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You are here: Experts > Recreation/Outdoors > Hunting/Shooting > Hunting > Deer hunting
Hunting - Deer hunting
Expert: Keith Patton - 11/3/2009
Question
QUESTION: I hit a 7 point in the left shoulder this year with my bow and the blood trail ended up stopping, and i didnt know if the deer was dead or not. About two weeks later i talked to this guy who hunts across the road from me, and he said he saw that buck limping on the his leg left leg where i hit him. Then he said he ended up shooting that deer in the right shoulder with his bow and didnt find him either. So i was just wondering if this buck will die since he got hit in both shoulders or will he just limp on both legs?
ANSWER: Craig:
He will probably die of infection after being weakened by hunger. Why shoot him in the shoulder? You want to hit him in his engine room...just behind the shoulder in the lung and heart area. I would not even shoot a deer in the shoulder with a 30-06 since there is too much bone and muscle to guarantee a kill but more than enough to get a cripple that runs off and dies. What chance do you think your arrow had in penetrating that hunk of muscle and bone? Broadheads are designed to bleed an animal out, but that only works if you put it somewhere there are lots of arteries like deep in the chest. The best angle is slightly from the rear in behind the front leg about level with and just above the front leg "knee" joint. That will put those razors into his lungs and heart and if he runs it will only chew his plumbing to ribbons. A good shot like that and the deer will be snorting blood and leaving a nice clear blood trail and will not be able to go very far.
Adrenaline is a powerful drug. Pump enough into a creature, even a human and they can run and do things that you would not think possible.
After you shot the deer, how long did you wait before tracking him? If you didn't wait 30 minutes or more, you probably just pushed him. Given enough time an injured deer will lie down and either stiffen up or bleed out. In your case, a shoulder wound was far from fatal and you most probably ended up feeding the coyotes.
Better luck on your next hunt.
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: I didn't mean to hit him in the shoulder, it just ended up happening that way. The only predator that lives around where i hunt are foxes so i don't think that he would've got eaten by anything. So i was just wondering since i hit him in the right shoulder and another guy hit him in the left shoulder, would he limp on both legs or would he eventually die?
Answer
He'll weaken and probably secumb to infection. I didn't mean to get on you for the bad shot. Some guys just shoot at whatever presents itself without regard to whether it is a good clean killing shot or is likely to just cripple the animal. In my book it is better to not take a shot and leave a nice buck alone and try to get him next time, rather than cripple him and leave him for the coyotes or maggots. But sometimes buck fever sets in and they only care about the shot. I hope you find him. Maybe you can find the carcass and get the rack before the mice do.
I found a huge rack in OKlahoma one year probably 5 inches in circumference at the base and 12 points at one time, but the nice had gnawed at them for a while so now I use them as my rattling rack.
Good luck on finding him.
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