kswild

When you lose the blood trail for whatever reason, the odds of you finding your deer go down to less than five percent.... depending on the terrain you are hunting. I believe you should.. if possible, never let the deer get out of your sight. I will continue to track a wounded animal immediately after the shot, even at the risk of pushing it. At least I can see where it is going and not risk losing the blood trail and not knowing where the animal went. Thoughts?
Live it up!
Doug

7.62NATO

What's your approximate percentage of recovery with either method?

I have only lost one deer, and I believe it is because I pushed her. The blood trail was tremendous. You'd see where she would lay down for a rest until she either saw or heard me coming. Pools of blood. Until I came to the last pool. Not a drop of blood anywhere after that. Never found her.

Total rookie mistake my first season, but I was just doing what the other more experienced hunters who were with me did. I hadn't heard until later in the season that you should wait to track and the logic behind it.

I see your point though. And I move much more quietly than I used to, so I guess it could work either way.

Wingbone

I think what you say is valid except in the case of a gut-shot. The worst thing you can do is push it. Leave it be, come back a few hours later. It'll be 75-100 yds from where you last kicked it up.

bigcountry

Totally disagree. You can get away with that being a strickly gun hunting, but not archery. You will regret this decision.

I have pushed a deer over 2 miles due to rain. From that, I generally will not bowhunt in the rain.

klecanc

Also disagree, Pushing a wounded deer is the worst thing you can do IMO. You'd be amazed at how far they can go on pure adrenaline even mortally wounded. Pull out, let them bed down and bleed out and you won't have to worry about trailing them very far.

halfbakedi420

also disagree,
pushing makes for lots of werk,
we will push a wounded hog to run the dogs, training if you will..
but otherwise, let em be..
i have done it both ways, i'd rather only have to drag em from where they 1st lie down..
to the guy that lost all the blood trail, yer doe was outta blood, she prolly only made it another 40 yards, laying in a heap of tree's and brush, see it all to often when we use the dogs,
the guys say we lost blood here, and booyah, the deer is in a gully, buried in bushes or something pretty close. it comes out to about $5 a foot..(jokes around the camp fire about hiring a blood dog)

7.62NATO

I know that now, just at the time I didn't know anything about tracking deer and was relying upon the direction of the guys who were with me. Kinda sad, actually. Those guys have been hunting since they were kids and shoulda known better and taught me better.

Jeff Ovington

I agree with that. Especially in mid rain and snow.
You wait too long deer start meandering into other tracks back tracking. I don't believe they bed down when they are wounded after
30 minutes.I believe they hightail it right out of country and only bed down when they expire or when they can no longer go any further.That can be miles that can be hours for a deer. At least when you chase a wounded deer they tend to go in a straight line for a longer distance before back tracking and following game trails and
hoping you get lost in them.Deer aren't intellegent they have advantage their 3 senses. Eyes ears and nose, you can't allow them
to use these against you. Hunters have intellgence and a weapon,
Adrenalin is a big thing it gives them a huge burst if strength and
will to get away initially, then they have an opportunity to use their senses and it gives them time for adrenlin to rebuild and they are gone again. Chase them right away they are running on one thing
adrenilon and not using any of their other advantages they have which are their 3 senses.

kswild

We all know that not all blood trails are the same. Even deer that have been hit well and hard might not have a good blood trail for one reason or another. And we all know that individual deer react differently after being shot... some might run like crazy, where others may jump only a few yards stop and stand there. Keeping a visual on your wounded animal is far better IMO than trying to rely on tracking from a blood trail that may or may NOT lead you to your game which is some cases may require a second shot. Some have said using dogs but that is not legal in all states. So I say again FOR ME I would rather take the risk of pushing a deer in order to keep it in sight then you have 2 things working not only do you have the blood trail but also a visual on your game. If you choose to wait 10 minutes before tracking all you have is a blood trail that could be good or your worst nightmare being the blood goes so far and then NOTHING. We have read it many, many times. I won't wait. Yes I have lost gut shot deer by pushing them BUT I'd would rather lose them that way other than waiting and never finding them because of a bad blood trail. And if I'm going to lose one I'm going down swinging!
Live it up! Doug

Terasec

also disagree,
there is a difference between gun shot wounds and arrow wounds,
strictly speaking as a bow hunter,
depending on placement of shot, deer can go for miles on adrenaline if pushed,
my advise is to give them as much time as possible between the shot to the search, 1 hr sometimes is not enough time,
many times deer will settle down near water,
if disturbed they will get up and continue moving,
if given 2-4 hrs to settle down, chances are will find the deer within 100-200 yds of the shot,
if shot is late in the day nd dont want to search in the dark, start your search next day,

also as you said in re to not taking your eyes off the deer,
that should be done at the time of shot following the deer as it runs off, also making note of landmarks, as what you see from the stand will change once on the ground