NavyDeerHunter

Finally, 5 days into the season, 4th trip to the woods and I scored a nice doe last night at about 7:15 p.m...after missing an earlier shot on a doe that I could not have placed in a more perfect spot for me to shoot. Musta been the "first deer this season jitters".
After missing the first doe and being pretty upset with myself...I was finally able to calm back down and let it go. Not long after, 2 does and two fawns came in from the opposite side of the first doe that I missed. At first it looked like they were going to circle wide of me, but then...as if on a string, all 4 came right at my stand. Thankfully they were up wind of me and although cautious, did not seem real nervous. It was tough keeping an eye on all 4 at the same time, but finally the lead and biggest doe got into shooting range and I let her fly...from a seated position in my stand. I could hear the "thwak" of the arrow and knew I got a good hit. . I watched her go further than I would have liked, but was confident of a fairly easy recovery. Waiting a half an hour after dark to get out of my stand, I put a piece of toilet paper at my arrow location (arrow covered with bubbly blood and there was a bit of bone with it)andeased myself away in the opposite direction to take my gear back to my truck, give the doe some time and collect my $2.50 dragging sled from the truck. I was parked at my buddies house so he came back into the woods with me...with his bazillion watt light. My two little lights were not worth crap, and his faded very fast and we were not picking up much blood so I decided to back out. He went home to charge his light and I went to Wally world to buy something better. They did not have much so I ended up with a battery operated lantern and another flash light. Heading back out we found more blood, but not a lot. However, we eventually picked up a good trail where she was blowing blood from both sides. Once we finally found her...looking back at our TP trail, it looked like lines on a highway. We were about 90-100 yards from when she was shot.
After getting her back to the truck we tried to take a decent picture, but it was just not to be. Wish I could post one, but the only one we got is less than acceptable to put on this site.
Field dressing revealed that I had caught a double lung shot, but a little further forward than I would have liked.
So, bottom line...1 down, several to go...I hope.
I know I need a much better tracking light so if anyone has good suggestions, I'll be at a Bass Pro this weekend.
Best of luck to all,
Craig

Diesel77

Congrats and good job. Nice write up too.

MichaelT.

the best light that I know of is the light from the liquid filled lanterns, like a coleman lantern, for tracking and blod trailing. Something with that light makes the blood stand out. I don't know the exacts about it but I know they work well. So go pick up a couple and happy hunting. Great start to your season, congrats.

NavyDeerHunter

Thanks Michael. I have heard about the coleman lanterns, but have bad thoughts about taking a lantern like that into the woods. I'd probably trip, spill the fuel and start a forrest fire. Besidest that, I remember from my boyscout days that the mantals on those things are very easy to destroy with a simple bump against a solid object.

Buellhunter

Congrats on the deer!
I use a 5 cell Mag Light and a rechargable million candle power spotlight.
The spotlight dies faster than I would like. You have to make sure it is fully charged before you go out.
It does have an adapter so I can charge it off the lighter in my truck if I need to.
The Mag Light lasts plenty long with good batteries and I carry spares in my truck.

Piebalddoe

Congarts on the deer

HUNGAR

Congrats on the deer. For tracking I have a 3 "D" battery mag and a 2 "C" battery light (can't remember the brand) that has a tight beam that I use one or the other to track. I also carry a million candle power rechargable spotlight that I use to track. I will track with the other two lights and when I cover 20yds or so or if I feel the deer is "just up ahead" I click on the spotlight to scan the area, if I don't see the deer I will go back to tracking with the other lights. I will go further and keep repeating the routine. This works very well for me, the smaller lights keep me concentrating and working slow and the spotlight allows me to get up,stretch and look around. Hope this isn't too confusing.

Chris

kenman

excellent

NavyDeerHunter

Thanks everyone.

Chris, I think you have a great system that I'll look at using myself. I looked at the million CW power lights, but when I read on the box that the charge only lasts about 25 minutes I passed it up. However, with your other lights I can see where it would work. Thanks for the suggestion.

Craig

kenman

Check out that Gerber bloodtrailing flashlight, sposed to make blood glow like a coleman lantern. Little pricey, but if I hear a few good reports about it, I may be all over it.