Deer tracking procedure....

[extrmski]

Hello All from Poulsbo,

I have a question... but first some background.

I am hunting with an '03 AR 34 set a 65 lbs., Goldtip arrows with 100 grain Magnus 2 blade broadheads, a Shakey Hunter by Trophy Taker rest, a Scott Little Bitty Goose release, and trophy Ridge 5 pin Flatliner sight.

I was hunting the late season this last week when I stumbled across a nice (antlers extending outside his ears) Blacktail Buck bedded down hill at a 45 degree angle, I ranged him at 50 yards. I estimated that it would be a 45 yard shot to where he was bedded. I was hurried on my shot because he stood up looking my direction. I pulled my 45 yard pin ( I currently have 3 pins set @ 25, 35, and 45 yards) and released. I do not at this time feel comfortable shooting any farther that 45 yards. I let the arrow release and felt I made a good shot with good follow through. I saw the buck lurch forward at the shot. He was bedded with 4 does. They all bolted. I waited for a few minutes and proceeded down to where he was bedded. I found the arrow completley covered with blood, a total passs through. I think this is a good shot. I then waited 30 minutes before starting my tracking. I started my tracking to find small bubbles in the blood and blood spots as big as my hand with out stretched fingers. I tracked this buck for three hours as the snow was melting off the branches above the big timber I was in and dropping to the ground, no snow in the timber. The blood trail ended. I then proceeded to circle out from the last blood spot to no avail. I never found him. I have read and have had experience with deer when they are wounded heading straight down hill. He didn't head down hill in the great scheme of the topography. He did cross a few small 30 feet deep ravines in pursuit of his escape but basicly traversed the hill. I trackied him for approx. 200 yards.

I feel I made a good shot.
I had a blood covered arrow.
I waited 30 minutes.

What can I learn fronm this hunt. I am totally disappointed and upset with myself. It's all I have been thinking about since the incident.

Any suggestion or comments will be greatly appreciated. Thanks Todd in Poulsbo

[billythekidrock]

Well from the story it sounds as if you made a good hit and the buck is more then likely dead.
First off, if he wasn't down within sight I would have waited longer, maybe an hour. I would have noted the path of travel and if it looked like he was heading in a direction with purpose, I would continue looking that direction. I would be on the ground inspecting every leaf/branch/blade of grass even down to individual fir/pine needles. I would be looking for blood spots down to the size of a pin head and looked under every tree limb and fern. Another trick is to get ahead of the trail and look back at ground level. Sometimes you will see slight disturbances in the ground that you don't when tracking the same direction.

[high country]

the thing about blood trails is they are one of two scenarios, one they start with little blood and get bigger, two they start good and dry up.

bubbly blood can typically indicate lung hits, color is typically more pink, less dark than some vein hits. I have seen an arrow pass through the femoral arts and be quite foamy and rather light in color, so these are merely suggestions.

I like to follow my blood trails from a few feet to the side as to avoid contamination. when my trail starts gettin cold i mark every single speck of blood, and if I see my deers track I will consider marking them too. when my trail stops I will first continue on the path the trail seems to point, I then start making a square trail that is ever getting smaller till I am back on my last CONFIRMED blood/track. if I see nothing I then start looking right under my nose.....I have litteraly smelled a down buck that I could have never seen. A deer can hole up in some crazy places....look and then look again.

there is always a chance that he simply clotted up and moved on.....not as likely as him being crow chow now, but it hapens. I would give myself an hour minimum on questionable hits. for me a questionable hit is one that I did not watch the nock dissapear into his sde at a good angle. additionally when tracking an unconfirmed hit I typically glass ahead as to avoid jumping a not yet dead deer.

As much as it sucks everyone is gonna miss a tracking job at some point. I myself have had to get help only to find I was right there and just not seeing it....it happens. take a break, have a cup of joe and then carry on......good luck

[extrmski]

Hello again,

I want to say thanks for the great information. I am going to be back in there at first light to try and find this guy.
I will be using your posted tips.

Thanks again, Todd

[jackelope]

the only thing i would add to this is if you don't find that deer in the first hundred yards and there are no pending weather issues or hot weather to worry about, i'd bail out completely for 3-4 hours or overnight and come back. give him a chance to bed, relax and bleed out.  don't do this if it's gonna rain. the more you  push him, the more adrenalin he gets pumping and the further he goes.

[Palmer]

Deer tend to go into thickets and die.  You'll end up standing right next to them in these thick brushy areas.  My partners and I have almost stepped on them while looking for them in thick cover.

[LOVHUNTIN]

I have learned the hard way.  unless you are sure of an good hit wait atleast three hours or even the next morning especially during the late season because deer are a lot stronger.  I feel you really cant ever wait too long unless weather or other weird conditions.  Deer and elk are weird you can have a crappy hit and they go down quick or a great kill shot and lose it. 

I like to get down low and look in the direction they are heading...usually helps to get down....

Good Luck

Luke

[ICEMAN]

Three hours? The next day? I can't see where waiting until the next day can help anything, except to ruin and waste your game. Waiting this long may also let sign get rained out.

If an animal is going to bed down, it may do it right away, it may not, I can see how chasing it immediately could be a problem. Waiting an hour to let it fade I can understand. Three hours, come on.

I also believe that you are responsible for a quick kill, and if you routinely are sticking animals and then walking away, to go back the next day, ...not really a nice way to end the animals life.

