I can't find it and I feel like crap.
Yesterday afternoon I had set up along a pathway of an old logging area on some crown land east of my property. The path is about 15 yds wide and gives me a great shooting lane.
I had parked my 4-wheeler about 35 yds up the path from me and tried to hide it amongst some bushes. I figured it gave me a good distance marker. With my ExoMag I'm very accurate to 30 yds.
I could hear a crashing behind me and suddenly a 6 point buck stops about 15 yds from my 4-wheeler and is staring at it. It slowly takes another step into the path and stays for about 15 seconds quartering away from me. I've got a perfect shot and I let it fly.
I hear the buck crash about 40 yds in. I take a bearing from where I'm standing and after a few minutes walk very slowly and quietly back to my 4-wheeler and take another bearing.
After about 10 minutes two does jumped out of the woods behind me. They startled me as much as I them. They bounded off into the woods directly where my buck had headed. Suddenly more crashing and all I see is white tails flapping everywhere and then they're gone.
After searching until about 8:00 p.m., I gave up for the night. I was unable to find any blood trail and by then it was quite dark.
Last night was not a good night. I hardly slept and couldn't eat.
At 7:00 a.m. today I was out there looking for it. I found a bright red, strong blood trail and followed it. I found a couple of spots with quite a lot of blood but then the trail suddenly stopped. The buck was at a log and there's blood on one side but not the other. I got on my hands and knees and moved the leaves around to no avail.
Then I realised that this was about the spot where all the commotion was last night. The does must have spooked my deer too.
I started doing a circle pattern trying to find more blood but was unsuccessful. I then tried a grid pattern but still couldn't find any.
The bush there is very dense and I wasn't able to see more than about 10 yds in front of me at any time. After using my GPS to pinpoint the last blood spot, I went 200 yds in every direction. Still nothing.
The bush just got to dense and after 3.5 hours of searching this morning plus last night's 1.5 hours, I gave up.
I feel like crap. My first hunting season and my first buck and I can't find it. These are the stories that antis love to hear: newbie hunter can't find his kill.
I really, really feel awful. I don't even really want to go back out there now.
Todd
My first buck---and I feel absolutely awful
Moderator: Excalibur Marketing Dude
I've been there.
Hey TAC,
Last year we lost a doe blood trail at the edge of a clearing, then we picked it up again about 60 yards away just by looking at the direction she was traveling and then looking in the thick bush where she would be forced to walk slower. We lost it again at the edge of a field so we went about 150 yards to the other side of the field and again found the blood trail. I think we were losing it every time the doe was running across a clearing.
Neadless to say we kept playing lose the trail and find it again. We must have covered 2 miles before we lost it for good and never found her. Try guessing on the general direction and then look where they would be forced to slow down.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Nick
Last year we lost a doe blood trail at the edge of a clearing, then we picked it up again about 60 yards away just by looking at the direction she was traveling and then looking in the thick bush where she would be forced to walk slower. We lost it again at the edge of a field so we went about 150 yards to the other side of the field and again found the blood trail. I think we were losing it every time the doe was running across a clearing.
Neadless to say we kept playing lose the trail and find it again. We must have covered 2 miles before we lost it for good and never found her. Try guessing on the general direction and then look where they would be forced to slow down.
Hope this helps and good luck.
Nick
Todd,
I know the feeling, as I lost my first buck (after many quick recoveries)this year. It's going to happen! I've always known the time would come, but avoided facing the facts. The odds just caught up with you early.
The deer, if dead, will not go to waste. Scavengers have to eat to live, too. You just helped them out even if that wasn't the intent. I won't tell you what to do, but I went back, corrected any possible flaws I could find (cleared shooting lanes even more thoroughly) and shot a doe 2 nights later. She was the shortest recovery yet, but I had her in sight the whole time and watched her die. That's a heart wrenching experience, too. I'll continue to hunt, and I'll enjoy it, but I'll sure be aware of the fact I need to do everything possible to prevent any deer for suffering because of MY mistakes!
I know the feeling, as I lost my first buck (after many quick recoveries)this year. It's going to happen! I've always known the time would come, but avoided facing the facts. The odds just caught up with you early.
The deer, if dead, will not go to waste. Scavengers have to eat to live, too. You just helped them out even if that wasn't the intent. I won't tell you what to do, but I went back, corrected any possible flaws I could find (cleared shooting lanes even more thoroughly) and shot a doe 2 nights later. She was the shortest recovery yet, but I had her in sight the whole time and watched her die. That's a heart wrenching experience, too. I'll continue to hunt, and I'll enjoy it, but I'll sure be aware of the fact I need to do everything possible to prevent any deer for suffering because of MY mistakes!
wabi
First of all, don't think you are alone. This has happened to many of us. It feels terrible but as long as you try your absolute best to recover the deer (and it sounds like you did) you have nothing to be ashamed about. I'm going to assume it was about a 20 yd shot since it was 15yds from your 4 wheeler. When you hear the crash it almost always means a dead deer. Did You find your arrow? Every deer I've shot I always hear the crash so I have to think that buck is dead. Some times there is just no answer. You just have to get right back out there.
