HELP!!!!!!

[deerslayr]

I shot a big doe about seven o’clock tonight. She was about ten to twenty yards away. After I pulled the trigger I heard a loud thwack noise but it was too dark to see the bolt hit her. Does that sound like a hit? She turned and ran with the other two does eighty yards and then turned into some tall grass that covers about four acres. I was not able to find her or any blood trail. There is no way out of the grass except by where I was standing and eventually the other two does came out. Right now it 53 degrees out and it should get down into the thirties tonight I was wondering if will ruin the meat if I wait until tomorrow morning to go and find her.

Thanks for your help.

[Old Kid]

Deerslayr, if the hit wasn't in the chest cavity, going after her now may push her off her bed. I think it would be wise to wait till first light before tracking her.The low temp shoul prevent meat spoilage even if she is expired.Good luck and keep us posted.

[Guest]

I have found them the next morning in a lot warmer weather with no spoilage.
James

[Woody Williams]

If you saw her companions and not her she is down in there somewhere. Maybe dead now and maybe not. If she is dead now she will still be dead in the morning. If she isn't dead now a night time trailing could get her up and moving and make it more difficult to find her.

The "thwack noise" could be hitting her shoulder blade or breaking ribs or shooting through her completely and hitting a tree behind her..or missing her completely and hitting a tree...

The pass through and hitting a tree happened to me on a couple of occasions.

30 degrees? She might be frozen in the morning.

The meat will be fine.

I'd advise waiting..

Good luck and let us know how you make out..

[deerslayr]

Thanks for the advice. I know it was a good deep hit, I know that she could not have been more than 15 yards away. I have played it over and over in my head as I tried to sleep last night. She walked right up to me and I was sitting on the ground. When I rolled a little bit to the right to look around some weeds my hip popped and she looked right at me. Then she turned to look at her friends, it was a perfect textbook quartering away shot. After I fired she fell away from me and that was when I heard the thwack noise, it seem to be too long after I fired to have been the bolt impact. I did think it was a bone braking, but change my mind because I found it hard to believe that a crossbow bolt could break bone. Remember this is my first year hunting bow season so it is all new to me. I shot her on the edge of an old driving range with nothing behind her for two hundred yards, so the noise had to have been from her. What would have happend if my shot was to high to have missed her heart? Will she still bleed out?

Anyway I am headed back out in about an hour, I looked at the thermometer and it only got down to about fifty last night. The weatherman said the cold front didn’t move in as was expected, wrong again, imagine that. I know I will be much happier when I find her. I can’t stand to lose down game. I will mow down every inch of that grass if I have too.

Over all, just thinking about it I would have to say that it was the prefect first xbow shot.

Thanks again for taking the time to give me your advice.

[Kdog]

Best of luck on your search. The first thing I would do is to try and find the bolt. That will let you know if you hit her or not. I hope you did and that you do find her. If you did hit her, you should be able to see where she was standing based on the tracks where she took off running, and may be able to follow them until you find blood and meat.

Best of luck,
Kdog

[Woody Williams]

That crossbow arrow will definetely "break bones."

Good luck on finding her..

The following describes types of hits and how you should track for each.

* A lung-shot deer will run hard 50 to 65 yards. After that he will
usually walk until he falls. The blood will sometimes have tiny bubbles in
it. This blood trail usually gets better as you track the deer. However,
if the deer is hit high in the lungs, the blood trail may sometimes become
light and even disappear completely. The deer could be "filling up" inside
with blood, showing very little external bleeding. The hair from the lung
area is coarse and brown with black tips. The deer will usually go down in
less than 125 yards. Give the deer 30 minutes before tracking.

* A heart-shot deer will sometimes jump wildly when hit. The blood trail
may be sparse for the first 20 yards or so. A heart shot deer may track as
much as a quarter of a mile, depending on what part of the heart is damaged.
The usual is less than 125 yards. The hair from this shot will be long brown
or grayish guard hairs. Again, a 30 minute wait is advised. But, if while
trailing you find where he has bedded back off and wait an hour before
taking up the trail again.

