Tracking Help. One lung?
Contributors to this thread:Whitetail Deer
From: Buckskin
08-Dec-18
I hit a buck tonight and thought I hit him in the chest but didn't get a pass through. Only about 8 inches of penetration. I gave him 2 hours and then tracked him for a couple hundred yards with pretty good blood. I came to a pile of bubbly blood and thought he was toast but then found what looked like a bed about 20yds beyond that. I backed out when I found the bed. I'm gonna give him till the morning but what do you think my chances are here?
From: LostNwoods
08-Dec-18
Pretty good and good decision to back out. You will find him am take ur time keep looking up while following the blood in case you might have to get another shot off. Post pic when you find him.
From: crankn101
08-Dec-18
These animals are amazing.
From: Hawkeye
08-Dec-18
Very good and that is a GREAT example off 'frothy' vs 'bubbles' you hear about often. The former being what you're looking for. Good luck.
From: BigOk
08-Dec-18
Good chance. Good luck and keep us posted tommorrow.
From: WV Mountaineer
08-Dec-18
Great chance. You'll find him.
From: Kodiak
08-Dec-18
Dead deer close by.
From: Franklin
09-Dec-18
I agree with the "dead deer"....should not be far.
From: Bou'bound
09-Dec-18
He’s probably yours which is not how Most of these end
From: Medicinemann
09-Dec-18
Be sure to post a follow-up. You mentioned 8 inches of penetration....was the animal broadside when you shot?
From: Genesis
09-Dec-18
I always come back to what did the deer do after impact.That tells you what the deer thought about it and deer are usually correct .One lungers are the great masquerader if not the temptress for premature tracking .Thats standing blood the size of half a red oak leaf....no high fives just yet.
From: WV Mountaineer
09-Dec-18
I agree with the above. But, From the sounds of your story, you didn't push him. I have seen one lungers survive for weeks until killed though. But, most will be found if you don't bump him out of the country.
From: Buckskin
09-Dec-18
I just got back from tracking and did not find the deer. I had good blood for a solid 400 yards and then he bedded down. the blood stopped after the bed so I think he clotted in up over night and was still alive in the morning. He was quartered away slightly at the shot but front end was turned toward me so pretty much broadside. The following blood pictures are just before his bed so 325 to 375yds after the shot. Let me know if you've had similar experiences. I thought I would get him for sure with that blood trail.
From: Buckskin
09-Dec-18
From: Buckskin
09-Dec-18
From: Buckskin
09-Dec-18
I did not bump the deer like I initially thought. He was walking for the last 250 yards of the trail and would have been running if I bumped him. Here's a picture of his bed. I found 2 drops of blood after the bed and nothing after that.
From: Topgun 30-06
09-Dec-18
Sorry, but I would not call those last pictures "good blood" and my guess is that deer will live unless the wound site gets badly infected and he dies of that and not blood loss.
From: Arrowflinger
09-Dec-18
So the deer was quartering to you. It depends how much he was quartering, But it is possible you got one lung and you may have got the liver or stomach on the way out. If so the deer is dead. If I were you I would not stop looking. Take one or two friends with you and go to were you found the last blood sign and start circling, slowly. You have snow so you can look for tracks as well. I have found several deer just because I didn't give up. I would look for the rest of the day. You won't find him if you give up. Learning to track is a big part of being a good bow hunter. Good luck and let us know.
From: Beav
09-Dec-18
Do you are done looking? Dead deer if you ask me. I have found deer that have went over a mile in one lung. Don’t give up!
From: Kodiak
09-Dec-18
Wow, I'm surprised. Looked like great blood.
From: LBshooter
09-Dec-18
One lung, deer can survive. I'd wait another 24 hours then go looking, might find it but sounds like you pushed him to far. Good luck, hope you find him.
