I talked to the landowner where I hunt on the phone last night to see who would be hunting and find out where they would be. It was only going to be him in the "bean field blind" his buddy from work in the "box blind" and me in the "food plot blind" this morning.
About 9:30AM I heard a shot, then in a couple seconds a second shot that sounded like they came from the "bean field blind". I decided to head that direction. When I got there I saw the landowner out in the field, but no deer down.
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
I tracked her across the field toward the creek, found where she went down when he fired shot #2, but no blood and it looked more like she slipped when turning sharply than like she was hit again.
We took the trail toward the creek and finally found some blood. She had gone over the creek bank, turned upstream, stopped and reversed directions (a good bit of blood there, but in a circle) and then went into the water (about 2' deep at that point). I stayed with the blood sign until he could go to a crossing point and get to the other side. He soon found blood, so I crossed, too.
From there his buddy from work joined us, and we took the trail. At that point we were on the neighbor's farm (with permission) and soon in an overgrown cedar thicket. The trail seemed to be heading north, and I commented she was heading for safety. She was! The trail was not easy to follow, blood was intermittent at best, and often it was more a matter of looking for kicked up moss or leaves then finding an occasional drop of blood to confirm we were on the right trail. A total of over two hours on the trail brought us to the blacktop county highway and a few drops of blood showing she had indeed been heading for safety! She crossed the highway and entered where we could not go - a state nature preserve!
I'm guessing she was a lot farther than he estimated, and his slug hit way low. I'm just hope it was only a flesh wound, and from what we found on the trail I'd say chances are good she wasn't hurt fatally. Not really a lot of blood lost, and she didn't hesitate to head uphill in a couple places.
He didn't get a deer, but we did get a lot of good tracking practice which led us to a well marked stopping point. "State Nature Preserve Boundary"
Like he said, "We might as well head home, no deer's worth that much of a fine!"
![Crying or Very sad :cry:](./images/smilies/icon_cry.gif)