Birds

antlerrick

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LAST EDITED ON Oct-19-14 AT 04:16PM (MST)[p]From you guys experience, how long does it usually take for the birds to find a dead animal after it has died? I hit a good buck last night and he dropped immediately, and from the way he dropped, I guessed I had broken his back. I get over to where he fell and the ground is alll dug up and he has bailed off a steep wash behind him. Ended up going back in this morning and find a few drips of blood and a few places it looks like he has stumbled. I am beside myself as I haven't lost an animal in years. I am sure by now, if he is dead, that I have lost the meat, but would love to find him. We looked this morning for 4 1/2 hours and I am back at it again pushing my crippled up body, hoping to find him. I was hoping maybe the birds would find him, thus my question. ? I am sick over loosing him but realize these things do happen. It is just not a good thing when they do..
 
Sorry for ya ar--

Here is what my dad (84 years old now) told me years ago---

First come the birds like right away after a dead animal, with their bird chatter draws the next in line scavenger--coyote's, then with the 'yotes yapping brings in the next predator, the bear.....

Pack a pistol my friend----after a day or 2...

Robb
 
If you have camp robbers in the area they can find them with in minutes after a shot. For like crows it could be from hours to days... I have found dead deer that have been dead in days and only flies on them
 
That's a bummer Rick. Get to a high spot there and in adjoining canyons, listen and glass for birds and yotes. Save the boot leather and your body. These situations take their toll on you mentally and physically. It's totally possible that he's not dead yet and you can still find him. Use the terrain and your glass rather than brawn. Don't ask me how I know but, either way it's not fun.

Cheers,
Pete
 
He was right on the edge in the foothills, and really only one area for him to go to without going back uphill. Just spent two hours walking thru that area, but to no avail. My back, and hips and knees are shot for the day. But now I can hear a magpie down the hill. Guess I will make one more hike and see what it is squawking about. It would be worth it to find him....best buck I have seen on a general unit for years.... well off I go again.....
 
Walked down and found a good spot to sit and the magpies were just flying around squawing. Talked to a guy when I got off the hill who told me he hit a big one first thing this morning, but lost it. He showed me where it was when he shot and the deer was probably 300-400 yards north of where we lost him......
So apparently my shot wasn't as good as it looked....and from what he was telling me, it was a lot bigger than I thought.... ;) Of course it grew to over 30 inches..... Haha.... We all know how that goes!
 
All Depends!

Seen the Birds Roll in this year before We got a Buck Quartered up for the Pack-Out!

Amazing How Quick they can Locate Guts & Blood!

Hope you Find Him Rick!

(((DAMN Rifle Hunters!:D)))










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I shot a buck with my muzzleloader several years ago that once the smoke cleared I couldn't see. I get my binos out and I see 4 hooves sticking up out of the sagebrush. It kind of made me chuckle and I begin collecting my gear for the hike down. After I get everything gathered up in to my pack I decide to take another look through the binos to mark the exact spot.
To my surprise I see the deer up and going down hill. His back end is not working and it is flopping from one side to the next. He is now too far too shoot so I go after him but have to go way around the cliff I am on to start down after him. I figured at this point that I broke his back.
It takes me a few minutes to get down around the cliff and when I reach the spot that I last saw him I start glassing for him. I find him wayyy down the canyon, now walking quickly with full use of his rear legs. Little to no blood the whole way. Looked for him for 2 days and never saw him again.
Eventually I figured that I must have clipped the top of his spine/vertebrae and stunned or numbed his central nervous system but it eventually came back?

So, I guess there is no way to be absolutely sure your shot was fatal. Good for you to keep looking though.
 
LAST EDITED ON Oct-20-14 AT 02:36AM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Oct-20-14 AT 02:35?AM (MST)

Where are you AR?

I'm just getting in from a long, long night, retrieving a buck a grandson took today.

Call me and maybe I can lend a hand on Monday.

DC
 
If you hit high high, my guess it's a live buck. Seen it happen on both elk and deer... That high shot can knock them down... But it's not necessarily a deadly shot. My guess is that he is alive and well. Go find him.
 
I have pretty much come to the conclusion that it what happened. He done the classic butt drops to the ground and the head snaps back as his front end drops. He was a little closer than I guessed so it all kind of makes sense. I am done hunting but will check the area frequently as I can drive there in my UTV in less than 15 minutes. Thanks for the info guys... It never hurts to get a little more info and experience from others...
 
I shot a buck this year that had magpies flying around him within minutes, he wasn't even dead! He went about 500 yards across an opening and stopped. I waited a few minutes and slipped up and glassed the opening. There were 3 magpies over near where he was, just waiting for him to die.
On the other hand, years ago, I shot a buck twice with my 300 Win Mag. and wounded him badly, found pieces of intestines and liver but never could find him. He couldn't have run more than a few hundred yards but lost blood and tracks in the rain and never saw a single bird for 3 days and a couple square miles. Made me sick!
Better luck to you! Post him up if you find him.
 
All depends on the area and the situation. Animal with bullet wound could be that day to several days. With the warm weather I would think a shorter time frame. Elk hunting and gut piles it is hours. We have sat the same general areas and the following day can get pretty annoying with all the big ravens on a gut pill.

Best of luck in the recovery.
 
Saw a guy drag out a deer during the Muzzy hunt... The very next morning we spotted some hawks up the mountain, already on the gut pile. SO, given it may take a day for the deer to start to smell, I'd say 2 days at a minimum, but no more than about 5 days and you could start seein birds... At least considering the warm weather we had...

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!" 2 Ne. 28: 24
 

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