Tracking Advice Needed - UPDATE First Deer Recovered (Pics)

[canopyboy]

Shot a doe broadside from about 8-10 yards today from ground level.  Actually, slightly below down out of the creek bed.  I swear it hit dead center (up and down) and about 6-8" behind the front leg.  Deer spooked and ran a zig-zag away.  Waited 1/2 hour, then snuck out to get dinner.  Finished dad and husband duties, then came back almost 3 hours later in the dark.  Found the arrow 15 yards past.  Covered in bright red (but now dry) blood.  Can't find another drop to save my life anywhere.  A couple weeks ago I tracked a gut shot fox 1/2 mile in the dark, so I figured this shouldn't be too hard.

Is it possible to have a good vitals shot with pass through and not have much of a trail?  Shouldn't there be a few drops at the point of impact?  Maybe my light just is throwing me, and daylight will help.  But any advice would be great.

Heading to bed now, early to work, then hopefully home after a 1/2 day to finish the recovery.  Luckily it's still cold out.

[straitera]

Have seen passthrough w/o much bloodtrail. Blood pooled inside the cavity. You should find the deer's exit route & work concentric circles from the last spot until you hit blood. There should be a little at least. Maybe a splash no bigger than 1/4" square. I found a deer like this 212 yards from the lethal hit. No blood for the first 40-50 yards. Then plenty & getting bigger. Get a dog. Good luck.

[DV of WI]

Like said blood most likely pooling in the cavity. Look on brush,trees etc at the same level and below your entry and exits for blood smeared as the animal exited the area.
Good Luck.

[JimB]

Relax.Things will look so much better in daylight.Good luck.

[longbowben]

I have had deer go 50 yards and No blood then its everywhere.Relax wait till morning when you can see better.

[bowmaster12]

seen it plenty of times no blood at impact sight will usually pick blood up with in first 50 yards good luck

[elkken]

If after 30 minutes you still had light I would have been looking for the deer. Dinner and chores can wait... I have shot deer that looked really good, but most bleeding was internal and blood trail was sparse.

My hunting partner shot a deer this year with what looked like a right through the boiler shot, in the snow, and had no blood for 75 yards. Arrow was a bit high and the deer was dead 125 yards away with almost no blood trail. So you never know, all shots are not the same and never take what looks like a good shot for granted.

[canopyboy]

There was no light after 30 minutes anyway.  I was getting close to the 30 minutes after sunset rule when I made the shot.  And picking my daughter up from daycare is pretty much non-negotiable....

And I tried bringing out the dogs.  But there's so much scent around (fox, coon, and deer everywhere) that they could care less about the one I was interested in.  They wanted to go the opposite way the deer went.

Glad to hear that a good shot (I was sure it was at that range) could leave little to no blood at first.  Gotta get to work early, but think I'll bag the second half of the day and come home at lunch to see how things look in the daylight.

Question:  If the deer has enough left in them to go a couple hundred yards, do they usually just collapse where they are?  Do they often find a place to lay down in a depression or in the brush?  Or is it random and without finding the blood trail it's a crap shoot?

Thanks for the help.  Tough learning to hunt on your own.

[BlacktailBowhunter]

I am not a great tracker, but I have been with a few great trackers that showed me a lot. Try and pick up the deer's actual track and follow that track as much as possible. Once you establish the that deer's track, stay on it. It will become clear which direction the deer is going.

Go slow, scour the foilage at the height of the hit. Look at brush front and back for blood and also for broken branches, trampled grass, sticks, and hoof depressions beyond casual walking.

Pretty much anything that would indicate a quick retreat is probably your animal.

I am usually so amped after the shot, I have a hard time focusing. If you have anyone that can go with you, take them and I mean anyone. They won't have that anxiety to find the animal all built up like you might have.

I have a hard time tracking my own animals, but a much easier time tracking a friend's animals. I don't know what it is, but that is what I have found.

Stay with it and you should find her.

Good luck,

Paul

[ksbowman]

When I make a hit I always watch for the last place I see it go and make a mental note of an object there for a reference point. Then when I decide it's time to look for the critter I walk  to that point,but not on the track the hit animal took and leave a marker. If I see blood there I've shortened my trailing job. If not I circle back to the place the where I shot the animal and try to start the trail there. When you get to your marker you've established the direction of travel in case you have to start doing a grid search later.

[Arwin]

Like mentioned, take some toilet paper or something bright for marking the last spot blood was found.
 I found if your blood trail starts to zig zag all over, you need to let it lay for a while. Sounds like a liver hit, maybe slightly into the stomach if she was quartered to you a little?
 Hopefully the dogs didn't spook her, deer can run a very long ways when hit back a little and on one lung.

[canopyboy]

As for following the deer's tracks, this area is thick.  Hundreds of prints everywhere.  Might still have some luck in the daylight. Though.  We'll see in a couple hours.

I'm hoping to get someone to help, again we'll see.  But I did walk away knowing that I needed to make sure I got a good look and fix the deer's last position in my mind using a landmark of some sort.  Down in the creek bed, it was hard to see it go very far, and even then I don't think I really tried to memorize exactly where it went.  Rookie mistake, next time I'll pay more attention after the shot for sure.

