Recovery, What To Do After the Shot.
12-27-2009, 10:12 AM
#82
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.
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.
12-28-2009, 04:10 PM
#83
Boone & Crockett
Thread Starter
Join Date: Oct 1998
Location: Hughesville, PA USA
Posts: 18,322
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.
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.
08-23-2010, 02:34 PM
#85
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The mountains of Southwest Virginia
Posts: 547
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.
09-07-2010, 07:15 AM
#89
Typical Buck
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: N/W WI.
Posts: 814
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.
09-09-2010, 07:40 AM
#90
Typical Buck
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 974
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!