Youth buck shot, FOUND HIM

Hello. This post is mainly for me to have a forum to express my thoughts. Youth rifle deer season started today so son and I went out this PM. We were in an elevated box stand and a big one came out but was skylined. We were getting ready and he spooked and went into the woods. He came back out, son got ready, and shot when he was broadside at 70 yards. 243 frangible bullet. Buck dropped then stumbled a few feet and went down. After a second or two he lunged forward 5 yards and went down and slowly flailed forward 5 yards. His head was all we could see as the body was in tall grass. For about 7-8 seconds he laid there, moved his head some, and kicked a little. I have shot a lot of deer and I thought he was dead on that spot. He started to try and get up so we got ready for another shot. The mowed clearing he went through was maybe 10 yards wide. Son shot again, I think it was another hit but am not sure. His back end wasn't cooperating and I don't know if he ever really got his back legs under him well. Excitement was high and after how he acted I was sure he was dead just inside the woods. We waited 10 min and went to look. We headed in the direction he was and couldn't see him, went back to the field and didn't find a blood trail which isn't surprising with these bullets, went back in the woods and no luck. We only covered an area 70 yds x 50 yds that he went into. It is a triangle shape with one side he went into and the other 2 a ditch. It was getting dark and based on no blood trail we headed back. We will head back in the morning and hopefully I can post a picture here tomorrow. That was long but the rest of my family doesn't care about hearing the play by play details. There are way worse things in life but a quick prayer our way never hurt.

well its nice and cold tonight. hopefully it bleeds good internally and the coyotes don't get it

Wishing you guys the best..have that last seen spot of the deer imprinted in your head and track slow..hopefully he’s not far and you just overlooked him from all the excitement.

Sounds like a high hit but you never know. Give him some time. Maybe wait till morning.

Thinking a high hit also. Good luck in the morning!

Chris

Do you have a good tracking dog or even a bird dog would probably hold track? If see if a friend has one you can borrow. Make sure dog is on a leash or you may be looking for the dog too.

Garry-

I bet you find him in the morning , but more important dont beat yourself up over it if you dont !

I would guess he hit the shoulder and it shocked the spine but didn't penetrate through the shoulder bone and cartilage.

frangibles need to be placed in the neck for DRT or slipped through the ribs into the lungs to be effective and even then seldom any exit wound deer can still run a good distance with no lungs.

where was he aiming ?

I don't care for the frangible bullets I tried them a few years ago I recovered the deer shot through the high back ribs , the bullet base almost exited low on the opposite side I found what was left of it under the hide on the far side lungs were destroyed didn't hit the heart with the bullet , it ran about 30 yards completely bloodless and dropped.

I like 2 holes and a blood trail and won't be using the frangible bullets again unless needed in which case shot placement will need to be the neck or in a fairly open place so I can see it run a ways and go down.

I hope you find it int he morning and completely understand the need to talk it over and the wife and daughters not wanting to hear about it any more.
my son and I are outnumbered it the house.

Yeah that was the last go around for frangibles.

My guess is if he was having that much trouble getting around then he isn't going to be able to get up and down them ditches. With my luck he'd be layin in the bottom of the deepest one. Good luck

mite be still in grass,they bury deep along ground.had one drop ,get back up run in tall grass,i found his tracks wher he entered.walked for 2 hours ,nothing. land owner brought his 2 dogs down ,they ran circle .found it buryed deep ,still alive,i walked that area and was within 5 ft of him at times!.

Hope you can find it in the morning, sounds like he's probably dead right now, but you never can be sure until you find it.

Good luck tomorrow

Best of luck to you! When you are looking for him trust your nose. Son and I found a buck he had hit with an arrow but rain washed away any blood. Both of us had split up and were walking in the direction the buck had gone when we both got a whiff of buck smell. Followed the breeze and found him bedded down in thick stuff, still alive. Another arrow ended the chase.

Moosetrot

It is real easy to become discouraged when looking for a wounded deer. That will kill your chances of finding it. Stop trying to guess where the bullet/bullets struck. Tomorrow is a new day. Keep your spirits up. You are now hunting a deer which is having a hard time getting around. Let that be your focus.
If you have difficulty finding any sign, such as where the deer stumbled and kicked up the ground litter, and you are are running out of options where else to look, go back to where the last place you know where the buck was, and find all of the game trails and follow each one of them. A mortally wounded deer will often get on a trail and run or walk until it falls over dead.

