wounded deer on deer cam!

[jgguppyboy2]

as I went out to check my trail cam I looked down at the scrape I had it on only to see a lot of blood right in the scrape!  I thought someone had seen my cam and sat on the scrape and shot the deer that was using it!  I wasnt sure yet what size deer was using this one.  It was the first time I had checked the cam since I moved it to that location.  Only 2 days before.  I figured I had the whole thing on cam.  When I looked the pics I had a nice 5 or 6 pointer on it.  So I thought that was the one that was shot.  Luckily I was wrong.  there were 3 more pics the same day 2 hours later.  I could only see the back half of the deer though.  however you can see he moves his rack into the picture.  Im 99.9% sure its a diff deer.  This is where I urge people to buy good expensive trail cams if they are going to buy them.  First thing to look for is infared flash.  I have a normal flash and it scares the deer off so you only get 1 picture of them.  However the 6pointer came back again the next morning and freshened the scrape even with the blood in it.  However he scraped to the side where there was no blood making the scrape a little bigger.  He never touched the blood.  Second think to look for is imediate picture after the sensor is tripped.  Mine takes 10-15 seconds onced tripped to take the first pic.  So deer just moving through I dont usualy catch.  Also the more expensive the cam the stronger the motion sensor is.  In the dark the sensor has some trouble tripping.  You really have to linger infront of the camera to trip it.  So It works well for scraps but thats it.  2 minutes after I found the blood in the scrape I heard dogs with bells coming.  Sure enough here came 3 guys with dogs trying to track the deer.  He couldnt believe I caught the thing on cam.  It was sat morning at around 10 when we meet up with the trackers.  He had shot the deer friday morning around 7:40ish.  Luckily it hadnt rainned.  Unfortunately I tracked the thing for 2 days and over 1300 yards and lost the blood.  Had I had an instant trip cam I would have had a good pic to see where He got hit.    He bleed alot with 3 large pools of blood.  He bedded half way up a very large ridge which made him bleed better too. But for some reason he got up off bed and kept going up hill.  lost his blood after about 80 yards off the bed.  Im not confident that I checked the area well enough though.  I lost him i some very very thick underbush.  So I am concerned that he finaly bleed out which is why he stopped bleeding and just made it a little further up into the thick stuff and died.    So I will let you decide as well.   Do you think these 2 deer are the same or diff.  the 3 pics of the deer off to the side are all diff pics 5 seconds apart.  The time is 12 hours off and the day is 1 day behind.  From what I can tell the wounded deer is is a 3 pointer.


                               ~Stefan~

[scavengerj]

From what I can see, those are two different deer. The first deer you can obviously see the rack. On the second deer, although you can't see the entire rack, it looks like the G1 and G2 tines are closer then those on the first deer. I think I got the numbers right  But there are definitely two different deer in those pics.

[rob-s]

i agree there different deer. i moved it to photoshop and went to 150%
  it was distorted because of the pixels but you can see the second point is a couple inches below the tip , not so on the nite deer.
   was the blood puddle were the deer is standing ?

[jgguppyboy2]

yes.  He also stopped on the scrape in the pic too and bleed.  It wasnt a huge puddle but it deff looked like a good hit at that point.  however that was the last time he bleed that much aside from when he bedded.  From where the pic was tacken to the shot site was about 200 yards.  I never got back to the shot site or anywhere inbetween there and the scrape which I should have.  But the guy said at the shot site there was a puddle about a foot in diamiter and one more spot like that where he stopped.  I never went more than 30 ft without a drop of blood.  Thats why its not sitting right with me that after bedding and bleeding on bed and then getting up and continuing to bleed while walking uphill again he just altogether stopped bleeding.  And It didnt appear that he was jumped off his bed.  It looked like he was walking.  However in the pics I have he doesnt look like a fataly wounded animal.   I took a few pics of the bed he layed up in.  Its kinda hard to tell exactly how much blood it is.  All I had with me was my zoom lense so the pics are pretty close.  the first pic is the whole area of blood in the bed.  the second is a zoomed in shot of where the darkest blood is which is where I am assuming the wound was.  Dont forget this blood is about 1200 yards away from the first blood.   I wish I had time to get back to the shot site and take pics of the pools as well.

