Tracking help

I shot a giant axis. Don’t think I’m going to find him based on the placement (base of neck quartering to), the lack of blood, and the way he went down initially just to take off running a couple minutes later like he hadn’t been shot, but I’m absolutely sick about it and would like to get a dog out here anyway if possible. Rocksprings area. 281-853-5483 thanks

.243 if anyone was wondering.

http://www.texasbloodtrackers.com/

Don't give up on him. At that angle, you should have got into the good stuff. He will be bleeding on the inside. Look for direction of travel and such. When spooked, most animals will take the path of least resistance and hopefully that will give you something to work with.

I’m going to call it. People with dogs have day jobs and with this heat, an already tough track would just get tougher waiting until this evening when someone could make it out. I don’t think he’s mortally wounded. If I had gotten the cord, he never would have gotten up, and if I was low, there would have been some blood to follow. I think I hit high, stunned him momentarily, and I should have been carrying a sidearm with me as I approached and found out he was still very much alive. This one is going to haunt me. Hope he doesn’t end up getting septic.

Call Caleb Hill
210-262-5510

He is awesome and is in that area.


Chris

I rushed the shot. I keep replaying it in my head and I wasn’t at the base of the neck. Lower third, yes, but his chest and shoulder (where the bullet needed to be) was still not quite clear of the persimmon. I think I just hit muscle above his spine. I’ll never make this mistake again. I’d be infinitely less disappointed by him potentially getting away unscathed than knowing I hit him and being unable to recover him.

Buck I killed this year was with 243. No blood until 50 yards and it was a speck. Went 220 yards and then took a swim. Maybe drowned. Only hit 1 lung but I got him on the wall.

I wouldn't give up just yet, keep looking, its your responsibility.

I've hit a deer in the heart and it made it 100 yards. I've seen people that thought they missed their deer, only to find it 400+ yards dead in the dirt after some serious tracking. No external exit, but it tore it up inside.

Another thing to do is drive the area and look for birds. Helped my buddy recover his biggest deer (antlers) the day after he shot it....Yotes took most everything else. Don't give up! Good luck!

Those axis are some of the toughest animals around. Don’t give up.. best of luck to you.

No blood trail at all?

If he is down, or badly wounded, start looking for buzzards. They get on stuff real quick. You may not want to meat but at least you will know.

I had a guest hit one very similar. Dropped like a rock, laid there a long time, then sprinted off when we approached. I couldn't get him in my scope and my guest was behind me, with me yelling "Put another one in him!" We looked and looked. As you suspect, you might have just shocked the spine.

He might survive. Look again hard before dark. Then check for buzzards, as stated, tomorrow afternoon. You're not accomplishing a dam thing running it over in your head again and again. This is a messy business.

Nothing at all where he hit the ground. Other than some flattened grass, you never would have known anything had taken place. If I had any inclination that the bullet entered the chest cavity, I would have kept searching. I did go back over the area on an ATV just to cover more ground and to see if he had piled up in any number of dense brushy oak mottes the direction I saw him go. As it stands now, I have somewhere I need to be this evening, work tomorrow and Saturday, and will head back out first thing Sunday morning and will keep an eye to the sky. I was within 15 feet of the animal when he picked up his head, got to his feet, and bolted. Had a pretty good look at him as he ran off. For him to drop like a sack of potatoes only to get up and run off as if untouched makes me believe I temporarily shocked the cord and the lack of blood leads me to believe I hit high.

No buzzards this morning. Going to operate with the assumption that he’ll live if he can fight off infection.

Sucks, sorry it went that way for you. All you can do is all you can do. Sometimes "____" happens, just gotta makes some lemonade and hope he turns back up.

Sounds like a 10 point I shot years ago. He showed up, and I shot him high on the shoulder. But I suspect that I shot too high and apparently got real close to the spine. He went down like a sack of potatoes. Didn’t even twitch. I patted myself on the back, got out the coffee and had a cup. I suppose I sat there for maybe 10 minutes drinking coffee and enjoying the morning. As I climbed down from the stand, the ‘dead’ buck kicked his back legs. Before I could do anything, he was up, wobbled a bit and then took off. There was a small amount of blood, and I tracked him for a short ways, but he was gone. Sounds much like what happened to the OP.

Update. Had a night time photo of him a couple of weeks ago. Looked healthy.

Man that's a big ol Axis