From: Altizer
09-Dec-18
I just tracked a buck my son shot and only got one lung. Note, a 243. Anyway I knew he also ruptured the stomach too. So we saw the buck lay down at 200 yards. I found a little stomach matter in the blood so we backed out for the night. He had school the next morning so I picked up the trail after rain. 250 yards from where I last saw him I found him on the bank of a creek. He was really head flopping and weak but got up. I ran him down and finished him. One lung was shredded and the liver. Good shot but he must have been twisted. 20 hours. I also had a buddy shoot a sixteen point and one lung him. Jumped him the next day. Finally got him two days later. The point is they are amazingly tough. Give him time and search every inch within a quarter mile. He will probably take a 90 at some point. That nothing for granted on travel routes or were he will bed up. Just because he doesn’t bleed doesn’t mean he isn’t dying. Put the time in. Good luck. AA
From: Trial153
09-Dec-18
Bow site guys saying dead deer are the kiss of death
From: JL
09-Dec-18
^^Ha! Recover first, post later.....the Bowsite curse otherwise. :-)
From: DonVathome
09-Dec-18
My guess is you will find him likely not much further
From: TSJ
09-Dec-18
I had one like yours a few years ago shot was in the morning, same frothy blood little penetration. I tracked him about 75 yds he went down into a huge ravine so I backed out and went back in about 7 hrs later and jumped a bunch of deer out of the bottom. There was a little snow so i was able to stay on the blood he made it up and out of the deep ravine. I went back the next morning and never found him. I was using a fixed Broadhead.
From: Franklin
09-Dec-18
He`s dead....you just have to find him. That`s the hard part.
From: Hessticles
09-Dec-18
Dead deer, had similar shot this year, found him 18hrs later still alive (no shot), backed out again, next day started grid searching found him after bout 4 hrs of walking with multiple guys, still warm when we found him. Figured he lived at least 24hrs
From: Buckskin
09-Dec-18
I'm going in there tonight to grid search one last time. It's a jungle of briars and unfortunately I don't have permission to bring others out there to help me so I know it's a long shot. Will report back later. Hopefully I get lucky
From: lawdy
09-Dec-18
You got him if the coyotes leave him alone
From: DMTJAGER
09-Dec-18
Buckskin best of luck possible and I truly hope you find your deer. I mean no offence what so ever, but if you have not already I would try to nail down as close to 100% why you had such poor penetration as in my experience of over 30 bow killed deer unless your arrow encountered a major bone mass (and it might have) 8" of penetration is in my experienced based opinion very poor. I shot a very good sized 10 point this year at 18-21 yards and my arrow passed completely through and went 8-10" into the partially frozen ground. And I don't shoot a fast bow by todays standards. My arrow is a 29" 340 spine total weight 437.4 grains shot at 53-54lbs DW at a chronographed 273fps. My FB/BH is a Wasp with a 1-1/18" CD. It cut one rib almost in half on the way in and another completely in half on the way out. Made a ghastly hole through both lungs and the buck ran about 50 MAYBE 60 yards. I watched him drop and was dead when he hit the ground. Literally never so much a twitched once he hit the ground. Again best of luck finding your buck. I would think it impossible for a buck to live after loosing a lung, but I have never only hit one lung. Is it possible for a buck to recover from a broad head hit to only one lung if the other remained unhurt and no other organs were damaged?
From: spike78
10-Dec-18
Two things. 1) throw those crappy no penetrating Rages in the garbage and 2) don’t ever take a quartering to shot with a bow again. With that said good luck and keep searching!
From: JL
10-Dec-18
Except for one bad spine shot on my part that almost was a full pass thru.....ALL of my many Rage kills have been pass thru's....including a very large B&C bear. If I hit it with a Rage...it died.
From: Ucsdryder
10-Dec-18
Did the OP say he was using a rage?
Op, what was your arrow and bow setup?
From: VogieMN
10-Dec-18
I hit a doe a few years ago and just got one lung. She went about 300-400 yards but finally expired.
From: spike78
10-Dec-18
Two things. 1) throw those crappy no penetrating Rages in the garbage and 2) don’t ever take a quartering to shot with a bow again. With that said good luck and keep searching!
From: Glunker
10-Dec-18
It looks like you have a skiff of snow which should help tracking him from that last bed. If nothing else you should be able to find blood by walking all trails in the area. As you lost the trail at his bed that increase the odds that he changed direction there, even backtracking. The drag mark across the log suggests a front leg/shoulder shot. What did the sound of the impact tell you, thud, pop, gravel? The short penetration and should along with hair type can tell a lot. White hair is low, real short brown hair is leg, etc. Good luck.