* A liver-shot deer. The liver lies against the diaphragm in the
approximate center of the deer. It is a definite killing shot. The blood
trail will be decent to follow and the deer should bed down and die within
200 yards, if not pushed. A one-hour wait is best. The hair from the liver
area is brownish gray and much shorter than the hair from the lung area. If
you push the deer out of his bed, back off and wait another hour.

* A gut-shot deer is probably the most difficult to recover because of the
poor blood trail and the hunter's impatience to wait him out. A lot of
bowhunters want to hurry up and find the deer. Since the liver and stomach
are close together, it is possible that the deer will go down and die
quickly if the shot also penetrates the liver. If the deer is dead in an
hour, he will still be dead in 4 hours. Have patience, he will not go
anywhere. Wait him out for at least 4 hours. Wait overnight if the deer is
shot in the evening.

When a deer is shot in the stomach area, he will usually take several short
jumps and commence walking or running. His back will usually hunch up and
his legs will be spread wide. The hair from this wound is brownish gray and
short. The lower the shot is on the animal, the lighter colored the hair
will be. The blood trail is usually poor with small pieces of ingested
material (stomach contents). If the intestines are punctured there will be
green slimy material or feces Take your bow with you because a second shot
might be required.

* A spine-shot deer will usually drop in his tracks or hobble off. Either
way, a second shot will probably be required to finish off the deer. If a
spine-shot deer hobbles off, wait a half-hour and track slowly and quietly.
Look for the deer bedded down.

* A neck-shot deer will either die in 100 yards or he will recover from the
wound. The lower portion of the neck contains the windpipe, neck bone
(spine), and carotid (jugular) arteries. If the arteries are hit, the deer
will run hard and drop in less than 100 yards. The blood trail will be easy
to follow. A shot above the neck bone will give you a good blood trail for
about 150 to 200 yards before quitting. The deer will more than likely
recover to be hunted again.

* A hip-shot deer. A large artery (femoral) runs down the inside of each
deer leg. This artery is protected from the side by the leg bones. The
femoral artery is most often severed from the rear or at an angle. If this
artery is cut, the bleeding will be profuse and the deer will usually be
found in less than 100 yards. The ham of a deer is also rich in veins with
a lot of blood. A hip-shot deer should be tracked immediately. Track him
slowly and quietly to keep him moving (walking). If you jump him and he
runs, back off for a few minutes then continue trailing. You want him to
walk, not run. A walking deer is easier to trail.

* An artery-shot deer will almost always go down in less than 100 yards.
The aortic artery runs just under the backbone from heart to hips, where it
branches to become the femoral arteries. The heart also pumps blood to the
brain through the carotid (jugular) arteries.

Sever any of these arteries and you've got yourself a deer. There is one
catch, these arteries are tough. It takes a sharp broadhead to cut through
them. A dull broadhead will just push them aside. Keep your broadheads
sharp! Give the deer half an hour before tracking.

GENERAL TRACKING TIPS

* After shooting the deer, stay in your stand and be quiet for the
recommended time. A noise might push your deer away. He could be bedded
down less than 100 yards away.

* It is very important it is to keep your eye on the deer and solidly mark in your mind where he was when you last saw him. Find some landmark that will mark that point. This way if the initial blood is sparse, you may pick up a better trail at this point and eliminate some ground to track. Immediately after the shot , really concentrate on that deer and where you lose sight of him. Very important.

* I have found it very helpful to tie a piece of pink surveyor ribbon around my stand tree at eye level from where I shot. After noting several terrain features near where the deer was standing and where it ran too, I tie on the ribbon before coming down. From the ground looking back up to the ribbon, I can get a better visual for locating exactly where the deer was and went.

* Before beginning the tracking, mark where you shot the deer with a piece
of white toilet paper hung on a branch.