Re: I've been there.
Gary---I'm calm. I just feel like crap. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if I wasn't a beginner and could just chalk it up to an unfortunate experience. Plus I also don't have any friends that hunt so I can't ask them (don't really know anyone in the town we recently moved to). My ex-game warden friend, who unfortunately just moved away, hasn't been answering his phone. I'm sure if I had been with someone who has been hunting for years and could reassure me that it's just one of those unfortunate situations, I'd feel better. The 'Net just isn't the same in that regards (although it does help).
Partikle---I've been hunting right on the eastern edge of Algonquin Park so you can imagine how dense the forest is. I was almost getting clausterphobic when I reached the area where I couldn't see 10 yds in any direction. The bush just stays like that after that point.
I really thought I was going to find it this morning when I saw the strong blood trail. Damn.
Partikle---I've been hunting right on the eastern edge of Algonquin Park so you can imagine how dense the forest is. I was almost getting clausterphobic when I reached the area where I couldn't see 10 yds in any direction. The bush just stays like that after that point.
I really thought I was going to find it this morning when I saw the strong blood trail. Damn.
-
cdngunner...
TAC
Take a break, relax for a bit. Its pretty cold right now, so it will keep.
There are some exellent posts in the archives, read them over and you will find lots of tricks.
We all probably have had that problem at one time or another. Try bringing a second set of eyes, don't tell them your assumtions, they will look at it from a different perpective. Try bringing the dog out with you, let it sniff around. If all the deer were going to the same place try to find out where that is, you might pick up more sign on a main trail or bedding area.
Good luck, but if worst comes to worst, you just made some fisher/fox/coyote's winter alot easier!
Take a break, relax for a bit. Its pretty cold right now, so it will keep.
There are some exellent posts in the archives, read them over and you will find lots of tricks.
We all probably have had that problem at one time or another. Try bringing a second set of eyes, don't tell them your assumtions, they will look at it from a different perpective. Try bringing the dog out with you, let it sniff around. If all the deer were going to the same place try to find out where that is, you might pick up more sign on a main trail or bedding area.
Good luck, but if worst comes to worst, you just made some fisher/fox/coyote's winter alot easier!
-
Woody Williams
- Posts: 6440
- Joined: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:07 pm
TRACKING WOUNDED DEER
by Woody Williams
Less than a minute has elapsed since you've shot one of the biggest bucks you have ever seen. It happened so fast it's hard to believe. What you do now may determine whether or not you'll recover your buck.
Your first impulse is to bail out of your treestand and take off after him.
Depending upon your arrow placement, this could be a big mistake. If a deer is not hit well you could spook him and make recovery next to impossible.
Knowing where the animal is hit makes a difference in how you track him.
For this reason, a bowhunter should use brightly colored fletching, such as
orange, red or white..
The chest of the deer contains the lungs and the heart which, when hit,
produce the quickest kill. The lungs are easily reached by an arrow,
protected only by vulnerable rib bones. The heart is low in the body and
somewhat protected by the deer's leg bone.
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
----> Did I say be persistent!
by Woody Williams
Less than a minute has elapsed since you've shot one of the biggest bucks you have ever seen. It happened so fast it's hard to believe. What you do now may determine whether or not you'll recover your buck.
Your first impulse is to bail out of your treestand and take off after him.
Depending upon your arrow placement, this could be a big mistake. If a deer is not hit well you could spook him and make recovery next to impossible.
Knowing where the animal is hit makes a difference in how you track him.
For this reason, a bowhunter should use brightly colored fletching, such as
orange, red or white..
The chest of the deer contains the lungs and the heart which, when hit,
produce the quickest kill. The lungs are easily reached by an arrow,
protected only by vulnerable rib bones. The heart is low in the body and
somewhat protected by the deer's leg bone.
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
----> Did I say be persistent!
