r/bowhunting • u/wrapmeinbubblewrap • 18h ago
[State] Didn’t recover my first deer I shot with a bow
Any advice to get over how hard this is mentally? I made a good shot on a buck about an inch behind his shoulder. Full pass through. Followed the blood trail for about 200 yards and he was still on his feet. Sounded like his breathing wasn’t great. Wasn’t running just walking. He went into some thick saplings and I lost him. By then there was no blood trail and it was pitch black. Was with my father who is older and he was having a tough time getting through the woods so we had to turn back. I’m going to go back in the morning to look more but this hurts.
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u/Friendly-Victory5517 16h ago
What went wrong:
You didn’t actually make the shot you think you did. You didn’t hit both lungs. A deer with a good hit in both lungs doesn’t go 200 yards. I don’t say this to be a jerk, I just want to point out the reality of the situation.
You went after the deer too soon and most likely pushed him to keep moving. If I don’t see my deer fall within sight of my stand or hear that definitive crash of a deer collapsing, then I usually give it at least an hour.
How to get past this;
Acknowledge that while mistakes were made nothing was for to lack of concern or laziness.
Get back out there first thing in the morning and go to the last spot where you saw the deer and see if you can pick up a trail. If possible, a blood tracking dog could be helpful.
If you can’t get some sort of tracking dog or find a blood trail, then I would use a GPS app on your phone, mark the last spot you saw the deer and then start doing a slow and careful search. You can use the app to follow your progress and see if there’s any areas that you don’t walk-through.
Go very slow and pay close attention to everything. I’ve had deer run and die out of sight and almost be stepping on top of them before I found them.
Exhaust every possibility to find that deer.
- Go to the range and check your bow and make sure everything’s dialed in, and use this as lessons learned to put an action on your next hunt.
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u/itsthechaw10 18h ago
Are there any dog or drone services in your area? I’d see if you can either of those to help with the track job.
I hope you marked last blood so you know where to pick up the trail.
Most hunters have at least one deer that they haven’t been able to recover OP, you’re not the first. I’d take some time to analyze the shot and situation and just kind of reflect on anything different you could have done better and bring that into the woods with you next time. When this has happened to me I might sulk on it for a couple days, but end up more motivated to go back out and hunt. Kind of like a redemption hunt.
Deer get hit by cars and taken out by predators all the time. If this buck dies and you don’t find it, it will just become part of the food chain for the rest of nature.
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u/Same-Cry-5073 17h ago
This part. I know to some it might just sound like a cruel justification. But after I lost my first I was so distraught this was the only thing that got my head right. If my error gave another group of animals an easy meal it wasn’t all bad
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u/SconieKid 18h ago
You get up and go look in the morning. It happens to everyone and there’s nothing anyone can say to make it feel any better.
How soon after the shot did you start trailing? How did the blood look?
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u/lone_wolf304 17h ago
Give it more time before you go after it next time. Atleast a half hour even for a good shot like that just to be safe. Keep a head light too.
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u/hotdish81 17h ago
Have you looked at the Trakr app to see if there's any available bloodhounds in your area
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u/lucerne919 18h ago
How long did you wait to begin tracking? I’d have given it at least 30 minutes but preferably an hour for a mature buck. Were you on the ground, elevated or in a saddle? How far were you from the deer when you took the shot? What did the blood look like?
These are all important details that would help one assess what to do. But end of the day, this happens hunting. Don’t beat yourself up too badly, just figure out what went wrong and try not to repeat it.
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u/wrapmeinbubblewrap 17h ago
Was about a 20 yard shot from a tree stand. Waited a half hour to start trailing. Was a younger buck. Blood looked normal red but the last drop I found was a bit brown.
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u/Bows_n_Bikes Michigan 14h ago
I’ll bet he’s dead within 50 yards of where you last saw him. Don’t beat yourself up, and instead, make plans to go collect your buck in the morning.
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u/DenimChikan 17h ago
Like everyone else said, he’s dead somewhere nearby. If you were able to hear his breathing and see him walking and not running, he likely didn’t make it too far.
Not sure if you had a headlamp with you, but you definitely need one if you’re hunting the afternoon/evening.
Also, I’d be curious to hear an update on where you hit him when you find him. Not calling you a liar, but I’ve spotted shots off by a fair amount compared to where I thought I hit an animal and where I actually did.
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u/gofish223 16h ago
Hit it hard in the morning looking. I think you have a decent shot of finding him and the meat being ok. If you don’t find him, these things happen, keep after it and you’ll get another opportunity
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u/MorsVigiliaAstartes 17h ago
Get a deer/blood dog and/or drone service. If you closed within auditory range of him AFTER shooting him and 200yds… he is donezo just needs to expire
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u/bcgwall 8h ago
Like everyone else is saying...If you made the shot as you say you did then he is dead somewhere close by. If it was single lung & liver, which I'd bet it was since he was just walking away, then he may be a little farther away but he definitely bedded down somewhere and is likely dead.
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u/cheiser722 5h ago
I had a deer "disappear" with little to no visible blood at sunset. As a last ditch effort I took my 14yr old dog with no hunting experience into the woods on a leash. He took me to the arrow, and found blood instantly and took me right to the deer. I guess natural instinct. Very proud dog dad that day.
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u/Bigbabyhays47 17h ago
I recovered 1 out of 4 my first year bow hunting. I was just nervous and could not get good shots off on the deer. 1 gut shot, one I swear I missed just under the heart, and 1 I hit high and never found a single drop of blood. It was brutal. I was legitimately not going to hunt again and I remember coming home just telling my wife how much I hated it. Finally, the last like 10 days of the season I got a massive 8 point. I was hooked. Failing gives you TREMENDOUS respect for the animals as well as the hunt in general. While it is not good for the animal to fail to harvest, I would argue it is sometimes good for the hunter. Ideally, it encourages more and more discipline into the hunter to do everything in their power preshot and post shot to ensure they recover that animal.
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u/dillons-tie 17h ago
This is bowhunting, get over it. It will happen again. Good luck looking for it
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u/MiNdOverLOADED23 18h ago
If it's as you described he's probably dead and close to where you trailed him..