This answer points you to a comprehensive solution that not only can answer your question, but also a series of follow-up questions.
@dmarling and I ( @efavreau ) presented a way to export, audit, and import your knowledge objects (which includes saved searches), in a presentation at Splunk .Conf19. That way, if someone deletes them, you know who did it, you have an export you can go back to, and can import your last good source - all without having to involve your admins. Here's a link to the presentation video and slides:
https://conf.splunk.com/watch/conf-online.html?search=FN1315#/
We also put our code up in Github. In the video, a demo is given showing that with little modification, you can use these queries in a short period of time. So after you watch the video, you can get the code and use it. Here's the github link:
https://github.com/paychex/Splunk.Conf19/
There's a caveat, the ability to do the audit with the details we show, depends on you having access to the _internal and _audit logs, which your admins may or may not have given you access to.
Good Luck!
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