RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

100% agreed. Or, if the arrow is still in the deer on a single lung shot as in Wimps other example, I' d wait.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

One thing I wanted to mention is something davidmil touched on. When you hit a deer, you do NOT want all your buddies heelping you, I refuse to track with anybody other than my brother, if he' s around. 3 or 4 people on a blood trail is a disaster waiting to happen, you can always go get more people if you lose the trail completely and have to start walking grids. Leave the friends at home, one bloody leaf on the bottom of someone' s boot can lead you in the oposite direction as the deer went. Ideally, one person to stay with the last blood, and the tracker on his hands and knees, if necessary, following the blood.
One other thing I see often, is marginally hit deer go back where they cam from, and chest shot deer barrel in whatever they' re facing. I always thought a deer pouring blood isn' t exactly thinking about an escape plan, just putting distance between you and him, and a slightly wounded deer is very much alarmed, and wants to head back where he came from, where he knows it' s safe. If you' re following a blood trail, and the deer is picking easy trails, and looping around back into the swamp he came out of, it' s probably a marginal hit, and you should give him plenty of time, no matter how good the shot looked. A deer hit through the lungs or heart does not head towards water, or thickets, other than by chance, he runs and dies in a few seconds

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Like I said..... I' m one of those can' t wait for hours kind of guy. I get after them and go.... but I consider myself better than some at tracking. Getting after them has lead to a lot of short trails.... it' s also busted some deer from a bed. A deer is always way ahead of you. You may only track 150 yards and jump him... but usually the deer has been there at least 30 minutes to an hour. That gives him time to calm down and the blood time to clot. If you do jump him at this point there isn' t going to be much blood. If you stop at that point he won' t go much further before stopping and bedding.... but the blood trail is often going to be sparse at best. Be ready for it and you now have a tougher track to follow. If you' re not up to it you might be better off not following in the first place for a few hours. You have to be honest with yourself.... Can I do it or do I need to get lucky to have a chance? I think the idea of keeping the blood flowing has SOME merit.... but it depends a lot on the hit. With a lot of hits it doesn' t matter. Blood make up and a few minutes of quiet time can really clot up a serious wound. Think about the deer you' ve dressed. Even with the most lethal of hits we find football size blood clots just under the skin. They look like a liver almost. A deer has tremedous clotting and healing powers. Have I always been right in my calm down, climb down, gather my gear and follow attitude..... NOPE. A couple times it came back to bite me.... but that' s not all bad after 33 years of bowhunting and 74 dead deer. No matter how many you kill.... if you loose one it can really be disheartening.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Great advice, I wish I read it last year. I learned this very lesson, the hard way.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Lots of good advice in this thread. I intend to video every hunt I can this year and refer the the video after the hit to see exactly where the hit was. Not taping for that purpose, it' s just a nice benefit:D

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

That' s a good idea brucelit. One of my biggest wishes would be that the people making all those hunting videos would show more of the where the deer was hit (I swear that the hide that), and show us the actual trailing of the game. There is so much to learn in that area that many hunters need to learn. But, then again, it may reveil other things about that hunts that they don' t want us to see.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

http://www.geocities.com/az1f/1.html?989889391530

Here' s a way to find those deer. Email the guy and ask any questions, he' s real nice and helpful. Well, I guess nice and helpful are an understatement. He tracks your deer for free!

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Weasel, You couldn' t be more right however I feel dogs should be used as a last resort. That way the tracking experience grows with each one. When all else fails, bring in the dogs. I honestly feel it should be legal in every state. I know NY allows dogs on a leash and they are pushing for it in PA as well. I' m hoping it passes, again on a leash and someone could make a little extra cash helping out hunters...

There was a member here by the username, Kevin....out of Texas who has tracking dogs, Long Haired Dachsunds to be more specific.... his male has made recovery on trails lost 8 hours prior....talk about good ethics, finding down lost game.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

I think it would be great if every state allowed them too. A dogs nose is something else. A few years ago(25-30:eek:) I hit a buck in the shoulder with one of those old time stick things. I really knew the outcome before I started looking but went ahead with the drill. I looked until about 10PM only covering about 150 yards. The next day, probably 16 hours after the shot, a friend with his black lab and I walked in to look. I was going to the last blood. The dog hit the trail before we got there near the stand and followed it like a magnet. At least 1 mile later we jumped the buck after it had fed around and around in 2 fields all night and bedded just inside the woods. He took off like a busted covey of quail and bounded across a field as if nothing happened. We left at that point figuring no harm done. We had found the arrow a couple hundred yards from the shot with very little blood.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Kevins' dog has found a deer 24 hours after the shot.His dogs are something else.I am trying to train a lab to keep around the camp just in case.I have seen untrained labs go right to a downed deer.Labs are a little harder to handle on a leash.


CB