Shot a nice ten this morning. Arrow didn't pass through and blood dried up after 75 yards. Hard to lose a buck like that. I will look some more tomorrow. Would have been my biggest buck to date.

how did the shot look ? Non pass thru doesn't mean it isn't dead...

Know anyone with a dog ? beagles are good but any dog will track.

If you think you hit vitals or liver even a single lung shot is mortal..

Good luck, if you are close to me I'd help you.. I'm in Fort Wayne

Good luck finding him tomorrow

Good luck.....I hope you find him!

I really believe he is dead, but finding him with no blood in the mess he ran into is another story. I would have to be standing right over him.

Enlist some help if you can!

Water. Look down hill and towards water if there is any available nearby, but hopefully in the daylight you'll pick the blood back up.... Also, look for places where he might have jumped a fence or ravine, there may be blood where he landed. Good Luck.

where do you think you hit him ? that will tell a lot

I shot a doe Friday night, she was quartering more to me then I thought.

My shot was back about 2" from where I wanted it with her quartering to me like that

However I knew I got at least one lung and liver and maybe diaphragm and she went about 200 yards

You might look into this post on tradgang.com. http://tradgang.com/noncgi/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=131408;p=1#000007

Ryan is very generous when it comes to tracking deer. I don't know if he'll go to Tipton county though??? He says he'll go up to 2 hours from Brazil. Tipton seems to be right at his limit. Give him a call. Good luck.

Watch for buzzards and crows.

Lost another one today. Even bigger. 140 inches or so. Quartering away at 38 yards. Hit him right in the liver where I was aiming trying to sneak the arrow into his lungs. Tracked him 200 yards then the blood dried up. He was definitely hit in the liver. I waited a whole hour to track. I have killed around 100 deer in my life and none have been with a bow. After shooting year around for three years and having around a thousand dollars invested in archery equipment. I'm ready to hang it up for the year and wait for gun season. I know this deer is dead, worried about calling a dog in because he ran off of our property.

ok im going to try and remain positive here. just because it ran onto another property doesnt mean you just give up. go get permission from the landowner and continue the track. secondly was it a pass threw? what did arrow look like? what broadheads you using? im not putting down you or your hunting ethics just trying to help you figure out the problem.

I tracked him anyway until the blood ran out. I use rage broadhead and no pass through. I was very comfortable with shot and saw the arrow sticking out of his side. After loosing blood circled several times to no avail. I saw fresh buck tracks going across the cut corn field and followed those. No blood. Looked in woods across field and found nothing and drove all over 40 acre field. I have lost only a few deer in 20 years and losing two mature bucks in one year really stinks. I'm sure my dad and grandpa aren't happy about having 2 less bucks to hunt either.

Faulty broadlead maybe, we're they both from the same pack?

Sucks to loose one. Two is a whole lot worse. Hopefully it turns up on the hoof and you get another crack at him.

I'm not trying to be a Rage basher, because there are plenty of them out there and they do cut a wicked hole, but I think a pass through with them is more the exception than the rule. Definitely not the broadhead of choice if you like two holes in a deer.

I am not a fan of rages for this reason.

I am not a fan of rages for this reason.

Stinks to lose any deer and even worse for it to happen twice. Sometimes things happen.

Personally, I have never had a Rage not pass through. In fact most are stuck in the ground or laying pass the deer shot. That includes my 1st bear as well.

Everyone likes their own equipment and the broadhead debate will go on for years. Doesn't matter what broadhead you use IMO. It all depends on shot placement and recovery.

Hope you can find him or get another shot at him. Hang in there.

What Bean said...

Minus the bear, never shot a bear but its on the list

Hang in there FT, I believe this has happened to us all using archery tackle, & if someone says no.....well I hope it never happens to them. Its a mistake to learn from. Quartering shots look great, but nothing beats broadside. I lost one last year to a high quartering shot. Big 10 pt. Made me sick for months. My brother may have found it later in February, but I never claimed it due to never finding the arrow or broad head.

Not sure who quoted this, but I think about this every time I step in the woods.

"You have to live with the shots you take"

I agree with bean. Shot a 10 point sunday evening and the rage went clean thru both lungs and was stuck 6 inches deep in the dirt. 25 yd shot from crossbow. Left a HUGE hole in both sides. Buck didn't go 50 yrds. It's all about placement.

It is so true that these things happen. I have lost 3 deer in 22 years of gun hunting. One I hit in the front leg, one large buck stepped out and watched me gut a friends buck and I made the bad choice to shoot into his chest, and the third one I have no idea what happened. I knocked the third one down watching her doing death kicks when all of sudden she got up and ran off like nothing happened. 3 deer(all nice bucks) in three years with a bow. All three bled well. At least 2 of them I knew were hit well(saw the arrow). Just very frustrated. I do have the experience of watching my grandfather lose a 200 inch buck and having the nieghbor's dog drag him up on their porch, nothing is as bad as that. I think this year is hard because we will losing our lease after this year after 25 years. I really wanted to get a HRB buck off of it and have my name next to my dad's and grandfather's. As a boy I shot the weird ones that no one else wanted and waited my turn at a monster. I have some great bucks and great memories, but my biggest only scores in the 120's. This property produced two 200 inch bucks. Numerous other nice bucks for our family and friends. I just shot and did not recover the biggest one we had on camera this year. Now to hope the rut brings us more big boys. I never cared about score still don't really; just wanted one big one from Hamilton County before they tear apart the last great woods and put more houses on it.

