't been considered since only the OP was there. Broken arrow was found. Nobody knows how much of the arrow was found. If half, then the rest is buried deep and potentially mortal. If just back of the point, could be only buried in flesh or against a bone. Not many deer would be able to run full tilt two hours after the first but can run almost forever with the second. First time I found a broadhead in a deer it was lodged between 2 vertebra in the spine. That deer should have gone down instantly with no use of its hind quarters. Second was what should have been a perfect lung shot. Hit a rib square on and stopped just barely into the lung. Both lived at least another year despite what should have been mortal damage.

Martin

nothing so crazy but i have found "mortally" hit deer (well really the dog) in hunting areas on base that had been closed for training fo over 2 weeks, still live & kicking.

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it's not a sport unless the animal can kill you back

be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet

Might help to remind ourselves that at the end of the day we are ON THE SAME SIDE.....There are plenty of folks out there trying to slap hunters around. No need to do their work for them.

OK, OakieDavid, my ears are burning... I have the same bad 'tude towards folks who work out instead of work. Not my beeswax.

OkieDavid, posts like this are ammo for the otherside. Lesson learned. Hopefully next time they'll wait at least 30 minutes before tracking and it'll be dead in the first spot.

Just an update and a "STAND on my own ground" comment....

Yes we have learned.. NO WE are not happy that the deer was lost. ( The arrow was broke IN HALF found the fletching up to past the "name) Commenting that your embarrassed is harsh.. We are not "NEW" to hunting but are compassionate to the plight of an animal.. and 99 % of the time they are dropped either instantly or within 30 ft ( as has happened since original post). As far as tracking.. 2 hrs for me is a LONG time due to the fact that IVE NEVER done it before... as ive stated I told my husband I wanted to start helping out more and DID what I could. IM not in shape so he was worried about my health.. ( ROOKIE Mistakes)
We live off the meat from the WHOLE deer, so for us its not a "HEAD HUNTER" deal like we run into all the time ( get 4 calls on OPENING day for rifle EVERY YEAR!!!)

As a matter of a fact this time on opening day, my husband had to take out a baby deer... SOME IDIOTS out just shooting around with a 22 and basically severed its back leg!! IT WAS JUST hanging there. He does not like to take out babies either, but ended its suffering ( could see bone broke, and all that was left was fur/skin hanging there with its hoof!)

And yes lessons learned, lessons IMPRESSED in the memory cells as well..
AT least we get our licenses and do all the proper tagging and calling in.. and not poaching and not head hunting and leaving the carcass there to get ate by coyotes JUST cuz the rack was huge!

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