G_O_N

Hi everyone ok I need an important question answered so heres the scenario so lets say my friend was in his tree stand(ima make the story short) and he shot a doe, so lets say after 4 hours looking he couldnt find her. so lets say this happend friday, muzzle loader started saturday and he wants to go hunt the same spot but with a muzzle loader. my question, is oh and by the way there were 3 does when he shot the one, so my question is do you think the remaining does are going to use that same way to travel or?

iSnipe

Sure, without a doubt. Since the area was walked all around for 4 hours, that's plenty of disturbance and leaving scent behind, but that activity was spread around a big area. If the disturbance was focused in a small spot, like a 1/4 acre, then yes, the does may not like it and skirt around that spot. Since the disturbance was wide and only one time, no one spot should concern the deer there. This also depends on how smart the lead doe is too, but most your mature bucks wouldn't tolerate it and wouldn't make it a place to visit unless it's under darkness.

iSnipe

iSnipe

Also, I have to mention, since he knows the doe was hit, 4 hours is marginal and believe more time should have been spent looking for it. Having tracked many of my friend's deer they shot, I believe the main reason tracking was hard is because they went after it too soon after the shot. Unknown shots or marginal hits should have the shooter wait for a longer while to follow up and to err on the side of being more careful, leaving over night to start the tracking, weather permitting, is usually a good thing.

iSnipe

G_O_N

the weird thing is we coundt find any blood or an arrow....... we tried looking for the arrow but we couldnt even find it.....like a UFO just took the doe lol but so you think he should go set up at that spot tmrw?

iSnipe

If you're short on spots, it wouldn't hurt, but expect less sightings... at least for a few days. If you have other spots, hunt them instead. I try and not hunt a spot too often, especially with bow as my activity will slow the deer's movement in that spot.

Arrows are sometimes hard to find because after the deer runs, they can shut fly way off the trail. Not being any snow makes it even harder yet. Was it a straight downward shot? I've shot several deer that way and never saw any blood and the arrow never passed through so blood couldn't drop down to the ground. Tracking gets harder that way, but through effort, the deer are usually found within a decent distance of the shot.

Good luck,

iSnipe