That should be plenty of time. Good luck with it all.

 

I would say 4-5hrs after jumping, so should be enough time

 

Do you need help? I'm about 45 minutes from you and will gladly skip my evening hunt to help you find him!

 

I'd say there is a good chance he'll still be alive. We tracked one this way last year and at 5:30 he was still alive but weak. We stayed on him once we found him and were eventually able to get another arrow in him to finish the job.

 

The deer is dead. It would have been dead in 2 hours if you hadn't jumped it the first time. If you leave a liver shot deer alone they are almost always expired after 2 hours. I'm sure he won't be far from the last place you jumped him. Post some pics after you find him. Good Luck!

 

My bad, yes if it was liver that deer is dead now. I was referring to a gut shot in the instance I sited.

 

I'd say you've waited plenty long enough now for him to stiffen up and/or die.

The liver is the blood filter; all the blood in the body goes through it, and every deer I've hit hard in the liver has left a stripe of deep red blood on the ground almost like it was made with a paintbrush, and didn't go far.

Since you saw guts hanging out, he will certainly die. Just keep on looking and circling until you find him. If you've got the funds, you may want to invest in one of those infrared game finders they sell at Cabela's and other places. I've never used one, but I'd guess they work and could be just the thing for a deer that hasn't cooled off yet.

Good Luck! And learn from your mistakes, God knows I've done enough of that!

 

7 hours is a good amount of time. Go after him and if you jump him again give him another 3 hours.

 

Dark blood might indicate a liver shot. Wait at least an hour before you trail him. Wounded deer have a tendency to want to run down hill as apposed to uphill. Anytime you jump a deer that has been hit back off and give it time to die. Deer hit in the chest that don't die immediately ususlly feel weak and will bed up extremely close to where they were hit. Sometimes not much more than 50 yards away. Before you get down sit and analyze the last area the deer was seen. Make a mental note of specific trees. Once you get down it is amazing how different the woods look.
Mark your trail as you follow a blood trail. This will give you a visual indication of the path the deer was taking. And you will not have to worry about messing up a sparse blood trail and then loosing track of where the deer was headed and where the last sign was found.

 

I have an old black lab that would find it or jump it up again!

 

I have had a couple of liver shots. They will go down surprisingly quick. I usually wait an hour on a liver hit and they have always been dead when I got there. I had a liver shot on an antelope and it went down within sight, only travelled 120 yards.

 

If the deer was hit in the liver he should be dead by now - 3 to 4 hours should be plenty of time on a liver hit deer. Let us know how it goes and post some pics.Good luck

 

Probably enough time...but go slowly...I don't think you hit the liver personally, he should have been dead 2 hrs after you shot him if you'd hit the liver....so I'm going with a stomach / gut hit....they'll usually run a ways, then lay down....if you hadn't have followed as soon you'd have likely found the deer in the first bed....

So go slowly...the deer will have likely run another 100-300 yards and laid down....it is possible that he'll still be alive it can take a long time for a deer to die from a gut shot...

 

This maybe a little late since you said you were going back out at 4 but if you need some help i'm not that far from you.. I could come up and help for a few hours if you would like an extra pair of eyes.

I also have a beagle that i have worked with some, not too sure how she would do but it's open as well.. Let me know.

Pm me if you want my cell phone number to call..

 

I have had a couple of liver shots. They will go down surprisingly quick. I usually wait an hour on a liver hit and they have always been dead when I got there. I had a liver shot on an antelope and it went down within sight, only travelled 120 yards.

He's right. A liver shot deer is not the same as a gut shot deer. A liver shot deer typically expires very quickly.

 

I helped a guy track a deer Saturday. He shot it at 7:30am. Quartering hard to him. He said he hit it between the neck and the shoulder. When i questioned him on the shot, he said he heard from a guy that this will put the deer down quickly. I disagreed with him and tried to politely tell him that he should have waited for a better angle or pass. He did not agree with me, but I still helped track. He had not found his arrow. Started tracking at 9:45am. The deer went 200 yards or so, lost blood several times, and was alive at 11am. That was 3 1/2 hours. It had gut hanging out. When we jumped it, it ran 70 yards and laid down. A finishing shot was needed and that arrow spined it. He field dressed it, and he hit the liver on the first shot. Had actually gone in behind front shoulder,not where he thought he hit it. exited the belly and hit the opposite hind leg. He told me Sunday that he went back and found his arrow close to the hit. I do not think 2 hours is long enough based on this and some other experiences

 

but,

I just remembered that my first ever deer, ten years ago. Liver and one lung. It expried in forty yards. I watched it lie down and was down in seconds. Maybe it depends how hard the live is hit

 

So are you cooking up backstrap on the BBQ???

 

Update...on liver shot deer.

First let me say I found him and what a hunt. Next let me say that I missed the liver...I hit all guts. After reviewing in my mind the deer was hard quartering away...about 25 feet down and was in the process of licking its hind end. The arrow hit all guts and took it out the hole.

After I jumped him, I backed out, marked where he was and left to come home and do some work.

Ok...I get to the property about 4:30...drive the tractor to the edge of the property line and proceed to track him on the neighboring property. I wasn't able to get the other landowners permission, but the land owner that I hunt on told me to go get the deer that Mr. So and so won't mind. He's hard to track down anyway. I was running out of time...or so I thought.

