A Shame, is this common?

[MtnMuley]

I'd say it was just bad luck.

I would never push an arrow shot buck after dark if I knew it was still up and moving.  Let it bed and die, and you have a chance of recovering it.  Push it and lose the blood trail and you won't recover it.

Best comment made.

[WSU]

I did it once in Pullman.  My wife shot a buck right at dark and didn't hit it all that well.  We jumped it and watched it move away obviously wounded.  Backed out and came back the next day to find it right where we left it.  Coyotes had eaten a portion of a hind quarter, but the rest of it was fine.

[Biggerhammer]

That much meat consumed in such a short period might suggest a cat or two was involved. I know a female cougar with this years litter can make short work of a deer, along with the coyotes of course. A cat will kick a pile of yotes off a kill. I have coyotes get on deer over a night but they never came close to eating it all!

[CAMPMEAT]

that is why you never let an animal lay overnight and who would want to eat it after the guts stayed in it for ten hours... They do it on tv because they give the meat to the food bank and dont care if it is spoiled.... I would have hounded that buck all night until it was in my hands... its a shame hopefully your buddy learned a valuable lesson here and never leaves an animal overnight again...

Exactly..........who waits for even an hour to look for an animal. That's TV B.S.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

TV BS and don't care about the meat BS.  And in spite of what's been posted above, even on sub freezing weather, a deer sized animal will stay warm after death all night. The hair and mass on an unbutchered deer will hold in body heat. Bigger animals such as elk and moose will stay warm even longer. Having hunted many years in Alaska I have seen animals that weren't recovered until the next day in freezing weather that had steam coming off of them when gutted and skinned. Some were already souring. 

[PA BEN]

My buddy shot this deer the last weekend of rifle season at last light. Found it at day light the next morning.

[400out]

that is why you never let an animal lay overnight and who would want to eat it after the guts stayed in it for ten hours... They do it on tv because they give the meat to the food bank and dont care if it is spoiled.... I would have hounded that buck all night until it was in my hands... its a shame hopefully your buddy learned a valuable lesson here and never leaves an animal overnight again...

Exactly..........who waits for even an hour to look for an animal. That's TV B.S.

I ran after this deer! I am no TV hunter but when I lost him over the hill and the canyon looks the way this one did it was the common sense to wait it out and go in the morning! Like I stated before only a dumb ars would have pushed this deer at that point in the day with that kind of terrain  Hope your talking to me 

[Sitka_Blacktail]

Besides coyotes, don't rule out black bears.

[Biggerhammer]

that is why you never let an animal lay overnight and who would want to eat it after the guts stayed in it for ten hours... They do it on tv because they give the meat to the food bank and dont care if it is spoiled.... I would have hounded that buck all night until it was in my hands... its a shame hopefully your buddy learned a valuable lesson here and never leaves an animal overnight again...

Exactly..........who waits for even an hour to look for an animal. That's TV B.S.

That's exactly how I feel but I'm often accused of being insensative around here, which I am. I was taking a break from my insensitivity so I didn't post it but I am a chauvinistic pig.

[Biggerhammer]

that is why you never let an animal lay overnight and who would want to eat it after the guts stayed in it for ten hours... They do it on tv because they give the meat to the food bank and dont care if it is spoiled.... I would have hounded that buck all night until it was in my hands... its a shame hopefully your buddy learned a valuable lesson here and never leaves an animal overnight again...

Exactly..........who waits for even an hour to look for an animal. That's TV B.S.

I ran after this deer! I am no TV hunter but when I lost him over the hill and the canyon looks the way this one did it was the common sense to wait it out and go in the morning! Like I stated before only a dumb ars would have pushed this deer at that point in the day with that kind of terrain  Hope your talking to me 

Hang out for a couple hours then, grab the MagLite or the Surefire and go find his dead hindend but dont drive home???

[400out]

  maybe ask NASA for a satalite image of the canyon    if I didn't have enough blood at last light what makes you think I would have it under mag light  Thanks for the help though 

[HornHoarder]

I'd say its fairly common, especially when left overnight. Never happened to me, but I have seen it happen to two different bowhunters.

[JimmyHoffa]

Yeah, I think it is pretty common.  Something is out there looking to scavenge--including things like weasels.  If it is daylight even crows can take a good amount off of a deer.  But I've had yotes come after the gutpile right after we left.  And have known of one where the guy went to get a friend with a dog, but by the time the help showed and found the deer it was a skeleton.

[buckman202]

In both cincumstances that have been posted here I would have left the deer until first light myself. But this is a damned if you do damned if you don't situation. People call you stupid for not staying out and recovering the deer right away. But if you stay out with a light lookin for your deer they'll be the first to call ya a poacher.

[got2hunt]

a buddy of mine shot a nice 3+3 and left it lay cause he didn't have a flash light with him to track him at night, so he pulled out and went back at first light he was hear4t broke they ate the hole hind end of of the thing. It was his first mule deer buck with his bow. Guess he will pack a flash light next time..