Thanks for all the help, will try to update later today.  Hopefully with a picture and some good news.

[Arwin]

Praying for a good outcome!!!

 Hopefully she stayed in the creek bed. If the land layout runs downhill I would check there too.

  Most mortally wounded deer like to run downhill and near water like swamps, etc. Don't forget to check blowdowns and thick brush. I've seen deer curl up and disappear into some pretty small spaces and their brown fur is pretty good camo.

 If you shot her at nearly ground level, look high on vegetation for blood. Small trees and brush usually have blood at 2-3 ft off the ground.

 Good luck!    

[Jack Whitmire Jr]

Always make a mental note when you shoot a deer of the following . I know the excitement gets you sometimes but work on the mental part before you shoot a deer .

1- Where the arrow hit

2-Where/How deer was standing when you shot

3-Landmarks as she/He runs away - VERY IMPORTANT - the deer went by a dead tree, jumped that small branch then paralleled that uprooted tree etc .

4-Listen where the deer runs , listen for crash or other noises.

5- Mark the spot you shot from, scrape leaves out or lay toilet paper on ground to mark it.

6- If you need to leave and come back later mark it with a GPS if you have one. TAKE A EXIT THE OPPOSITE WAY THE ANIMAL WENT .

After that repeat these over and over in your head until they are burned into your brain, you may need them later.

Once tracking starts only bring 1 or at the most 2 helpers . Once you find blood mark it then track by hoof prints, bent over grass , broken branches until you find the next drop of blood . Take your time and enjoy the blood trail. TAKE PICTURES ! Mark the blood trail with small pieces of toilet paper as you go.

Use all you senses , smell - I can smell even a lung shot deer -sometimes just a deer smell sometimes blood . Listen crows , jays and such make a living scavenging . Watch for jays ,coons, opossums and such they may lead you right to your deer , STICK WITH IT !

Good luck
Jack

all good info here, i track the actual footprints (hoove) as much as possible,if she was running hard she should have left a pretty good trail till she slowed down, by then some blood will be showing up....good luck..  

[fishone]

Jack, is right on the money. If you were shooting level or up at the deer and hit her high, you will not have any blood until she stops running. All the bleeding is going into the chest cavity. Unless you know the exact direction and location she ran, she could be real tough to find. If she is hurt bad, she will run down hill (not up) and to where it is thick and brushy. Good Luck!

[straitera]

No worries David. You did what you thought was right & it is very OK IMO to wait. You did good.., no regrets. Glad on my TG brothers for such good info to help you too. A deer dog will find your animal pdq. If not, do the searches as mentioned above. Deer look for a place to lay down & stop bleeding. This is normal. So, look under bushes or undulations where a deer can hide & then die. If/when you do locate blood, mark it & you'll soon discover they will run in pretty much a straight line or arc. Now you can just follow that line w/concentric circles until you locate more blood or tracks. Let us know. Good luck.

[Stinger]

David,

If you were below the deer and hit it 8 inches back from the front leg and mid body, there is a good chance you only got 1 lung and as others have said all the blood will be pooling inside the body cavity.  I don't live all that far from you and even though I'm at work today, I might be able to give you a hand this afternoon.  Shoot me a PM if you can't find help.

I'm guessing you are hunting in the "neighborhoods" of Fairfax Station.  If that is the case, don't rule out the deer going uphill.  I know conventional wisdom is that they go downhill when hit, but in the "hood" they will go to cover and that may be up a hillside.  I tracked one my brother shot earlier this year in an urban area and it went up a fairly steep hillside to get to cover. Also as previously suggested, look for crows and/or buzzards as they will gather to feast on the kill.  If she didn't get bumped when you went in with the dogs, my bet is she will be within 200 yards of where you shot her.

[Mark of WV]

David,

2x to most of what has been said. One other thing is to be patient and persistent. Remember it's like a murder mystery. I once tracked a deer shot with a half charge of black powder. It only penetrated one side and something plugged that hole. To shorten this story it was not a long, in distance, track but a long in time as blood started sparse and got worse. I backtracked and worked the last portion of the trail no less than four times. Standing there and the end that last time, head scratching, something caused me to look to my right, and 10 yards over was the deer lying dead.

Patience and persistence.

Best Regards, and good luck
Mark

[canopyboy]

FOUND!!   Got back from work early, changed clothes, and out I went.  Started to work the concentric circle idea.  Never found a drop, but found the deer right there where I could see it.  Must have been within 15 feet of it last night.  Anyhow, here she is:

   

Though I saw her zig-zag, she ended up less than 50 yds up the creek from me.  Went back, and found her trail but never a drop of blood except where she fell.  And even then, not much.  Of course, dragging her out to where the tractor could get she left a solid line on the ground.  All the pooled blood you all were talking about.

I might have been a touch critical of my shot once I couldn't find her.  Looking at her, I think it was pretty darned decent.  Here is the where the shot went in (had to roll her over to see):L

     

And where it came out (I guess it wasn't a perfect broadside angle in hindsight...):

   

Well, I'm stoked about my first deer.  Period.  Thanks for all your help.  Now I just need to figure out how to butcher it.  Anyone has any links for a die-hard do-it-yourselfer, please post.