Wounded Muntjac

[Sandy25]

Evening all,

Went out after muntjac last night with the .223, and long story short ended up clipping a Muntjac buck after pulling a chest shot. Absolutely kicking myself for it, and spent most of last night going over what had happened in my head. Been told by many stalkers that it is inevitable that you will wound a deer at some point stalking, but that does not make you feel any better after wounding an animal.......

Shot was at 70m, and the buck fell then ran into cover next to the shot site. Gave it a couple of minutes then walked up the hill towards it, only for it to get up and run off. There was some blood on the ground where it had been lying, but only small quantities Looked for and found the shot site with very minimal blood trail before I tracked the buck into the cover with the thermal, then went in to dispatch at close range, only to have it run on again with no shot taken.
Called home and Dad brought the dog back to increase my chances of finding it, by this time the buck had disappeared up the bank and wasn't to be seen with the thermal. The dog found it, but buck made off again at speed, and very mobile, and ended up calling it after two hours in the dark spent looking for it. Went back this morning to have another look again with the dog, and four hours later still hadn't found it. The dog showed no interest at all this morning.

I originally thought that I had leg shot it, but as it was broadside the leg shot would have taken out both front legs, not just the one. Had another look at the shot site this morning in the light, and found lots of pins, a few small pieces of skin, some small pieces of fat, a few drops of blood, and one tiny splinter of bone approx. 3mm x 2mm.
I have revised my opinion of the shot and now think that I may have pulled it low and creased the underside of the chest, hence the large quantity of pins around the area.

Attached are photos of the shot site, and I wondered what other peoples opinions/advice/thoughts are and what you might have done differently?

Still fairly new to stalking and have shot quite a few deer by now, but am still well aware that I have lots to learn!

Many thanks,

Sandy

 

[Oh6]

@cookingfat is one of the guys who will hopefully be along soon with some advice.

 

[VSS]

Don't fret about it. You've done your best. What more can you do? We've all been there.

The only comment I would make is that you didn't wait long enough before approaching the shot deer, and when it ran off you were too hasty in going after it.
(I learnt this by making the same mistake).

Would you have lost as much sleep over it if it had been a fox, a squirrel or a rabbit? And if not, why not?

 

[Sandy25]

Don't fret about it. You've done your best. What more can you do? We've all been there.

The only comment I would make is that you didn't wait long enough before approaching the shot deer, and when it ran off you were too hasty in going after it.

Yeah I completely agree. in hindsight I definitely didn’t wait long enough, as thought the buck had dropped and gone down. Also thought that I should have got the dog in straight away instead of waiting for the buck to make off up the hill.

 

[RCS Deer Management]

Main thing you could have done differently is get someone with an experienced dog after initially bumping it, pm me if you want my number. I would happily bring a dog out in the future if it happened again and I was nearby

 

[RCS Deer Management]

Main thing you could have done differently is get someone with an experienced dog after initially bumping it, pm me if you want my number. I would happily bring a dog out in the future if it happened again and I was nearby

 

[Shootgun]

The bullet probably grazed the brisket and the animal will survive. Muntjac are though creatures.

 

[Mungo]

Brisket shot. If it was still alive and mobile 2-3 hours after the shot, the lungs probably haven’t been punctured. Might survive, might not - I think that largely depends on whether the pleura has been damaged much.

A learning experience, but one we all have sooner or later. Anyone who claims they’ve never wounded and lost one is either lying or hasn’t shot very many.

 

[Sandy25]

Brisket shot. If it was still alive and mobile 2-3 hours after the shot, the lungs probably haven’t been punctured. Might survive, might not - I think that largely depends on whether the pleura has been damaged much.

A learning experience, but one we all have sooner or later. Anyone who claims they’ve never wounded and lost one is either lying or hasn’t shot very many.

Yeah, it was moving off fairly quickly at the end, and there was very little blood at the shot site, and only the one bone splinter, so I'm hoping it just clipped the sternum and hasn't damaged the lungs or membranes.

