Lets go to blood trailing school shall we?

[meathead]

Go into each trail with an open mind.  Never say never and never say always about what a wounded deer will do or where they go. Patience after the shot will almost always help with recovery. And like Ryan a good dachshund is always nice to have around.

[Terry Lightle]

Color blind,so I use a Catahoula she is lots better than me

[GCook]

A blood trail dog is a great resource but most of us don't have one.  We have to rely on woodsmanship skilles learned through experience.

[Roger Norris]

My A#1 rule.....give them time. If you don't see them fall, back out and come back later. If they are dead, they aren't going any where, If they are wounded, pushing them won't do you any good.

[Wudstix]

In Texas I try to give them time, but when I hear the yotes howling and barking, it's time to get on the trail.
 

[woodchucker]

We loose a lot to them here in the Northeast too!!

Leave a trail overnight... Chances are 50/50 you'll find bones in the morning.

[Wudstix]

In Texas you can lose the entire deer if you wait an hour to track.
 

[woodchucker]

Been there!!

Went to get help dragging..... Came back to bones!!

[Doug S]

   NEVER Assume you drilled it perfect. Unless the video says you did! In fact never assume anything. It's never the same.

[Friend]

If my beagle 'Sissy' can't find the deer, I will bring in the master tracker bloodhound 'Hank'.

Did not have to call in Hank last season.

I have enjoyed blood trailing without a doggy for 35 years. Now, I have gotten spoiled and do only a few more complicated tracks a season without a dog.

[madmaxthc]

Dogs are great help. However, do not follow them blindly.

First of all, because they offer you an opportunity to improve your own tracking skills

Secondly, because they have their own limitation. I remember a few years ago, a friend of mine shot a wild boar. He tracked him for some time, and concluded he must have made a poor shot, and decided to let it go, since it was getting late. However, I had clearly heard the pig gargle, sign of a chest shot. I went back the next morning with my dog, and he started following the trail of the group of pigs uphill. I thought there was no way the one with the chest wound was going uphill for long, and sure enough, I soon noticed a solitary track steering away from the rest and heading back downhill. The dog kept following the  group though. I went for the solitary track, and found it soon after, dead in the middle of a small creek. Had I be blindly following my dog I would have never recovered the pig.

When in the woods, remember not to walk with your legs, but with your brain, ears, eyes, and nose.

Cheers 
Max

[Jim Jackson]

Thanks guys.  I was not looking for dog trailing tips but human as the overwhelming large majority do not have dogs.

 

[Keefer]

  Now if the blood trail gets to the point where you just can’t find any sort of sign just stop and “Listen” for a while .If you hear crows ,Ravens or Blue Jays they may be near the dead animal.
  Another thing I’ve noticed on some Deer and usually a smart old doe or a mature buck is they do what I call a “Jen Psaki” and “Circle” back from the direction they were coming in from.
  If you were a Mature buck and you just walked a few miles without any disturbance of any kind and everything seemed relatively safe and all of a sudden you are hit with a sting of some kind would you run into an area you never been yet or do a “Jen Psaki” and circle back from the direction you just came in on?
  Smart mature animals like a buck will “Sometimes “ go back and possibly to their bedding area.
  I know not every animal will do this but if you see a deer coming in from a bedding area or a trail and you get a hit just watch if it runs back on that trail where it just came from.
   

[woodchucker]

Good point, Keith!!!

As I said, I've been doing this a long time...
I grew up in a family of gun hunters, hunting "mountain" deer.
I learned to track, walking along with my Pop, GrandPop and Uncles, since I was about 5-6 years old.

I was taught that a Buck that knows you're on his trail, will make a swing, to bed & watch his backtrail.
I learned over the years, that Bucks, like people, are creatures of habit...
If they make a left (or right) swing, they will continue to do so.

I killed the biggest Buck of my life, 7 miles up the Union River in Maine. He was a 256# 8pt.
There was about a foot of snow on the ground, and it was still snowing like crazy!!
The first time I jumped him, he was bedded on the left side of the trail.
The second time, he was also bedded on the left side... I thought "Slow down, and kill this Buck"
I slowly followed his track through the snow covered Hemlocks.... I was only glancing at the track, I was LOOKING in the Hemlocks on the left side of the trail......
Snow fell from a Hemlock branch as he stood up... My old pump barked, and he dropped in his bed.

He was about 15 steps from the trail.

[Doug S]

   I have found many a deer by watching the other deer that may have been in the vicinity. fawns or calves will make a track job easy by staying in the area of dead mom. The other animals notice things.

[Bowwild]

I've had occasional success scanning ahead, especially in open areas broken by crop fields, power lines, etc. If I'm having trouble with the blood trail I'll take a wide berth around the current direction to jump out ahead to cross the trail where the deer may have entered or left cover.

One time in particular, it wasn't my deer but a friend gut shot a 141" (yep, we found and I measured)
it. The buck who went through a narrow band of pines and across a wide open alfalfa field (short height). I was knee crawling looking for blood and even feeling the ground beneath the plants for tracks. It was going to be very tedious.

I scanned a couple hundred yards ahead across the field. A wooded area with a power line through it stood out in the direction of this deer's travel. I went well around the likely travel vector to avoid damaging the likely trail and intersected the power line ROW. Found blood immediately and saved tons of time and frustration. 

That deer left the right of way and entered a narrow woods where the leaves were really scuffed up. I called of the tracking (it was a couple hours after dark).  I was afraid we'd mess up the trail in the woods.

Came back the next AM easily followed the scuffed leaves to a standing cornfield.  The blood was easy to see and the trail started meandering (almost like stumbling) over the next 20 yards and there lay the big buck.

I always have trail marking surveyors tape or TP with me when tracking.

I grew up hunting rabbits over beagles. I've never observed dogs recovering deer, but I would imagine it is very effective.

[Sam McMichael]

I have been enjoying this thread a lot. I have successfully trailed a few deer, but I was more lucky than skillful. I have only used a dog once, but he was not trained; however, he took to the trail and found the deer like he had been doing it for years. What I have found very helpful is knowing the layout of the property I am hunting. It helps to know where the thick brush and water holes are. Again, this a useful discussion.

[Roger Norris]

A pretty serious rule at Shrew Haven is to get a compass reading on the direction of escape. I don't know about you guys, but I get pretty amped up after the shot, and don't always recall things exactly as they happened. A compass reading helps put things in perspective.

It also helps with the difference in how things appear from the treestand and on the ground. I often hunt some pretty thick stuff. Visibility from 10 feet up is one thing. Once back on the ground, everything changes. A compass is required gear.

I am slow and meticulous on a blood trail, and do not like it when helpful folks "scout ahead"...but looking around with binoculars has shown me the white underbelly or tail many times.

[Wudstix]

Slow and steady is the rule.  Binos to "scout" ahead and look for a critter bedded or laying down.  Compass reading from point of impact.
 

[Bowwild]

Useful tip the compass reading!