After shot procedure?

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

I was in the pro shop today shooting when a new archery hunter came in and told me about the hell of a time he had tracking his first deer he shot.. after he explained the story to me, I explained to him the ins and out of proper tracking of animals after the shot the best way I know how. he made the rookie mistake  of a bad shot and getting on the deer way to quickly and pushing it... luckily for him with all this snow blood was easy to find and he eventually got the deer some mile from where it was stuck. 

 so what is the proper way? from all I know you can normally assess a hit just by the sound, but that is not for everyone so the first key is to take note of EXACTLY where the animal was at the time of the hit and what direction it went. If you are not 100% sure of your hit I wait at least 30 min, usually an hour before slowly moviing in and looking for my arrow. If you find the arrow it will tell you everything you need to know before you find a drop of blood. Pink bubbly blood is always good and indicates a double lung or heart shot and 99% of the time a very short track. Bright red with no bubbles usualy means a meat hit (leg,middle of body etc) or sometimes liver.. green is always paunch.. if you find the arrow you know what to do next..... if its great blood, proceed to find the blood ( usually no more then 15 ft from the hit) and begin the short track (again 99% of the time) if its just red and not that covered, green or hairy things are not as promising and if you find that I would wait at least 8 hours even better overnight if the weather allows for it. I always carry biodegradeable tape with me to mark the blood, it helps you much better to see the path the animal is going and gives you a better idea when the blood is not as obvious. Going slow to me is key, alot of people miss blood especially on animals hit less then perfect .... I mark the trail every 5-10 feet on little blood and every 20ft or so on good blood if I dont find the game right away.... continue to track until the game is found, if you run out of blood the next thing to do is mark the last spot and begin to circle the area, this can be very effective and if you look long enough you should always find your game.. attention to detail is key, I have tracked many animals on my hands/knees finding pin drops, the key is not to walk on the trail/path the game was going, you may just turn over the one leaf with that pin drop and lose the trail. Not all animals hit well bleed well, sometimes the fat/fur clog the wound, sometimes the organs clog the wound, dont get discouraged if the blood trail does not look like a murder scene! if you know you made a good hit keep at it in the direction the game went and you will claim your trophy! I have hit many many deer perfect behind the shoulder to not find any blood until they fell over... sometimes they expire to quick and no blood gets out, if you hit them high the blood trail is usually not great, our friend gravity makes them bleed mostly internal...... basically take your time!!! you can never give a animal to much time unless its hot, if its dead its not going anywhere! but if its not then getting on the trail to fast can be a diaster and game can go forever on adrenalin after a shot!  this is how I understand it anyways! anyone have anything to add?

[bowhunterforever]

Well said!

[Todd_ID]

A small correction to your list there.... liver shots are a very dark red blood, almost to the point of being black.

White is generally the fat from a bottom-of-the-brisket or top-of-the-back hit.  Sound is an unreliable indicator at best; the exception to this would be a sharp crack of a shoulder blade or bone hit.  Another key is to not give up too soon; many people will give up after only one day, or even a few hours, of looking.  The point to call it a lost animal is when there is no doubt that there will be absolutely no meat to recover.  That means several days in many cases.  If you bump an animal while you are tracking, then it's almost always a good choice to back off and come back several hours later.

[blessed]

I would add this...mark the place you were standing at the time of the shot. ..mark the spot the deer was standing. ..give it at the very least 30 minutes and that's if you think you saw where you shot . Most shots give it an hour...1 hour. The animal will pass in just seconds with a perfect shot, but to be safe...Waite!

[MagKarl]

Listen and wait, try to settle down.  There's always a trail, blood is just one component of the sign left behind. Don't forget to look everywhere for sign, not just on the ground.  Look high and low on limbs, brush, grass, etc.  A piece of toilet paper works well to check possible blood/liquid for color.  Don't go plowing ahead till you're sure which way the animal went, you might destroy the trail.  Follow tracks, broken brush, etc when there's no blood.  Use things like spider webs, blackberry vines, ferns, etc that cross a trail to your advantage, if they're intact, you're likely on the wrong path.  Use your nose.   

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

A small correction to your list there.... liver shots are a very dark red blood, almost to the point of being black.

White is generally the fat from a bottom-of-the-brisket or top-of-the-back hit.  Sound is an unreliable indicator at best; the exception to this would be a sharp crack of a shoulder blade or bone hit.  Another key is to not give up too soon; many people will give up after only one day, or even a few hours, of looking.  The point to call it a lost animal is when there is no doubt that there will be absolutely no meat to recover.  That means several days in many cases.  If you bump an animal while you are tracking, then it's almost always a good choice to back off and come back several hours later.

   


truth be told I have never liver shot one,well I have clipped the liver before on quartering away shots, but have seen it and it was not as dark as you say on those animals not saying it wont be that dark, also I certainly think the sound can be a indicator... every animal I have hit behind the shoulder makes a hollow sound as the arrow passes through it.. everyone (around 100 or so) so thats good enough for me, but if you are a seasoned hunter you should know where it hit just be the release and how the shot felt as well, personally I see the deer/elk or whatever as I am concentrating on the point of aim.... thats just from my experiences, I could see if you hit it low it might still make that hollow sound... point is take you time and look look and look!!

[fc2038]

A small correction to your list there.... liver shots are a very dark red blood, almost to the point of being black.

