I have noticed whilefollowing the trail of a wounded deer, that they leadthrough their core area. They go close to their bedding areas. They sometimes go through some major thich stuff an you see what maybe a lot of theirrubs. You findtrails an short cuts in areasthat they take, that you may not have known about before.

There are about three guys an myself that do most of thetrailing on deer thathave been shot. I learn a lot about the area that Iamtrailing a deer into before we find the deer.

I was wondering about the experiencethat ya have trailing deer. I feel that info is very useful for future hunts.

I could not agree more. I also have foundsign that I wouldn't have, had I notgone into certain areas trailing a deer.

Actually that's very true and great advice if one takes the time to be observant like yourself. The downfall, it's contaminates the area for that year but hopefully your doing the recovery and filling the tag...lol Great info gathered for the next year. Nice post.

there will be a post that surfaces around the end of summer that is about as comprehensive a tracking thread as you can get. Keep an eye for it.

I took myself and two lbrador retrievers through my core hunting area searching for a deer on 9/12, last fall. It rained 3" the next day......and I have NO DOUBTS my scent was washed away from there. I hunted it 2 days later.

Now....I didn't see this deer, again, for over 2 months.......but I saw a ton of deer.

Im not sure how long you'd bugger it up for.....but it likely might be for the SEASON for some bucks. I just don't know.

My ol' man agrees.. They head for thick cover. He also adds, he has encountered, deer that are wounded bad head for water. Creatures of habit; they will run but 99% of the time circle around to head for familiar areas.

I don't know about it being ruined for the rest of the season. But then again...some places only have 7 day seasons...so in theory....it depends where you are.

I have one stand in SC that I took 8 deer from last year. But of course, its a major travel route, and the season is 4 1/2 months long.

As far as tracking wounded deer; it seems to me that when they are hit good, they just bolt. They usually take a trail that they were on already, but rarely follow the other deer they may have been with. When they are hit rather well, but not fatal in under a minute, they seem to head back they way they came from. Now, when they are hit poorly, we are talking about overnight or longer, they seem to prefer heading towards water. How many deer carcasses have been found on river banks, swamp bottoms or in the river itself? People are no different, when they get ready to die they head for water....example...the state of Florida.