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the buck ducked #6040152 11/20/15 01:34 PM
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Rob Lay Offline OP
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last night in Oklahoma I had a buck cruising through quickly. I had to grunt stop him before I was even full draw 1 step from woods. thought I had a good shot, placement was good horizontally, but looking at me entire time he must have ducked hard and I hit him high. it was solid hit with a thud he kicked hard and sprinted out heard him breaking limbs a ways.

unfortunately as I feared with that high shot there was no blood or not enough I could find. I was able to track kicks for awhile and after dark I found my lighted nook and arrow about 150 yards. it had been almost complete pass-thru and running by a tree it pulled rest of arrow out exit side. Blood from tip to fletchings.

even having the exact spot he was at the bloody arrow I couldn't find a single drop of blood.

I'm in trouble without blood as this is thick stuff you can only see 10-20 feet and there are so many crossing game trails it is hard to guess which way he went.

Aren't blood dogs illegal in Oklahoma? If not, anyone know anyone?

What do you think the probability is of that being lethal shot?

Any other suggestions finding him besides next time aim low when you have to stop a buck?

'O' marks the hit.



blood end to end.


Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040160 11/20/15 01:38 PM
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BOBO the Clown Online Content
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Don't think they are illegal in Oklahoma.

Looks like you it the void area between spine and lungs. Even if you hit lungs it takes the lungs feeling up with blood to get a blood trail on a high shot. Same issue I had on last year's mulie but I was able to track the track


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Re: the buck ducked [Re: BOBO the Clown] #6040192 11/20/15 01:55 PM
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Rob Lay Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: BOBO the Clown
Same issue I had on last year's mulie but I was able to track the track


no luck with the track, it was obvious for about 100 yards hard kicks. everything covered with leaves and rotting pieces of wood with no leaves on them start looking like kicks. I did track 2 different armadillos last night, wasted about hour on that. they were leaving a good trail and thought maybe it was the deer dragging.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: BOBO the Clown] #6040198 11/20/15 01:57 PM
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Rob Lay Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: BOBO the Clown
Don't think they are illegal in Oklahoma.


based on this quick look up they say tracking is illegal.

http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/state...7&itemid=10

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040201 11/20/15 01:59 PM
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Were you shooting from an elevated stand or on the ground? If on the ground that's probably not a lethal shot. If you were elevated enough you could have caught the top of the lungs. Either way, without blood your basically gonna have to get lucky to find him. I don't know if dogs are illegal in Oklahoma or not, but if you can I would get one out there. Good luck.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: rattler03] #6040219 11/20/15 02:10 PM
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Rob Lay Offline OP
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Originally Posted By: rattler03
Were you shooting from an elevated stand or on the ground? If on the ground that's probably not a lethal shot. If you were elevated enough you could have caught the top of the lungs. Either way, without blood your basically gonna have to get lucky to find him. I don't know if dogs are illegal in Oklahoma or not, but if you can I would get one out there. Good luck.


it was ground blind, I think pass thru was flat.

is that a lethal shot though?

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040252 11/20/15 02:24 PM
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Find someone with a young bird dog and take them quail hunting. Young dogs haven't learned to ignore deer yet and I have found several this way.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040475 11/20/15 04:08 PM
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Start making circles after the last blood or tracks. Keep widening the circles till you are at your boundary fence. Look for tracks and blood up high off the ground on vegetation.


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Re: the buck ducked [Re: stxranchman] #6040494 11/20/15 04:17 PM
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Originally Posted By: stxranchman
Start making circles after the last blood or tracks. Keep widening the circles till you are at your boundary fence. Look for tracks and blood up high off the ground on vegetation.

up
Also a quick check if you have any water close by.


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Dennis

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040514 11/20/15 04:27 PM
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I hate to tell you this but I had the same thing happen a couple of years ago. Shot at a buck from a GB at about 30+ yards and he dropped right before the impact. Similar tracking job as yours with minimum blood found. Lost him that night but got another chance two weeks later at a feeder. I could see the wounds on both sides of him and knew the rack. I anchored him that night and based on lining up the wound marks with an arrow, I would have sworn I got the top of both lungs. Since he was heart shot that night, I pulled out the lungs and was surprised to not see a single mark on them. The center-line of the arrow was 2.38" from the bottom of the spine (measured with another arrow in and plumb bob). I have always wondered if his lungs dropped too when he dropped.

Best of luck in finding him or hopefully getting another shot at him.


