Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Thanks for the request again this year, I think this is the 8th or 9th annual and for the newbies and readers looking in but not joining, I wrote this thread more years ago than I can remember and every year our great members here add to it and also offer their own tips and experience. If only one animal is recovered every year because of this thread then it has done it's job. There are much more seasoned hunters and veterans of the woods here than myself with great knowledge of the whitetail. This thread serves as a guidline and not the final word on trailing whitetails. They are amazing animals and can survive against extreme odds.

If you have a suggestion or tip to add, by all means do so, I look forward to them every year and I certainly too try to learn from everyone as well.

One of the biggest reasons why many animals are not recovered after being shot is that all too often bow hunters take up the trail too soon, simply bumping the animal away, never to be found again. What you do following the shot can make or break a successful recovery.

When mortality wounded 90% of deer will bed within 250 yards of the shot. If an animal dies beyond this, most likely some outside factor pushed the animal. Think about all of the animals you've taken, found or lost. You've probably found at least one if not multiple beds within this distance.

Now I' m not proclaiming myself the ultimate tracker/hunter but I can testify that my hunting partners and I have not lost an animal that has died or that we not seen another day, in many, many years and several of these recoveries were because of waiting for the right moment to trail the animal,rather than the initial shot placement.

I'll give you an example of an animal that I made a poor shot on because I neglected to stop the animal and shot him on the move. At 25 yards I placed my arrow too far back on the buck. As soon as I saw the arrow hit further back than I wanted, I knew immediately not to take up the track until at least 6 hours later. I shot this animal at 7:30 am and got out of my tree at 11:00 and left the woods. At 3:30 I returned to the woods and found my buck not 50 yards inside a woods at the last point I saw him. Had I not waited, there is a very good chance thatI wouldn't have found him due to all the standing cornfields surrounding the woodlot he was bedded in.

In this particular case I also glassed the animal immediately following the shot to verify the hit. One important note or tip that I always like to make is, that binoculars are an invaluable tool for archers not only to glass an animal post shot, but also to watch for his movement once he moves off. Quite often we as hunters get caught up in the heat of the moment and become unsure of our arrow's point of impact. A good set of binoculars and some quick thinking can help you verify your shot placement and help you formulate the proper game plan for recovering your animal.

The following is a list of several tips that I feel are invaluable for bow hunters to use when deciding what to do both before and after the shot. In the past, many members of the HuntingNet.com Message Board have helped to tweak and add their own priceless tidbits of information as well. Hopefully one of the tips here or posted herein will aid you in a speedy recovery this hunting season.

1. Use bright fletch. You need to be able to see your arrow in flight, in the animal, and on the ground afterward. Dark arrows will not do you any good if you yourself can' t see them. If bright fletching isn’t enough, try using lighted arrow nocks for better visibility in low light conditions, if legal in your state.

2.Binoculars - use them post shot! They may be one of the most important tools you have after the shot.

3. Watch the animal after the shot. Quite often an animal's body movement will help indicate to you what type of shot you got. An animal that jumps straight in the air and bounds off out of sight is most likely mortally wounded and will not travel far. However, if the animal hunches up and walks off or moves off slowly there is a good chance the hit was too far back or forward and you may need to wait at least 6 hours before taking up the trail.

"I hit him, now what?"

Here are 10 sure fire steps towards recovering your animal safely and securely:

1. Unless you witness a double lung pass through, I firmly believe to let an animal go for a couple hours rather than the common misconception of a half hour wait. Too many times a half hour isn't enough. The only shots that put an animal down quickly are double lung hits and heart shots. If you don't see your animal fall within site, your best bet is to wait it out.

2. If you are not 100% sure of your hit, simply put.... wait!!! The animal isn't going to go anywhere, he's dead, why hurry? Sit back, collect your thoughts, and replay the shot, the hit, and where the animal went. Also, this gives you a chance to listen and relax. If your arrow was a pass thru, get down and get the arrow and study it and wait. Mark the direction but don' t pursue, if you wait, he'll be there or he'll live another day.

3. If you think it' s a single lung hit because of the angle, wait at least 4 hours. This includes shots that are just under the spine and because of the angle you might have caught the second lung but missed the first. Wait and let him expire. Many people believe in "the void" which they claim is an area between a deer's lungs and spine where no vital organs reside. This is a myth - if you place an arrow under the spine, you will catch the upper lobes of at least one lung.

4. If you think you caught the liver wait and the animal will bleed out. Wait at least 4 hours to take up the trail. Gun hunters can move on an animal quicker because of the damaged involved however with archery equipment it's recommended to wait at least 4 hours - the animal will not go anywhere if given the chance to expire. Jump him and he may go forever.

