# Gut sot?



## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

My buddy made a bad shot tonight on a buck. He said it was a gut shot and he could see some of the intestines protruding out on the exit side. The time was 7:00 he staid in stand till 8:15 and left the opposite direction of the buck. My question to you seasoned hunters is this. He wants us to go looking tonight at midnight in fear of loosing it to the coyotes and my advise is to wait it out till the AM. If it was a pure gut shot he should bed down close to the shot but may not die for some time. I dont think 5 hours is enough, what doyou giys think.
Before the haters start hateing, he is a very experienced and ethical hunter. He just feels terrible but unfortunatly made a bad shot. If anybody has been bow hunting long enough you can probably relate.


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## Sharp Charge (Jun 24, 2009)

Look in the morning. Nothing worse than pushing an injured deer around in the dark. If the yotes get it overnight, then so be it. Sucks but depending where he hit it, there's a chance that it could still live. I'm not sure how he could see intestines hanging out at sunset.


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## killingtime (Apr 29, 2009)

hard to say on this one. the coyotes could be a problem and temperature could cause the meat to spoil a little. five hours could be enough time stiffen up and expire. i would go especially if you cant go at first light tomorrow. if you go tonight take good lights with you. good luck.


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## justin3687 (May 29, 2009)

I would wait for the am I've lost too many deer due to bad shots and pushing them in the dark. 

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## justin3687 (May 29, 2009)

What kinda broad head did he use?

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## DL07 (Jul 21, 2011)

Wait till first light!!


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## Carpn (Apr 5, 2004)

Wait till first light tomorrow


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## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

(I'm not sure how he could see intestines hanging out at sunset) good point sharp, life long friend who i know well enough to take his word for it. It was a rage 2 blade 100grain. I just talked to him and convinced him to wait till 7:00 am. Even if we lose it to the yotes its still the right decision IMO. I will post up some pics when we find him tomorrow. Thanks for the quick replies you guys made me feel better about my advise to him.


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

Not really getting too cold tonight. I'd wait it out til noon or even later, but then you're looking at lost meat with tomorrows daytime temps. Might need to give up on the meat if he's a wallhanger. Agree that the deer will bed quickly, likely near water.

Tough call - if he's not done, you'll jump him and he won't stop to bed again. He will die eventually, but not quickly.

Got a bad hit on a doe in PA many years ago at first light. She hit the treeline 40 yds away and bedded down 40 yds from there. Waited all day(10-11hrs) and went after her. Jumped her and her yearling and they split up. Spent two days blind searching along a creek and never found her. Might have been close though. Ran into a bear on my side of the creek coming my way. Gave up after that. Should have waited until the next AM in hindsight.

Did he recover the arrow? Any white hair (low belly hit) or short brown hair (higher up, maybe catch liver depending on angle) Any blood or just green partially digested browse on the shaft?

Gut shots are hard. They don't bleed much because the body diverts blood to the major muscles when moving - no blood trail to follow. They only start to bleed internally when they bed down and the digestive process pulls more blood to do its job.

Good luck. Keep us posted.


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## sherman51 (Apr 12, 2011)

i agree you guys made the right choice on this one. if you go out tonight and jump him up, odds are you wont have much of a blood trail to follow. he probably wont get alot of sleep tonight. but the odds are with you in the morning.
sherman


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## justin3687 (May 29, 2009)

I believe the guts poking out those rage 2 blades cut the heck out of a deer. 

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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

i say go NOW!! get your coleman propane lantern and go. if its a rage 2 blade that deer should of bled out by now. it is by far the best "bad hit" broadhead on the market. did he find blood?? what color was it?? bright red? that deer is dead. i hit a spike a little back of the bread basket wednesday night. i let it go and came back at midnight. found him at about 1:30am stiff as a board. you could wait till daylight, but the blood is easier to follow in the dark with a coleman propane lantern, makes the blood trail almost glow.


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## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

Well i just got in from looking all morning. No deer yet. Found white hair on ground at shot no blood. No blood for 40 yards then he starting bleeding good. Followed blood trail for 60-80 yards to a cat tail swamp. Water is 6" to a foot and half deep so when i left my buddy was working his way through that. He should be close but not there yet. Blood was brite red with no bubbles, will post later


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Rent helicopter? Good luck guys.