Good luck tomorrow, I hope we get a pic. I've been in the same situation, some ended we'll and some not. Chances are he didn't go far, good decision to back out and go back in daylight

The first thing I would do is get in the stand and look the area over again .Some times after getting on the ground the area looks different and people start looking in the wrong place .Be sure you are looking for sign where the deer was .Next if you find blood ,hair ,leaves disturbed etc go with the sign .Do not start jumping ahead .Let the sign lead you to the deer . My experience is your deer is somewhere nearby. If as you said his back legs where giving him problems he will not be far from where you last seen it Take your time and let the sign show you the deer .Also learn, every time you do this makes it easier for the next time you need to find the next one

Any updates

Looked for 3 hours this morning slowly covering ground. I am not done yet and will look again tomorrow. Of course by now the meat would be no good anyway. The cover is thick and can only see 20 yds. I spooked a few deer looking but they took off in a healthy fashion.

look for buzzards. That is the reason my son went to a 270 at age 12. No pass thru = no blood trail. He lost a deer that we found 4 days later . The deer run 10 yards back into the woods then disappeared out a trail , then after 20 more yards did a 90 degree right hand turn into major briars and honey suckle. terrain was so thick unless looking down a trial 15 yards was all you could see, No reason for deer to leave trail but it did. I saw the buzzards and recovered the rack. Hole in the lung area Month later he traded the 243 off.

Finally found it. Went 150 yds into a 35' deep ditch. Still alive. My camera battery was dead and don't take pics with my cell phone so sorry no pictures.

Good deal !!! I’ve been there, it’s a roller coaster for sure. Congrats

Glad you found him!!

Nice !!!!!

Great news! Take a photo tomorrow in the daylight!

Chris

Glad you found him

Good job sticking with the recovery! To many times people throw in the towel and move on. I have always tried to make sure I learn something from hard recoveries. Great job again!

Where was the initial hit? Like other stated it sounds like it could've been too far forward and hit the spine but not gotten any spinal cord.

Great news, that could have been very disappointing to lose a first buck.
Just one question though; why the frangible bullet? Is it some sort of safety requirement where you hunt?

Way to go! Really happy for you and your son!

Moosetrot

Good job Looking forward to seeing were the bullet hit.

Hit was high and seemingly an almost back end paralysis but not quite. Local place makes the frangibles so thought we would try them out.

Yep no kill zone !! LOL Here we go !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now the argument that that spot doesn't exist...............................

The 35' deep ditch doesn't sound good, but good recovery.

There are countless no kill zones on a deer. Toenails, lips, tail, etc.
Sounds to me from his description, that the hit was high (as in above the spinal cord). The spinous process on the vertebrae above the shoulder and toward the neck is very long and a considerable distance from the spinal cord, but if one of the spinous process' is struck, it will temporarily paralyze a deer. Sometimes they will drop, and kick, then completely overcome it and run away like there was nothing wrong with it.

Yep had a big 12 point do that to me in 2016. Deer dropped kicked and then lay still. I gathered my things and was half way down my ladder stand when I heard the leaves crunch. Could not get another shot at him . He fell wobbled went down 2 more times. Then after about 5 minutes trotted off snorting all the way out of hearing.

Good for you guys. Glad you found him!

With my luck, that would of been the first place I looked... unless there was a 40' deep ditch close by.

Good job keepin on it!!!

Keep your head up with the .243. Try the cheap Federal Blue box 100 gr. Bullet

I own many deer rifles ....but 3 of them have taken the most game. The .243. Over 30 Whitetails, 6 Antelope and half a dozen Muleys. With my Rem. Mohawk chambered in .243 win.

Follow the front leg up to the thin part of the scapula and with a good .243 bullet that animal Will Fold up right there.

Glad you found the Deer!!!

Someone once said "Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want." A great job on not just walking away and giving up .Take the things you learned by keeping on looking and use them in the future. It was not a perfect situation but you made it successful in the end Congrats on finding the deer

All is well that ends well.congrats on your son's first buck.

LMBO!!

Good job sticking with him. I hunt with a .243 also, and have had really good results, I don't shoot shoulders though.

Taking the kids hunting is a lot of fun, but mine have caused me some gray hair trying to find there deer also. My youngest is on his last year of youth season, I'm going to miss being in the stand with him.

Good job way to stay at it. Let your son know we were all hoping for him. Congrats!!