Bocajnala

When to track is important. We've all heard the caution against pushing a wounded deer. And many of us have experienced it, and possibly lost one because of it, ourselves.

However, when all signs point to a good shot.... it's time to track!

I'm on several facebook hunting pages that get allot of traffic this time of the year. Seems like every other thread right now is "Hit one, decided to back out until morning.".....

That's a great idea, when it's 40DEG out. But when the low for the night is 63 DEG backing out until mornings is just as bad as loosing the deer. Even so, if you think the shot is bad, I understand backing out. But allot of these guys are saying "Shot looked good, arrows covered in blood, but I didn't see it drop so I backed out until morning" There's even two posts on there this morning of people who heard the deer drop, but it was out of sight... So to avoid pushing it they backed out.

Just a rant to say this: Take account of everything that happened. If the shot looked good, if it felt good, if you have a blood covered arrow,if you have a blood trail, if everything is pointing towards a dead deer, then wait 30 minutes and GET ON THE TRAIL and find your deer before they coyotes do or before the meat spoils.

It almost seems like "Backing out until morning" is a right of passeage, or something they need to do. Maybe because that's what you see on every Deer hunting TV show? Who knows.... But listen to your sign and react accordingly. Backing out and wasting a deer is pretty much the same as losing one.

EDITED TO ADD:

I backed out on a poor shot 8 point one time, and found him about 50 yards away with his hole rear end eaten out. The only other time I backed out was helping a person track a big buck they gut shot. We came back in the morning and he put a second arrow in the deer and ended it. Had we bumped that buck right after he shot it we probably never would have found him.

I'm not saying you shouldn't back out if the situation requires it... But I am saying it shouldn't be the "go to" response ESPECIALLY in warmer weather or anywhere that has predators

-Jake