5. If you catch the guts only, you're in for at least a 6-hour minimum wait with 8 hours being more preferable and overnight being a worst case. It's recommended that an animal be recovered as quickly as possible but if they are not expired, your not going to recover them. Waiting overnight could be detrimental to the meat, tainted the flavor however not making them inedible. A quicker recovery means better tasting meat. If you hit an animal in the guts at 6 pm, you need to recover the animal around 2am to ensure the best meat. This should be considered when shooting late into the evening. We owe it to be conservative and ethical. In case of rain or snow you should get down, find your arrow, find the blood trail, and wait for the next morning. If you know your property, you'll find him close.

It's important to get the organs out and blood out as quickly as possible, that quickness is regulated by the type of hit.

6. Coyotes can and will give the location of your animal, if your worried about them, get down, listen for the them and move on them if you know they are on your animal. IF they are there, your animal won' t be so move on the coyotes and they may lead you to the animal.

7. Whether your shot hits lungs, liver, or guts the key to a successful recovery is towait. The animal is going to die just wait him out and your blood trail should be adequate a couple hours later.

8. There are few hits that force you to move on an animal quickly to bleed them out. These hits are the most difficult to determine and more times than not you will make the wrong decision and push an animal that might otherwise lay down and expire. Again, if your unsure of the hit, wait it out. A mature whitetail carries roughly 8 pints or 1 gallon of blood in their circulatory system. They need to loose roughly 2.4 pints of blood to go into shock and not recover. Think about this, we give a pint of blood when we donate, that does not affect us. One pint of blood is alot of blood on the ground when spread over a couple hundred yards. Something to think about.

9. Many states now allow the use of tracking dogs, leashed or unleashed. Utilize their availability in your state. Many organizations are available such as the United Blood Trackers.org and Deer Recovery that offer services for tracking wounded animals free of cost. Look into such an organization prior to going hunting this season as a worst-case or even best case scenario.

10. Many wounded animals seek water. If there is water on your property and you can't find a blood line, look toward your water sources.


Let' s recover the animals’ bowhunters, we owe it to them, we owe it to each other, and we owe it to ourselves. Good luck out there....

Here's a link to a deers anatomy in case you wish to review what we already know. http://home.mn.rr.com/deerfever/Anatomy.html
http://forums.mathewsinc.com/viewtopic.php?t=21358

And a link to dog trackers, United Blood Trackers

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

you did a great job with this , im saying this because im new here and you did awsome on that , and my number one thing is when i hit a deer i just watch where it goes and then i wait and wait and wait somemore just to make sure that it is down

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

THERE IT IS!!! It's always good to see this go up Rob; the young/new members of the community can really benefit from it. I also believe we had a pic of the anatomy of a deer posted with this last year, which can also be very helpful for the new ppl to the wonderful world of BOWHUNTING!

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

I would like to thank all members who helped write this and Rob. You guys did a great job and learned alot from this. They did not even go into that much detail in the Bowhunter Safty Course I took. Thanks for the Vital pic too.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Thanks Rob!! Very well done!
Maybe one thing to add is to move slowly thru the woodswhen you finally start tracking the deer, so that you don't miss detail that aids in the recovery. color of the blood, if there is guts in the blood etc. especially on tough tracks.Plus going slower can help you stay cool & calm.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Thanks Rob,

It's now reached "classic" status. We all need reminding to just "wait." Patience is tough,
especially when you are really excited.

The toughest scenario to me would be an unsure shot at dusk and its 80+ degrees. Knowing the meat
probably won't be good in the morning would make that a tough call.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

agreed, since we'll be filming, ill just watch the tape. but if its too close to call, im pulling out. finding a deer with spoiled meat, is ALOT better than not finding one at all.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Thanks for posting that up again Rob!! This thread is one of the very best we see here. Guess all that time on your hands allowed you the opportunity to post it up sooner than expected eh? :D

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Thank you for the info. You did not mention,because it is not a vital to some extent, the neck. Years ago I shot a doe and the arrow hit a small stick that I did not see ,projecting it right threwthe animalsneck close to her shoulder. A clean pass threw,it actually knocked her down. When she got up i could immediately see blood. She walked off like she was drunk, blood pouring out of her neck. My first Thought was she won't go far. I gave her 2 hours witch now after more years of experience I have learned that I should have just left and came back the next morning. I tracked her 200 yards to a creek and that is where I lost her. I went back the next day and walked the creek bank both sides never did find that deer and that is a feeling of sickness and self repugnance.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Great job Rob. I am one of the members that was helped by this post last year. I made a poor shot and in the middle of tracking it down poured. I was ready to to post the classic I hit one now what thread but instead I reread the post which was filled with tips from other hunters. I went back out, took my time and found my deer.

