Doe down!
10-19-2008, 06:30 AM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: TN
Posts: 2,089
RE: Doe down!
I shot this doe 40 yards from my treestand coming down a hill broadside. The shot was further back than I knew at the time, so I started tracking her after an hour not knowing that my shot was further back than I would have liked. After 30 minutes of searching I couldn't find my arrow or a blood trail. I called my dad and explained the situation to him and he said ask the neighbors if they would help me track my deer. They did! I showed Darrel, (my neighbor) where I shot my doe and where I last saw her. We spread out to where I last saw her and about 100 yards from there we spooked her up from bedding down. We went to where the she was bedding down and there was blood everywhere! We decide to continue tracking her in an attempt to bleed her out. We tracked her for 5 hours and were amazed that this deer could still continue to run after loosing so much blood!
We lost the blood trail at the edge of a big pasture. Darrel saw the deer stagger up from bedding down at the edge of the wood line and start walking away. Now the deer could only go three ways. Up a steep mountain, (Which we didn't think it had the strength to do because the whole time we were tracking it, it was always going down hill.) into the pasture where there wasn't much cover, or follow the fence line. We searched up the mountain for 30 minutes then I walked the fence line for about 200 yards before we decided to head back home.
When my dad got home I explained where we last found blood and where Darrel last saw my deer near the fence line. We dove into the pasture where the doe was last seen and began searching again. My dad said he would search the mountain side of the fence and I would search the pasture for my deer. There were little tree lines all throughout the pasture with a little pond in the middle of the field. I first looked by the pond for my deer but found nothing. I then decided to go help my dad search the mountain for my deer. On the way up to the mountain I decided to walk into a thick little treeline that ran from the woods all the way to about 40 yards from the pond. As soon as I stepped into the treeline my deer jumped up 5 feet from me and ran a short distance before collapsing. I nocked an arrow and gave her a finishing shot. I called my dad on the walkie talkie and told him that I found my deer! The whole track job with my dad lasted no more than 5 minutes... Versus the 5 hours we were tracking her in the morning!
We lost the blood trail at the edge of a big pasture. Darrel saw the deer stagger up from bedding down at the edge of the wood line and start walking away. Now the deer could only go three ways. Up a steep mountain, (Which we didn't think it had the strength to do because the whole time we were tracking it, it was always going down hill.) into the pasture where there wasn't much cover, or follow the fence line. We searched up the mountain for 30 minutes then I walked the fence line for about 200 yards before we decided to head back home.
When my dad got home I explained where we last found blood and where Darrel last saw my deer near the fence line. We dove into the pasture where the doe was last seen and began searching again. My dad said he would search the mountain side of the fence and I would search the pasture for my deer. There were little tree lines all throughout the pasture with a little pond in the middle of the field. I first looked by the pond for my deer but found nothing. I then decided to go help my dad search the mountain for my deer. On the way up to the mountain I decided to walk into a thick little treeline that ran from the woods all the way to about 40 yards from the pond. As soon as I stepped into the treeline my deer jumped up 5 feet from me and ran a short distance before collapsing. I nocked an arrow and gave her a finishing shot. I called my dad on the walkie talkie and told him that I found my deer! The whole track job with my dad lasted no more than 5 minutes... Versus the 5 hours we were tracking her in the morning!
10-19-2008, 07:02 AM
#4
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SE Ohio
Posts: 2,531
RE: Doe down!
Congrats on the doe, but there are two lessons here....
1. If you're not sure of the shot, then leave it lay for a bit, and if you jump it out of it's bed, you're not gonna bleed it out in short order, you're probably gonna end up with "a 5 hour chase." Unless you rump shoot a deer, trying to bleed it out isn't such a good idea in my experience, and yes, regrettably, I've been on that trail before also.
2. What you may "think" is a "LOT" of blood really ain't as much as you "THINK!!!" Trust me, I'm a nurse, I work in a hospital, and I've seen people bleed what looked like a massacre, and never even change 10% on their blood counts. Rob/Pa knows this very well as he uses only a small amount of blood for his blood trails he sets up and a lot of people think their is a "LOT of blood," when in essence, there really isn't. A deer needs to loose about half of it's blood volume to die, and what you usually see on the ground before finding the animal is probably less than a pint, even on GOOD shots from my experience unless you're using a BIG BH, 1.5" or wider that gets a pass through.
