Longest tracking job

[MOstate]

I was just wondering, what the farthest you've had to track an animal? The hit being either well placed or not-so-good.

[SouthMDShooter]

about a 100 yards for me. been lucky

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Longest successful tracking job for me was 500 metres.

[wingnut]

Tracked a wildebeast in africa for 2 1/2 miles and recovered the animal 22 hours after it was shot.  Meat was great.

Tracked an elk almost a mile on gps before recovering after a liver hit.

Jason tracked a turkey that I hit a little back for 3 1/2 hours last year and recovered the bird. That's the best I've been involved with.

Mike

[MOstate]

So 100 yards to 2 1/2 miles!
WOW!!!

[John3]

My buddy gut shot a buck years ago at three steps... We jumped the buck 8 hours later and then again the next morning. This is still one of the largest deer I've ever seen in the woods. The buck swam the river appx 2 miles from where he shot it. We did get in the boat and found one drop of blood on a gravel bar. Never did recover the buck.  This buddy never did practice enough and hardly ever from a treestand. Needless to say this happened 16 years ago and we've not hunted together 5 times since...

[BMOELLER]

If I had to guess it was 500-600yrds. As a crow flies it probably 300yrds.  Doe one lunged straight down.

[Dr. Ed Ashby]

Six and a half kilometers - a bit over four miles - trip measured on a GPS. It was a client's wounded warthog. Tracked it to a burrow, and found it still alive! Well placed hit; "contraption" bow; bad arrow setup; poor penetration.

Ed
TGMM Family of the Bow

[Shawn Leonard]

Tracked a nice 7pt. roughly two miles as the crow flies, if I had to say how far we were on his trail, I would say 4.5 miles. I found him stone dead about 10 hours after the shot. I shot him at 5 in the evening and found him at around 3am. We jumped him twice and I was young and stupid and just kept following him. By the way, I nicked his liver and got one lung. Shawn

[MOstate]

Whoa
This has really opened my eyes to traditional bowhunting.

[Shawn Leonard]

MOstate, it has nothing to do with the choice of weapon, read Ashby's post and my deer was shot with wheels as well. we all strive to make that perfect shot but sometimes things happen and it is our responsiblity to try as hard as we can to recover that animal no matter the choice of weapon! Shawn

[ChuckC]

Read about Paul Shaefer's (sp?) big antelope tracking feat somewhere in the files here.  That one had nothing to do with Trad bowhunting and perceived inabilities, but it had everything to do with certain folks and their belief that it is their responsibility to do everything in their ability and power to not only make a quick lethal shot but also a recovered animal.  

Things sometime go bad.    Mostate,  car hit deer often drag themselves off into the woods in spite of being run over by two or more tons at 80mph.  This question was what is the farthest, not what is usual or what is the quickest.

While I am on the stump here... keep in mind that a deer can cover 100 yards before I can type this sentence.  The fact that the majority of trad killed deer are recovered in less than 100 yards (according to studies that are published) speaks volumes about quick, lethal, and I think, pretty painless death.

ChuckC

[Bakes168]

I agree it has nothing to do with the weapon...it's the person holding it!
My uncle shot a nice 8pt. with a muzzle loader last year, poor shot...tracked it for 2 miles!

I know that's not trad related, just trying to make a point.

Bakes

[MOstate]

Ok, I guess I misread some things. Thats good to know, the only deer I've ever shot with a bow was with a compound and he went down within 50 yards. So there wasnt any tracking required. And in reality I havent had to track any deer I've shot because they've fallen within sight. But it nice to know that most deer fallen within 100yrds, depending on a few things. I need to work on blood trailing to. But thats something that'll be rewarding at the end

[Sharpster]

Longest tracking job was years ago when a friend who practiced every day hit a buck square in the center of the hindquarters with his high speed, high-tech wheelie bow.

We tracked him 1/2 the night and all of the next day. Wouldn't even guess the total distance. Finally finished him off at dusk on the second day when he came to barbed wire fence and just didn't have the strength to jump it.

Equipment has no bearing whatsoever on game recovery. It'shot placement above all else that determines how far an animal is capable of  traveling after the shot.

Ron

[Clay Hayes]

and there's more to tracking than blood!

[ChuckC]

No problem MO (Joseph),  learning is what we do.  This is sometimes a touchy subject because people that are not well versed in the topic often think that bows and arrows, especially the traditional kind can't possibly kill a deer quickly and that they cause all sorts of pain and suffering.

In reality, have you ever cut yourself,  especially a bad cut ?  Doesn't hurt does it.  There are reasons for this that others can go into if they really want to.  Unless a bone is broken there is often no, or very little pain, as witnessed by folks who have accidentally gotten hit by or stabbed by a sharp broadhead.

I do know that I have personally seen,  as have many, maybe most of the others her... deer that I have just put an arrow clean thru...just kick, hop a few steps(or none at all), look around, and then go back to eating.  Next thing ya know, they topple over.

Deer are pretty antsy critters.  Everything scares them cause almost everything eats them.  If something makes a noise, or smacks them on the side,... they run......  fast.  That is what they do.  Whether it hurt or not.

Yes, things sometimes go bad,  but more times than not, it goes exactly as planned and there is venison for the cooking.
ChuckC

[captaincaveman]

Originally posted by ChuckC:
No problem MO (Joseph),  learning is what we do.  This is sometimes a touchy subject because people that are not well versed in the topic often think that bows and arrows, especially the traditional kind can't possibly kill a deer quickly and that they cause all sorts of pain and suffering.

In reality, have you ever cut yourself,  especially a bad cut ?  Doesn't hurt does it.  There are reasons for this that others can go into if they really want to.  Unless a bone is broken there is often no, or very little pain, as witnessed by folks who have accidentally gotten hit by or stabbed by a sharp broadhead.

I do know that I have personally seen,  as have many, maybe most of the others her... deer that I have just put an arrow clean thru...just kick, hop a few steps(or none at all), look around, and then go back to eating.  Next thing ya know, they topple over.

Deer are pretty antsy critters.  Everything scares them cause almost everything eats them.  If something makes a noise, or smacks them on the side,... they run......  fast.  That is what they do.  Whether it hurt or not.

Yes, things sometimes go bad,  but more times than not, it goes exactly as planned and there is venison for the cooking.
ChuckC

yup.  I double lungged this girl from 35 yards on Saturday.  She kicked, ran about five yards, and stopped,  looked around like "What the hell was that?"  and fell over.
 

Josh

[draco]

A mile and a half-with my dog. The guy made a cut across the edge of the liver.

[wingnut]

After reading through this thread I kinda feel I have been trapped.  Asked about the longest and then I read doubt if a trad bow can do the job.

Most blood trails have been 50 yds or less and the longest I talked about above was a 1/4 away shot on the wildebeast that got liver and one lung.  It was with a compound.

Sometimes !@#$ happens and the hit is not as good as you'd plan.  Then a good tracker is what is needed and the ability to stay with it and not giving up.

Mike