With all the seasons cranking up and some already in it's time to start up a tracking thread. I happen to own one of the top tracking dogs in this country so I look at things a little different than most folks do. If I could I would like to encourage everyone to check their respective states to see if you have a tracking dog available in your area and if you do write that persons name and number down and keep it with your license. I belong to Unitedbloodtrackers.org and we have a state by state registry of available trackers. Other states like Georgia have access through magazines such as Georgia Outdoor News where they have a listing of trackers. In New York and some of the surrounding states you can find local trackers through Deersearch, Inc. which is the founder of bloodtracking within the US. It's founder John Jeanney is the guru of training blood trailing dogs and he's written two very informative books on the subject. You can find them at Born to Track. org. if your interested in training a tracking dog.

Most people do their own tracking and this is what this thread is about and I would like to start things out by saying that I am not an expert and don't claim to be but I['ve seen what does and doesn't work in the woods. I know a lot of folks will jump in to contribute some knowledge they have on the subject that will help us all to recover the deer we have the priviledge to shoot.
There's been volumes written on the subject about evaluating the shot site, type of blood, arrow (if found), hair, etc etc. I know there's also a lot out there that doesn't make it to print and if you've something to add pls. do. I will start off with a couple of pet peeves. Buy some relective tape. You can find tape that is biodegradable and it will degrade over time. I personally don't mind seeing a reminder of a bloodtrail I've worked in my section of woods but to see it all over the woods marking stands etc. is unsightly. I would also suggest using a color such as blue or anything that is different than the norm used in your area. This tape needs to be a part of your bowhunting gear. I would also like to suggest how I start the tracking process. I have this programmed into my brain. What happens immediately after you release the arrow and follow through will make or break the recovery. Pay attention!! and follow that deers path making mental notes of "exactly" where he/she passes. Things happen fast and this is something you need to remind yourself of before you release that arrow. When you have marked that last spot you saw that deer remember it and then follow that path back to the spot the deer was standing when you shot and pick out the other obvious spots the deer passed. I can't stress how important this is and know that recovery percentages would go up tremendously if folks could just "make" themselves do this.
After this I then do whatever celebrating I deem appropriate. I've learned that a shot deer isn't a dead deer until I have my hands on him/her so I don't do much celebrating these days in the tree. How long you wait to get down is determined by circumstances that I will let others comment on if someone has a question about it. Things look very differently than they do in an elevated position or ground blind so once I get my feet on the ground and get my bearings I walk directly to the last place I saw that deer. I don't look at the hit site. I don't look for my arrow or a bloodtrail. I beeline it to that last spot I saw that deer and mark it with my marking tape. You will find that as soon as you look for a bloodtrail, your arrow and signs of a hit your mind will go blank and you will lose all sense of direction. It will happen. After I have marked my "last sighting" spot I then backtrail to the next visual marker that I have remembered and mark it. I work my way back to the hit site marking any visual reference I have. Now you can start the bloodtrailing process.
This is the starting place you want to be in with at least a good idea of where that deer passed. That's how I start the process. Like I said before there's volumes written on bloodtracking and we owe it to the animals we hunt to learn as much as we can about the process. This is just a tidbit of how I do things that has helped with my success. I can't tell you how beneficial it would be to a tracking dog handler to have a well marked line from the memory of the hunter he's working for.
I know other's have their pet peeves so pls. jump in and tell us what makes you successful in your recoveries.

Dan