OK, I shot one, now what do I do ?

[ChuckC]

So you shot a deer or other big game critter.  Now what ?

I hope lots of experienced folks participate in this one and those not so experienced listen or ask questions.  A good hit can go south quick if certain things go wrong or are handled poorly.

Care to share a few tidbits of what should be done; immediately,  in a bit, next day ?  Heck, even stretching it to after you find it.
CHuckC

[jkm97]

The first thing I do, assuming I don't see the animal go down, is take a compass bearing of where I last saw or heard the animal. I've found this can really speed the tracking process up.

[Bjorn]

Tie a ribbon on a branch denoting where the animal was when hit. (remove ribbon later).
Depending on the hit I may follow right away or wait a while. With hogs I follow right away.
Wether I'm following right away or not, I try to locate my arrow and the start of the trail to examine the blood. That helps me to decide whether to follow or wait a bit.

[jonsimoneau]

I've gotten to the point with whitetails to where I like to err on the safe side. Having said that, after most hits I do nothing. If I'm in a treestand I will wait a half hour and then back out the opposite direction the deer ran giving him a wide berth. If I saw the deer hit the ground I will go after it immediately but if I did not see or hear it go down I try to wait 4 hours before tracking. Where I hunt the temps are usually cold enough that the meat is not going to go bad. Waiting 4 hours assures recovery on hits you thought were perfect, but maybe were not so perfect. Having said that, I don't like to leave a deer overnight anymore. The reason is we have way more coyotes now than we had when I first started hunting. If you leave a deer overnight it seems there is about an 80 percent chance the yotes will get to him first.   If I hit a deer in the paunch on an evening stand, I will wait till morning to track it but I will often sit in the area and listen for coyotes. If I hear a bunch of coyotes sounding off congregated in one area then I'm going after the deer.

[Chad Orde]

Chuck I wrote a real good guide for what to do after the shot send me your address and I'll send you one.

[akaboomer]

I also stay put for at least 30 minutes after the shot. Pay very close attention to every detail after the release.  About 6 years ago I shot a doe that was really keyed up. She reacted to the shot and spun. The shot still got one lung and liver but she didn't leave a spot of blood. About 2-3 minutes after the shot I heard some rustling that kept going for several minutes.  After backing out carefully and returning 4 hours later I finally found her by going to where I heard the rustling. Keep track of every detail, it may be the difference between you eating the critter or a coyote.

Chris

[Dave Lay]

first thing I do is to stay quiet and listen for it to go down or some other indication of direction, then take a compass reading to last place seen and try to remember a landmark such as a stump or tree or something, if shot from a tree stand then I will shoot a arrow to where the deer was standing at the time it was shot, then stand that arrow up so you can see it later.. things change a lot when ya climb down, if ya find the  arrow try to determine the hit, no matter what you saw,   but depending on conditions and how soon to dark I always try to give it a minimum of 30 minutes on a good shot   way more on a marginal one. then follow up the trail staying as quiet as possible...

[LB_hntr]

I did 3 podcasts on this very subject. Here are the links. Keep in mind they were some of my first podcasts and I was not the greatest speaker...lol but definitely great detail and advise on the subject.

 http://tbwpodcast.com/episode-9-animal-recovery-tactics-part-1/

 http://tbwpodcast.com/episode-10-animal-recovery-tactics-part-2/

 http://tbwpodcast.com/episode-30-using-a-gps-for-blood-trails-and-grid-searches/

[Ryan Rothhaar]

For whitetails Jon hit it on the head, as far as I'm concerned.  One of my old time mentors had a saying - "If he goes more than 300 yards, he'll go 300 miles."  This is a good rule of thumb for whitetails that aren't pressured after the shot.  We've tracked lots of deer, for ourselves for 30 years, and for other people with our blood dog over the last 4-5.  If you hit a whitetail fatally and back out chances are 90% + that you'll find him dead in a bed within 300 yards the next day.  Jump him and all bets are off.  Now he knows who to blame and he will go till he drops.  The #1 mistake that hunters make (our experience from dog calls) is to go too quickly and jump the deer.  Usually they don't even know they jumped him, but we find a bloody bed with the dog.  Even with the dog the jumped deer dramatically decreases the chance of recovery.  Mostly the guys that call us are "modern" type bowhunters, and it seems they have trouble seeing where the arrow hits.  Always "center-punched him" - but that's generally not the case when the dog finds the deer....well I don't know about that equipment, never used it, but if you aren't seeing where your arrows hit with traditional gear you need to fix that.  Make sure you know where you hit him, make sure you know where he went by sight/sound.  And unless you see him drop give him at least 4 hours.  8 is better.  You screw up and jump a gutshot deer and you've got a real problem on your hands.

R

[Wannabe1]

Excellent subject!  

