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I didn't read all the posts so I may be repeating what has been said. But....the tail up means nothing. Probably half the deer I have killed this year had their tail up. And...

I was guiding a couple hunters one year and one of them shot a buck, aroow sticking out abouthalfway. Buck ran by his buddy, arrow still in him and he shot him, too. Buck wheeled and ran back to the orginal shooter and he shot him again and dropped him.

Moral: A shot deer may do absolutely anything and there is nothig you can depend upon 100%.

I posted this picture in the mzl forum but it illustrates exactly what I am talking about. I shot this buck at 50 yards, made a perfect double lung shot. Bullet went all the way through. Buck ran about 60 yards in the fresh snow. Not a single drop of blood anywhere. Not one. go figure!

Ghost of the hardwoods

Very interesting picture scribe. I never thought I would have seen it with my own eyes. But I do remember hearing a couple hunters over the years come in to have their deer processed by us and telling us that their deer spilled no blood. And I guess the proof is in the picture.

I myself have had an experience where the exact opposite happened to me. I shot a doe broadside at about 63 yards. She bounded straight up in the air, came down and tumbled all over herself doing what looked to be a somersault. She then got up and bolted. I could see the blood dumping out of her from behind the shoulder until she ran into some thick brush and I heard her crash.

My father came over and we waited about 30 minutes to follow the trail. In my mind, I thought that I had made a great hit on her. We walked to the spot where she was standing when I shot her. There was blood everywhere, even a good size spot of blood on an ash tree behind her. We followed the blood into the thicket. It was a heavy trail, blood was heavy on the ground, and all over the trees. We where inside the brush about 60 yards and all of a sudden we hear her get up and go crashing further into the brush. We get to the spot where she was laying down and there was massive amounts of blood in the bed.

My father thought it would be best to return home, have lunch and come back out at around 2:30 in the afternoon and give her about 5 and a half hours to lay down and die. We went home, ate lunch, and came back out where we left off. The trail was very easy to follow and we continued on for about 500 yards or more crossing 2 properties until we kicked her up from bedding again. We waited another 20 minutes and my dad decided that we push her and try to back track on her once we figured out how she was going to pattern.

We played the game and she led us in circles twice for about 500 yards each time. On the 3rd time around, my father was going to have me sit overlooking a spot she circled past twice while we were tailing her. I sat and waited for my dad to give chase and follow her trail once again and lead her to me. To no avail, she crossed back and went in a totally different direction about 100 yards before she would have got to me.

We followed her for about another 500 yards going in the opposite direction until she crossed a property line that we had no permission being on. We stood there at the fence line staring into the pines that she would have headed for. No more than 2 minutes went by and we heard 2 shots. Boom-Boom! We were sure that it was her.

I never would have thought that a deer could dump so much blood, over so many hours and over such great distances and still be alive. Like you said.....Nothing can ever be 100% commonplace.

petasux

Shot one 2 years ago that to this days the biggest one I ever got an arrow in.I seen him coming out of a slough and circled ahead of him and set up on the trail several hundred yards from him on top of a little pile of gravel.He was honestly only about 30 ft from me when I shot him, he was broadside, standing still, and I seen the arrow go in right behind the shoulder.Something didnt sound right though, it made a loud crack when it hit.


Next morning we found the arrow about 60 yrds from where he was shot, he snapped it off but there was at least 18inches of arrow in his chest.He left no blood for the first 100 yrds, then there was about 100 yrds where there were very small drips, then there was nothing again.I looked for 3 hours, then had about 6 people out there for another 3 hours, then I looked some more after they left and never did find another clue to where he went.I hit a bone I think and the arrow never made it through, I dont know if the arrow blocked the hole, or what happened but I know without a doubt that was a very dead deer that only lost about 12 drops of blood in 200 yrds.

scribe

Guiding deer hunters for over 20-years allowed me to blood trail quite a few. I know I will never have seen it all but if you want to really learn something about deer, trail one with a really good dog and see just what one will do.

Blood trailing is also an excellent way to find stand locations fornext year. Some of my best stands were found that way. It is also a great way to get lost if you do it at night.

Champlain Islander

Been there and done that. Pretty easy to get twisted around when you are looking for blood with a flashlight in a flat swamp. Thank God for GPS's. I am pretty good in the woods but since they have come out I have been able to hunt longer and better. I used to hunt the big woods in far northern Maine, NH and Vermont and often crossed swamps and bogs on moose trails just to get to the far ridges and soft wood sags a mile or more away. Late in the day when it is starting to get dark I always would have to be at the crossing so I could find my way through the swamp. I often missed the best part of the day when deer were moving because I needed to make sure I would get back to the truck which was parked at the end of a logging road. Miss that truck by 200 yds and you can walk for quite a while and in the dark that isn't any fun. Now with my GPS loaded with topos and compass backup I can extend my hunting day. Never tracked a wounded one with a dog but I bet it is fun.