 

[Firefly]

Wounding a deer is sadly inevitable. The important thing is to learn everything you can from the experience. It sounds like you have. When you stop caring is the time to stop.

 

[old 30-06]

I have followed up a few animals in Africa after the initial (not immediately fatal ) shot. The rules are to be ready for a shot, and get another shot into the animal, even if it is on the move.

 

[Olaf]

Brisket shot. If it was still alive and mobile 2-3 hours after the shot, the lungs probably haven’t been punctured. Might survive, might not - I think that largely depends on whether the pleura has been damaged much.

A learning experience, but one we all have sooner or later. Anyone who claims they’ve never wounded and lost one is either lying or hasn’t shot very many.

Spot on. I once Shot a Muntjac buck with my .30-06 150 gr nosler bt at 50 to 100 m . Broadside shot, pretty much its entire pluck was blown down out of its exploded brisket onto the ground. it left a blood trail like someone had thrown a bucket of blood onto the grass. It still managed to run a good 50 or more meters with no heart or lungs left in its body and piled up in some brambles after head butting a log. They are tough deer.
To me it sounds and looks like he’s clipped the back of its front leg and it’s brisket. If he’d left it for half an hour before following it up and had gone with trained deer dog he might have ended the situation right there and then. Still, he didn’t do that and it’s sadly just how it is.
Unfortunately you can’t make an omelette without breaking some eggs. It happens and you just have to accept the fact that you have more to learn and or you just messed up. I’ve lost my share of deer through poor shooting decisions , for every one I’ve lost I’ve killed several hundred cleanly.
In my early days I experienced a few such things before I got myself a fury helper. We have found more car wounded deer or tangled deer and ended their suffering than any I have lost.
Kindest regards, Olaf

 

[Mickeydredd]

Yeah, it was moving off fairly quickly at the end, and there was very little blood at the shot site, and only the one bone splinter, so I'm hoping it just clipped the sternum and hasn't damaged the lungs or membranes.

In this case, given how strongly it ran off it really wouldn't have mattered if you had waited a few minutes or an hour before approaching it.

 

[Martiniblack577]

Id want to train harder on my marksmanship before I went back out.

 

[Andrewslater]

Id want to train harder on my marksmanship before I went back out.

Dont think thats particilarly fair. There are any number of situations where an error can be made in the run up to the shot. More so with muntjac than any other deer i think.

 

[arron]

We have all been there , lots of sound advise , but one question I'd ask is , is your dog likely to get a grip of the deer or push it on , especially in the dark ? Sometimes you can do more harm than good , but you do what you think is best at the time ,

 

[User00056]

It's inevitable that it'll go wrong on occasion. The thing to remember is to try and make it right as best you can, as soon as you can. And that's just what you did.

I'd ignore the 'marksmanship' comment, incidentally. Some people really need to learn just to be quiet if they can't offer anything constructive

 

[Andrewslater]

I don't have experience tracking deer with dogs, but from what i have learnt from talking to others with much experience is generally if you push a very mobile animal on once, your probably best waiting till the next morning to revisit, if its still very mobile at that point, its likely to survive.

 

[Sandy25]

We have all been there , lots of sound advise , but one question I'd ask is , is your dog likely to get a grip of the deer or push it on , especially in the dark ? Sometimes you can do more harm than good , but you do what you think is best at the time ,

The main reason i brought the dog out was to help find the trail, as there was no blood sign we could find anywhere.
Would you want the dog to get a hold of the deer, or just point to where it is lying up?

Cheers,

Sandy

 

[Sandy25]

I don't have experience tracking deer with dogs, but from what i have learnt from talking to others with much experience is generally if you push a very mobile animal on once, your probably best waiting till the next morning to revisit, if its still very mobile at that point, its likely to survive.

Thank you for that advice

Will file it away and hope I never need to use it!