Magic gut shot doe...
 

After being skunked for 2 years, I managed to find some time to get out. Funny thing, planned for 3 days, and was back home in 24 hrs.

Sat on a power line, with my scent drag tangent to a pretty active game trail. Soon after I'd set up after the 2 hour drive and after I'd only slept 3 hours, I managed to power nap through prime AM hours...ha.

About 1 pm, a doe popped out around 250 yards away which is pretty much my comfort zone limit. I was set up well, so I let fly. She took off like it was a lung shot, so I sat for half hour or so, and checked out the hit site. Lots of blood...but also stomach content much to my dismay. Walked back to the truck, and napped for a couple hours before I decided that if I didn't go look farther down the blood trail , even though I was risking pushing the deer, I'd have a hell of a time trying to find her before the wolves do after the approaching snow storm.

20 mins and about 50 yards later, I found her, dead as nails.

Super lucky. Was not expecting that.

Turns out, I smoked the back of a lung, and managed to slice open the stomach as well.

Having never gut shot a deer before, I can attest that it isn't the most fun field dressing ever...

Nevertheless. Tag filled!

Lucky , ya and I get that. It can be a mess. from my experience Front chest shots make a huge mess as well.

congrats on your deer. should be good eating. i guess the only safe shot to do no damage to meat or guts is a head shot, but at 250 yds.?

Behind the shoulder chest shot has minimal damage.

LC

sounds like you did everything right but sometimes it does not work out - not sure about head shots at 250 yards though

Congratulations on the doe

Congratulations:happy0180:

Glad you were able to recover it. Congrats on the good eats!

It's a good way to cripple a deer, by shooting off it's jaw, an ear, or taking out an eye.

As for the OP, clean out the cavity as best you can, and enjoy the meat.

Vicks for killing smell
 

I keep a small jar of Vicks VapoRub in the truck just in case the gut ever gets hit. Just a bit up the nose and a small bit inside my lip kills the smell of hot guts.I dont want to puke on something I plan to eat LOL

Congrats on the deer. Glad it worked out.

Andy

Such is hunting.

Great story BTW. It's a story most could tell but few have the courage to.

Yeah it can get messy, but that's as real as it gets. Nothing works perfect every time, we learn and grow.

You did good. May you have many more successful hunts, may your shots be true and may your quarry never suffer.

Next time, you might want to consider trying the 'gutless' cleaning method. No need to enter the body cavity that way, (except 2 small incisions to retrieve the tenderloins), so you avoid dealing with shot-up stomach or intestines.
There's some good YouTube videos on it for reference.
- just a suggestion

Got no issues with doing with what needs to be done. I respect what the animal is giving to me, and treat it as such. If a guy can't handle anything outside of text book scenarios, you shouldn't be doing it. That trigger pull only lasts .05 secs...

Ya, I sure wouldn't be shooting heads at 250. I'd feel sick if my aim wasn't flawless...

Congrats.....I'm glad that your hunt turned out well.

Great job on making sure that you recovered your deer! :)

Well I am glad you followed through even though dealing with a guy shot animal is no fun...

I found a fawn this week that someone gut shot, then finished off with a shot to the neck and then just left it.....right there in the line.

Was pretty fresh as the coyotes had not found it yet....just a few birds.

Seeing that made me absolutely sick that someone who may consider themselves a hunter would leave an animal behind because they are too freaking lazy to look after it.

Yes, I called F&W to report it.

LC

Good job on the recovery and respect for the animal

Probably has nothing to do with being lazy.....but more than likely when they saw that it was a fawn they said no & walked away. I am glad you reported it.

Yah maybe they left it because it wasn't a big mature doe?

....that's possible, I just can't understand the mentality of some.

So wasteful...this is in an area where deer numbers are down too....

LC

Congrats. :)