After the shot: Tracking wounded deer.

[twitchstick]

Now I would have to agree with you fishone. I know I sure thought I would find him dead or sick on his bed.But the swiss cheese deer surprise me and everyone that seen it.

[katie]

My advice is: If the deer seems to vanish into thin air, check and see if anyone else slipped in and stole it before you spend a month searching for a buck that you know you had 2 good arrows in!  When you find out 2 months later that your mount is hangging on his dog cage it does not make you happy.  Then you have to drive by everyday on your way to town and see all 9 points glimmering in the sun.
Katie

[Ryan Rothhaar]

To second what Bill Kissner said earlier - get ahold of someone with a well trained dog.  We have been working with our European dachshund pup Oskar for the past few weeks.  Started him on blood tracks at 8 weeks old, and he has amazed us from the start.  My wife worked a track with him yesterday (he's 11 weeks old now) and he followed a 400 yard meat drag (no blood, probably 8 ounce piece of deer meat on a string) aged for 2h with several 90 degree turns, a backtrack, and several openings in the track of 1-5 feet - and found the end in less than 10 minutes!

Now I just need to get him on his first deer!

We'll be doing some tracks for folks in western IN/eastern IL next fall for sure.


 

[hawkeye n pa]

Dave, that was interesting and applied to both of the deer I was talking about.

[KentuckyTJ]

That's awesome Ryan. Being a bird dog trainer I've always wanted to train a deer tracker. I know if I show the photo of Oskar to my wife and daughter it won't be a hard sell.

I've seen a few posts lately about how someone had shot a deer through both lungs and had a hard time finding it. Well I've shot my fair share of deer in both lungs as well as in one lung and in my observation they very seldom make it past 100 yards away on a dead run with both lungs out. Which leads me to what I do and try to relate to all my hunting buds. If you don't think you hit both lungs just wait 10-12 hours. If you think you took both out and don't find the deer in the first 150 yards, back out. Like many have said sometimes you can't do this do to hot weather but a one lung shot deer can be alive and pushed for hours.

[xtrema312]

I really can't add anything, but would emphasize a couple.  Don’t be in a hurry.  There are times when pushing a deer can help get them, but I have never had one of those times.  I had an arrow deflect off a limb and gut shot deer years ago.  I let it go and never following it until the next day.  It only went about 60 yards.  I have seen many lost from trying to track them too soon.  The same goes for a one lung.  Unless you hear or see it fall give it a lot of time unless heat or rain forces you to move on it.  

I am a two lungs and down in 100 yd. shot taker most all the time.  However, I have had my challenging hits.  I have gotten a little lax and tend to get on them fairly quick.  That finally caught up with me this year.

I shot a huge old doe opening weekend.  She was quartering a little more than I like, but I thought it was a good shot.  I thought I heard her go down.  I shot her early so I sat late in the morning to see if I could arrow another one.  When I got on her track it had been a couple hours.  I had good blood and a pass through.  I tracked her about 60 yd.  I was watching ahead, but didn’t have an arrow ready.  I got to a point with some brush on one side of me and there see was off to my side.  She did a J and went down.  I took one more step and her head was up.  Before I could get an arrow ready she was up and trotted off.  I backed out.  The hit looked good and the blood looked good so why was she still going I though.    I gave her 3 more hours.  When I took up the trail again the blood disappeared very quickly.  I marked, crawled, checked all the side trail, but continued on the most likely track.  It was partly a low green grass area so no tracks, anything to rub blood on or turned up leaves to follow.  On hands and knees I finally found a drop.  Then a ways farther another.  Finally I found where she went into heavier cover, and I had a a little more blood on some tall grass.  This time I was ready to shoot when I eased into the cover.  I caught a flick of a tail when I was a ways in.  I moved a little closer and could make out the deer.  She was still alive and close but no good hole for a shot.  I backed out to regroup.  It was over 6 hours after the shot.  I got around to a better wind direction with what looked like a more open are for a shot into where she was.  I waited a while longer staying close, but the rail was on the way.  Finally I worked in.  I heard a little rustle in the cover at one point.  I was ready to shoot, but she didn't get up.  I finally got in for a shot, but she was done.  When I opened her up I found the arrow hit back a little more than I thought and punched a couple inches into the liver, cut lungs, nicked the heart, and came out low behind the opposit leg.  She lasted over 6 hours.  She was big, old, smart, and tough.  Her total travel distance was only about 200 yd.  I am convinced that she was able to last so long only by shear will and the fact she bedded quickly both times.  This old girl had a huge scare on her hind quarters from her tail, arund her ham, down the back of her leg and with several off shoot cuts from the main cut. Also a 2” opening in her hide below her anus.  I am sure that was not her only injury and she learned to survive.