Woody Williams
We have met the enemy and he is us - Pogo Possum
Hunting in Indiana at [size=84][color=Red][b][url=http://huntingindiana.proboards52.com]HUNT-INDIANA[/url][/b][/color][/size]
We have met the enemy and he is us - Pogo Possum
Hunting in Indiana at [size=84][color=Red][b][url=http://huntingindiana.proboards52.com]HUNT-INDIANA[/url][/b][/color][/size]
TAC..... everyone here has given good advice.... calm down, it has been cooler at night so the deer will keep for awhile..... if you did find a "bright red, strong bloood trail" then it sounds like you made a good shot.... go over the points that Woody has posted, its a pretty sound list...... like you said those does busted things up so its going to be more important to make sure that you stay on the right trail.... DON'T walk on the trail, walk off to the side (if you have to go back on the trail at least you haven't stomped all the sign into the ground).... take your time.... start again at where the deer was when you took the shot..... check both sides of the blood trail as you work your way in.... if the deer came back on its own trail even a little it will look like the trail just stopped.... remember that a deer can cover 20 - 30 feet easy on each jump (and not always just straight ahead)... again take your time..... if all else fails and you know the area check around the nearest body of water...... good luck
-
Woody Williams
- Posts: 6440
- Joined: Wed Oct 09, 2002 5:07 pm
"I hear the buck crash about 40 yds in. I take a bearing from where I'm standing and after a few minutes walk very slowly and quietly back to my 4-wheeler and take another bearing."
I don't want to sound like a know it all or a Monday morning quarterback.
BUT - Anytime anyone shoots a deer they should stay put and stay quiet. Watch where the deer was last seen until it is burned in your mind. IOW - "Just right of that large pine". Visually re-run the shot in your mind. Only after the allotted wait time given in my other post should you start looking for the deer.
If a deer is not dead very quickly you can run them off making it much harder to track.
It does hapen to everyone one time or another. The main thing is learn from it..
Good luck on finding him..and better luck next time..
I don't want to sound like a know it all or a Monday morning quarterback.
BUT - Anytime anyone shoots a deer they should stay put and stay quiet. Watch where the deer was last seen until it is burned in your mind. IOW - "Just right of that large pine". Visually re-run the shot in your mind. Only after the allotted wait time given in my other post should you start looking for the deer.
If a deer is not dead very quickly you can run them off making it much harder to track.
It does hapen to everyone one time or another. The main thing is learn from it..
Good luck on finding him..and better luck next time..
Woody Williams
We have met the enemy and he is us - Pogo Possum
Hunting in Indiana at [size=84][color=Red][b][url=http://huntingindiana.proboards52.com]HUNT-INDIANA[/url][/b][/color][/size]
We have met the enemy and he is us - Pogo Possum
Hunting in Indiana at [size=84][color=Red][b][url=http://huntingindiana.proboards52.com]HUNT-INDIANA[/url][/b][/color][/size]
-
Guest
Quote W.W. a lesson well learned by most..
"Less than a minute has elapsed since you've shot one of the biggest bucks you have ever seen. It happened so fast it's hard to believe. What you do now may determine whether or not you'll recover your buck.
Your first impulse is to bail out of your treestand and take off after him.
Depending upon your arrow placement, this could be a big mistake. If a deer is not hit well you could spook him and make recovery next to impossible"
TAC figure the experience a learned lesson
"Less than a minute has elapsed since you've shot one of the biggest bucks you have ever seen. It happened so fast it's hard to believe. What you do now may determine whether or not you'll recover your buck.
Your first impulse is to bail out of your treestand and take off after him.
Depending upon your arrow placement, this could be a big mistake. If a deer is not hit well you could spook him and make recovery next to impossible"
TAC figure the experience a learned lesson
Always learning!!
Home fer now!
Home fer now!
Don't automatically assume that the buck is dead! I could be wrong, but from reading your account, you may have hit the buck above the spine and he is out looking for does about now. I have done this myself and the blood trail always looks good at first, then, it just stops. As with most muscle hits, the blood will be bright red, but it won't have the bubbles you will see in a lung shot deer. If the buck was hit through both lungs, he wouldn't have gone far.
Did you recover the arrow? Was it smeared with tallow &/or fat? Was there any hair at the spot you hit the buck? If so, what color is it?
I have been amazed at how tough deer can be and how well they heal from non-mortal wounds........don't count this one out......you may see him again!
Did you recover the arrow? Was it smeared with tallow &/or fat? Was there any hair at the spot you hit the buck? If so, what color is it?
I have been amazed at how tough deer can be and how well they heal from non-mortal wounds........don't count this one out......you may see him again!
-
Fur & Feathers
- Posts: 268
- Joined: Tue Apr 20, 2004 3:35 pm
- Location: Central NY
TAC. With the cover being as thick as you describe it seems you may have to step on it to find it. Thick cover is a bitch. Sometimes birds will tip you off to the location if it has been dead for a day. Blue Jays helped me find a friends deer the day after we had searched thoroughly. We had been within 5 yards & never saw it in the heavy cover. Good Luck
Get out & Enjoy.