waiting over night

[masboy]

down here in pa. everything i,ve shot and found the next morning are all swelled up and smell to bad for me to eat. i allways try to find that evening . even when cold out there still swelled up next morning.

[peter p]

Why is it that you can't find them that evening?
A good double lung or heart shot should put them down pretty quickly.

It's normal for a dead animal to swell up when left over night but the meat should still be ok unless you gut shot it.

[masboy]

well i,ve shot a lot of deer more than most im sure but i,m not perfect with bow or rifle sometimes it happens.

[retrieverman]

I have only killed 4 deer with a crossbow, but I have killed nearly 200 with a rifle and have never lost or left a deer in the woods overnight.

Two of my 4 crossbow kills never took a step, and the other two went less than 50 yards and fell within view of my stand.

I guess I am just lucky.

[KBW]

I have killed nearly 200 with a rifle and have never lost or left a deer in the woods overnight.


I guess I am just lucky. [/quote]
X2 BRO

[carvedtip]

Here where I hunt if you dont retrieve your deer and let it out overnight you will have no deer to find in the morning period. All the critters will make sure of that.

[OkXbowHunter]

Here where I hunt if you dont retrieve your deer and let it out overnight you will have no deer to find in the morning period. All the critters will make sure of that.

X2

[wabi]

The guys that have never had to leave one are lucky!

I've had it happen a couple times and it not enjoyable or nice.
Once the buck took a step just as the trigger was pulled and the arrow was being released. Too late to stop the arrow, and the buck moved just enough I could see the arrow impact just about where the diaphragm is located. Gave him a couple hours, then slowly & quietly took the trail. Jumped him out of a bed about 150 yards from where he was hit and decided to back off for the night. Returned at daylight and quickly found him less than 50 yards from the first bed. I wasn't the first to find him, though. Too many hungry scavengers around here to have any hope of leaving one overnight and recovering much more than the antlers.

[hotburn]

I have had to leave a couple deer in the woods overnight also, mainly for doubt in shot and fear of pushing the deer. I think the meat is ok to eat, but I dislike it. I have noticed a difference between a freshly field dressed and cooled, with ice or a cooler has a much better taste, no "game" taste. I can feed that to just about anyone and they can't tell. Take a deer that's sat over night or been in a tree for a few days and it always has that game taste to it. PA and others may be different, but Midwest corn feed deer should not taste gamey IMO.