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## justin3687 (May 29, 2009)

Doesn't sound good. Hard to believe that rage didn't do the job gut shot or not. I got shot a 9 pt a few years back and it only made it 50 yards. My dad killed a 10 few years ago that he got shot that had a muzzy in its shoulder and was previously gut shot before he got shot it. He had to gut it underwater in a crick due to how raunchy it was

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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

ezbite said:


> i say go NOW!! get your coleman propane lantern and go. if its a rage 2 blade that deer should of bled out by now. it is by far the best "bad hit" broadhead on the market. did he find blood?? what color was it?? bright red? that deer is dead. i hit a spike a little back of the bread basket wednesday night. i let it go and came back at midnight. found him at about 1:30am stiff as a board. you could wait till daylight, but the blood is easier to follow in the dark with a coleman propane lantern, makes the blood trail almost glow.


Good advice.
It is amazing how those Coleman propane lanterns do make that blood glow.
If it's in the evening when we shoot a deer, we just wait until its completely dark and get our lanterns.


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Rage broadheads are not a silver bullet. A gut shot deer is going to be hard to recover with anything smaller than a 50 cal (not the muzzleloader, either)



justin3687 said:


> Doesn't sound good. Hard to believe that rage didn't do the job gut shot or not. I got shot a 9 pt a few years back and it only made it 50 yards. My dad killed a 10 few years ago that he got shot that had a muzzy in its shoulder and was previously gut shot before he got shot it. He had to gut it underwater in a crick due to how raunchy it was
> 
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## lg_mouth (Jun 7, 2004)

Did he find the arrow? Tell tale sign of a gut shot is green on the arrow and it stinks. I shot a doe a couple Wednesdays ago that was hard quartering away, clearly had intestine hanging from her when she ran off. I got down, checked the arrow, no green-no stink, waited 30 minutes and found her 65 yards away. 

Lg_mouth


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## Sharp Charge (Jun 24, 2009)

Mushijobah said:


> Rent helicopter? Good luck guys.



I can fly it if you do.


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## fish4wall (Apr 14, 2004)

update? please let us know.


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## 419deerhunter (Mar 23, 2011)

ezbite said:


> i say go NOW!! get your coleman propane lantern and go. if its a rage 2 blade that deer should of bled out by now. it is by far the best "bad hit" broadhead on the market. did he find blood?? what color was it?? bright red? that deer is dead. i hit a spike a little back of the bread basket wednesday night. i let it go and came back at midnight. found him at about 1:30am stiff as a board. you could wait till daylight, but the blood is easier to follow in the dark with a coleman propane lantern, makes the blood trail almost glow.


Really! So tired of people thinking Rages are a miracle head this is what cause alot of "hunters" to take a marginal shot they think oh im shooting a Rage it dont matter where I hit um 
Not trying to bash ya EZ but imo this is not very sound advice 
Any update on the deer? Keeping looking around water the deer would of went there See if you can find a deer tracking dog best of luck


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## firstflight111 (May 22, 2008)

no its piss poor hunters the make them bad ...take your time and make your shot good ...if you dont have a good shot dont take it .. and yes the 2 blade rage are the best by far for putting deer down quick ...if you take your time and shoot them right .....


as far as the shoting deer late in the day it sucks ....


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## BassBlaster (Jun 8, 2006)

firstflight111 said:


> no its piss poor hunters the make them bad ...take your time and make your shot good ...if you dont have a good shot dont take it .. and yes the 2 blade rage are the best by far for putting deer down quick ...if you take your time and shoot them right .....
> 
> 
> as far as the shoting deer late in the day it sucks ....


This story works both ways. If your of the mindset that proper shot placement is the key, then you dont need the Rage to begin with. Native Americans took down buffalo with stone points, just sayin.


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## justin3687 (May 29, 2009)

BassBlaster said:


> This story works both ways. If your of the mindset that proper shot placement is the key, then you dont need the Rage to begin with. Native Americans took down buffalo with stone points, just sayin.


Lol along with big nets to keep them trapped while they speared and shot them to death

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## firstflight111 (May 22, 2008)

justin3687 said:


> Lol along with big nets to keep them trapped while they speared and shot them to death
> 
> Outdoor Hub mobile, the outdoor information engine


and dont forget they were on horses too ...and not in a tree stands... big difference... just sayin


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## fish4wall (Apr 14, 2004)

i used the rage 3 blade a few years ago..and not to toot my own horn i'm a good shot..i also shoot year round...after GOOD shot placement on 2 does that year. one doe it looked like a blood bath. i tracked her for 3 miles...yes i said miles. and i'll have words with anyone who said i didn't! i was sick for DAYS because i couldn't find her. my buddy and i when we was looking for her we started looking in the tree tops... i went back to muzzys...now i have heard the 2 blade rages are better BUT!!! a magic head they are not!!
so next time we start bashing other hunters skills (and i know theres hunters out thats have NO SKILLS) we might want to think twice..remember we wasn't there at the time of the shot.
some times [email protected] happens..it sucks but it does....


