Dan, (mfd) excellent post and excellent advice and guys, I'm a member of the UBT as well with my WH Dachshund Axel. I'm still in the training process and with my injury this year I temporarily removed my name from the tracking list....I'll be back and so will Axel.

Again, great advice given by everyone here in the thread. Let's keep them coming. Remember, a quick recovery is what we're all after.

Good deal Rob. I didn't realize you were a member. I guess we'll meet next spring when Andy hosts our annual meeting at his place. Hope you get well soon and can get back to it.

Dan/Vars



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Copper31,
How does the peroxide in a spray bottle work?

Yup, I'm bringing Axel down and Andy wants to handle/show him and see how he's doing. I guess there is interest in breeding him. On the UBT forums, I'm Rob/PA...Axel is in my signature.

Excellent article and good advice!

One piece of advice I would give everyone is to carry surveyors FLAGGING! You know, they sell rolls of the stuff in most hardware stores for next to nothing. We've used this for years to identifyshot locations and bloodtrail then kill locations. Tie a2 foot piece to a tree close to where ever you find blood. You don't have to worry about blood being lost due to rain etc and you can follow the flagging trail visually for a long way.

We also use it for flagging our way from the kill site to trailhead for multiple trips packing meat in rugged dense country.

Not to get into a long story about my experience, but basically you spray it on areas that may be questionable. For instance after a good rain you may have a carmel colored residue on vegitation that was once nice bright red blood. Spray the peroxide onto it and it will bubble if indeed it was blood. Also if you are force to back out and pick up track after the blood has dried it make it easier to detect the dried up blood from the rest of the rusted coloring on leaves in the fall. I had a friend show me this last year and I was amazed. It pretty much found my deer for me.

I just use a regular bottle of peroxide and steal a spray top from one of my wifes bottle that she uses for watering plants or the kids hair. Then when she asked where it went I balme it on the kids.

Don't forget to mark the spot where you shot, with something visually, before you get down from your stand. In the excitement it's very easy to lose track of exactly where the animal was standing when you shot. This visual will help you locate your arrow quickly and assess any information from the arrow.

Last year I shot a doe and knew she was hit good. Got down couldn't find my arrow..Then I looked back at the stand and remembered..she was in front of the grass mound, not behind it. Found the arrow easy. She was 23 yards away..I knew she was down, but I always start at the place of impact. It's good practice.

Simple reminder to an already great post!

One more while I'm thinking.. Use all your senses when looking for a downed animal.

Don't discount smells...My Rifle Buck last year I shot in the heart with a 6mm it was a frontal shot (brisket quartering towards me) I knew I could make the shot and did, 84 yards off hand from tree stand in thick Timber.

At the shot, all I knew was the deer disappeared..I thought he dropped right there. But once I got to the spot..no deer? The relatively small caliber (basically a .243) did not exit. All bleeding was interior. No trail, no trace, no blood. Once I started looking around the area and not finding anything I got anxious. Then I smelled it..the smell of dead deer..blood smelling.. I found him 20 yards away, piled up in a tree top. If I was just to search for blood specs that simple "track job" could have taken hours.

This year if I smoke one that falls within sight and leaves a good blood trail,I'm going to let my kids track it. I've got 3 and 5 year old girls that love hunting. I'll make sure I find the deer first, then I'll run home to get the little ones and let them track it. I figure that's a good way to get them involved. Of course, I know where the deer fell, but they don't need to know that!

Good idea gzg, tracking is an aweful lot of fun. If it doesn't go down within site further then your 50 yard limit, you may want to find it first, then go back and get the kids.