The problem with the land I hunt is that it is primarily swamp. If you have never tracked a deer in swamps it can be ridiculous. The deer in my avitar ran about 80 into this swamp after I shot him. It took me and a buddy of mine 2 hours to find him. We might have got a drop that landed on a leaf every 20 feet. We just looked at the ground and how to mud was turned up and followed it. We got to splits and trails and like iSnipe said we followed the one we thought of first. I have never lost a deer that I shot but I have tracked some that were never found.