REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

my situation is i arrowed a nice buck tonight just about dark, heard the arrow hit and bounce back,broke the arrow (carbon) i assumed at the time i had shot under him and it had hit the tree behind him, there was a rather large puddle of blood where he was standing and a chunck of meat on the tree. as i was gathering my wits it started to rain, it is supposed to rain all night and some of tomorrow, so blood trailing is out. i did see what direction he was running in, and i also walked the side of the woods to see if he had gone into a soybean field, no tracks.

i guess i need some suggestions on finding him tomorrow morning.
really feeling bad:(

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Was the shaft covered with blood?

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

You might have made a mistake taking a deer when it is going to rain. Tracking a deer can take anywhere from an hour to a day. The rain will wash away the blood trail and more than likely the tracks. Grab a coleman lantern and a few buddy' s and find him. The lantern will help illuminate the blood trial and make finding him easier.
Next time you stop into K & L Archery, tell the guys that the RV guy from NH said hi. They let me shoot a Q2 last year while I was in town for some schooling.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

the shaft had blood on it but it was laying in the puddle of blood. i really starting to doubt the shot, could i have hit it in the shoulder and it loose that much blood????

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Who told you that " ..blood trailing is out?"

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

bow hunt usa

i live right around the corner from k&l, i' ll tell them,
oh yeah i was in a 15 acre woods at the time and i don' t think he came out, i couldn' t find any tracks coming out.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

c903

ok tell me how in the pouring rain, i was going back in the morning, and walk a grid pattern he has to be in the corner of the woods, thats the way he was heading and it is the thickest.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

He probably didn' t go far, as someone said grab the lantern and find him before its too late. A deer doesn' t leave a pool of blood where he was shot unless you hit an artery' or the heart. He doesn' t hang around long enough for it to pool.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

How big of a puddle was it? If it was a decent size it may indicate a good hit. Your arrow may have passed through the deer and struck the tree on the other side. Then when the deer bolted it broke the shaft. Just a random thought but there are many possibilities. Don' t give up. He' s out there.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Don,
You can' t assume too much when trailing an animal. You' ll wind up frustrated and likely walking past him following assumptions........you need a plan of attack.
I' m with c903, why can' t you blood trail? If there was a pool of blood where you hit him along with the broken arrow, there has to be more blood. It doesn' t wash away that fast.....tree canopy higher leaves etc can and will protect blood sign to a degree. don' t ignore the possibility of a traditional blood trail.
(When you say you found a pool of blood........was it where you shot or was it at a point where the deer traveled to AFTER the shot?)
Just because you THINK he' s heading somewhere because of a direction of travel don' t just blindly go there first......try to FOLLOW him to his final destination.
Look for scuffs in the dirt, a panicked animal leaves sign, you need to make yourself at least TRY to see it.
Is there any other detail you can provide? I am actually a little confused as to what really happened based upon your story.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

it it was a good hit and a big puddle of blood he didnt go far when deer are wounded baddly go to the thickest spots first but when a deer is wounded look for trails learned that saturday night when trailin a doe shot with muzzle loader i think she was shot in the @$$ we never found her but she stayd on trails

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

MATT

i didn' t see the arrow hit, but i did hear a crack and saw it fall under the deer in the blood. the crack was the arrow hitting the tree on the other side of the deer, i found meat on the tree, but i never found the arrow head, dag gone glasses were covered with rain.
i guess now i doubting myself and thinking i hit him in the shoulder, can he loose that much blood with a shoulder shot, and would the arrow mack a crack like a 22?????

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

SUGGESTION - GO FIND HIM ! If you have that much blood in a pool, AND a chunk of him, and a bloody arrow, you had to have hit him pretty solid. If you would have only popped his shoulder joint there would not be that much blood if Im undersatanding you right. As said above - get a Coleman lantern and go look with a buddie or two... Hes probobly not far.....

Good luck and be positive...

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Don,
It' s my experience that deer don' t leave " Pools" or " Puddles" of blood at the impact sight even with really good hits........they just don' t stick around long enough to allow blood to gather. I guess that' s where I' m confused.
It' s really hard to even guess what you may have hit, or if the sound you heard (crack) was the arrow hitting bone, or the tree, or even the arrow breaking.

To have as much blood as you are describing initially? The only hits I have seen that bleed THAT much are major blood vessel hits like the artery that runs below the spine area. That could explain the " Crack" noise, and that vessel will put out HUGE amounts of blood..........so will the femoral artery in the back leg. It' s amazing how much they will bleed if you hit these areas, and both can be associated with a crack against bone.

I don' t think shoulder blade, simply because its not typical to #1 blow right thru and into a tree........#2 They usually don' t bleed profusely, at least immediately.

I hate even giving these speculations because I too am assuming things I don' t know.......
I do know you hit SOMETHING major, and there should be sign.

If you are going the lantern route? Make a " Reflector" out of some tin foil.......wrap the back half of the globe so that it directs the light forward, and keeps it out of your eyes.
A cordless spotlight helps too. Dim lights stink. If you use battery power, have back-ups on hand.

Keep us posted.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

get a maglight ,coleman lantern a spot light any kind of strong light , get some help ,but get out there and find that deer , if you found meat stuck to the tree behind where the deer was standing you probably made a good shot and the deer shouldn' t have gone to far , but take your time and don' t leave a single leaf unturned ! good luck!

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

you should get off the computer and start looking!

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

If an artery was hit there probably would not be a puddle of blood but rather blood sprays. It does sound like a pass thru shot if the deer was standing in front of the tree. Did you check the tree to see if your broadhead was inbedded into it? Not sure why everyone if in a hurry for you to go get it when in doubt of the shot though. Certainly if it was a good hit he aint' going no where. And if a bad hit an overnight wait is only option followed by grid type search. ..........dabow

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

I guess it is a matter of individual prefernce. If I hit a deer and signs are present that indicate that the hit may be mortal, and it starts to rain and rain is forecast for the next day, I am going to start tracking very soon but I won' t push hard.

