txjourneyman

Last year I tracked a doe I hit a bit far back. I got 1 lung and liver. She went about 150 yds I think. Not far really but the blood was sparse at times. I had read Rob's tracking thread over and over. It payed off for me. The emotions I felt that day were indescribable. Elation at the shot turning to concern at watching the doe run off out of sight. 2 hours of self doubt during the trail punctuated by moments of heart pounding excitement when I found the next spot of blood. And then the culmination....the pride and gratitude I felt when I found that doe lying under a mesquite.
That is the only deer that ever gave me a problem finding it. I doubt it will be the last but it was more rewarding than almost any other deer I have ever killed.

GMMAT

Well put, Greg......well put. It's an indescribeable feeling to those who haven't lived it.......and the reason I don't "celebrate" until I touch that animal for the first time.

Colorado Luckydog

Ditto! I'm comfortable rifle hunting by myself, because I hunt with a cannon. No way being color blind that I would go bow hunting without a friend thats a fairly good tracker. I'm gonna go buy the book also littlechief and hope it has something for the color blind tracker.

Javabird17

I am learning from, who I considered "the best", my fiance'. He has been hunting his entire life and he is patiently teaching me everything I need to know. Last year when I didn't get anything early bow him and his friend waiting for me to get home from work before they tracked and gutted their deer.

They are so careful but so quick. One pain in the @ss thing is having enough laterns to light the way when the shot is taken closer to dusk.

He knows the deer patterns and trails so well in our area that 9 out of 10 times he can locate them in a flash; thank God, most of the time, they are creatures of habit. The one time they go out of the "norm" he amazes me. Such quick thinking.

DaveH

Don't count out using the family dog as a tool to help as well. Two years ago, I was out tracking a huge doe I'd shot in the morning. My dog - a German Shepherd with NO TRAINING in tracking, broke his chain to find out where I'd gone (he recognized the "dead deer" blood smell on me when I came home to take a break at lunch). At any rate, I didn't want him there with me, but he started out across a field and I followed him. Everywhere he went, I found small specks of blood - and eventually he led me right to the deer. I would NEVER have looked where he took me because the blood trail was extreemely sparse and the specks were far apart. He would have literally run to the deer if I hadn't been restraining him during the entire tracking process. I used him last year to find another doe that could've been tricky.

I thought he was letting me down though on a big buck I shot last year that I was sure had crossed my driveway. I took him all over the other side of the driveway and he couldn't seem to lock-in on anything. When I returned to the side I was sure it wasn't on, he took me right to it!

As I said, he's never been trained in tracking, but he's got a heck of a nose and has led me to all 3 of the deer he's helped with.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Thanks and it's on the main bowhunting page year round. Of course the current one is tweeked every year and this one doesn't cover it like the most recent.

http://www.huntingnet.com/staticpages/staticpage_detail.aspx?id=7

RTA47

Bobco: After you spoke about this book last season and how good it was on finding wounded deer i order it.
After reading it i couldn`t believe some of the things i had over looked while tracking a wounded deer? This book by John Trout is awesome
I agree it is a must for all bowhunters to read, it will help you find wounded deer no matter what the shot!
And also thanks Rob for putting up the thread what to do after the shot? Knowing these thingsis just part of being a good hunter.

Bluetickhunter

yup yall are right i feel im a good tracker but alot of people around me cant do it for SH** i dunno