mr.mc54

I love it when you start out with "a perfect shot". If it was perfect, you would be eating venison, not looking for it.

BowShotOutdoors

Yeah, too bad deer don't just drop dead.


Anyway, I walked along the fenceline of the field, and nothing. Walked all the trails in the field, found so many spots where deer bed down, and still couldn't find her.

Mojotex

If you care to keep looking, here's another $.02.

I do not mean to be critical, what you have here is something less than a perfect shot. I figure like some others have mentioned that you cut the liver ... maybe a kidney or spleen .... depending upon the downward angle. Certainly you made a shot that is not a quick killer.

Take a long look at the "track" of the blood that you have found so far. If it is essentially in more or less a straight line, vision that line going out as far as you can see ... and line it up with something in the distance. Say 100-200 yards out. Then grid the place out carefully. I'd go at least 1/4 mile either side and 1/2 mile along the line. Mark every blood spot with toilet paper ... visible to you as you walk along. Look beck every now and then to get an idea if the deer is traveling in a circle, wandering about, straight line etc.

Now is the time, as already mentioned more than once, to be methodical - in this case in the extreme. You mentioned water in the area. Many times deer will head to water and lay down. I guess it is soothing. If the water is deep, could be no way to find the deer.

A deer hit like this one can stay on its feet over night and can easily cover over a mile. More than likely because of the multiple lay down spots that you found, this one is hurting for sure and it is not going to make it that far. I am fortunate enough to have a great blood trailing dog ...this would be an ideal time to use one if you know of anyone that has one. Good luck.

Drfeelsgood

Going to need to be a lot more thorough than that. You need to get right in there and search by grids. A deer can be invisible in 10inches of grass from 10ft away. You need to get into the nasty places that you wouldnt normally walk through. Walking fencelines and paths isint likely to work.

MZS

Good luck to you. With respect to your shot placement, middle-lungs is what I go for as well.

stabnslab_WI

You bumped her out of her death bed it sounds like. Maybe next time you won't rush in, I would start looking for the crows

Valentine

Maybe I look at it differently. I was spoiled by rifle hunting. Great shots; well aimed in specific area; deer dropped on the spot and no tracking.

Got into archery due to the long season in this one state, and I KNEW the old ways were gone. I would have to really learn to track. I was going to have to do it, and pay the price. And perhaps different than many, I don't depend on blood trails entirely. Sometimes not at all.

I take a compass reading of the deer direction from the stand. I'll move out on the specific reading, looking to the left and right on the ground. Looking for blood, but also looking for the easier sighting - the deer laying dead on the ground. My first pass is tighter on my compass read and I look for 100 yards. Then I move back to the tree stand and do a wider search of the compass reading. I work on the probable. If the deer runs off in a specific direction, You'll probably find him in that direction, or close to it.
If you make a good shot, why shouldn't the deer be laying within 100 yards in the direction it went. I just make sure I'm heading in the same direction, by compass reading, at 25, 50, 75, 100 yards.

The last deer I didn't see any blood. It was so thick I moved off the track and then got back on. Took a compass reading, not seeing the tree stand, some 50 yards away, I moved a few yards and found the dead deer laying near to the original compass reading in some very heavy cover. I was glad I played deer tracker and not 'ol Indian blood tracker.

dpv

I've done it. More than once. Many different factors. Can't wait too long or the coyotes get on the deer, so it's a really tough call.

stabnslab_WI

If all of that work's for you then good, but I have had many deer circle back around. In fact I don't know if I have ever had one run in a straight line. I agree a lot of factors play into tracking deer but you must find blood, blood is the key to all of it. I follow four simple things, time of shot, the temp, blood and water. I make sure I give the animal enough time to expire, if its warm out I try to get on it ASAP without thinking the deer is still alive. I see if the blood is full of bubbles, what color the blood is, is it light, dark, green. Water is big because the deer's core temp is high because of internal bleeding, its the deer natural instinct to go to water to cool down. I find a lot of dead deer when I trap, or hunt ducks and geese by streams, ponds or lakes.

GPMD

How long did you wait until you started tracking? If it was at least 15min and you still jumped her, it definitely wasn't a perfect shot. A double lung shot won't live that long. Im thinking liver as well, been there done that, its no fun. Good luck with the search. If I thought I made a perfect shot too, no doubt I'd go recover in 15-20 so don't feel bad about that.