Well, the seasons are approaching quickly and some have already begun. Every year for the past several seasons I start a post/topic on recovery and what to do after the shot. I feel, the biggest reason why many animals are not recovered is that bowhunters take up the trail too soon simply bumping the animal. The second reason, the animal is not mortality wounded.

When mortality wounded, 90% if not higher, deer will bed within 250 yards of the shot. If an animal dies beyond this, some outside factor pushed the animal. Think about all the animals you' ve taken, found or lost. You probably found at least one bed within this distance and most of the time, it' s closer. What you do following the shot can make or break a successful recovery.

Now I' m not proclaiming myself the ultimate tracker/hunter but I can testify that we have not lost an animal in many many years and many of these recovered animals were because of waiting for the right moment rather than the shot placement.

I' ll give you an example of an animal that I made a poor shot on because I neglected to stop the animal and shot him on the move. At 25 yards I placed my arrow too far back on the buck...seen here at www.rivervalleygamecalls.com under Team River Valley. As soon as I saw the arrow sticking out of his guts, I knew immediately not to take up the track until at least 6 hours later. I shot this animal at 7:30 am and got out of my tree at 11:00 and left the woods. At 3:30 I returned to the woods and found my buck not 50 yards inside a woods at the last point I saw him. Had I not waited, I all but know I wouldn' t of found him do to all the corn fields around the woods he bedded in. What did I do right. Well,

I glassed the animal immediately following the shot to verify the hit. One important note I always make is bino' s are invaluable for archers not only to glass an animal post shot, but to watch for his movement once he moves off. Next, I knew enough to let this animal bed for many hours.

Now, I' m going to list many tips that I feel are invaluable for bowhunters to know what to do after the shot. In the past, most members contributed, tweeked and added tips that are also priceless. Hopefully one of the tips here or posted herein will aid our members to recovery.

Use bright fletch...you need to see the arrow in flight, in the animal and on the ground after ward. Dark arrows don' t do you any good if you can' t see them.

Take bino' s, use them post shot....they may be the most important tool you have after the shot.



Too many times in the past, we always get posts..." I hit him, now what?"

Unless you witness a double lung pass through, I firmly believe to let an animal go for a couple hours rather than the common misconseption of half hour wait. Too many times a half hour isn' t enough. The only shots that put an animal down quickly are double lung hits and heart shots.

If you are not 100% sure of your hit, simply put.... wait!!! The animal isn' t going to go anywhere, he' s dead, why hurry. Sit back, collect your thoughts, replay the shot, the hit and where the animal went. Also, this gives you a chance to listen and relax. If your arrow was a pass thru, get down and get the arrow and study it and wait. Mark the direction but don' t pursue, if you wait, he' ll be there or he' ll live another day.

If you think it' s a single lung hit because of angle, wait at least 4 hours. This includes the, just under the spine...because of the angle, you might catch the second lung but miss the first....wait.....let him expire. Let' s put to rest that there is a void area between the spine and over the lungs. That is a myth. If you place an arrow under the spine, you will catch at least one lung. The lungs push up against the spine. Check out a deers anatomy prior to going afield.

If you think you caught the liver.....wait...he has to bleed out. Wait at least 2 hours, if not 4....again, he' s dead and not going anywhere if given the chance to expire. Jump him and he may go forever.

If you catch the guts only, your in for at least a 6 hour minimum, 8 hours is more prefered and overnight is even more important. In case of rain, wait....get down, find the blood trail and wait....listen for coyotes or better yet, leave the area and come back in the morning. If you know your propery, you' ll find him close.

Coyotes can and will give the location of your animal, if your worried about them, get down, listen for the them and move on them if you know they are on your animal. IF they are there, your animal won' t be so move on the coyotes and they may lead you to the animal.

Lung, liver, guts....wait...again the animal is going to die, wait him out, your blood trail should be adequate a couple hours later.

Let' s recover the animals bowyers, we owe it to them, we owe it to each other and we owe it to ourselves. Good luck out there....

Practice, patience and make the shot count. Now, it' s Matt' s turn for the quality photo post.[:-][:-][:-]