[Jerry Jeffer]

Well, I got so darn excited after the shot one time I almost jumped out of a tree stand. I don't recommend doing this. Now I only hunt the ground.
First thing is sit down and get your breath, and let the adrenaline wind down a bit.
So, if I don't see it go down, I wait a while before tracking. Pay close attention to the last place you saw the deer. I will check the site of the hit for blood, hair etc. This can give you an idea of what is to come.

[reddogge]

Stay put and still for 10 minutes and use your ears. Mark the last spot you saw the animal and then go to that spot. Try to find evidence of a hit....hair, blood, arrow, etc. Wait at least 30 minutes to an hour to begin tracking. You may want to call someone to assist you in this.

[ChuckC]

Unless you hit a deer and break a heavy bone (not a rib), the deer will typically react by kicking or jumping.  Deer are eaten by everything so of course, they run.  If you wait, the deer will run to the first available cover and stop to look back at what just hit it.  If you don't move, or jump up and down screaming "I smoked him", the deer will watch for a bit and bed down nearby, where, hopefully, you will find it.  A harder hit deer may just run till it drops.

As stated above, I like to watch and listen.  If you see it fall, or hear it fall, you can go get it quicker, but if you don't, give it a bit of time, then sneak out and give it some more time.

Before you get down, use that time to mentally mark where you shot the deer and where you last saw it.  Compass bearings are great tools to get you back on track.
ChuckC

i like following (reading) the bloodtrail, so I really like to slowdown and enjoy that part of the hunt, so I really let myself calm down after the shot taking mental notes, and replaying the whole thing through in my mind.
         I hunt alone, so its rare that I have any help getting a deer out of the woods, my first thought is how and wich way out, tag and gut.
  if a cart is nessasary I hide the deer under leaves and limbs and go for a cart.
   if its cool enough il hang it for a few days, otherwise its quartered and placed in a cooler of ice.

[Rufus]

If your afoot, stalking, still hunting, 'gittin lucky', whatever, make sure you also mark the spot from where you made the shot.  
 Things sure can look different if you, when you, take off in pursuit or maybe just looking back for shot alignment or maybe you need to start over in tracking mode.

[old_goat2]

Watch and listen till there is nothing to take note of anymore then I eat a sandwich and mark the spot I shot from with the GPS when I'm elk hunting. Only slightly different tree stand hunting!

[amazonjim]

Watch, listen, sit at least 30 to an hour, at the bottom of your,stand, check for blood, arrow, smell the arrow, if a gut,shot you will know. Pursue, deer hit hard and bleeding will want water, mark your trail, with toilet paper, it's easy to see  easy to return to last blood, watch the trails, don't, don't get in a hurry.

[joe ashton]

I'll watch and listen.  Making a note of the last spot I saw the animal.  I wait 30+ minutes before starting the search. If I know it is a marginal hit then I'll quietly back out and wait 2 or 3 hours or even over night.  I've made tracking   markers out of surveyors tape and  hair clips.  I use 3 of them to mark the blood trail as I go.  When I've mark the 3rd blood sign I walk back and pick up the first clip.  This keeps me on track but also helps to  slow me down.
once I find the animal I say 'grace' and sign my tag.
then take PICTURES.
then either field dress or go gutless.
then get my game cart.
then begin to wonder why I shot this one so far from the truck. (I hunt in lion and bear country so about now I am also wonder WHO IS WATCHING)

[damascusdave]

First thing to do after noting how the animal reacts is to stay very quiet and listen as well as watch it until it is out of sight...visualizing the shot in your mind or thinking about where fletching or the nock was sticking out if you did not get a complete pass through is also important...we have a great new method to mark the trail or decide where the animal was when hit as well, so pull out your phone and take some pictures...now it is decision making time...a poor hit dictates a much longer wait before even going to the arrow strike site unless you know for a certainty that the animal is far away...if you know the animal is hit well you could go up and mark the site and then still back out of there for at least a half hour...while you are waiting muster any resources you can including calling a savvy friend to help you with the tracking job...tracking with the right person can make the job more than twice as easy...then either way let the fun begin...one thing I want to emphasize here is that I never hunt in the rain or even if there is a risk of rain...some may use the fact they are on an expensive hunt to justify that and I say that is the worse kind of unethical bowhunting since you are letting expense dictate your ethical base

DDave

[RIng]

I have many ? about how things are different in the Maryland marsh than in my mountain hunting . #1- I am told do not gut if I have marsh to drag through .#2 - I am worried about the meat going bad if I have to leave over night to find . With the warmer weather of Maryland and earlier season . #3 - I am concerned about blood tracking in the marsh and the Sika getting into muddy marsh that I just can not get to . I have put a lot of time and work into preseason scouting and placing stands .( I have loved the time in the marsh ).If I am lucky enough to get a shot opportunity , I am uncertain what I will do .

May life's simplest things bring you the greatest pleasures!!