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## lotaluck (Dec 17, 2009)

I regret to say we never found this deer. My buddy is just sick about it. You guys are amazing as the deer did head to water. A large cat tail swamp that is. There was trails thru this swamp that reminded me of the everglades where a air boat would clear a path but only wide enough for a deer to get thru. The water was as deep as my wast in some places. What a mess to track a deer in. Once he got in that it was all over as there were no sighnes to be found. The sad part is i know we were within yards of a dead deer. And i agree about the rage heads, they are the cats meow but only in the hands of a good confident shot.


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## 419deerhunter (Mar 23, 2011)

lotaluck said:


> I regret to say we never found this deer. My buddy is just sick about it. You guys are amazing as the deer did head to water. A large cat tail swamp that is. There was trails thru this swamp that reminded me of the everglades where a air boat would clear a path but only wide enough for a deer to get thru. The water was as deep as my wast in some places. What a mess to track a deer in. Once he got in that it was all over as there were no sighnes to be found. The sad part is i know we were within yards of a dead deer. And i agree about the rage heads, they are the cats meow but only in the hands of a good confident shot.


Keep an eye out for the crows and buzzards might still beable to at least save the rack sucks to loose a deer


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

Take a look along the edge of the swamp that he went into, 100 yds left/right of where he would have entered. If he did bed down and not get bumped out the next day when you went in, he's probably still there but dead by now. Get into the thick stuff as well. You'd be surprised how easily a bedded deer can hide, especially when wounded and not wanting to be seen. Good luck. It sucks to lose a deer but it happens to the best of us.


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## ezbite (May 25, 2006)

419deerhunter said:


> Really! So tired of people thinking Rages are a miracle head this is what cause alot of "hunters" to take a marginal shot they think oh im shooting a Rage it dont matter where I hit um
> Not trying to bash ya EZ but imo this is not very sound advice


Ok,that's your opinion and I can respect that. But I stand by the tracking with the lantern and I've read my replys and I don't see anywhere that I said that rage was a miracle head. I said the best bad hit broadhead on the market.


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

billk said:


> Tough call - if he's not done, you'll jump him and he won't stop to bed again. He will die eventually, but not quickly.


I seen a lot of gut shot deer over the past 45 years that never read that book.

Not saying that hasn't been your personal experience but I have seen a lot of deer response deviations to your statement.


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## hugo27bell75ty (Oct 10, 2011)

Gut shot deer can live for a few minutes up to 4 days, it depends on what part of the intestine and how many of those fine arteries you clip. I wouldn't look fot at least 8 hours. Some deer die from being septic, which is infestion and that can take days. Depends on how bad your buddy wants the deer.


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

Lundy said:


> I seen a lot of gut shot deer over the past 45 years that never read that book.
> 
> Not saying that hasn't been your personal experience but I have seen a lot of deer response deviations to your statement.


Lundy - Not sure why you feel a need to call me out on my statement. Maybe you're just more of a gut-shot expert than I am. 

I based my comment on an old article in Bowhunter magazine that I read years ago. Good writeup on how to ID the hit by type of hair, color/amount of blood, deer behavior after the hit. Also had good recommendations on how long to wait before taking up the trail, etc. Wish I could find it on the net somewhere. It might be a big help to some hunters.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

Lundy said:


> I seen a lot of gut shot deer over the past 45 years that never read that book.
> 
> Not saying that hasn't been your personal experience but I have seen a lot of deer response deviations to your statement.


I got to agree here. 
I've been at it for almost 40.


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## Dragons4u (Jul 18, 2011)

A few years back, a friend of mine made a good shot on a deer, arrow passed straight through on a lung shot. Even with pink frothy blood every where and a heck of a blood trail, we never did find that deer. He called me in to track it for him when he couldn't find it any where.
I tracked that thing from the point it was shot to about 50 yards into the woods and then the blood trail just stopped. We ended up with about ten people scouring that entire woods looking for it, and the only thing I could come up with is that deer either clotted up and kept going (very doubtful with the blood loss up to the point it just stopped) or someone had snagged that deer before he went looking for it. And he only waited thirty minutes before going looking.
So tell your friend about that, that way he knows there are people out there who make good shots and still lose the deer.


