Why do injured deer go to water??

simpleman30

Senior Member
i disagree with the downhill run theory. there are no hills down here near the coast and wounded deer do the same thing: head straight for water. so do deer being run by dogs, but i know they head for water to lose the dogs.
 

florida boy

Senior Member
IMHO it is mostly when the wounded deer hits a water obstacle it stops. If it runs to the edge of a lake or river and does not have the energy to swim, it stops. If it does try to swim the excess energy required to swim causes it to die quickly and it is found in the water. If it goes down a creek/river bank and can't climb the opposite bank it stops. Also if there is thick cover near the waters edge it will be a good place to hide so it stops. It is not that the wounded deer runs to water, the wounded deer runs into a water trap.
This is the most logical answer I have seen yet . Most deer make it to water in a short while . Do you really think they say to themselves " Man I am getting thirsty !". Thats just not logical . I have been a paramedic for 7 years now and the only reason I have been asked for water when it is trauma related is when someone has the mettalic taste of blood in their mouth . I think deer know that water is one of the only places they can hide or most places that hold water are usally steep and are hard for a weak animal to cross .
 

grouper throat

Senior Member
i disagree with the downhill run theory. there are no hills down here near the coast and wounded deer do the same thing: head straight for water. so do deer being run by dogs, but i know they head for water to lose the dogs.

I agree. I hunt only a few miles from the coast on flat land also.
 

bublewis

Senior Member
I've always heard that a wounded deer will head for water, but my experience tells me that this is not always the case. I think that a lot of deer will eventually end up at water if wounded, but I don't think that is their immediate reaction to being wounded. I think their first instinct is flight, and they will go until they feel safe or they can't go any farther. I find they will most often head for the thickest cover around. A lot of times, I think they'll end up in creeks or gullies because they try to cross and can't make it up the other bank.
 

florida boy

Senior Member
I've always heard that a wounded deer will head for water, but my experience tells me that this is not always the case. I think that a lot of deer will eventually end up at water if wounded, but I don't think that is their immediate reaction to being wounded. I think their first instinct is flight, and they will go until they feel safe or they can't go any farther. I find they will most often head for the thickest cover around. A lot of times, I think they'll end up in creeks or gullies because they try to cross and can't make it up the other bank.
exactly
 

buckfever14

Senior Member
I had a buck on the last day of season run 40 yds to a creek and die right in the middle of it. Dont know why but that was the 2nd time it happened to me. From that stand the creek is the path of least resistance... :hair:
 

Calcium

Senior Member
A lot of new research about blood tracking shows that wounded deer are typically wanting to find thick cover. This can often be found near creeks and other water sources. Makes sense to me. Over the years, I've helped blood trail deer up hill and into cutovers or pine thickets. But, I have also helped track deer down hill towards water...often to thickets. To me, thick areas have been a common theme when trailing a wounded deer.

Just my .02
 

Devildawg17

Senior Member
Been tracking now on the Dial a Dog list for 5 years. Weird thing is I have yet to find one in water, Found several close to water- but none in it. I know many have seen this happen before- I just have not. Just my 1 or 2 cents. :)

Buddy of mine shot a doe down at beaverdam last year. We tracked her for about 200 yds, and I had to shimmie down a fallen tree to tie a rope around her neck to drag her out.
 

JUSTIN37HUNT

Senior Member
They get thirsty due to the loss of blood (fluids). They instinctively know to go to water. Sometimes they submerge in the water because submerging in water helps them to feel better because cold water constricts the blood vessels which slows the bleeding and soothes the wound.

YEP!! This is atleast part of the story anyway...and I don't discredit the theories of downhill running and searching for cover...

Significant blood loss decreases their cardiac output. They suffer HYPOtension (or decreased blood pressure) and HYPOvolemia (decreased blood volume). In humans this causes a hormonal reaction that ultimately results in constriction of blood vessels, an increase in water reabsorption from the urine, and an increase in THIRST by a hormone called antidiuretic hormone.

Also, when a significant injury occurs certain signalers are released to increase their temperature to control infection (think of those days outside of hunting season when you call in sick to work...running a fever) which also causes them to become thirsty and desire water to decrease their body temperature.
 

ronbigdog1

Senior Member
frist deer I shot when I was a kid I shot with a shotgun he ran about 100yds to a small pond when we got there his head was the only thing sticking out of the water and he was not bleeding anymore, they do it like all other animals do, it is a natural instinck knowing this helps me find deer for other people I ask them where the nearest water is and thats where I find most deer that have stopped bleeding.
 

elfiii

Admin
Staff member
I've seen them go both ways - downhill to water as well as uphill and away from water, but for the most part, they head for water.

I would bet it is more instinct than anything else.
 

Jim Baker

Moderator
Staff member
I've always heard that a wounded deer will head for water, but my experience tells me that this is not always the case. I think that a lot of deer will eventually end up at water if wounded, but I don't think that is their immediate reaction to being wounded. I think their first instinct is flight, and they will go until they feel safe or they can't go any farther. I find they will most often head for the thickest cover around. A lot of times, I think they'll end up in creeks or gullies because they try to cross and can't make it up the other bank.

Most times you find the thickest cover around branches, creeks and wet weather ponds. As for running downhill, water is usually always found downhill or the lowest lying area.

That said I have found deer twenty thirty yards on the far side of a running branch of water, but is was the thickest cover. Which is the reason to give a deer that runs out of sight a chance to bleed out. Any deer that is shot is not going any further than the first thicket that it feels it has out run the predator. That is instinctive.

Depending on the wound they either lay down and die or they recover strength and move on under new pressure. It is that simple.
 

killa86

Senior Member
many years ago we had one shot with nothing but its head stickin up out of the lake dont know bout running to water but that one was hidin in it.(maybe they run to water to hide in it and find out its not deep enough and give up):rofl:
 

florida boy

Senior Member
YEP!! This is atleast part of the story anyway...and I don't discredit the theories of downhill running and searching for cover...

Significant blood loss decreases their cardiac output. They suffer HYPOtension (or decreased blood pressure) and HYPOvolemia (decreased blood volume). In humans this causes a hormonal reaction that ultimately results in constriction of blood vessels, an increase in water reabsorption from the urine, and an increase in THIRST by a hormone called antidiuretic hormone.

Also, when a significant injury occurs certain signalers are released to increase their temperature to control infection (think of those days outside of hunting season when you call in sick to work...running a fever) which also causes them to become thirsty and desire water to decrease their body temperature.
Your right when you are talking about the physics behind the event but I just dont think that a deer can think on this level . I think they simply know that they can hide better in the water and the thick cover around it or it may be an obstacle they cannot cross after they are weak . What other explanation would you have for a duck that dives and lodges himself under debri after he is wounded ? They die after drowning themselves . Does he simply not want anything or anyone to retrieve his dead body ?
 

meatseeker

Senior Member
I've tracked lots of deer and found them in water. Always heard it helps clot the blood. I don't think its to hide rather than natural instinct when our cows get sick or have trouble having calves we find them in the creeks too.
 
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