Post by: Wendego716 on October 24, 2025, 04:50:57 PM
I shot a spike this morning and didn't really have anything to follow, so just started walking transects hoping it didn't go far. No luck, planning on searching more in the morning. I hate losing deer.
Post by: JakeLand on October 24, 2025, 05:15:05 PM
Post by: lewy on October 24, 2025, 05:27:13 PM
Post by: Wendego716 on October 24, 2025, 08:25:16 PM
My question was more for future reference, since after he took off I had trouble deciding between waiting or pushing it (kinda did both). Especially since rain and blacktails go hand in hand.
Post by: brokentrail on October 24, 2025, 08:29:01 PM
Post by: Goshawk on October 24, 2025, 08:48:17 PM
Post by: Goshawk on October 24, 2025, 08:52:21 PM
Post by: Feathernfurr on October 24, 2025, 08:58:47 PM
Post by: WSU on October 24, 2025, 09:14:52 PM
Shot felt good, was only 50 yards. A few clumps of white hair where he was standing, with some blood/muscle bits. The latter has me worried I pulled the shot and grazed him. Nothing I can do about it now except go back and look for a dead deer in the area.
My question was more for future reference, since after he took off I had trouble deciding between waiting or pushing it (kinda did both). Especially since rain and blacktails go hand in hand.
Doesn’t sound promising to me if there is white hair. In the rain I look asap
Post by: blackveltbowhunter on October 24, 2025, 10:22:57 PM
Bullets I get on them right away. My buck today I hit back as he was turning to leave, bullet path of travel was quartered away through liver and lung found bullet in armpit of offside leg. Shot was close, but he wasn't waiting to smell the daisies, he hunched up but was clearly hurt. His dirt track into salal got me a direction of travel and did find blood shortly after. 20 yards later found him piled up. For reference the blood was gone 10 minutes later and tracks were washed out shortly after that.
I would definitely go grid!!! In a story for another time, the buck I killed last year had no bullet path thru anything "vital" yet the shock had disrupted his insides enough that his lungs were heavily bruised. Thankfully 1 year ago today was gorgeous and sunny and condition allowed me to unravel the trail and after a long grind find him to kegged up to move. Good luck in your search!
Post by: dilleytech on October 25, 2025, 08:48:12 AM
Post by: brokentrail on October 25, 2025, 09:59:28 AM
Post by: Wendego716 on October 25, 2025, 02:00:05 PM
For reference the blood was gone 10 minutes later and tracks were washed out shortly after that.
Thank you, that's some good evidence to get on it fast to at least find an initial direction once it's out of sight.
Also, I did find him this morning. Didn't go far at all, but did go in an unexpected direction. If I had made one more pass on that side I would've found him yesterday, but I had work/family obligations I needed to get home for. TBD how much meat I'll be able to salvage, but at least I got him.
Post by: MADMAX on October 25, 2025, 02:12:42 PM
Post by: Feathernfurr on October 25, 2025, 02:59:34 PM
Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.
Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.
Post by: WSU on October 25, 2025, 03:01:10 PM
Post by: blackveltbowhunter on October 25, 2025, 03:06:53 PM
Post by: dilleytech on October 27, 2025, 01:46:14 PM
Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.
Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.
Every animal I have shot in the liver died within 10 minutes and didn’t go more than 60 yards. They bleed out very fast from a liver hit. Unless you barely scratch it or something.
Post by: WSU on October 27, 2025, 05:19:35 PM
Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.
Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.
Every animal I have shot in the liver died within 10 minutes and didn’t go more than 60 yards. They bleed out very fast from a liver hit. Unless you barely scratch it or something.
I shot a bull once in the liver with a muzzleloader and finished it off about 6 hours and a mile later.
Post by: Feathernfurr on October 27, 2025, 06:01:14 PM
Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.
Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.
Every animal I have shot in the liver died within 10 minutes and didn’t go more than 60 yards. They bleed out very fast from a liver hit. Unless you barely scratch it or something.
I shot a bull once in the liver with a muzzleloader and finished it off about 6 hours and a mile later.
I’ve killed multiple elk and deer with 1 lung and center punched liver, with big mechanical and fixed broadheads. The farthest one has taken it 950 yards. Liver is not a quick death unless you clip a large artery with it. They will carry it 150-200 yards and bed and die.
Post by: kodiak06 on October 27, 2025, 11:23:07 PM
Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.
Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.
Every elk and deer we've hit in the liver have died in less than an hour. My sons bull this year was dead 40min after the shot when we found him.
Post by: Dark2Dark on October 28, 2025, 11:30:30 AM
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Every elk and deer we've hit in the liver have died in less than an hour. My sons bull this year was dead 40min after the shot when we found him.
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I think with any of these comments it's valuable/important to mention whether you are talking about archery hunting or rifle hunting. Of course, the OP is talking about rifle hunting so it would be natural to throw in rifle scenarios as most relevant. But we definitely have some archery stories being included.
There is a pretty big difference between slicing the liver a little with an arrow and blowing it up with an expanding bullet and the associated concussion. A bullet could reasonably turn most of the liver into jello, and open up all the arteries going to and from it. That could definitely be a pretty quick death.
With an arrow, it's pretty well-documented that a liver hit can take hours and hours to kill an animal, and I have seen it happen several times. Archery situations are also quite a bit different because if it's going to take the animal four hours to die, you better give it four hours. Because if you bump it, it's highly unlikely you're getting a follow-up shot with a bow. Whereas, jumping it with a rifle isn't the end of the world because odds are high/good you can put another round in it to finish the job.
With basically any rifle hit on public property, especially in the rain, I don't typically wait around before pursuing a hit animal. Maybe I should, but the only rifle-hit animal I have lost remains a huge mystery- it was pouring rain but I'm pretty sure the hit was good and I found about a 1" piece of lung that blew out of his chest cavity. It was a big spike buck and to this day I have no idea where he ended up or how I couldn't find him.