thank you a ton
im a beginner and im starting next year and this will help very much

Great initial post, Rob! And an awesome thread. Tons of good info.

One thing I could add that applies more to elk than deer, is use your sense of smell. We have recovered a lot of elk by walking around the last known spot of blood in large concentric cirles, and walking slowly into the wind. Elk have a pretty powerful odor that is pretty easy to pick up in a light breeze, and we have recovered a lot of them over the years using this method.

Knowing how the animal is hit gives you a good idea of the general area you should find it down, and sometimes as mentioned before, the blood trail can peter out.

Most important, as Rob mentioned, do not bump the animal. Give them a good long time to lay down and die, without knowing there are humans in the area.

Very Nice!

Bump
 

Bump - great thread.

Walk NEXT TO the blood trail and not in it. I think I post that every year on this thred but to me it is super importaint not to mess up the trail. You never know when you are going to have to backtrack and if you have stomped thru it you can't see small clues like disturbed leaves and so on.

I always have a roll of toilet paper in my back pack or some just rolled up in my pocket. I use little pieces to mark the blood trail. It's water soluable so it disperses quickly.

Spudrow from Mo

Great post! It is full of very useful information, and the dead deer pic's are always a plus! Congrats on the nice doe!

Cheers n Deers

GREAT post, Rob !
And GREAT Forum, Guys !
What a pleasure to spend time here...
Thanks

This is the most important thing I found, to do when taking up a trail. It will show which direction the deer is going as well and help you if the blood trail begins to slow down.

solid post!
 

My pops taught me that back when, I started using bio-degradable when it became available. If you hunt public, I tried to recover it, points like a smoke trail back to your spot!

Wow, first timer, this taught me alot. thanks much

Thanks for the thread!

Good read. A+ Info

This has probably been mentioned, but it's worth telling again. You always hear about "it looked like my arrow was dunked in red paint". In my experience this is never a good thing. When the arrow passes through the heart/lungs you are coming in contact with oxygenated blood. The blood is lighter and some what thinner. When your arrow passes through, you will have what I call "whispy" blood on the arrow. The blood will cover the arrow, but your arrow will have a red tint to it not totally red as if dipped in paint. The blood will also be very runny. I shot a doe several years back through the top of heart and lungs and found the whispy blood on it. I stuck the arrow (straight up) in the ground to mark where I found it, and when I came back to track (30 mins later) my arrow was almost completely clean. All the blood ran off.

To counter this, I made a shot on a doe that I thought was great. I checked the arrow and it appeared to be dipped in a paint can. My initial thoughts were deer down quick (early on in my hunting days). However, after I tracked I found her several hundred yards away. Turns out I went through the liver and only caught the tail end of one lung. Most of the body's blood is stored in the liver, and the blood is not oxygenated. The blood will be darker and thicker, kinda like a paste. Liver blood has a tendancy to stick to the arrow. I had to spend an hour washing the arrow from the story I just told.

Always look at the arrow if you can find it. If you don't wait at least 6 hrs. You may have hit both lungs, but you can't be 100% positive.

Also, smell the arrow. Sounds weird, but there is some truth to this. If you have gutted a deer you know how they smell. Imagine opening up a deer that you didn't hit the guts on. Remember the smell? Can't really explain it. Now think of a deer that has been gut shot or you cut the guts while cleaning. Remember that smell? Pure bile. An arrow passing through these areas will pick up the smell on the blood. Heart/lung shots will smell like that part of the body, and liver/gut shots will smell like guts.

Use all your senses before you track. Watch your arrow flight, how the deer reacts, listen for the deer falling and or plowing through brush. Smell the arrow and or blood you find on the ground. Know the difference between heart/lung, muscle, liver blood. Prime example. I shot a deer at 10 or less yards. I saw the arrow go into the lungs. The deer kicked and took off fast. I had a pass through. When I climbed down I discovered that my arrow was brown. I could not blieve that I had made a gut shot. I just couldn't believe it. I immediately backed out and went back to camp. During the ride back the scenerio didn't make sense. I knew where the arrow hit, and the deer reacted as if hit in the boiler room. When I made it back to camp, I started looking at a deer anatomy overlay. And that's when I saw it. The tube that runs from the deer's mouth to the stomach. The tube passed right through where the arrow went.

Now I had a theory. The deer was eating when I shot. Food was being passed through the body. It made total sense to me that if my arrow centered the tube it may come out brown as if hit through the guts. Should mention that the arrow didn't smell like bile. I saddled up the crew and we went tracking. Sure enough, we found the deer a lil over 100 yards from where she was shot. I infact did hit the lungs and the tube. She died on her feet.

This is getting lengthy and I will try to finish it up. A mortally shot deer does not always bed down to die. Sometimes they die on their feet. I shot one deer through the heart that for whatever reason didn't bleed well. To track him I had to rely on sign other than blood. Watch for kicked up leaves, broken branches and tracks. I had to get down on my hands and knees and feel for tracks of a running deer. After 120 yards or so there was no blood and the ground was too hard to find tracks. I rationalized that the deer must be close to death by now if not already dead. I further thought that the deer must be running on adrenoline (which they have been known to do). I obtained a line of sight and saw that the deer was headed straight for a tag alder thicket. When I stuck my head in the thicket I found the deer laying 10 feet inside. The deer died on it's feet and plowed through the brush. Once inside all the blood ran out of the body.

Hope this was an informative and enjoyable read. Good luck to yall.

Thanks guys.

all the deer i have shot have went no more then 25 yards, but a nine point this morning! liver shot i gave him 10 min cause i saw where he layed down and he died

Rob, What an informative article. Been bowhunting since 89 and the advice you have give here has changed my approach after the shot. I have shared this article with several people I hunt with and this year I put it into action with an 11 pointer I shot.