From: Fuzz
10-Dec-18
Never said what BH/arrow he was using...
From: Ollie
10-Dec-18
I agree that there is an issue with the lack of penetration. What bow draw weight? Arrow weight? Broadhead?
From: Genesis
10-Dec-18
"I agree that there is an issue with the lack of penetration" Yep,it's called scapula
From: spike78
10-Dec-18
Fuzz, I’m usually right most times when no head mentioned lol. We shall see.
From: Buckskin
10-Dec-18
I am shooting a 47# Robertson Stykbow with Simmons treeshark broadheads. That setup has blown through deer multiple times for me. The deer was not quartering toward me. he was almost completely broadside with his head turned in my direction. I went back and grid searched last night starting from where he bedded. There was one set of tracks where he left the bed so I searched in that direction for the remainder of the woods. I didn't find any more blood even though there was snow on the ground.
From: Glunker
10-Dec-18
With only 1 deer bed and not an increasing series of beds, such a long trail to the first bed and with it no longer bleeding there is a reasonable chance your buck did not die. Meat shots can stop bleeding, organ shots do not. It could be an organ hit that got plugged, less likely after 400 yards. Good effort asking and pushing the search effort.
From: Beav
10-Dec-18
Buckskin sorry you didn’t find him. It sucks when it happens!
From: MichaelArnette
11-Dec-18
Man I hope you find him. I’d say he is dead body cavity almost always means death and definitely if any other organ is involved. It’s cold so water which would normally be the best bet for immediate searches may not be productive although I’d try for sure. Depending on what was hit he could very well have died after 24-48 hours also. Especially true of one lower lung and say stomach.
From: MichaelArnette
11-Dec-18
Odd story from another stickbow hunter. I shot a doe perfectly and I mean couldn’t have placed it better and perfectly broadside! Here’s a picture of the actual entry and exit! Ironically I caught the whole thing on film. She was 17 yards away and started her duck and run reaction as my arrow was passing through resulting in the very terrible shot angle. 8-9 hours later she got up and re-bedded and I put another arrow in to finish the job.
From: MichaelArnette
11-Dec-18
... I might add that the “terrible” shot angle I mention had nothing to do with her actual placement. She only ducked slightly and stayed perfectly broadside until the arrow passed through all on film. It was purely her movement and some type of arrow “ricochete” that caused the whole scenario. Crazy things can happen
From: Charlie Rehor
11-Dec-18
Beav +1
Stuff happens!
From: Too Many Bows Bob
11-Dec-18
I helped track a deer onetime that was shot through both lungs with a 30/06. The deer went 400 yards and we never would have found it if there hadn't been a layer of snow. When I cleaned her out her lungs were just mush. They are incredible creatures.
TMBB
From: Duke
11-Dec-18
One of my craziest (and luckiest) blood trails I have ever been on was a one lung hit deer. It retrospect, I would not have done anything different, but in the end recovered the deer after over 500 yards of tracking and head scratching through a new layer of the really crystallized snow that only falls when it is about ten degrees out. -This enabled me to follow some pin-prick blood through a couple of stretches. Coyotes were involved bumping the deer along as well. -This was on a ten ring shot that hit a rib and took a 90 degree turn out the bottom. (I didn't know that until I found the deer though.)
Bottom line is that crazy things can and will happen if you bow hunt enough. You just have to stay with the track and hopefully can recover, but sometimes it just doesn't happen and you just hope to take something positive away. Good luck.
From: JL
11-Dec-18
Michael....that is a pretty cool picture showing the arrow path.
From: Alaska at heart
11-Dec-18
This is what the OP stated, "He was quartered away slightly at the shot but front end was turned toward me so pretty much broadside"
So then there are at least two guys who cite it as quartering to.......and one even presumes a Rage head. Unless you know the hunter personally.......or he previously stated his gear.....how can you presume so much??? Sheesh....
Sorry for your recovery challenges OP. Sometimes it is amazing how fast a deer can expire with a good shot.....and conversely how tough they can be with a marginal shot. Hope you locate or cross paths with him again.
From: Buckskin
11-Dec-18
Thanks Alaska. I don't know where they got all that from either