Now go get your big buck!!!
1. If you're not sure of the shot, then leave it lay for a bit, and if you jump it out of it's bed, you're not gonna bleed it out in short order, you're probably gonna end up with "a 5 hour chase." Unless you rump shoot a deer, trying to bleed it out isn't such a good idea in my experience, and yes, regrettably, I've been on that trail before also.
2. What you may "think" is a "LOT" of blood really ain't as much as you "THINK!!!" Trust me, I'm a nurse, I work in a hospital, and I've seen people bleed what looked like a massacre, and never even change 10% on their blood counts. Rob/Pa knows this very well as he uses only a small amount of blood for his blood trails he sets up and a lot of people think their is a "LOT of blood," when in essence, there really isn't. A deer needs to loose about half of it's blood volume to die, and what you usually see on the ground before finding the animal is probably less than a pint, even on GOOD shots from my experience unless you're using a BIG BH, 1.5" or wider that gets a pass through.
Now go get your big buck!!!
10-19-2008, 07:29 AM
#5
Nontypical Buck
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: TN
Posts: 2,089
RE: Doe down!
ORIGINAL: OHbowhntr
Congrats on the doe, but there are two lessons here....
1. If you're not sure of the shot, then leave it lay for a bit, and if you jump it out of it's bed, you're not gonna bleed it out in short order, you're probably gonna end up with "a 5 hour chase." Unless you rump shoot a deer, trying to bleed it out isn't such a good idea in my experience, and yes, regrettably, I've been on that trail before also.
2. What you may "think" is a "LOT" of blood really ain't as much as you "THINK!!!" Trust me, I'm a nurse, I work in a hospital, and I've seen people bleed what looked like a massacre, and never even change 10% on their blood counts. Rob/Pa knows this very well as he uses only a small amount of blood for his blood trails he sets up and a lot of people think their is a "LOT of blood," when in essence, there really isn't. A deer needs to loose about half of it's blood volume to die, and what you usually see on the ground before finding the animal is probably less than a pint, even on GOOD shots from my experience unless you're using a BIG BH, 1.5" or wider that gets a pass through.
Now go get your big buck!!!
Congrats on the doe, but there are two lessons here....
1. If you're not sure of the shot, then leave it lay for a bit, and if you jump it out of it's bed, you're not gonna bleed it out in short order, you're probably gonna end up with "a 5 hour chase." Unless you rump shoot a deer, trying to bleed it out isn't such a good idea in my experience, and yes, regrettably, I've been on that trail before also.
2. What you may "think" is a "LOT" of blood really ain't as much as you "THINK!!!" Trust me, I'm a nurse, I work in a hospital, and I've seen people bleed what looked like a massacre, and never even change 10% on their blood counts. Rob/Pa knows this very well as he uses only a small amount of blood for his blood trails he sets up and a lot of people think their is a "LOT of blood," when in essence, there really isn't. A deer needs to loose about half of it's blood volume to die, and what you usually see on the ground before finding the animal is probably less than a pint, even on GOOD shots from my experience unless you're using a BIG BH, 1.5" or wider that gets a pass through.
Now go get your big buck!!!
10-19-2008, 08:16 AM
#6
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Roanoke, Va
Posts: 3,562
RE: Doe down!
Congrats on the doe!
I think you got lucky finding that doe too. The wound could have closed up leaving you with no blood trail and God knows where she might have gone. Where did you actually hit the doe? Again, congrats!
I think you got lucky finding that doe too. The wound could have closed up leaving you with no blood trail and God knows where she might have gone. Where did you actually hit the doe? Again, congrats!
10-19-2008, 11:08 AM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SE Ohio
Posts: 2,531
RE: Doe down!
ORIGINAL: 8pt~Bowhunter
If I had let my deer lay and came back in the afternoon to track, who's to say that it be dead? It was still alive after me pushing it for 5 hours. If it can live through that it would certainly live through 5 hours of laying down.
If I had let my deer lay and came back in the afternoon to track, who's to say that it be dead? It was still alive after me pushing it for 5 hours. If it can live through that it would certainly live through 5 hours of laying down.