He ran onto nieghbor's property and left before we went in. We posted lookouts. I think men working by the road might have pushed him though. I did think that I would get lungs. I would have waited longer except for he didn't remember to stay on our side of the fence. I think waiting is a luxery sometimes.

Had the same problem last week with a doe, hit her in the lungs and had solid blood for about 75 yards then quit, looked all over for her and a couple days later my buddy went back to his spot about 250 yards from where i shot her and there she lay 50 yrds from his tree, ate up from yotes of course, frst time ive ever had this happen

Familytradion,
If the part of Hamilton County you hunt is anything like the areas I hunt in Hamilton. The coyote population is out of control. I have found deer in past by just sitting and waiting for the yotes to start howling....
If you need someone to help you track let me know.
Besides I may know you anyway. I seen on Facebook where a guy I went to school with lost a deer tonight...

PAV sums it up pretty well in my opinion. I also think there are too many circumstances where guys take a shot at almost dark full well knowing that they really can't take off work the next morning to look for the deer or full well knowing a rain in coming in that night. The first thought should always be what the chances are for a recovery, even taking into consideration the risk or likelihood of coyotes getting the deer overnight, in my opinion. Things happen and lost deer are a circumstance of hunting but it does make a person wonder how many deer are lost each year from archery hits across the state. I think the number is probably staggering, unfortunately.

I shoot 2 blade rages and I haven't ever had issue with them until now. I shot a doe this weekend it was a quartering away shot at 30 yards. I hit right behind last rib slightly high and arrow exited opposite shoulder and arrow was stuck in ground. I get down check arrow and it doesn't have much blood on it. Only found small amount blood where I shot her.

Long story short I found her about 100 yards from stand and when I say no blood trail at all I mean no blood trail at all. It was a perfect shot and blades opened up how they should. Her chest cavity was full of blood and both lung hit. The only thing we noticed was on the exit side the blades cut its 2 inch gash perfectly parallel between the ribs. It was actually pretty tough to push my finger through hole.

My only conclusion is it kind of sealed itself off.??? What do you think of this and or have you every had this to happen with two blade broadhead???????

Pav, what broadhead were you using?

I too have a lost a decent buck this year... mine was with a T3 broadhead... That makes three different mechanical heads I have lost deer with and no success... I'm going back to my muzzys permanantly. Have never lost one with them.

Do you sharpen your own head. I have Magnus fixed 3 blade an need to sharpen then but I have a sharpening disability.

Wow....let's hear some more wounded and lost deer stories. :rolleyes:

+1...

No Kidding.....sheesh

Hey Weed/Brew i would hope you are not bashing the guy for trying to get advise on losing a deer by complaining about hearing about a wounded deer story b/c wounded deer are part of hunting for EVERYBODY. if your not bashing and/or complaining then sorry for reading out of context.

As far as the deer goes, a liver hit deer needs more than an hour..i'd say more like 6 minimum and 8 to be safe. I know a lot of guys like Rages but I will never use anything other than fixed blades. (G5 Strikers). I lost a doe with a Rage 4 years ago b/c it didnt expand and my buddy shot a 150+ last year with a Rage after I told him bad idea and lost him with a lung/liver shot. If you want a pass through Rage is not what you want. I would widdle my own broadhead before i use Rage. If you think/know the buck is dead you should keep looking. if you dont you'll always wonder "What if i kept looking"...trust me i've done it

I'm not bashing the OP by any means. I'm just partial to the fact that we have enough "anti-hunter" mentality running a muck nowadays....why post this for all to read? I understand "things happen",,, but like was previously stated.."You have to live with the shot you take". I've lived with that shot once in 45 years, which is why I no longer bow hunt. To wound and lose 2 supposedly huge deer in this amount of time by the OP is totally unacceptable to me. Sorry...

I would hope the mentality is that losing a deer happens but generally speaking the loss of a deer in unacceptable. Hopefully the thread here is a good check step for everyone on this issue. I know a gentleman who has lost two deer so far and when he asked my thought I suggested he reconsider whether he should be bow hunting.

Here are the bucks. If you think I didn't do everything I could to recover, I'm sorry. I'm going back tonight. But when a deer runs into a thicket you cannot walk in and another runs onto an unfriendly neighbor's, you can only do what you can do. As far as the anti hunter people, they will hate us no matter what. Truth is we all love animals way more than they do. I like deer more than I like most people.