Down in sight, or out?

[joevan125]

This past year i shot my first trad deer a 8 pointer and i let one of my buds help me with the trailing, he has never shot a deer with any kind of bow and has only been hunting for 4 years.

When we walked up on that fat 8 pointer i thought he was going to have a heart attack. He gave me a hug only a hunter could appreciate and then took at least 50 pictures of me and my first trad deer.

Thats one day in the woods that i will never forget as long as i live, really special.

[Guru]

From 2006.... I knew I'd drilled this buck, heard him crash and could see the Snuffer had painted the ground.
 

I called my wife so she could get Cade ready. Also called my usual blood trailin'/deer draggin' partner, my Dad.

When I got down and went up the hill to my truck I purposely didn't look to my left down the hill. I knew the buck was down there somewhere....but I didn't want to know....he'd be Cade's to find!

 

 

 

 


 

Still my most memorable blood trail to date!

[FerretWYO]

Great stuff curt. Great Stuff.

[pete p]

i love a good blood trail. BUT, i have center punched several huge (300# live weight) mn deer.  figured theyd be down in 100yds.  gave em 45mn.  had them bed several times and go, go, and go more.  had one deer doubled lunged. the deer ran up a cliff worthy of sheep country. my bro said no lung hit deer would attempt that cliff. well, we found him 250yds...beyond the cliff on the other side.  i like em down in sight.

[KentuckyTJ]

Cool stuff Joe. Run off and hear the crash is my favorite.

[wapiti792]

As much as love this sport of ours, blood trails make me really nervous. Perhaps it relates to being on a bloodtrail of a dead deer walking, when I thought the shot was perfect, only to bump the one-lunged monster. I did find him a 1/4 mile and 8 hours later but it did something to me. Kinda like getting snakebit did. I hate snakes because of one little cottonmouth. Also, I had been unlucky enough to have looked for several "no finds" including a couple of mine. As much as unraveling the mystery is just plain fun,the fun goes away without the pot at the end of the rainbow.

I'd vote for going down in site every time. Bloodtrails can be beautiful things but to me nothing is more stunning than seeing a white belly from stand.

[rnharris]

in sight for me i am lazy and color blind with brown and red lol

[pdk25]

I prefer them to fall within my sight.  I don't know why, but even when I believe that I've made a perfect shot I still get palpitations when the trail dries up for more than a few yards.

[Steve in Canton]

Down in site, i have lost 2 deer to coyotes that I had hit marginally and had to wait to track, it is nice to see them go down and not have to worry.

[Stiks-n-Strings]

I like tot track a good blood trail and love to hear the crash when they go down out of sight. But with that being said it is a relief when you can see one go down.

 I really love a perfect shot with a scary sharp head that passes through and they just kinda flinch and go on feeding and get the wobble going on and just fallover. That is my favorite! don't happen very often but it's great when it does.

 Stiks

[twitchstick]

I like to watch them go down in sight. I always like following the blood trail even if they fall in site. There is so much to learn from each trail. I do enjoy blood trailing as far as the experiance of woodmanship skills, the unkowning and the since of joy of a hard earned trail. I will be the frist there for any trailing job and will not give up until all options are played out. I would never trade any of the hard learned lessons for anything but.... between 2 losses to bear one to coyotes and all my own mistakes I like to watch'em fall right in front of me.

[eric-thor]

i like em to go down in site  blood tails are ok but i hate the chance of looseing them. i like them down hard and fast like my arrow that just took em down .          

[Terry Green]

Down in sight.

[Tom]

Down in sight or run and crash.

[Stone Knife]

I always prefer to have the animals life end out of sight.

[vtmtnman]

Down in sight all day long.I like short tracking jobs on anything.I've followed too many long trails(Because of others' bad shots...and a couple of my own)with or with a deer at the end.Down in sight is a relief.

[elkken]

I would prefer they go down in sight. Trailing is fun but I have had the dead deer running take me on a few wild trails I did not anticipate.

[Hoyt]

If it's running away from the truck..down in sight. If it's running to wards the truck, I like blood trails.

My eye sight is getting to where its hard for me to see blood like I use to. So down in sight would be what I would prefer.

[Aeronut]

I hunt strictly on the ground.  No tree stands for me and therefore I would rather have them go down in sight or close to it.

I watched the last buck I shot fall over 30 yeards away.  From the point of impact to where he stopped I found a grand total of two drops of blood.

With a tree stand shot you usually have a low exit wound which leaves a better blood trail.  With a deer shot from the ground most of the blood stays inside the body cavity leaving a scanty blood trail.

I have gotten in the habit of making a very loud grunt when the arrow hits the deer, or when I m-m-miss, and the deer will usually stop within 20 yards thinking another deer is the cause of the noise.  Makes for an easier recovery and sometimes a second chance for another shot.

Dennis

[LoweBow]

I'm a down in sight guy I guess.  To me there is nothing like seeing that deer hit sooooooo well that it makes in 20-50 yards and expires!  Gives me that satisfaction that all the hard work and preparation paid off w/ a short efficient kill.