Originally Posted by npaden

Maintaining a visual on a whitetail deer after the shot would seem to be more of an exception to the rule in most places where they are found. Maybe you are hunting open river bottoms in Kansas, but in the hardwoods in the Northeast and Midwest or the Pines of the South or the Mesquite in Texas (Basically where the bulk of whitetails live) you are going to have a very hard time maintaining a visual on a deer after the shot.

Convential wisdom in this case has been proven by years and years of people shooting deer and then either finding them or failing to find them. I personally see a lot more posts on "I started tracking my deer/elk/etc. and jumped it" than I see "I lost the blood trail and never found it".

Growing up in Northeast Montana we never bothered to wait to go after a deer or track it because on the open prairie you could see the deer laying there dead 100 yards away. Hunting in different circumstances now, I'm going to wait at least 30 minutes before going after a deer unless I see it hit the ground dead right there.

I think it is irresponsible to tell other people they should start going after them earlier and risk pushing the deer and losing it.