Retrieval advice

[Hugh Mann]

As some people have said, you'd be amazed at just how well deer blend in when they're on the ground. Back in October, I shot a large two point, similar in size to a 4 and 5 point my group took down last year. Last few minutes of the day, I watched it tip over and kick its legs up in the air in my scope as it fell over, and went I went to go look for it, I could not find it. I looked for 15-20 minutes, it was about 300m away in open grassland and sage when it fell, and I could not find it, so we drove the truck up to there as a point of reference and starting searching nearby stands of trees and cover, as we were certain it got up and ran when we weren't looking.

After an hour and a half of searching fruitlessly by headlamp, we resolved to come back in the morning. Four feet from the truck we found this deer, behind a tiny little sagebush. We almost ran the thing over going to go look for it. So all I can say is look carefully behind every bush because these suckers can hide really well.

[suburbboy]

Thanks for all the input folks. Didn't see any deer around Harrison today unfortunately. Some sign and tracks (and a grouse - the one time I didn't bring my shotgun!) Also found a fricken massive shed! The bases are insane (especially for a blacktail). The shed on the right is another blacktail for reference.

[jbruce]

a wounded animal will head down hill and will be looking for water to lay in,not written in stone but more often then not.

[wideopenthrottle]

What really sucks is this was my first buck, and my first solo hunt. I think I was too excited (also, I'd seen the buck twice before and not shot because of lack of proper opportunity, so the pressure was on). Also, I probably could have been quieter after the shot in the hopes of having it bed closeby. I did an initial search after 20 minutes, then took a break for maybe 40 minutes and then went back and tried to go to every spot systematically. I just don't understand how there was such little sign.

I'm sure it was a hit, but from the looks of it, may have been hind quarter.

The grid thing is what I've done for waterfowl, but today was in the thick nasty steep ridges in the northern stretches of the Harrison. Initially I was sticking to game trails, but there were points I was just hauling through thick brush, got totally soaked, cut up, and couldn't see 5 ft ahead of me. If anyone sees a crippled buck while hunting up a dozen kms before the washed out bridge on West Harrison, let me know



I saw one raven and was hoping it'd lead me to the kill, but it kept flying across the lake.

Definitely going to practice freehand shots more at the range, and going to take follow up shots as a rule. And probably also silently wait longer after the shot.

sounds like you learned a lot from that.....i retube and put the crosshairs back on any animal i have shot....i will never hesitate to take that 2nd shot or even a third if it is still standing....you are showing great ethics by agonizing over this lost animal....ravens will be plentiful and noisy if they have found a kill....do you know any one with a good trailing dog?....also i carry a small cigar to smoke to force myself to wait if a deer runs out of sight