[boneaddict]

What can I learn from this hunt......don't take 45-50 yard shots.  Move your range in closer.
                                         .......don't hurry a shot. Back away and take the loss.
I also disagree with waiting overnight.  20 minutes minimium, and several hours probably max, especially if weather is inclement. I disagree with all of the TV shows and so forth about leaving overnight.  Even in cold weather, I think an animal will spoil or taste worse.  I really hope you find him.  Sometimes thigs like this happen to all of us, no matter how much we practice, and no matter how good the shot is.  Again, good luck!

[Slider]

Don't forget about doing a Grid Search!!! Call all your buddies and put them to work!!! Good Luck

[bankwalker]

Three hours? The next day? I can't see where waiting until the next day can help anything, except to ruin and waste your game. Waiting this long may also let sign get rained out.

If an animal is going to bed down, it may do it right away, it may not, I can see how chasing it immediately could be a problem. Waiting an hour to let it fade I can understand. Three hours, come on.

I also believe that you are responsible for a quick kill, and if you routinely are sticking animals and then walking away, to go back the next day, ...not really a nice way to end the animals life.

sometimes with only a couple hours of daylight left it is far better to wait till the next day. weather permiting of course. i have tracked deer for over a 1/4mile to find them. i tracked a deer for 2 days to find it fallowing the smallest of blood trails. just because you make a good hit does not mean an animal is going to bed down and die within an hour.

good example. 6 years ago my buddie shot a big doe right in the boiler room. nice solid blood trail, talkin about hand size blood spots. complete pass through. we waited 45min and then tracked that deer for about 700yds. jumped it 3 or 4 times seeing it very good 2 times and blood covered on both sides of the deer. we were closing in on dark with no flashlights so we decided the best thing to do was to wait the next day to come continue the tracking. the weather report was good and this deer had a solid blood trail when we last left with blood spot about the size of a quater. so we were very confident she was dead over night.

as we started back on the trail the next day we jumped a deer within 40yd of the last blood spot from the night before and sure enough it was her. we stopped and sat for a 20-30min hoping she would bed down again. after the time past we heard a couple branches break and here comes a nice fat doe waling towards us. sence i still hadnt filled my tag i figured hey why not might as well be tracking 2 deer today. so i raised my bow up and noticed that the deer was wet but you could see a big exit wound on her shoulder. i told my buddie hey thats your deer. so he nocked an arrow and shot her right in the head at 15yds and dropped her in her tracks. 

upon gutting her we found a perfect double lung shot. that deer ended up running 800yds with a perfect double lung shot. now then with that shot that deer should have dropped dead within 30minutes at the most.

the same budie shot a doe the next year and broke both front legs, she tryd running down a hill and spiked herself right through the next with a big branch. sometimes you need that extra help to get the job done. lol

you think things should play out correctly when you make a good shot and that deer will die like it should. idk if the first deer would have died or not. i mean 2 days with that amount of blood for that far the deer should have bleed out if not died from the double lung shot.

you can do everything perfect, dot all the i's and cross all the t's. but that doesnt mean squat to a animal with that the drive to live

[billythekidrock]

I disagree with all of the TV shows and so forth about leaving overnight.  Even in cold weather, I think an animal will spoil or taste worse.

I totally agree with you on this.
One thing to remember with the hunting shows, they are in it for the money. Good footage = $, bad lighting = crappy footage. How many times have you seen a deer hit at night and found the next morning - rigored in a perfect pose for photos? We also need to remember that most of these animals killed on tv are not eaten by the killer. Most are "donated".

[archery288]

I agree as well!  they don't care so much about eating them as they do getting the pictures for advertisement... It's sad, but the truth... And I highly doubt anyone will fix that.

[robodad]

Another thing to consider is the critter may have back tracked on you and left the trail in another direction, I have seen this a few times, you need to pay close attention to the directionality of the blood drops to determine the direction it was going. I had a whitetail back track on me 50-75 yards and I would have never known it because he followed a well used trail and when I ran out of blood sign I just followed tracks which turned out to be other deer so I followed the blood trail back to where I shot (walking along side of the blood) and noticed a new blood trail in a totally different direction leaving trail I followed and found the deer 100yds later.

Don't beat yourself up about this, You are doing the right thing by comming here and asking for suggestions and trying to improve every aspect of this hunt, "There are no perfect hunters" and every one of us has been in your shoes from time to time and if there are those that say they haven't, they are lying to you. What makes us better hunters is the ability to accept the facts as they are and correct any mistakes you may have made and continue to learn how you can become a better hunter.

I have found that if you have access to some kids (neighbors, friends, or your own) you may have a better chance finding this critter, they have a knack for finding the trail where you may not and it teaches them a little about the outdoors.

I wish you well and hope you find him alive !! it will make you feel better.

Allen...

[Fesup]

Ive been in that very same boat you describe. I was down on my hands and knees looking for the smallest blood. tracking can take some skill.  a trick an ole boy showed me was get a dark spray bottle put some peroxide in it, when it looks like your loosing the blood trail get down low spray the peroxide . the blood will bubble. they sell stuff in hunting mags but I found peroxide worked fine. once ya relocate the blood it should give ya a direction to travel keep low. slow he may be laying and you may jump him again and make your haul harder then need be, also look to see if his tracks show he is still running. and if there is dew on the grass or ferns look for area where it has been  knocked off. or way of travel. Look for broken limbs. going back the next day would be allot tougher but not impossible. look for birds as crows they will spot the down animal. again if not heavy rain try and pick up his trail. tracking game can be allot like tracking man. I spent 8 years in the service some training has helped in the game . But as we all know those deer can be smarter then a man. the trick is go slow and be aware of whats out of place. good luck