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## firstflight111 (May 22, 2008)

fish4wall said:


> i used the rage 3 blade a few years ago..and not to toot my own horn i'm a good shot..i also shoot year round...after GOOD shot placement on 2 does that year. one doe it looked like a blood bath. i tracked her for 3 miles...yes i said miles. and i'll have words with anyone who said i didn't! i was sick for DAYS because i couldn't find her. my buddy and i when we was looking for her we started looking in the tree tops... i went back to muzzys...now i have heard the 2 blade rages are better BUT!!! a magic head they are not!!
> so next time we start bashing other hunters skills (and i know theres hunters out thats have NO SKILLS) we might want to think twice..remember we wasn't there at the time of the shot.
> some times [email protected] happens..it sucks but it does....


i am sure we were talking about the 2 blade rage... nobody said a thing about 3 blade rage and yes the 3 blade suck


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

crappiedude said:


> I got to agree here.
> I've been at it for almost 40.


Almost 40 yrs under my belt as well guys (if we're comparing resumes.)

I stand by my statement. Bump a bedded gut shot deer too soon and he will get moving with little or no blood trail to follow. Leave him be long enough and he *WILL* die. Thats a fact of anatomy and physiology - bowel contents in the abdomen lead to peritonitis and sepsis followed by systemic failure. It just takes time. With luck you find a dead deer or jump a deer too weak to move or barely stand.

Found this article on gut shots doing a quick google search.

http://wiredtohunt.com/2009/10/14/what-to-do-if-you-gut-shot-a-deer/


Found that article I wrote of earlier - sort of. It's greatly abbreviated from the one I remember but the basics are there.

Here's a link to the full article. Check out the quick reference chart.

http://www.bowhunter.com/a-bowhunters-guide-to-blood-tracking-deer.html


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## Lundy (Apr 5, 2004)

Billk,

Not saying your advice wasn't good, it was. Longer is always better with a gut shot deer in my opinion.

Your latest explanation of little to no blood trail to follow if you do push too early and jump him from his bed is also sound advice in my opinion.

The only statement I took exception to as a rule is that a deer once jumped will not bed again. We all know that is not the case. I have been involved in the recovery of over a dozen gut shot deer in my life, some bow, some gun, 3 of them mine. Deer are individual and do not all react the same. Just didn't want a young hunter to think if he was trailing a gut shot deer and jumped it from a bed that the game was over because it would never bed again.

Not wanting to be confrontational at all, just don't believe there are hard rules in deer hunting


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## fish4wall (Apr 14, 2004)

firstflight111 said:


> i am sure we were talking about the 2 blade rage... nobody said a thing about 3 blade rage and yes the 3 blade suck


i was just telling everyone my story with the rage...


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## Snook (Aug 19, 2008)

It suck's but misplaced shots happen to all hunters...if not you haven't been hunting long enough. As mentioned in an earlier post I would check the swamp edges. Many of times those deer will circle back. With water that deep and that many trails I would suspect an island with some high dry ground in there somewhere. Most likely where he's at if he could get there. The deer is probably rodent food by now but the rack could be salvaged. I do believe you would have to tag it to remove the antlers though. Good Luck!


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

Lundy said:


> Billk,
> 
> Not wanting to be confrontational at all, just don't believe there are hard rules in deer hunting


Fair enough Lundy. I see your point and surely can't disagree with it.


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## crappiedude (Mar 12, 2006)

billk said:


> Almost 40 yrs under my belt as well guys (if we're comparing resumes.)
> 
> [/url]


Nothing really to compare, I just agree with Lundy's statement that they all don't react the same. I've seen gut shot deer that have bedded up in view of the hunter and die where they stopped and have seen them dragging intestines and go on forever and had to be finished with another shot. We jumped that deer 3 times before we finally killed it.

It's always a tricky call as how soon to follow. I've seen it go both ways. I do agree waiting is a good thing and the longer, the better.


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## billk (Feb 2, 2008)

Bottom line is we all agree that a longer wait is better. Kiss the meat goodbye and hope to salvage the rack/cape.


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