* Mark the trail periodically with more toilet paper as you track. This
will give you a line on the deer's travel.

* When you find the arrow, check for hair, tallow, blood, etc. This will
give you a good clue on how to track. Example: Tallow and slime means you
should wait 4 hours.

* Check for blood carefully, walking off to the side of the run.

* Look for blood on trees, saplings, and leaves that are about the same
height as the wound. Blood will sometimes rub off the body.

* If tracking as a group, spread out a little. Keep noise to a minimum. In
tracking, sometimes "too many cooks can spoil the stew." It would be better
if only 2 or 3 people tracked the deer. If the blood trail runs out, you
can always get more help to search for the deer

* While tracking a deer that you have shot and you jump a deer and it flags
its tail, it's probably not your deer. A wounded deer will very seldom
"flag." BUT - check it out anyway.

* Gut-shot deer have a habit of going to water. If you lose a gut-shot
deer's trail, check out the water holes in the area. He could be down by
one.

* Tracking at night presents special problems with visibility. The blood
and the deer will both be hard to see. A gas lantern will help a lot in
both cases. If the deer is not hit well, and no rain is forecast, wait
until morning. If he is dead in 10 minutes or 4 hours, he will still be dead
in the morning.

* I like to track every deer I shoot from where it was standing when the arrow hit. Even if I see or hear it go down, I start tracking from the starting point. I figure the experience of following the trail has to be good practice, and may be helpful someday if I do get a poor hit.

* Take a compass or GPS bearing to where you last saw the deer, and another one to where you last heard any noise from it's flight. It might prove very helpful.

* A GPS unit could be a handy tool to mark and plot the trail of the deer. If the search has to be discontinued for the night it could put you back at the exact spot where you left off to finish the job

* It helps to have someone who did not shoot the deer to help with the blood trial. Many an experienced hunter in his excitement misses things.

* Stay off of the blood trail, and use a small piece of tolled paper to mark each spot

* Get down on your hands and knees when a blood trail is hard to see it helps. From this angle while night tracking you can shine the light in the direction of travel and often see blood that does not show when standing over it.

* If the blood trail ends start looking off to the sides of the trail as a lot of the times a deer will double back.

* Look at the bottom of leaves on branches at deer body height. Sometimes as the branch slides along the body of a deer it is the under side of the leaf that picks up the blood.

* You will often find a gut shot deer or liver shot deer dead in the water not just beside it. so look for an ear or the side of the deer in deeper water too.

* Some shots that look good may be one lung or a poor liver hit because of the angle. These deer can take several hours to die. Be careful about pushing them to soon, since they will rarely leave much blood sign if they are jumped when bedded.

* Look ahead as you blood trail for deer parts and movement. Your deer may still be alive and you might be able to get a second shot or back off with out spooking it.

* Look for disturbed leaves and broken twigs as well as for the blood sign on hard to follow blood trails.

* It is often hard to follow a blood trail in grass. It seems that the blood can fall all the way to the ground without hitting a single blade of grass.

* Look for clusters of ants, flies and daddy longlegs. You can find small drops of blood because these bugs are feeding on it.

* Often times when the blood trail seems to end you will find the animal off to one side and not in the same direction of travel.

* Listen for birds like magpies, jays, and crows. Sometimes they make a ruckus where the animal lies dead.

* Be persistent!

* A dog can often prove very useful if legal. Even your house pet. They can see with their nose what we can’t see with our eyes.

* Use your nose. Sometimes you can smell a deer you can't see. A gut shot is even more likely to have a smell.

* There are electronic “game finders” on the market that work by detecting body heat. Be sure to check your state for legality before using.

* When trailing at night use a couple of the Chem Lights that you can get at WalMart for less than a buck. You don't use these as lights to see blood, but they are hung on limbs at the last blood found. That way nobody has to stand on the last blood and everyone can easily see where the last blood found is at


à Did I say be persistent!