Blood trailing in the rain

[Wendego716]

What's your approach to finding a deer after you've shot it in the rain (particularly heavy rain)? Do you try to get on the blood trail fast before it washes away and hope you don't bump it, or give it the normal amount of time and then just search for a dead deer nearby?

I shot a spike this morning and didn't really have anything to follow, so just started walking transects hoping it didn't go far. No luck, planning on searching more in the morning. I hate losing deer.

[JakeLand]

In rain get on it quickly, if your shot was good he ain’t far

[lewy]

What are the details of your shot and the deer's reaction? Like Jake said, a deer hit decent probably isn't far.

[Wendego716]

Shot felt good, was only 50 yards. A few clumps of white hair where he was standing, with some blood/muscle bits. The latter has me worried I pulled the shot and grazed him. Nothing I can do about it now except go back and look for a dead deer in the area.

My question was more for future reference, since after he took off I had trouble deciding between waiting or pushing it (kinda did both). Especially since rain and blacktails go hand in hand.

[brokentrail]

In rain, I go and start tracking almost immediately. 

[Goshawk]

Rifle and Archery, if it's pouring down, I want to get on it asap. It also helps to read your hit. A kick and blindly running means it won't go far. A hunched up response often means liver and you need to get close to get another round in it.

[Goshawk]

For both Rifle and Archery, in heavy rains, I get on it ASAP! Also read your hit. A jump and blind run often means a heart / double lunger so you can be pretty bold about making in.  A hunched response with the deer sneaking away can mean too far back and a liver hit.  Get on it too, but go in like you're sneaking up on a cat. Odds are you'll need another shot to finish it before it bolts, so do your best super sneaky approach.  If your alone, take a picture from where you shot, to the place the deer was for referencing a solid starting point. With a second person, use hand signals to best direct your buddy to the place it was.

[Feathernfurr]

I’m going to interject on that last one. If it’s archery and you hit back (liver/guts) you need to back out and come back 8-12 hours later. Regardless of blood he’s going to be dead somewhere within 200-300 yards. If you push him with a gun you might get that second shot, but you’re not going to get that follow up shot with archery, I don’t care how sneaky you think you are. A deer is going to bed facing its back track. If you bump him and don’t get that follow up shot you’re never going to find him. Hit liver, let em lie and come back in 8 to 12 hours and recover your deer. You may lose some meet to coyotes or bears, but that’s deer is going to die and you might as well give yourself the slightest chance of recovery.

[WSU]

Shot felt good, was only 50 yards. A few clumps of white hair where he was standing, with some blood/muscle bits. The latter has me worried I pulled the shot and grazed him. Nothing I can do about it now except go back and look for a dead deer in the area.

My question was more for future reference, since after he took off I had trouble deciding between waiting or pushing it (kinda did both). Especially since rain and blacktails go hand in hand.

Doesn’t sound promising to me if there is white hair. In the rain I look asap

[blackveltbowhunter]

I agree with FF on the arrow when liver or gut hit. I have had good success letting them die and going into find them. Takes work and some sleuthing, but has worked out far better than forcing the issue. I also avoid excessive vegetation in real heavy rain with archery.

  Bullets I get on them right away. My buck today I hit back as he was turning to leave, bullet path of travel was quartered away through liver and  lung found bullet in armpit of offside leg. Shot was close, but he wasn't waiting to smell the daisies, he hunched up but was clearly hurt. His dirt track into salal got me a direction of travel and did find blood shortly after.  20 yards later found him piled up. For reference the blood was gone 10 minutes later and tracks were washed out shortly after that.

I would definitely go grid!!! In a story for another time, the buck I killed last year had no bullet path thru anything "vital" yet the shock had disrupted his insides enough that his lungs were heavily bruised. Thankfully 1 year ago today was gorgeous and sunny and condition allowed me to  unravel the trail and after a long grind find him to kegged up to move. Good luck in your search!