                         ~Stefan~

[scavengerj]

Find any hairs?? Where on the body did they look like they came from? Possibly hit high and although he bled a good bit, when he bedded he clotted right up. Any foam in the blood or very pink in color...no lung shot, no really dark blood...probably not a major vein, artery or heartshot. Since he bedded on a hill, chances are that if he was hit mid body or lower, he would have bled even more. Typically a mortally wounded animal will not run up hill. Surprisingly, some tend to bleed profusely at first and it just seems to stop without it being fatal. Sucks to loose'em though 

[duck doctor]

I would put money on it that the buck was hit in the front leg just below the body.  I would not say that the leg is broken either.  The buck was probably hit just in the crease and that is why the blood is so dark and in one general area of the bed.  In the pic of the second buck, I think you would find that the buck might be licking his wound. I would say that if the wound stays clean, this buck will live another day.  1200 yards between the hit and the bed?  Nothing wrong with that deer!

[jgguppyboy2]

I cant imagine that it was a leg shot.  He bled to much for that.  However I would agree that it looks like he would be licking his wound.  There was no evidence of an injured leg.  he never really stumbled and one print was not heavier than the other.  And the bullet did have a complete pass through.  When the deer went through thick short spruces there was blood on the branches on both sides of him.  So he was bleeding out of both sides too.  He did also have blood dripping down his leg too.  many tracks had blood in them as well.  The height on the blood on the trees put it right around shoulder height which makes me think maybe just infront of the shoulder.  Im not sure.  Im very puzzled by this.  I dont know why but I just feel like this deer did not make it.  It just doesnt seem like he could have clotted when he bedded because of the amount of blood he lost after he got up.  I dont know.  The rain has wiped away any hope of going back to see just how much he bleed in the beginning.  I hate this,  I hate not knowing if a wounded deer made it or not.  Especialy when it was off of my land.

                   ~Stefan~

[onehook]

these are two different deer look at the tail colorations one has a very large black stripe on the tail and the other does not. my.02

[onehook]

what zone is this in?

[jgguppyboy2]

J2

                        ~Stefan~

[scavengerj]

Not sure I'd say he was licking a wound. Just thinking about it, it would be rather difficult for him to balance on two "good" legs which are both on the same side. And from the looks of it that would put all of his weight on both his front and rear right side legs. Not a very easy task to do for a deer. With a damaged front leg, I am not sure this deer would pick up the rear leg on the same side that high unless he was running. The picture seems to indicate this deer is standing still since his head is turned around. Then again, I have seen them do some weird and amazing things. It is possible that this deer was hit right across the front of his chest. This would lead to blood being seen on both sides of the path he took if branches and such were across his path. Without any hair or visual evidence of a wound it is all speculation based on his actions, the amount of blood and blood placement as to where this animal may have been hit. What was he hit with??

[rob-s]

if you tracked it that far how is it the 3 guys with dogs couldnt find it?

[jgguppyboy2]

The dogs were more interested in sniffing me than the ground.  They just ended up being in the way so the guy who owned them took them out.  They weren't tracking dogs anyways.  Hopefully he made it and will walk by my camera again so my mind can be put at ease!  I really hope he made it.

                ~Stefan~

[rob-s]

is dog tracking allowed in nh ?

[jgguppyboy2]

I am not 100% sure but I think so.   I dont think you are allowed to have any sort of weapon on you though.  You might also leagaly have to be a registered to tracker to use them in the woods.  Not really sure. 


                                ~Stefan~

[onehook]

you are right you can use them but you must have a permit.