White is generally the fat from a bottom-of-the-brisket or top-of-the-back hit.  Sound is an unreliable indicator at best; the exception to this would be a sharp crack of a shoulder blade or bone hit.  Another key is to not give up too soon; many people will give up after only one day, or even a few hours, of looking.  The point to call it a lost animal is when there is no doubt that there will be absolutely no meat to recover.  That means several days in many cases.  If you bump an animal while you are tracking, then it's almost always a good choice to back off and come back several hours later.

   


truth be told I have never liver shot one,well I have clipped the liver before on quartering away shots, but have seen it and it was not as dark as you say on those animals not saying it wont be that dark, also I certainly think the sound can be a indicator... every animal I have hit behind the shoulder makes a hollow sound as the arrow passes through it.. everyone (around 100 or so) so thats good enough for me, but if you are a seasoned hunter you should know where it hit just be the release and how the shot felt as well, personally I see the deer/elk or whatever as I am concentrating on the point of aim.... thats just from my experiences, I could see if you hit it low it might still make that hollow sound... point is take you time and look look and look!!

just a side note on the animal that you clipped in the liver.... Liver blood is really dark and the reason (IMOP) that it did not seem dark was that you did out a good hit on the animal so the liver blood was mixed in with the boiler room shoot. i can attest that the liver blood is really dark.

[bow4elk]

Some great info here...

As for seeing your arrow hit, that is critical.  I've recently switched to carbon arrows but all my aluminums were crown dipped white, crested to my liking, with three white 4.5" feathers.  My next batch of carbons will be crown dipped with white Blazer vanes.  It's important to see where your arrow impacts, especially on pass through shots.  That "100% sure it was a double-lung" shot can easily be a mid-body (liver/paunch) hit in reality.  It's about shot angle and placement.  You have to be certain and/or find your arrow before proceeding to track.  It's a puzzle that takes patience and caution.  On poorly hit game, if you jump them from their first bed, your odds drop dramatically in recovering them.  You have to assess the shot placement correctly.  If you can't, you MUST wait a few hours.

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

A small correction to your list there.... liver shots are a very dark red blood, almost to the point of being black.

White is generally the fat from a bottom-of-the-brisket or top-of-the-back hit.  Sound is an unreliable indicator at best; the exception to this would be a sharp crack of a shoulder blade or bone hit.  Another key is to not give up too soon; many people will give up after only one day, or even a few hours, of looking.  The point to call it a lost animal is when there is no doubt that there will be absolutely no meat to recover.  That means several days in many cases.  If you bump an animal while you are tracking, then it's almost always a good choice to back off and come back several hours later.

   


truth be told I have never liver shot one,well I have clipped the liver before on quartering away shots, but have seen it and it was not as dark as you say on those animals not saying it wont be that dark, also I certainly think the sound can be a indicator... every animal I have hit behind the shoulder makes a hollow sound as the arrow passes through it.. everyone (around 100 or so) so thats good enough for me, but if you are a seasoned hunter you should know where it hit just be the release and how the shot felt as well, personally I see the deer/elk or whatever as I am concentrating on the point of aim.... thats just from my experiences, I could see if you hit it low it might still make that hollow sound... point is take you time and look look and look!!

just a side note on the animal that you clipped in the liver.... Liver blood is really dark and the reason (IMOP) that it did not seem dark was that you did out a good hit on the animal so the liver blood was mixed in with the boiler room shoot. i can attest that the liver blood is really dark.  

im sure it is, im not saying its not, my only "real" liver experience it wasnt super dark.... dark for sure... hopefully I wont take any in the liver so I dont have to see that blood trail!

[DOUBLELUNG]

A GPS is an invaluable tracking tool.  Learn to zoom the display into the highest resolution (mine goes down to about 700', screen width, and use the track feature to ensure you thoroughly cover every bit of ground.  I also find this helps immensely when circling out from the last sign until I find the next sign.

One other note - you can see the trail much better from low to the ground, than standing.  If you can't see anything, get your head down next to the ground at the last sign, and look along the animal's line of travel.  Often you can track an animal this way, by the disturbed dirt, vegetation, toe marks, etc - sign that wasn't visible from above.

Also note the gait of the tracks - if the sign is poor, it is very helpful to have a feel for where the critter will next place it's foot, vs. randomly seeking sign.

[bow4elk]

...and don't hesitate to go back to where the animal was standing, then follow your flagging back to the last sign.  Get a general bearing of direction of travel.  Look ahead, check the wind, and think about where a wounded animal might head.  They often will circle back and bed with wind/sight to their back-trail to warn them of any following predators.

[robodad]

......and if possible, determine the directionality of the blood droplets as it will indicate direction of travel as well.

I have followed a decent blood trail for several hundred yards only for it to abruptly stop, making circles didn't help but on my back track of the blood trail I noticed some of the blood drops facing the wrong way and this deer back tracked on its exact trail for at least 75 yards and went in a totally new direction so I know they will reverse direction trying to escape from whatever is on to them !!!

Excellent post, lots of good information !!!

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

great notes guys!

[bow4elk]

one more tip - I've been on hundreds of blood trails and I've always found it best to stay focused on the trail itself and finding that next speck of blood.  Check the underside of leaves and grass.  When an animals pushes through brush the vegetation will often lift up and allow the bloody hide to paint the undersides.

[Hoytstaffshooter83]

great point tom! agree 100%