Thanks

You can tell what direction a wounded deer is traveling by looking at the blood drops. The drops are narrower in the direction of travel.

All very helpful information. Thanks for posting

Great Info
 

I just started to bow hunt and have been out trying to bait wild hogs. I never even thought about waiting after a shot. Great article!!! I will be sure to take your advise. Thank you!!!! :hail:

Thanks that will help me if I get something this year. First time bow hunter so thats great info.

I've hunted many years and that is some VERY soild advice. Learing to wait is harder that learning to shoot a bow well.

Great post! One of the biggest factors is patience. Not only in the recovery but also during the shot. Just one thing I have seen in the past.

About the "void" myth. It may be a myth from a shot taken from a treestand or an angle but it is not a myth on a broadside deer. I have video of a friends buck being shot just below the spine with an arrow. We killed that same buck on film a month and a half later. We have trail cam pics of that buck going through his healing process. He had healed over pretty well and would have made it. It can happen.

Luckily we had the footage to watch over and over to determine where the shot was. We thought he was going to be a dead deer. We waited a couple hours before following up the trail only to find very minimul blood and no sign of the deer. He started showing up on trail camera about two days later.

Once again, excellent info, especially for newbies but experienced hunters too. Last season was my 16th hunting year and the first time in a long time i made a bad shot with the bow. I 100% give credit to this thread for making me do the right thing and waiting 6 hours to trail my buck. I knew it was a bad shot at impact, saw him run 100yds and slowly walk into brush. I took a compass reading from my stand of where I last saw him and left. 6 hours later i was back and searched where i thought i last saw him with no sign. I took out the compass and sighted my treestand, i was way more off than i thought and was looking in the wrong spot. Once I got back on track, there was the biggest buck i had ever gotten, only 10yards from where i last saw him. He definitely didn't need the 6 hours i gave him but I truely think if I got down and went after him immediately, I would have bumped him into the next county for sure. Great thread here!

hey i have a question...i shot a deer last year through the liver,with a 30-06(it blew it apart!0anyways he died within a minute following the shot.why? i never though the liver to be that importiant to a deer to not last a minute without it.

In some parts of Alaska and for certain hunts you have to be IBEP certified to hunt. Part of this class in Alaska during the field day is a blood trailing exercise. It was a pretty simple trail but for new hunters who have never done it before it was an eye opener. They place a small trail through the woods with "blood" and there is a piece of a cape at the end of it.

Good stuff!

Very nice, thanks for posting!

I can appreciate the waiting time limits and they are very logical--but know your surroundings.

Two years ago I shot a doe at dark and by first light the next morning the only thing left was head and hooves--the wolves got on it almost immediately. Last year I made a good shot. Decided to let the deer "cool down" and went got my buddy to help me find it and drag it out. Within 90 minutes of me shooting that deer and us locating it, something had eaten the butt out of it already.

Good post Rob.

Every year i track 15-25 deer and elk that were shot with bows, muzzleloaders and center fire rifles. The tracking dogs are wire haired Dachsunds. They belong to a fine older gent who no longer tracks. Due to the coyotes and wild hogs the dog is kept on a leash. i sometimes use a blood tracking light.

Most of the animals i track were shot in the evening. Two of the properties are closely controlled: Hunters must exit shortly after dark. Tracking then waits until the next morning. About one-fourth of wounded animals get eaten by coyotes. Many animals, especially those that are gutshot, spoil overnight.

Some tall grasses here are red. It's difficult to distinguish the color of that grass from blood. i carry a small spray bottle of peroxide. If it fizzes it's blood.

Get those bucks.

my stepbrothers bear, and my bear.

Very sound advice Rob. If only patience was every hunter's virture. If your unsure about the shot, give it time. Just lose your first deer and you'll be wish'n you followed that advice word for word. If the deer is dead in 2hrs, he'll still be dead 4-6 hours later. So stay calm and be patient.

How about a shoulder hit? Im letting him lay over night i stuck him he mule kicked ran 25yds bedded down got up walked to the tree row and couldnt see him no more whats my chances of finding in the morning I have been freaking out the whole night about not being able to find him 66#draw 2blade rage he has a 2" hole in him

Thanks for posting this Rob.
__________________

I carry an older arrow in my quiver that I use as a "marking arrrow" to point the place where the deer was hit. Makes it easier to start tracking because the woods look different once you climb down.

intresting

@ Falcon nice tip on the peroxide! thanks

First thing I do is calm down and replay the shot in my mind paying attention to shot placement and direction the game went. Second I move to the shot spot to look for any initial blood in order to determine vital or vitals hit and determine a time to wait before tracking. I have had great success with this method and it has left me with no spoiled meat or coyote torn animals. Also I would appreciate any and all comments or views at my channel.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BoonerOu...?feature=guide

these are very useful tips for good hunting

I'm also going for my first deer with my first compound bow. Very helpful. Thank you. And great picts!

I used to hunt with a bunch who were lousey shots, but had access to allot of woods that I didnt. I was sorta new in town and started pushing small sections with them. Out of all the deer we killed, I think I killed 3/4 of them, and most of my shots were hard hits, dropping the deer in pretty close. Many of the rest of the bunch would wing them, but we always recovered them, even if it was hit in a lower leg. Its a neet little trick, and involves knowing your area. If there is a bad hit, dont pressure the deer, just wait untill a couple of guys set up down the way the deer is moving. Then one guy goes in to follow, and stay on the radio in case they need to adjust. I dont hunt with those idiots any more, but It was an effective trick i learned from them. I also like using my St. Bernard to find deer even if I know where it fell. He loves finding dead deer for me! I stick one, and go home and get the dog, when he sees me in my hunting clothes, he knows what we are doing.