11/04/2025
The following is a documented account showing how even a good shot can take an unexpected turn — and just how tough these deer really are.
More than three days after the shot, the story continued. Once the arrow leaves the bow, that part’s done — there are no do-overs. All you can do is put in the effort to recover the deer. It’s part of hunting, and before drone technology, we rarely got to see or understand what actually went wrong.
For those wondering why we didn’t pursue this deer — by law, we couldn’t. And at the time, we didn’t know if he would survive or not.
Got a call Wednesday night, October 29th, from a hunter Randy Hovey about a buck he shot around 6PM. He said the shot felt and looked good, but the buck’s reaction gave him pause. The deer stood in the food plot for a few minutes after being hit — behavior that often points to a liver or gut shot. Still, Randy could see the entry hole just behind the shoulder.
Rain rolled in that evening, making a blood trail tough to follow, so I headed out that night with the drone. Since the deer hadn’t been pushed, I felt confident we could locate him, though I suspected he might still be alive.
Didn’t take long — we found him about 360 yards from the shot site, bedded and still alive. We decided to back out and check again Thursday morning. When we returned, he had moved about 100 yards from the first bed, still alive. Thursday evening, he’d moved again — about 230 yards north.
By Friday morning, the buck had moved yet again. We found him walking and drinking from a creek before bedding down nearby. This was uncharted territory — most deer don’t survive this long after a good hit. Each time we checked, he had moved, and we didn’t want to push him deeper into cover. Patience was key. At this point, our best guess was a single-lung hit.
Saturday morning, same story — he had moved again but was still alert. That afternoon he returned to the creek, showing signs of slowing down. Saturday evening, he had moved yet again — over 72 hours since the shot — and was still alive and aware.
Finally, Sunday morning around 9AM, we found him once more… but this time he had expired. The sun made the search tricky, but we found him.
We were very curious to see where he’d been hit and why he survived so long. The shot placement was solid — right behind the shoulder, lower third — but this deer was an incredible example of just how tough and resilient these animals can be.
This was a learning experience, and a great example of how thermal drone recovery can help hunters stay patient and informed in the process.
Equipment used was a Raven Crossbow and 4 bladed Wackem broadhead.
🎥 I’ll be putting together a video of this recovery soon — stay tuned.
Star City Whitetails
Virginia whitetails
Virginia NDA
Green Top Hunt Fish
