BowKnutt

Well thanks alot Rob--Your thread killed a mighty myth that I have bowhunted by for years--"THE DREADED NO MANS LAND"--I wish I would have knowed this years ago--I can think of about five deer that was not recovered because we pursed to soon--then wrote them off as a shot in that land!!!You can bet that everybody I come in contact with trailing bowshot deer willl hear the truth!!

Bullet Hole Bailey

AWESOME POST ROB, AND EVERYONE WHO CONTRIBUTED TO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

davidmil

I think the most important thing you can do after the shot is boar a hole in the animals escape route. All to often I've walked up to fellow hunters over the past 30 years and they tell me he went "THAT WAY". When you try to pin them down to where is that way... they wave their arms in a direction. Forget about the deer, the glory, the tenderloins... forget every thing as the deer bugs out. Keep picking out landmarks as he flees. Left of this bush, right of that tree yada yada yada. Boar a hole in the last spot you saw him and listen. Listen hard for evidence of a crash or stumble or something. As you descend the tree keep checking on that last spot. It won't look the same from the ground. By checking on it you'll see the change. I'm not a long waiterafter theshot. An arrow does a lot of damage if it's place in the right area. There's nothing wrong with gathering your thoughts, climbing down and checking on the area, the amount of blood and even following quietly and carefully for the first 50 yards or so. In that distance you'll know what you have. I've NEVER left a deer in the woods over night. Most deer will be found in the first 50-75 yards if hit properly. The arrow will tell you that. No need to wait for hours if you find a lot of good blood.There is no harm in walking the first 50 yards in good day light to see what you have. If the deer has laid up close enough to hear you or see you do that after a 15 or 20 minutewait he's near dead. Personnally, I'd rather push the envelope and track for a while in daylight than just climb down and back out. I could give a flip about recovering a set of horns after the coyotes beat me to the deer. To me... if the coyotes get him you didn't. It's the same as a road kill at that point. The most critical thing to me is not a kickat the shot by deer or any visual thoughts. The critical thing is pinning down his escape route as far as you can.

The most important thing you can do BEFORE the shot is just before you release, ask you self again>>> Is this the sight picture I want. Ittakes a half second. It'll take away those flinging arrow thoughts and bring you back to the task at hand.

As far as "The Void"... where did that ever start. I never heard of it until I started cruising websites and talk forums. I figure it was someones lame excuse for a poor shot. Never heard of it for my first 45 years of hunting.

NY Bowhunter

Excellent thread again Rob. Hopefully it helps someone recover an animal that they wouldn't have.

Here's one thing that I would add. Not sure if it's been mentioned or not or if anyone agrees with it.....

On a long difficult bloodtrail, personally I would rather have myself and maybe one other friend (at most) to help me. I like to go slow and constantly analyze every bit of information that the trail provides me. I dont' care if it takes me 20 hours, I'm going as slow as the trail dictates.

Too often I've found when someone gathers a big group of buddies to go "help find his deer", it becomes a chaotic mess. Nobody else is going to have the determination as you to find your deer. Friends and family are going to become impatient. They arent' going to know the scenario as good as you no matter how much you explain it to them. They could jump ahead on the trail and ruin a valueable piece of the puzzle that you would have spotted etc........ Just seems to me like too many hands in the situation has always been counter productive. Go alone or with a friend that is going to work it like you would.

WesternMdHardwoods

I think the peroxide was mentioned for spraying on the blood for tracking but just learned that if you add red food coloring it will magnify the color on the foaming blood! Hope this helps!!

Rob/PA Bowyer

Excellent advice NY Bowhunter, and your exactly right, too many people in the woods could cover up very important information as well as push your patience. Thanks for adding that, excellent.

mauser06

keep them coming guys...keep them coming.

the guys are right...no void...but people believe that because they dont realize there is about 6 inches of bone and backstrap above the spine to hit...i personally hit that area last year. he ducked as my arrow flew. to me, it looked like a good shot. a little high..but i thought for sure it was a double lunger. heck ive shot a couple there with a rifle and dropped them on the spot. found my arrow...only 3 or 4 inches of shaft was missing..uht oh. knew it was lungs or nothing. left for over an hour..closer to 2. came back with 2 friends...only because they had good miners style lights they use for coon hunting. 3 or 4hrs and 400yds later we lost the trail and it started raining.

the next day i showed up and so did 6 or 7 buddies. in the pouring rain. we searched everywhere within about a mile. i know that deer didnt die. i just had to exhaust all resources...i had to make sure. i almost sold my bow and quit. that just made me sick. glad i didnt sell my bow...but i dont like situations like that.

