mcraddock

Some good responses here. The good thing is that everyone agrees that you press on searching, even if the chance of finding her is remote. I have to admit that I've helped other hunters look for game and after only a few hours of searching say something like " Well, coyotes gotta eat too..." .

I have one friend that somehow seems to lose a deer every year. Just rushes and takes a shot at a poor angle. I'm usually the first one he calls to help with the recovery. But more than once we have come up empty handed. He does try to find the deer, just not as hard asI do. I'll go back the next day and scour the place for any sign we may have missed, then start doing the circles. I'm not sure if he goes to that much trouble. I say friend because I've known him all my life. Sometimes I wonder though. And what so funny about is that he'll tell me about what happened, knowing that I'm going to bitch him out for taking a bad shot.



How about recovery percentages?

If you had to guess, what percentage of the deer YOU have shot at, have you recovered?

How many recovery missions for others have you been on that have turned up nothing?

whitetaildreamer

First, bedding area has nothing to do with it. If there was a significant blood pool and trail to begin with then it is more than likely a lethal shot. You also stated that the doe went into thick bush so unless you are going to step on her, you are not going to find her in the dark (flashlights become useless in thick bush, if you've never tried one in such a situation, give it a shot for it's tough to describe the shadowing etc.). I would mark the spot where you last found blood and then also mark the spot where she went into the thick stuff (I always carry some blaze tape in my hunting pack). Wait till morning and come back with some help. With a lethal shot and with out being pushed she will lie down and expire. I had a similar situation occur a couple of years back. I looked for a couple of hours, didn't find the buck, it rained like hell that night, I couldn't sleep because I thought for sure I would loose him, went back at sun up, and found him. I'm sure I must have walked by him a couple of times the night before for he had lied down within some real thick bush (if I didn't notice a little white from his belly I may have even missed him in the morning). It is difficult to leave the search for a deer that you know is down but in thick bush it is near impossible to find it at night. Just talking from experience.

Whitetailmadness

I feel that regardless of weather or not you may "bust" the bedding area that evening or the following day a hunter owes it to the deer to make every effort possible to find it. If a hunter is responsible enough to shoot the deer then they must also be responsible enough to try and locate it period.

sconnyhunter

I would have to say that I have a 99% recovery rate. I have lost exactly 1 deer.
Though I am very confidant that another group of hunters found him and claimed him. This is because we tracked him past where they were standing when we got there.

magicman54494

Originally Posted by Edcyclopedia
How about not taking the shot if you can't hit it lethally- hypothetically of course

Dude, how have you been you big BS'er.

deerdust

#1 You believe you got a relatively good shot , judging from the 75yd blood trail.
#2 You know she has headed into and bedding thicket and will likely lay down to bleed out.
#3 It is early season and the weather is warm.
#4 There is overnight rain in the forecast.

The fact that it is early season and there will be more opportunities or that it is just a doe, doesn't even factor into the equation. Your concerns should be, can you give her enough time to bleed out before the rains come and still find her. You obviously can't wait until morning to look, or the meat will spoil. If you know the forecast and know about what time the rain will start, get a friend or 2 to help track her. Too many can be a bad thing, by trampling the sign. Give her as much time to bleed out and begin your tracking before the rain starts. At the point it is raining and has washed any sign away, all you can do is scour the area and hope to find where she bedded and hopefully bled out.

BigLettx

Give it another hour or so, call a few hunting buddies, go in with flashlights. Always have to give every effort to track an animal you've shot.

rustynobles

i'd wait until the next day. i did it this past year tracking for my dad. he shot a deer he was certain he'd hit well, but we couldn't find any blood. i took off the next day, and found it about 300 yards from his stand, never saw any blood, just where he was dragging his feet in the mud and leaves. when i got up on him, i found that my dad's broadhead had shattered when it came into contact with a rib bone. when he finally bedded down it looked like a murder scene. i'd have never found him in the dark, but wasn't going to let him have been shot in vain. so yeah go as long as you can that night, and then go the next day.