[dilleytech]

Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.

[brokentrail]

I'm not sure where the OP's deer was shot but you may want to look on unitedbloodtrackers.org and see if there is a tracking dog close to your hunt location, assuming you aren't on private property where dogs are banned.

[Wendego716]

For reference the blood was gone 10 minutes later and tracks were washed out shortly after that.

Thank you, that's some good evidence to get on it fast to at least find an initial direction once it's out of sight.

Also, I did find him this morning. Didn't go far at all, but did go in an unexpected direction. If I had made one more pass on that side I would've found him yesterday, but I had work/family obligations I needed to get home for. TBD how much meat I'll be able to salvage, but at least I got him.

[MADMAX]

Good on you for not giving up 👍

[Feathernfurr]

Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.

Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.

[WSU]

Good deal! Where did you hit it?

[blackveltbowhunter]

Way to go! tup:  Way to stick with it until you knew you gave full effort! Congrats!

[dilleytech]

Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.

Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.

Every animal I have shot in the liver died within 10 minutes and didn’t go more than 60 yards. They bleed out very fast from a liver hit. Unless you barely scratch it or something.

[WSU]

Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.

Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.

Every animal I have shot in the liver died within 10 minutes and didn’t go more than 60 yards. They bleed out very fast from a liver hit. Unless you barely scratch it or something.

I shot a bull once in the liver with a muzzleloader and finished it off about 6 hours and a mile later.

[Feathernfurr]

Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.

Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.

Every animal I have shot in the liver died within 10 minutes and didn’t go more than 60 yards. They bleed out very fast from a liver hit. Unless you barely scratch it or something.

I shot a bull once in the liver with a muzzleloader and finished it off about 6 hours and a mile later.

I’ve killed multiple elk and deer with 1 lung and center punched liver, with big mechanical and fixed broadheads. The farthest one has taken it 950 yards. Liver is not a quick death unless you clip a large artery with it. They will carry it 150-200 yards and bed and die.

[kodiak06]

Rotten meat is not meat I care to find.

Unless you’re shooting deer in September most deer that die by liver shot are going to live 8-12 hours. You wait to find them you’ll actually find them, and they’ll be expired a short amount of time and meat will not be spoil. Even in September, if you shoot them in the evening and wait till morning they’re still going to be good. Rushing to track a liver/gut shot animal is almost always going to end in not recovering an animal.

Every elk and deer we've hit in the liver have died in less than an hour. My sons bull this year was dead 40min after the shot when we found him.

[Dark2Dark]

[/quote]

Every elk and deer we've hit in the liver have died in less than an hour. My sons bull this year was dead 40min after the shot when we found him.
[/quote]

I think with any of these comments it's valuable/important to mention whether you are talking about archery hunting or rifle hunting. Of course, the OP is talking about rifle hunting so it would be natural to throw in rifle scenarios as most relevant. But we definitely have some archery stories being included.

There is a pretty big difference between slicing the liver a little with an arrow and blowing it up with an expanding bullet and the associated concussion. A bullet could reasonably turn most of the liver into jello, and open up all the arteries going to and from it. That could definitely be a pretty quick death.

With an arrow, it's pretty well-documented that a liver hit can take hours and hours to kill an animal, and I have seen it happen several times. Archery situations are also quite a bit different because if it's going to take the animal four hours to die, you better give it four hours. Because if you bump it, it's highly unlikely you're getting a follow-up shot with a bow. Whereas, jumping it with a rifle isn't the end of the world because odds are high/good you can put another round in it to finish the job.

With basically any rifle hit on public property, especially in the rain, I don't typically wait around before pursuing a hit animal. Maybe I should, but the only rifle-hit animal I have lost remains a huge mystery- it was pouring rain but I'm pretty sure the hit was good and I found about a 1" piece of lung that blew out of his chest cavity. It was a big spike buck and to this day I have no idea where he ended up or how I couldn't find him.