Well if it was with other deer it will try to stay with. Now i have killed deer with x scars in there hide I also seen them with broad heads healed up inside.
I tracked a doe for a officer about mile the blood trail dropped to about a drop ever 10 feet found multiple spots were it stopped and probably liked it wounds. I seen them do that lay up and lick it clean. i think it was a bad shoot or as some say a meat shoot no vitals. It will be around the next year not all die. Yes i sure some live because we seen a doe that was shoot in archery in gun. We watcher her throughout the gun season 4 of us saw her. She was gut shot not by one of use but some who hunts there - his norm it appears (again this year) he doesn't wait for the right shoot.
I hunted a long time and allot.
I screwed up a shot on a doe opening morning of bow, about 6-7 years ago. I punched the trigger on the release and sent the arrow thru "no mans land" up high above the shoulder. Arrow was slightly pink. No blood for 200 yards at all. Then specks for 1/2 mile till it hit a creek. I looked till after lunch time and gave up
Fast forward to opening day of gun. Sitting in the same tree here she comes with the same two other deer. She had a nice bald spot on each side as a reminder. She also seemed good and healthy
I also shot a hog(right before dark) about 4 years ago with a 7mm at about 350 yards. I thought I had missed, but got down and looked anyway. The road looked like you had dumped a bucket of blood out. The blood trail was like you sprayed a trail with a sprayer. I followed it all the way to a swamp and the blood trail got weaker and weaker. Finally got all the way down to specks when I got to the swamp. I said screw it, I am by myself, in a titi thicket, and in bear country. Decided to leave him for buzzard and bear food. A month later, he shows up on game camera. Ended up having multiple pics of him on camera for a period of several months before he disappeared for good. He had a big fester on both sides with rotten flesh and gang green. but was feeding under a feeder with other hogs
Just to reinforce what is being said about deer surviving both arrow and bullet wounds, my father-in-law has processed game for over 50 years and they have found all sorts of arrow heads and bullets imbedded in bone, healed up with no apparent lasting effects on the deer or hog. It's sad to loose one but something will eat him, coyotes, buzzards, etc... Treefarmer
My first deer ever was a small doe shot during Pa's gun season. My brother later that week told me that when Dad was processing it he found a huge fester from an arrowhead buried deep in the meat. Dad said it looked so bad that he was afraid to use the meat. Dad didn't want to tell me because he thought I would feel bad, but my brother thought I would want to know. I'm glad he told me.
I have had relatives clean deer and find all kinds of things in them and healed over. One found a huge stick driven up through one's belly and running through it's guts. Must have fell on a stick pointing up at some point. There was no sign of it being there, the hide was completly healed over, no telling how long it had been there.
I screwed up a shot on a doe opening morning of bow, about 6-7 years ago. I punched the trigger on the release and sent the arrow thru "no mans land" up high above the shoulder. Arrow was slightly pink. No blood for 200 yards at all. Then specks for 1/2 mile till it hit a creek. I looked till after lunch time and gave up
Fast forward to opening day of gun. Sitting in the same tree here she comes with the same two other deer. She had a nice bald spot on each side as a reminder. She also seemed good and healthy
I also shot a hog(right before dark) about 4 years ago with a 7mm at about 350 yards. I thought I had missed, but got down and looked anyway. The road looked like you had dumped a bucket of blood out. The blood trail was like you sprayed a trail with a sprayer. I followed it all the way to a swamp and the blood trail got weaker and weaker. Finally got all the way down to specks when I got to the swamp. I said screw it, I am by myself, in a titi thicket, and in bear country. Decided to leave him for buzzard and bear food. A month later, he shows up on game camera. Ended up having multiple pics of him on camera for a period of several months before he disappeared for good. He had a big fester on both sides with rotten flesh and gang green. but was feeding under a feeder with other hogs
I have a similar story also. My bro shot a 5pt in the 'no mans land' area and we trailed it for around 100 yds and the blood stopped- no recovery. We found his arrow and he was missing a fletching on the pass through. A few weeks later during BP season my dad kills it in a nearby stand and notices my bro's fletching barely inside the skin and a healed up wound when he hit him. He was fully healthy and was chasing a doe all over the place when my dad killed him.
We also kill a few deer that have numerous deformaties from wounds that you would never know about until you killed them. I've seen 3 legged deer run as fast as normal deer, deer with a dozen or so buckshot lodged in them, A deer with half a jaw, etc.
A deer is one tough azz creature!
I pushed the biggest buck I have ever shot with a bow for well over 3/4 of a mile way (before I knew better) when I first started hunting. Straight through the guts at 30yds.
