6th Annual, Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Well, the seasons are approaching quickly and some have already begun. Every year for the past several seasons I start a post/topic on recovery and what to do after the shot. I feel, the biggest reason why many animals are not recovered is that bowhunters take up the trail too soon simply bumping the animal. The second reason, the animal is not mortality wounded.

When mortality wounded, 90% if not higher, deer will bed within 250 yards of the shot. If an animal dies beyond this, some outside factor pushed the animal. Think about all the animals you' ve taken, found or lost. You probably found at least one bed within this distance and most of the time, it' s closer. What you do following the shot can make or break a successful recovery.

Now I' m not proclaiming myself the ultimate tracker/hunter but I can testify that we have not lost an animal in many many years and many of these recovered animals were because of waiting for the right moment rather than the 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...seen here at www.rivervalleygamecalls.com under Team River Valley. As soon as I saw the arrow sticking out of his guts, 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, I all but know I wouldn' t of found him do to all the corn fields around the woods he bedded in. What did I do right. Well,

I glassed the animal immediately following the shot to verify the hit. One important note I always make is bino' s are invaluable for archers not only to glass an animal post shot, but to watch for his movement once he moves off. Next, I knew enough to let this animal bed for many hours.

Now, I' m going to list many tips that I feel are invaluable for bowhunters to know what to do after the shot. In the past, most members contributed, tweeked and added tips that are also priceless. Hopefully one of the tips here or posted herein will aid our members to recovery.

Use bright fletch...you need to see the arrow in flight, in the animal and on the ground after ward. Dark arrows don' t do you any good if you can' t see them.

Take bino' s, use them post shot....they may be the most important tool you have after the shot.



Too many times in the past, we always get posts..." I hit him, now what?"

Unless you witness a double lung pass through, I firmly believe to let an animal go for a couple hours rather than the common misconseption of 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 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, 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.

If you think it' s a single lung hit because of angle, wait at least 4 hours. This includes the, just under the spine...because of the angle, you might catch the second lung but miss the first....wait.....let him expire. Let' s put to rest that there is a void area between the spine and over the lungs. That is a myth. If you place an arrow under the spine, you will catch at least one lung. The lungs push up against the spine. Check out a deers anatomy prior to going afield.

If you think you caught the liver.....wait...he has to bleed out. Wait at least 2 hours, if not 4....again, he' s dead and not going anywhere if given the chance to expire. Jump him and he may go forever.

If you catch the guts only, your in for at least a 6 hour minimum, 8 hours is more prefered and overnight is even more important. In case of rain, wait....get down, find the blood trail and wait....listen for coyotes or better yet, leave the area and come back in the morning. If you know your propery, you' ll find him close.

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.

Lung, liver, guts....wait...again the animal is going to die, wait him out, your blood trail should be adequate a couple hours later.

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

Practice, patience and make the shot count. Now, it' s Matt' s turn for the quality photo post.[:-][:-][:-]

[Deleted]
 

[Deleted by Admins]

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

I go pick up my arrow and start dragging. It' s lots easier and quicker. Seriously, I usually get down very quietly in a few minutes and go check the location of the shot. Depending on what I find I' ll do one of two things, go get my deer or start slowly checking a few more yards. Then I go get my deer.:D If I have a lot of blood and it keeps flowing,..... I keep going.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Good post Rob - I' ll add one bit of advice - and one " wrinkle"

*** ALWAYS mark in your mind the EXACT place you last saw the deer. Before you ever go out and hunt - get it in your mind that maybe the most important thing you do after the shot - is to know the EXACT spot your deer was the last time you saw it after the shot. I usually pick a tree - and BURN it into my memory.*****

As far as a wrinkle - You must use your best judgement with Coyotes. If you hear them howling after the shot - and you know its a marginal shot - you might want to try to sneak in. I actually lost a 1 lung hit buck - after I let it lay for 4 hours - not because I bumped it - but because - almost immediately after the shot (8:00am) coyotes were on the trail - I spent days covering miles - and never found that deer that I know was a one lung (high angle shot). I suppose the deer could have made it - but I' ve taken over 30 deer - and I' m quite sure it was a killing shot - just not the best possible ( too low, high angle, close range).

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Calling your shot is even more important to an archer than a gun hunter. There are times to sit and wait and then there are times to get after the animal. Trailing Wounded Deer by John Trout Jr. is an excellent study on calling your shot, the animals reaction to the shot and when to track and when to wait on wounded deer.

In my honest opinion, this book should be in every archer' s library.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Thanks for that post, I never knew a single lung hit on a deer could take 4 hours to do its job. I always thought a single lung would expire an animal in less than an hour.

A friend of mine made a steep angle shot on a nice buck. He was so sure of the shot that he called his dad to turn on the freezer, then went back to follow the blood, he waited about an hour and a half. He followed the trail about 75 yards then the blood turned around and came back past his stand (the deer must have came back after my friend left) he followed the blood about thirty more yards then the blood just stopped. Well for the next three days there were five guys walking that woods looking for that deer but no luck. My friend has killed some big deer and knows were the lungs are and was so sure this deer was dead on it' s feet as soon as the arrow hit, but must have been a one lunger. I wonder if that deer would have been on the wall if given another couple hours?

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

I' ll second that.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

There are some top experts who believe that a single lunged deer can actually survive. It is believed that deer have a membrane between the lungs which will not let the other lung collapse. Similar to humans and other animals. Dogs, however do not have the membrane and the second lung would collapse if the first is punctured. Again, I would suggest reading the above book, which goes into it in detail.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Nice post Rob! I usually wait a 1/2 hour before even checking for the blood or looking for an arrow on a passthrough. Then according to where I am sure[:o] I hit the deer, the amount of blood immediately where he was standing, and the reaction of the deer...... I decide from that point on.

I will disagree slightly with you on one thing......more than 1/2 of the deer I have taken have been walking slowly, usually very slowly. I think deer are less alert when they are slowly moving and thus in a more natural state. But I will state I will not take a shot at even a very slow moving animal if the shot is not right.....that being open, a reasonable close distance and a shot that I have great confidence in.

RE: Recovery, What to do after the shot.
 

Great post Rob! I agree. The 4 letter word will help you the most W-A-I-T!!! (And when in doubt W-A-I-T longer!)

What I do is try and take a mental picture of where my shot hit exactly(if I can). This doesn' t always work though...as your eyes can play tricks on you easily it seems. (We hear this all the time...." it was a perfect shot, right through the lungs...but I can' t find him" ). I usually wait 1/2 hour before getting down to check my arrow. Then based on what I see on the arrow or the ground I go from there. I think nothing can be said that replaces experience...when it comes to tracking bowshot deer. Also, what Farm Hunter said is very important. You have to visually mark the last spot you saw the deer. Coupled with the sign you have on the ground, this can go a long way in helping you make a recovery.

Of course it' s always nice when they only run about 30 yds and pile up :)...but anyone that' s hunted them long enough knows they are unpredictible. I' ve seen double lung hits go 150yds and gut shot deer go 50yds.