NY is right...too many people on a trail is bad. after the first 50yds and knowing it was going to be a lonnnnng track i was dang near useless. my buddies realized that, and they took track for me. i still helped...but without them i would lost the trail..i know that. i was tired from hunting all day...i was excited about getting a shot...then majorly depressed because i knew it was a bad hit and he ducked. my mind was fried..my body was fried. good friends are hard to come by..but glad i had them and their lights...we did well following the tinnnny specks of blood we had after 50yds...just wish he didnt duck an inch lower than he did

rankbull

I will suggest the book "Finding Wounded Deer"by John Trout. A good book for everyone and every skill level. Not to pricey on amazon.

nybowhunter

NYer...we do the same thing except, at our camp,after we shoot, we get on the radio and let everybody know we hit a deer.We stay in our stand until abuddy arrives and thendirect him to the arrow and which direction the deer went by using our radios. It's easier to see the direction from the tree than on the ground. When he is clear where the deer went the other hunter gets down. We also limit our search teams to two guys.

mfd1027

I lurk here all the time but seldom post but thought I'd jump in on this one.Rob, the information here is rt. on track with everybody's season's coming up.Now a little background. I'm a member of United Blood Trackers (thanks for the mention) and I find deer for a living. I've worked in Illinois for the past two seasons and changed outfitters this season and will be workingforCentral Illinois Outfitters this season.I know we all tend to lose our minds after the shot but if there was one point that I could emphasize more than any other it would be to "pay attention". Make it a part of your follow thru. As we all know a deer can cover alot of ground during those first few seconds of their death run and most of the time we only have them within sight for a short period. This first few seconds makes or breaks most bloodtrailingjobs. As DavidMil said "pick out some landmarks" of the deer's escape rt. You can't do anything during these first few seconds about shot placement, antlersize, position of the animal, etc.so try to not think about it. What's done is done.What you can do is remember where the animal was standing "exactly" and a few landmarks along his or her escape rt. and probably the most important piece of the puzzle the last spot you saw that animal. Once the animal is out of sight "listen, listen, listen" and try to remember everything you can. Did you hear a crash, flailing hooves, water, the twang of a fence as they jumped it, etc. Log this first few seconds into your memory, it's vital. Now that you have it logged, sit down and gather yourself and go over this info. in your head. I'm fortunate in my work because I get to talk to our hunters before they head out so they know what I'm gonna ask em when I get to the hit site.
Now, here's a link to the united blood trackers site. On the site there's a link called "Find a Tracker" with info. on trackers in your area. Everybody that belongs to our organization would love to hear from you. We love what we do and want the work for our dogs. We would rather you called us every time a deer runs out of sight but know that's not going to happen but it sure would be nice. Most of our calls are "Hail Mary" calls and "what the heck do I have to lose" calls. If you have any doubt back out early and let one of us handle it. What normally happens is a hunter will instinctively walk down the exact path the deer did and in the process step on the bloodtrail and the hoof scent left by the deer and then when they lose the trail they will tromp all over the woods with the old "grid search" visually looking for their quarry and in the process leaving several bloodtrails for our dogs to figure out. I'm never happier on a tracking job than when we get to new "uncontaminated" territory. If your going to call a tracker the best scenario is to mark the starting pt. with flagging tape, "leave the arrow alone" (its often the only scent marker we have) and mark the last spot you saw the deer with flagging tape then back out and give us a call. Here's a link to us:
http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/. Call now and talk to the tracker in your area.
I guarantee you he wants to hear from you. Again, kudo's to you guys for putting this thread up.

Dan/ Var's (bavarian mountain hound)




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