Now I get to the spot where I jumped the deer...I move about 15 yards and the blood is almost gone. I'm on my hands and knees and moving slowly. When I start to smell guts and hear alot of flies buzzing...now I know I'm on the right track. I look up and the deer is 10 feet from me...I see him and he sees me. He takes off, but stops about 30 yards away from me. Now any deer that lets someone get to within 10 feet is a very hurt deer. I'm thinking I need to either do one of two things..back out or push that deer to speed up the process of his dying. So I choose the second option. I move about 10 yards and I spot the deer about 15 yards...he has a bush between me and him. I do however spot a very tiny opening and thread the arrow right thru the opening and into the side of the deer. Perfect...or so I thought. The arrow was either deflected or the deer turned because upon field dressing the deer that arrow had skimmed between the hide and the rib cage. I'm still scratching my head on this one.

The arrow I shot the deer with was nocked with a lumenock and I'm now a believer in the lighted nocks. I was able to watch that lighted nock bounce away and track where that deer went. So I start tracking my deer after the second shot and see that he went into the dry creekbed. On the other side of the creekbed was a very large open field...about 60 acres and flat. I look for blood, tracks anything. There is literally nothing on the opposite side of the creek. So I turn back and look for anything. My next step is to go back to the spot of the shot and analyze what this deer did. I decide to go to the creek bed and turn right. 15 yards into the creek the deer and jumped onto the bank and was laying down. If he was a cougar or bear I would have been toast. Anyway the deer runs to further down and stops. I get out my rangefinder and see he's like 68 yards away. Too far for me. He goes into the creek and I follow him. He runs 35 yards and stops just looking at me.

I know at this point that this deer is about dead. Any deer that will let a hunter keep up with him is about dead. So I push him some more. He tries to go up this really steep hill and I go up with him on my hands and knees. I listen and decide to go into the creek and run up to him where I might get a shot, but he decides to do the same thing. He runs about 50 yards in front of me and stops. He has a very hard time making it up the bank and I run the edge of the creek. All of a sudden the noise stops. So I back up about 20 yards and climb the bank. Walk to the edge of the clearcut on the field and start looking for the deer on the edge of the clear cut. I go about 40 feet and there is deer laying down. His head is up and he's about 15 yards in front of me in the bush. I have no shot at his vitals...so I walk until I'm about 10 feet again from him and try for a shot. No shot at the vitals and I don't want to go any further for fear of pushing him again or him coming after me. The only shot I've got is his head or neck. I aim for the neck and just graze him...I immediately got another arrow and aim lower. I shoot him thru the neck hoping for the jugular, but the deer doesn't even flich. I've got the new 06' tricks. So sharp the deer didn't move. So I shot again and hit him basically in the same spot. Nothing!! Either the deer is dead or he's on crack!!

I have five arrows in my quiver...I've shot him once already at 9:30 am. Then I shoot him again at 5 pm. Then another shot which misses, but the two hit and pass thru. I've used 4 arrows and have one left...its the one that I shot him with in the first place at 9:30 am. I now move to 8 feet and this time he starts to get up. I place the arrow thru both shoulders and now he is down. Sixty seconds later I begin the field dressing process and discover the second arrow didn't even penetrate the vitals. I'm still baffled with that one. In the end...this deer took five arrows before dying and while I'm not bragging, I am humbled at my decision to shoot this morning when all I had to do was wait for a broadside shot...and all of this would never have happened.

Anyway...I tracked the deer about 250-300 yards and chased him another 400 yards. Talk about a long drag to the tractor. So I get him home and begin the process of quartering him...no pics as I didn't think about it as I wanted him in the basement fridge tonight. I couldn't wait till morning or the next day as the temps will get around 70 degrees.

To date this was my most challenging hunt and my most satisfying one. I've never killed a deer on the ground and even though this started in the tree...it ended with us on the ground. I will say this for the buck...he was a tenacious little bugger and he will eat real well. Just for an FYI...it was a small 5 pointer that I wanted for the freezer. Now I'm after that wiley doe that's been busting me on this property for three years and those big bucks I saw last year.

Two things I can take from this experience...one choosing my shots better, and two...Never give up.

This was a long story...thanks for reading and take care.

Paul

 

So are you cooking up backstrap on the BBQ???

The backstraps, and everything else is sitting in my basement fridge until saturday. Then its processing time and after that...backstraps on the grill.

Paul

 

Congrats! Enjoy the venison. Thank you for the story.

 

glad to hear you made the recovery...congratulations...

 

12 hours for a gut shot

Marginal shots should wait 12 hours,and that translates to next day in NY.Gotta let them sit and bleed out,anything sooner,just pushes them and you chance loosing the animal. Lumenocks are awesome,can't wait to use them this year.-joe

 

Glad you found it. Just as a side note I have shot a few deer and hit the liver and everyone was don't for the count very quickly with lots of blood to follow. I was thinking gut shot when you mentioned jumping it hours later. Anyway it's good to see someone stick with it.

 

Congrats on the deer!

However, I will throw in a different perspective on liver hits. I have killed many deer with liver shots. Some went down quick and in site. Others though, have not. Had one that was alive 8.5 hours after the shot, but did not get up before the finishing shot. Another, was alive a full 16 hours after the shot, and did get up and boogie out fast, but a lucky arrow found the jugular as it ran off. Another was alive 12 hours later (after we jumped him twice during the night) and couldn't stand up when I shot him the second time.

All of these were verified direct liver shots upon field dressing. Each though, were mature bucks, so I have to believe that makes a difference, just body size if nothing else.