As Matt said, the blood is not going to dissipate so rapidly you cannot find any blood in rain. In fact, moisture will often expand the blood drops before the blood is completely washed away. As Matt also said, trees, brush, etc, is going to protect the blood until the area is completely drenched.

dabowhunter:

I do not know about why other readers recommended getting on the trail rather than wait, but I will tell you why I would.

Visual searching just for the deer is not as productive as having signs to also follow e.g., blood, tracks, slides, falls, etc. If it is going to rain all night and the next day, most of the signs will be obliterated or completely gone. If the deer is hurt bad, he is going to harbor up in deep cover.

Regardless that you might be getting on a track earlier than usual, in the described situation I am going to try to determine a direction of travel before any signs that may have been present disappears and now I can only look for the carcass. While doing so, maybe I will also find additional signs that indicate how bad he is hit.

Of course, that is what I would do, not what everyone should do.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

My mistake ........I got wrapped up in the other details forgetting about the rain. In that case I too would go right after him. Seems like every time I am out this year it is raining or threatening to rain

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

I' m with the others here... Why not trail the deer? It' s not like the blood and other sign is just going to majically disappear. It takes a fair amount of time before that happens and it sounds like you had a pretty solid hit so he shouldn' t be far. Additionally, when a deer is hit solid it will always take the path of least resistence.

Leaving the woods without looking harder was your only mistake.

The buck I shot last year (a nice basket 8 point) was hit just before dark and it was raining. If I' d have walked out of the woods I' d have never found him.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Well its about time for an update. Donald what happened to the deer? Did you ever get back there to look for him?

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Something is not making sense to me. I have NEVER had a deer leave a large puddle where he was hit - nor have I ever seen or heard of it. Unless the deer went down and stayed there for a few seconds then got up and ran.

You need to take your time and recount everything that happened and you saw.

I can see the arrow hitting a tree after the pass through and bouncing back - but the puddle thing has me confused.

I to would get out there and give it your best tonight - then try again in the morning.

And don' t ever " assume" you know where a wounded deer will go - 99% of the time it will lead you astray.

And remember - going out and looking for the deer itself is a LAST resort - that many more times than not leads no-where. So put 100% of your effort on the blood trail and the sign.

Good Luck

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

JERSEY HUNTER

went last night with a mag lite and batteries, didn,t find any blood other than where the shot took place, i did find his tracks and followed them sometimes on my hands and knees, he went down a deer path which lead to a soybean field. i found where i beleive he jumped the ditch, tracks were deep and fresh as far as i could tell. it rained three inches last night.
came home this morning called off work along with my son, we went back and tried to make some sence out of it. we couldn' t find any mark on the tree where i think the arrow hit, couldn' t find the other half of the arrow either. the meat on the tree was where he turned around between two trees. as far as the puddle of blood it was mixed with rain and looked to more than there was.

we set up a north south grid pattern and started with the outside of the woods not just where i beleive he went we search the entire woods, we then did an east west pattern, we marked both patterns with surveyors tape, you should look through the woods, it looks like a surveyor went nuts, the woods is only 15 acres,

got back home this afternoon, exhausted and two rain suits torn to shreds.
my wife wants me to rent a plane and fly over the soybean fields, that might come tomorrow.

i have learned not to hunt in the rain especially the pouring rain, and yes i do have a new shiney coleman lattern with extra mantels in the back of my truck.

thats the update for now.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Im not here to rip on you Donald. It happens to everybody, give it you best shot. Goodluck finding him.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

I' m not a bowhunter yet, but I do like to browse the forum now and then. The only question I have for you is do you feel (gut instinct) that the deer is dead? If you do, then don' t give up! Trust your instinct and keep searching if you even suspect it may be dead. Cover every inch of ground, every thicket, every blowdown, every square inch of cover that the deer may be laying in. I have spent a day and a half searching for a nice buck I just knew was dead, even though there was no blood trail. That buck was shot with a .30-06 and left NO blood because of the shot placement. I knew the shot was good though, and he didn' t go too far. He was dead on his feet at the shot, but still managed to go over 50 yards, first uphill, then straigt down towards water. It took me and two other friends a full day and a half to find him. He was laying right under the low boughs of a spruce tree. Do a grid search and cover every piece of ground if you think he' s dead! Shouldn' t be too hard to cover 15 acres. Hope you find him!

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Thanks for the update, Good luck in finding him. In a few days if he is down you might be able to smell him. At least you' ll have the rack. Sorry about your loss. Both the deer and the rain jackets.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

JERSEY HUNTER

man it really bothers me not knowing, i have either killed a deer that is wasting away or i have gravely injured the animal, both ways it is a real bad feeling. i guess i will get over this but at the present time i don' t even want to go hunting,
over 40 years of hunting this is my first loss. i guess i will relive the shot a lot of times what i should have done and what i shouldn' t have done.

i need to thank everyone for their help and suggestions.

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

Donald have you tried a dog yet? Knock on wood I haven' t lost one yet, I hate to think what you must feel like.

Tazman,will any dog follow a blood trail?
 

You mentioned trying a dog.I' m wondering if any dog would follow a wounded animal and a blood trail or do you need a hunting breed?A dog bred to do it such as a Blood hound,maybe a beagle?

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

you know you may have given me an idea, my neighbor is a cop and has a bomb dog, he has also used him for tracking, it worth a try.

many thanks

RE: REALLY NEED SOME ADVICE (HELP)
 

sporting dogs are better, but sometimes even mutts will follow a scent.