Big Country, yup, and great add about the arrow. Analizing the arrow while in the deer is a great indication of the hit. AND, as I'm sure you meant, if the arrow passes through the animal, inspect the arrow and learn about the differences in blood and matter including hair that can be found on the arrow and around on the ground at the impact point.

Lilhunter great point about seeing/hearing an animal go down. Sometimes I loose myself into thinking about whitetails due to the vast amount of people who hunt them. I sometimes forget about our bretheren who hunt other species as well. Good point. Great point about the peroxide as well. Sometimes that is a little known fact and why I love relying on others as well to help me, teach me and remind me. My hunting partner is color blind to red pigments, especially in leaves etc...he's an amazing trailer on kicked up leaves, broken branches, tracks and things. He had to be, it's all he's known. That brings up some more good points in trailing...I hope some touches on that.

Jimmymac great point about using toilet paper to mark the last spot. Again, something not everyone might know or remember. It's always a good idea to mark the last spot and as you go along, looking back over your shoulder will give you a line as you connect the marks giving a possible direction of travel.

Bow shopper good point about the processing once you find the animal.

Wimp Kudo's and your right, only take high percentage shots and that is when all the practice has paid off and hopefully the tracking will be easy or not necessary as the animal falls in sight.

Iroq More great stuff...again, toilet paper to mark the trail and more importantly mental mark the spot the deer was standing when you shot, that is where you want to start analizing the shot. Also mental mark the last place you saw the animal. Many times blood doesn't start for several yards or more and knowing where he was and where he went will give you the best odds of picking up some blood or clues. That's also an interesting theory on the compass, one I never thought of or tried.

JesseJ yes, don't take the shot unless your prepared for the shot. I'm glad you also brought up and I missed mentioning it from Iroq, about not having too many people tromping all over and possible messing up the blood trail. Especially when you've come down to drops here and there.

Keep them coming.


<font color=blue>Good Luck and Good Shooting</font id=blue>

<font color=red>Rob</font id=red>