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Re: the buck ducked [Re: High Country Archer] #6040611 11/20/15 05:15 PM
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From a ground blind I would say that hit was above the spine and non lethal. I've had a few duck into a spine shot but luckily haven't hit above.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040737 11/20/15 06:46 PM
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Rob, sorry to say that I made the same mistake three years ago. Just about the same distance, from the ground, and same area for the hit. There was blood on the arrow, a few drops on the ground, and I was able to track for about 250 yards. The blood trail stopped and the tracks settled down to be undetectable. The deer was spotted in the same area several times later, with the through-and-through wound, but I didn't get another shot. Based on antler configuration, he survived at least another year. I was using mechanical heads... after that I switched to fixed.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: StretchR] #6040792 11/20/15 07:23 PM
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Originally Posted By: StretchR
Rob, sorry to say that I made the same mistake three years ago. Just about the same distance, from the ground, and same area for the hit. There was blood on the arrow, a few drops on the ground, and I was able to track for about 250 yards. The blood trail stopped and the tracks settled down to be undetectable. The deer was spotted in the same area several times later, with the through-and-through wound, but I didn't get another shot. Based on antler configuration, he survived at least another year. I was using mechanical heads... after that I switched to fixed.


why? because a smaller cutting diameter would have changed this outcome?


Originally Posted By: cameron00
If I send my neighbors a text and ask them to give me feedback on my lawn and plant rye into a giant dong pattern, I'm probably going to get some less than positive feedback. Same goes here.
Re: the buck ducked [Re: ChrisB] #6040813 11/20/15 07:36 PM
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Originally Posted By: ChrisB
From a ground blind I would say that hit was above the spine and non lethal. I've had a few duck into a spine shot but luckily haven't hit above.


interesting, I just looked at a deer anatomy diagram and I didn't know the spine drops down so much more you go forward.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: jshouse] #6040816 11/20/15 07:38 PM
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Originally Posted By: jshouse
why? because a smaller cutting diameter would have changed this outcome?


I was using fixed. shocked I tried Rages for a couple years, I will always use fixed going forward, but in this case I don't think it mattered.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040828 11/20/15 07:44 PM
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Originally Posted By: Rob Lay
Originally Posted By: jshouse
why? because a smaller cutting diameter would have changed this outcome?


I was using fixed. shocked I tried Rages for a couple years, I will always use fixed going forward, but in this case I don't think it mattered.


agreed, it was just un unfortunate shot location.


Originally Posted By: cameron00
If I send my neighbors a text and ask them to give me feedback on my lawn and plant rye into a giant dong pattern, I'm probably going to get some less than positive feedback. Same goes here.
Re: the buck ducked [Re: jshouse] #6040834 11/20/15 07:48 PM
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Originally Posted By: jshouse
Originally Posted By: StretchR
Rob, sorry to say that I made the same mistake three years ago. Just about the same distance, from the ground, and same area for the hit. There was blood on the arrow, a few drops on the ground, and I was able to track for about 250 yards. The blood trail stopped and the tracks settled down to be undetectable. The deer was spotted in the same area several times later, with the through-and-through wound, but I didn't get another shot. Based on antler configuration, he survived at least another year. I was using mechanical heads... after that I switched to fixed.


why? because a smaller cutting diameter would have changed this outcome?

Exactly, a large 2" cutting mechanical may have landed him that deer with a misplaced shot.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: ChrisB] #6040873 11/20/15 08:21 PM
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Originally Posted By: ChrisB
Exactly, a large 2" cutting mechanical may have landed him that deer with a misplaced shot.


or more likely it wouldn't have been a pass through and I would have found the bright green beacon nock still sticking in the deer! laugh wink

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040876 11/20/15 08:23 PM
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I have killed several deer with a bow, but there are guys on here much more experienced than me. if you have to stop a deer and he's looking at you, do you aim low?

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040878 11/20/15 08:25 PM
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My cuz shot one in about the same spot the other day.. he was in a ground blind and got clean pass through.. got the deer back on camera a week later

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040879 11/20/15 08:26 PM
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arrow looked the exact same as that also

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6040899 11/20/15 08:36 PM
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I've done that exact thing. Never got another pick of my buck, but my neighbor got one of him eating corn a week or so later before he vanished.

I'd say 65-35 he's alive given the info you gave. Flesh wound, hope it doesn't get infected and he'll live.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6041434 11/21/15 03:16 AM
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I switched to fixed because the mechanical blades didn't deploy... maybe a different brand would have been better. Easier to switch to fixed than test on live animals.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6041462 11/21/15 03:53 AM
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My neighbor has shot several high like you did (2 that I know of anyways) and they survived, well they did until I shot one of them with a .270. Found the arrow broke off in him, stuck in 1 shoulder blade and under the skin on the other side.

Re: the buck ducked [Re: Rob Lay] #6041482 11/21/15 04:27 AM
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I shot a spike last year in that void zone just above the vitals and below the spine. Rage extreme 2.3" clean pass thru. Had him on camera 2 weeks later with scabs covering the entry and exit holes.


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