First off it’s been a great hunt/watch this morning with a lot of movement. I had a yearling spike come out and I saw something red on his neck on the rt side so I got on the glass and sure enough he had very recently been shot. It looks like whomever shot him was going for the high neck frontal entry but the boolit went in just to the left of his wind pipe . There was a definitive entry and very definitive exit. I was going to put him out of his misery but he never came in close enough. He was eating good but his left eye was caked with either mucus or Pusss but not entirely covered. The exit wound was a perfect bullet hole and had frothy blood around it but not much. It’s a perfect day for an all day hunt so he may come back in and get within range. It doesn’t look like he was having any breathing difficulties so if I see him I’ll access it a little more. I don’t like seeing this but it happens. I think it may have just barely clipped his wind pipe. Sorry no pics to show . Should I let him walk?
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Last edited by Bucknaked; 11-15-2022, 09:11 AM. -
Ehh, not breathing difficult, eating ok, exit wound for the bullet, I bet he ends up ok. I would let him walk unless he looked like he was doing bad. Seems like there are a ton of stories on here about bucks that get hit and are doing great a couple weeks later. -
I would put him down. Chances of positive outcome long-term, not good in all liklihood. But I probably lean more on the compasionate side of things.Comment
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He'll be fine.Comment
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If your not going to eat it, might as well let it walk and see what happens.Comment
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I'm probably in the camp of putting him down. Not an expert on windpipes, but seems like if that's been hit, will be hard for him to come back from it. Even if the wound heals over on the outside, you have a bacteria party happening inside his throat. Seems like a recipe for a bad infection and a slow death.Comment
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I don’t kill what I don’t eat venison wise ! No, I do not eat coyotes lolOriginally posted by JeffK View Post
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If you see him again he’s probably ok.
Let him go.
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I am told repeatedly that when people shoot for head and neck shots only that they are either a kill or a clean miss. The one I saw walking around with it's jaw hanging off was enough for me. I will "ruin some meat" and shoot them in the shoulder/behind shoulder.Comment
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A buddy of mine screwed up a neck shot with a 7mm Rem. Mag on a decent 9 point years ago. Shot it in the throat from the side. He was surprised it ran off. We tracked a light blood trail, but never found the deer. Then three weeks to a month later, we took some friends of the family hunting, his wife shot a nice buck, that ran off in some very thick crap. It took some effort to get that deer out. We had to cut a trail to the buck, we could lay on the ground and look up under the brush and see the buck, but you could not walk or crawl to the buck. We got it out, found it was the 9 point my buddy had shot weeks earlier. She shot him about 150 yards from where he was at, when my buddy shot the same deer. The wound in the neck was actually mostly healed up. I was surprised. I really would have expected that wound to get infected.Comment
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Put him downComment
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is he spike?Comment
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There isn’t a right or wrong answer. If you see him again just assess the situation. If he looks like he is doing poorly, the proper thing to do is put him out of his misery. If he seems to be getting along ok you might let him walk. If it is a high population area I’d be inclined to take him out.
I’ve seen many injured deer in my days of hunting. Most I let walk, some get a bullet or arrow. One was so ate up with infection I had to toss the entire carcass. In the end just do what your heart tells you to do.
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i dont know, i always heard "once a spike, always a spike" when i was growing up...Originally posted by Bucknaked View Post
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