The most critical thing you can do in the whole process is watch and burn an image in you mind of every bound, step or whatever the deer took in leaving the area. Mark his route really well, "left of this tree, right of that one, over this log etc etc. I try to listen really well too but with my hearing so bad it's usually a lost cause. I sit in the tree a couple minutes and replay his exit route over in my mind. I also do a little tap dance and silent YAHOO yell in my mind. I generally don't wait a long time. If I saw the hit and can pick up the arrow in the ground from my stand with the binos I check it out pretty well for blood. Often I can pick out blood on the ground too. I then lower my bow, climb down and as I do, keep looking at the last spot I saw him. It changes in appearance once on the ground so I look for guiding limbs or crooked trees or anything that'll help me pick the spot out once on the ground. If I like the sign on the arrow I go ahead and track the deer, going real slow. Heck, if I saw the deer fall I still practice reading the blood trail and tracking the sign to the deer. Never hurts to practice. If I haven't found the deer in the first 75 yards I really get slow. If I haven't found him in 100 I'll take my stand and junk to the truck and give him some time. If I didn't like the sign in the beginning I stop at that point and carry out the misc. garbage to the truck and then come back. I know everyone says wait an hour no matter what, but with a good shot, and you can usually tell, I see no point in it.

If I shoot and the deer runs off... I sit quietly in the stand, and restrain myself from immediately following. If with a muzzleloader, I do reload. I try to make mental not of trees I last saw deer near and direction he was going, so that when I get out I can go to that area. I try to wait a few minutes, unless I know it was a good shot. Then, I go fetch the deer.

Then I get on my knees and than God for the deer... I apologize to the deer, and express some gratitude (yeah, he's dead and doesn't know it, but I still do) then I gather up my stuff, take down the climber, gut the deer, and start dragging.

npaden, I'm sure that those deer were taken legal, and I've seen the same thing myself a time or two.
I was raised with deer hunting being an obsession and almost a way of life. It's not much different now except it's more regulated and diverse.
Nevertheless, theres something about a pile of deer like that that just does'nt set right with me either . . .I don't know why exactly.
I think it's because it seems like a lack of proper selection. Where I hunt we want to kill out a lot of the does but we want to be selective in how we do it. It just does'nt seem that that many deer can be taken in one day unless everything that moves is being shot.
That said, I realize that everything isn't always the way it seems.

First thing I do is thank God.

I really appreciate the thoughtful responses by most of the posters. I do appreciate the input and thoughts on what you do after you shoot a deer to ensure the highest chance of succesfully getting the deer home and ultimately in the freezer.

As far at the picture. Those deer wereshot by2 of my nieces (they were either 12 or 13 at the time), my brother, my dad, a friend and myself. We had 2 vehicles but loaded all the deer into one truck. I believe the year was 1989 and my friend was from Texas and I brought him up to Montana to deer hunt over the Thanksgiving holiday. He still remembers that hunt fondly (he has never gotten a chance to do it since).

There were lots of deer that year and nonresidents could by a doe tag for $50 over the counter. There are a couple smaller deer in there, one of which my friend shot and one that one of my nieces shot.The deer that was cut in half was a buck that one of my nieces shot and had to be carried over a mile from where she shot it. It's head is out of the picture frame. We always followed the rules and most all of our hunting was on public land, most of which the vehicle can't leave the road even to retrieve a kill so cutting up deer to get them back to the vehicle is pretty common. All of the deer aregutted in the field.

I've always thought that a truly responsible hunter was one that was willing to shoot does to keep populations under control. We butchered our own animals and I don't recall ever eating a beef steak until I went to college. That pile of deer represented the meat that was going to be on the family table for the nextyear.

I should wait longer but I walk right up to where I shot it and look for blood. If I see it down I either gut it or get someone to help me gut/drag. But usually if there is blood ill go get someone and come back.

I appreciate your Pm with all your creditials and your reply, don't play the moderator card, I attacked no one. I know a fake photo when I see one, I made mention of that not attacking a new member. Sorry, the photo is fake, nothing will convince me otherwise.

The deer leg does not go under another deer, the leg is an incomplete photoshop job.

Where can I send the negative? It's a film picture.

Also, in my opinion, saying that someone is passing off a faked photo as real would be an accusation and a direct attack on that poster's credibility.

You might want to read item # 3 in the forum rules:

This is my blood and they,Shoot at what they want.When they want.Where ever thay want.At ever they want.Any complaints? I didn't think so.