I lost one today

[aspangler]

I lost a doe today. Shot her at about 30 yards with my 45-70. She ran for over 600 yards before crossing a fence onto property that I don't have access to. (They won't let you cross the fence to recover game. You have to have the landowners OK to do that in Tennessee.) The blood trail was nice large frothy pink blood from a double lung shot. Why she didn't go down I'll never know. 405 grain flat nose cast out of 50/50 WW/pure at 1450 FPS. I am still sick over losing this deer. It's the first one I ever lost in all my decades of hunting.

[Elkins45]

The property owner won't let you look for it?

[aspangler]

The property owner won't let you look for it?

Nope. He's a real BH.

[s mac]

It's a bad feeling, but coyotes gotta eat too.

[richhodg66]

Sometimes stuff happens. Keep hunting.

That is weird though, usually that pink frothy blood means a short tracking job, that one must have had a very strong will to survive.

[Janoosh]

Same situation in N.Y..You can't cross property line to retrieve lost game. I've asked landowners and offered part of the deer and have never been turned down. Last recourse in N.Y. is to call Game Warden if land owner says no. Something about the landowner in possession of dead deer if landowner has no license.

[CastingFool]

Losing a deer happens to all of us eventually. I know it makes you sick, but let it go and keep trying.

[firefly1957]

Same here in Michigan it is really a trespass issue we need permission to enter the others land.

[TheGrimReaper]

WEIRD!!! I had one run today after I shot him with a 45-70 405gr Boolit. First time EVER! Ran about 20 feet.........but he still ran!

[kevmc]

I'd call the DNR and ask????

[9.3X62AL]

I've been fortunate enough to avoid this situation in 45+ years of deer hunting, but it is a part of the program and sometimes the numbers catch up to you. Like others have mentioned here, it is WAY STRANGE to see a deer go a great distance dropping frothy blood, but there are no guarantees in this game. You used a very capable caliber, obviously hit the deer well, so you did All The Right Things. You were frustrated by idiot legalities and idiot personality, a thing I am abundantly familiar with from both a cop career and outdoors experiences. When doing the Right Thing and doing the Legal Thing aren't THE SAME THING--then the law is poorly enacted and lamely enforced.

[shoot-n-lead]

Sorry for this...it happens.

But, that was not a double lung shot...run 600yds and jump a fence...nah.

[aspangler]

Sorry for this...it happens.

But, that was not a double lung shot...run 600yds and jump a fence...nah.

No way to miss that shot with a scope and sighted at 50 yards when the shot was only about 30 yards and the deer was standing still with a clear shot. I don't think I could be THAT bad a shot after 62 years. LOL

[leeggen]

Aspangler, you can call your local game officer and most times they will go with you to recover game here in Tn.The land owners will start out saying no, then after some whispering voices they change their mind as long as the Game officer is with you on the property. Our officer even tells us to call him before crossingand he will handle it, we have a way cool officer, just don't cross the law with him.
CD

[aspangler]

Aspangler, you can call your local game officer and most times they will go with you to recover game here in Tn.The land owners will start out saying no, then after some whispering voices they change their mind as long as the Game officer is with you on the property. Our officer even tells us to call him before crossingand he will handle it, we have a way cool officer, just don't cross the law with him.
CD

You would think that I would know my local WL oficer being that I am a Hunter Safety Instructor, but I don't. Almost impossible to get in touch with him during the week and even harder on the weekend. Anyway, with the "yotes around here it is too late to recover it now.

[stephen m weiss]

Lungs are not homogenous. At rest 90% of the lung is closed. If you poked a hole in a section that was not open to air, it would bleed a bit but not prevent the deer from getting a breath. If you missed the large veins/arteries, nerve bundles, heart, liver, spine and legs, then the lung tissue is very low density, and witha slowish bullet, there wont be much disturbance except for the hole. Once the deer stopped running, it probably became unable to pull a breath and went down.

So very sorry for your loss. I am not as experieced of a hunter, but after one got away from me after sending the round thru both lungs and into the far shoulder in very rough country, I decided to shoot em in the neck. On a case of one, that worked, dead right there. I decided that if I hit squirrels at 40 yards half the time, then taking out the CNS on motionless deer at that range should be fairly reliable.

[Boyscout]

I have known of hunters who set up on property lines and shoot across them. That creates a lot of problems for hunters who do everything right when things go wrong. I have personally had problems with non-hunters deliberately sabotaging a hunt tresspassing onto property I was hunting. Not much recourse when your 20 feet up and they can retreat back to their sanctuary.

[aspangler]

I have known of hunters who set up on property lines and shoot across them. That creates a lot of problems for hunters who do everything right when things go wrong. I have personally had problems with non-hunters deliberately sabotaging a hunt tresspassing onto property I was hunting. Not much recourse when your 20 feet up and they can retreat back to their sanctuary.

Illegal in Tennessee. I carry a camera. I also have the Regional Coordinator's email address to send them to. That works fairly well.

[Lonegun1894]

Sorry for your loss. My first ever hog I almost lost and it was eating at me making me sick through the entire tracking job, so I understand. I know some of you will not like me for this, but we have the same law here, and I agree with it. I don't own my own land to hunt on, so this isn't a matter of me having had problems with people trespassing on MY property, but I do hope to have my own land to hunt someday. I see it like the neighbors kids throwing a ball over my fence at my house now. If they come to the door and ask for permission to retrieve it, they will always be welcome, as would a hunter, IF they ask first. That is just common courtesy, and a deer is worth much more than any ball the next door kids may be playing with. However, the one time the neighbor kid decided to jump my fence, my dogs caught him and his friend, and I came running with a shotgun when I heard the commotion to protect my dogs. Dogs got called off, and the two boys got a talking to on the way back next door to talk to their parents. The parents sided with me, thankfully, and I think they got it worse from their parents than they got it from my dogs. They frequently get a ball over my fence, and they now come and ask, and I go get it for them or let them go and get it themselves, but they now know to ask, and that they will be given permission if they ask.

Now that I told you about that, lets change the situation a bit. Say this was a hunter who tracked a deer onto my land without asking permission. I now have an armed individual, with a good possibility that I don't know them, on my property. Assuming they are truly a hunter, and not a poacher, and intend me no harm, this is still a threat because I don't know their intentions. You see how this can go bad. Now imagine my dogs, 120 lbs and 160 lbs, and both very territorial and protective found him before I did, and he shot one or both? As you can imagine, that would not go over very well. Now the way my dogs are, if they see me invite you into the yard or house, you're a friend and welcome and will have no issues, but if you try to trespass, you will be dealt with. I mean, the landowner OWNS that land for a reason, and they pay the taxes on it, so it is their land and whatever they say goes. I know many are AHs, but it is still their land, and there is no excuse for trespassing. It's just a respect and safety thing.

[Ehaver]

Prolly had a third lung.