One item that I will always carry with me on a track job is peroxide in a spray bottle. It will help you with an old rain washed blood trail like you would not believe.

The other thing I would add is give yourself time. An hour of looking isn't enough. Exhaust all your avenues. If you know you can't take the time for a decent track then don't shoot.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

[quote]ORIGINAL: Copper31

Great job Rob. I am one of the members that was helped by this post last year. I made a poor shot and in the middle of tracking it down poured. I was ready to to post the classic I hit one now what thread but instead I reread the post which was filled with tips from other hunters. I went back out, took my time and found my deer.

One item that I will always carry with me on a track job is peroxide in a spray bottle. It will help you with an old rain washed blood trail like you would not believe.

The other thing I would add is give yourself time. An hour of looking isn't enough. Exhaust all your avenues. If you know you can't take the time for a decent track then don't shoot.
[/quote

Thank you Copper31, great example and why this thread (meaning everone's advice) goes up every year. Like I said, I learn as much as anyone.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Rob, I think this is one of the most valuable posts you make. And that's saying something! I seem to remember a response (maybe more than one) to your last year's post about how to tell (or at least make an educated guess) where you hit a deer by looking at the arrow and/or blood trail and/or the behavior of the deer. I know that if a deer goes downhill, it's usually apositive sign that it is mortally wounded, and I think very dark red meant a liver shot. But I can't remember the rest of it.

Ithink it would be really valuable if you re-posted that, or if someone else offered their insights on this aspect, just in case one of us doesn't see exactly where the arrow hit.

Thanks to anyone who can help on this.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

You know what? I don't see that VOID AREA in any of those pictures.

Come to think about it, they aren't around here anymore either.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Original mez, thank you for this post mez.




Here is the picture, study it well. The no man's land exists but NOT in the deer's chest cavity. The lungs fill the entire thoracic cavity. Before someone jumps in and says but I dressed a deer and there was a bunch of space around the lungs............ Yes there was and always will be. The lungs work in a negative pressure environment, atmospheric pressure in the chest is lower than that outside. Take away negative pressure and the lungs immediately collapse and will not reinflate, hence the term collapsed lung. As soon as you enter the chest via the diaphragm or though the chest wall they deflate and appear much smaller than in a live scenario. The only way to see the lungs in their natural state is with and ultrasound or CT scan. There is no space between them and the chest wall.

To answer the original question, you can absolutely hit a deer through both backstraps and not kill it, knock it down or even hurt it badly. I would guess about 99% of the shots where people say I shot right under the spine and above the lungs actually was above the spine and through the backstrap. How this happens, look at the picture above, the blue line denotes the path of the spinal cord, it travel within the vertebral body in the vertebral canal, totally encased in bone. Each vertebrae has what is called a dorsal spinous process, these are the bones you see sticking up along the top of the spine in the picture. In the cervical and lumbar spine these are very short. In the thoracic spine they are long, 6-8 inches in a mature buck. The backstraps, composed of the epaxial muscle group attatch to these processes. In the picture, essentiall everything above the blue line (spine) is backstrap and dorsal spinous process, you can even see the top of the shoulder blade overlies this area. If you hit a deer high near the shoulder you will go through both backstraps, maybe or maybe not break a dorsal spinous process and exit with the deer basically unharmed. Make sense?

For you guys that dress your own, this fall after you remove the front legs and take off the backstraps take a look at these bones sticking up off of the indiviual vertebrae. You will see what I'm talking about. Take a pair of pliers and break a couple off, it won't open up the vertebral canal and you won't be able to see the spinal cord.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Hey, Rob! I am fairly new to the forum but I would like to commend you on several of your posts. Even though I have been hunting since I was 7 years old, I always want to learn. I am a firm believer that you learn something every time you hunt. I amnow learning from people like yourself as well. Thank you.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Thank you, I try and I learn from these forums daily as well. I really appreciate that and all the forum members.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

O.K. here's a dumb question, if the deer is exhaling at the time of impact, would that have an effect? go easy on me ...remember the only dumb question is the one that is not asked. :eek:

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Just like on a human when you breath in your chest expands and when you exhale it contracts. While the lungs may be a bit smaller during the exhale so is the cavity that encases them, thus not leaving a void.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

Great information. Cant get any better.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

This thread last year played a major part in the recovery of a doe I hit a little far back. I got 1 lung and liver. I sat in my stand thinking about this thread and what it suggested I do. I found that doe, the only deer I have ever killed that did not fall in sight. Without the knowledge shared here I don't know if I would have been successful. Thanks again Rob.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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!!

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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!!

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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:(

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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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RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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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RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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!

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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!

RE: Recovery, What to do After the Shot.
 

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.