I remembered a few things I had gotten lax on.  Wait as long as you can.  Watch out for a turn when trailing up and go slow checking the cover well before just waking in.  Be ready for a follow up shot.

[Michael Arnette]

I would agree with Chuck.

[Terry Green]

Yep...we will archive this in several places as it winds down.  I'll try and add anything that I've learned that doesn't get mentioned.  I haven't had time to read it all...but what I have read is good stuff.

I will leave with a link to one comment I did read...'Know Your Terrain'....I did a story on that very subject a few years ago.....we all can't know all the terrain when we go to new places and need to track, but it may help you to know a bit about your regular stomping grounds and where deer might head to.....

  Know your Terrain - click here

[Bonebuster]

There is ALWAYS something to learn.

Dogs will teach you a ton about wounded deer.

Experience has taught ME, that tracking wounded deer actually begins BEFORE the shot. Deer that are alerted to the hunters presence, will ALWAYS go farther than an otherwise unaware deer. The farther the animal travels, the greater the likelyhood of difficulty in recovering the it.

Do everything you can, BEFORE and after the shot, and you will be amazed at the power of a sharp broadhead.

[ishiwannabe]

I dont mean to argue a point, but I have to say that mortally wounded deer will go up hill. I never believed they would, but I was proven wrong. Now mind you, the circumstances for that deer were a bit unusual as it was literally run down by coyotes after it bedded 30 yards from the shot. It bled out, and kept running until it fell over, where it was consumed in about 2.5 hours. I lost the trail, called in a dog search, and they found my deer(or should I say a shoulder and the neck) within 15 minutes(about 2.5 hours after the shot). It ran straight up a 45 degree grade for about 70 yards through high uncut hay.

Noramlly, a deer that is hit well will not do that. This one did....and before anyone asks, I had no organs to autopsy...but the entrance and exit looked perfect.

My point, when tracking a deer, leave nothing to chance. Look where you dont think you should after you checked everywhere else.

[sidebuster]

The time after the shot to look for your deer or other game depends also where you hunt.  If you shot a deer in deep south Texas you better find it that evening or night.  Due to the so many coyotes you have a very short window to find it.  If you wait to long yeah you will find it but it will  just be the head and a skeleton body.

[wapiti792]

I second the uphill movement...deer or elk it doesn't matter IMO. They tend to go wherever they need to go to get out of harms way. The cow elk I double-lunged 2 years ago ran 250 yards UP the darn mountain.

They do funny things when they are hit, even well. I had a gut-shot deer walk past a pond without so much of a hoof near the water, only to lay up and die 200 yards away in a fencerow. Strange, tough, unpredictable critters we hunt and all the stops need to be brought out when we know they are hit: dog, grid search, hands-n-knees: whatever it takes!

[Gehrke145]

Some good info on here, dogs are huge!  I wish I had my russle in WI!  

Another big one for me is measure track spacing.  this will help if your following an animal and they mix in with other critters.  

Track slow even an smoking bloodtrails!  I've shot several animals a second time trailing, glass first then step and so on.

If you think you hit them back, don't even go to the impact point, just back out!

[Terry Green]

OK...before anyone asks....I cleaned up the chatter and cross talk...leaving the blood trailing tips.

I liver shot a wheeling buck that went about 100 yards to its bedding area where I found it....I also liver shot a wheeling buck in TX that went 500 yards across the pasture to its bedding area.....and have been on several other liver shot trackings...

Usually liver shot animals will seek cover before bedding down.... yardage doesn't seem to dictate more than the cover they want....from what I have seen.

[Bill Kissner]

I do bloodtrailing with a dog and have seen on several occasions where the animal has gone in a totally different direction than what the shooter has thought. There have been times when the dog was trailing and the hunter would say "he did not go this way" and I would drag the dog off the trail. When we could not find another track, we returned to the original and was able to recover the deer. Sometimes the shooter does not really see where it went and just assumes. Animals rarely take a straight path unless they are following a fencerow or some other cover. Don't give up on finding an animal just because you find no blood in the direction you think it went. Look for places the deer might have turned.

[PAPA BEAR]

i generally wait one hour to track an elk if i know its a good hit,three if its questionable.i carry a bunch of orange flags that are on a wire to place in the ground as i follow the blood trail,the reason for this is in case the blood runs out you have a flag trail to go back to and see the direction of travel.look for tracks to see if the animal is struggling or running.be very quiet in case you jump the animal bedded down,high adrenaline in an animal is your worst enemy.