Wendsday at 315 pm I had a buck coming down the trail from my right. As he stopped to smell the wind ( I was upwind) he offered a nice broadside shot. I figured the distance to be 35 yards (later found it to be 40+) Deer turned and bolted in the direction he came from for about forty yards than slowed to a steady gait. I could see him for about 100 yards before he dissapeared into the swamp behind me and to my right. After twenty minutes I quietly climbed down and found my arrow stuck in the ground covered with blood and a few short white hairs. I looked a few yards up and immediatley found blood and lots of it. I decided to wait another hour so snuck out to get my coleman lantern. As I was walking up the logging road in the opposite direction the deer went I noticed a clump of deer hair on the road. white and brown and no blood on hair or road. I knew it was not there when I came in but dissmissed it for the moment. The blood trail started out heavy, 12-18 inches wide for about 150 yards. After that the blood slowed down but was still heavy for another 100 yards. I decided to back off for the night even though there were no beds or even signs that he had stopped for any time. This am I picked up the trail and was slowed down by the water and terrain in the swamp. Being color blind I have a hard time seeing blood so this slows me down more. I used hydrogen peroxide which works wonderful. The last 150 yards I tracked took several hours but found large quarter sized drops of blood right before dark. He seems to be staying on the main trails and appears to be making a large circle right in the direction of where he was hit which incidently also has a small creek by it. This would put him on a course back to where I found the clump of hair. So am I right in assuming this is a low hit. Was the blood slowing down from clotting or is he about bled out? Is it possible this large round clump of white and brown hair could have fell off him as he circled back to the original area, even though there was not any blood? I am heading back out first thing in the morn with a gallon of peroxide and a helper.

It sounds like a low hit with the white hair that you found, but with a blood trail as heavy as you' ve described it doesn' t sounds like he' s gonna make it. How long did you look this morning? All day? How far have you tracked blood so far? Stay hooked up and you' ll find him. He can' t be much farther by the blood loss you described. Be persistant and get as many guys to come help you as you can, you' ll get him. Good luck and keep us posted.

Yes I looked from sunup to sun down. Being color blind makes me get on my hands and knees and really slows things up. Will be back out in am with help. Most blood I have seen on a blood trail for such lenght can' t imagine him being able to survive. Dabow

A deer has to lose somthing like 40% of its blood to die. Most of this blood may be internal bleeding and not on the ground. A high hit will not leave very much of a trail and a low hit will seem like a lot of blood. What looks like a LOT of blood on the ground usually doesn' t ever add up to a 1/2 cup of blood. Blood trails can be decieving. The best trails are the ones that seem to suddenly quit. There are lots of other things to look for as well as blood, tracks, turned over leaves rocks etc, hair, broken branches etc. The tracking and recovery part of deer hunting can be the toughest part. The dragging part can also be long and hard but at least by then you feel good about having your deer. I am colorblind also and have a very slow go of blood trailing deer. I always try on my own first but sometimes end up recruting help. My last buck this year I took my 7 yr old boy out. Man those young eyes are good. He was so excited to be helping. I had heard the deer pile up so I knew about where it was anyway but it was a great learning experiance for my boy. To get the double lung shot and not have the deer make it very far is by far the best tracking advice, but none of us get this all the time. Your buck might well be down, give it another long hard try, you owe it to yourself as well as the deer. I have never tried the peroxide. How well does it work? Better in daylight or flashlight? Are you just using a spray bottle? Spraying all over looking for foam or what? Good luck on that one.

the peroxide when in contact with blood reacts with the proteins and bubbles up in an off white color. Sometimes you can see the blood lifting up in the peroxide. Works well in daylight or with the coleman. I hear some people add food coloring to it but I am not sure why you would need to. Works on any surface the blood is on leaves, grass, trees, etc. Dabow

Well da, what happened. Find anything? Let us know.

In your story, you didn' t really mention where on the deer the arrow hit. Was it forward or back of the lungs/heart or was it just low?

Also, when you looked on the arrow was the blood bright red, dark red, or foamy? Did it have a greenish color and smell kinda bad?

Good luck and it sounds like you' ve put in the time!!! I hope you get it!!!

Da, we' re still waiting. What' s up?

Well after spending the entire day searching ( with help) we came up empy. The blood trail died out and we combed the area without a trace. I am satisfied that the deer survived inspite of what appeared to be a lot of blood loss. The white hairs on the arrow gave me an uneasy feeling from the get go but the blood trail was so promising. No foamy blood or any signs of him coughing any out of his mouth. Gun season opened saturday so will see if anyone got him.........dabow