# Long-Term Deer Recovery Help



## shwagy357 (Aug 10, 2006)

I shot the biggest deer of my life last Saturday 12/6/08. I shot him at 50 yards with a .50 cal muzzleloader. I found a decent blood trail about 10 yards from the point of impact. Out of fear of jumping the deer, I waited until Sunday to track the deer. I returned Sunday a tracked the deer for about 100 to 150 yards before losing the trail. I have returned several times, but am having no luck finding the deer. I think I hit the deer in the upper back below the spine. Can this be a fatal shot? Every day at lunch I watch the mountain where I shot the buck for buzzards but have not seen any flying. How long does it take for buzzards to show up? What do you guys think I should next?


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

If your serious and the area is open to hiking I would probably walk around until I find some sign. Magpies, crows and other smaller birds are a tell tale sign something is near to scavenge off of. I once walked an estimated 250 miles in a grid pattern searching for a deer. It sounds like a lot but was spread out over about three months so was less than 5 miles a day. Good Luck :beer:


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## nosib (Dec 4, 2008)

i'd feel bad for you if someone snagged your deer.... highly unlikely but could happen


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## buckseye (Dec 8, 2003)

I should add, I found the deer and it scored 172. Bigger than I thought even, what a dandy.


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## Kelly Hannan (Jan 9, 2007)

good job, glad to see you went the extra mile to find it


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

shwagy357 said:


> I shot the biggest deer of my life last Saturday 12/6/08. I shot him at 50 yards with a .50 cal muzzleloader. I found a decent blood trail about 10 yards from the point of impact. Out of fear of jumping the deer, I waited until Sunday to track the deer. I returned Sunday a tracked the deer for about 100 to 150 yards before losing the trail. I have returned several times, but am having no luck finding the deer. I think I hit the deer in the upper back below the spine. Can this be a fatal shot? Every day at lunch I watch the mountain where I shot the buck for buzzards but have not seen any flying. How long does it take for buzzards to show up? What do you guys think I should next?


If you hit that deer where you think you did, he may VERY well still be alive. There is a pretty big "dead space" between the top of the lungs and the bottom of the spine. On a big bodied buck this dead space could be 5 inches between the lungs and spine. Nothing there but meat. Ive cut up deer that have survived worse hits than this.


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## MOB (Mar 10, 2005)

I did the same thing last Saturday 12-13-08. I shot him at 100 yards with my 50 cal muzzleloader, he went down paralyzed, and I reloaded to finish him off. By the time I reloaded he got up and ran off. I hit him below the spine, spinal tapped him, but didn't break the spine. I tracked him down and got him. The picture and story is on page 4 of the Big Buck 2008 sticky on this forum.


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