Waited an hour and half and lost blood trail

[thunnus]

Took a Healthy looking (doe) down at 7:30z

Waited, climbed down stand.

Shot looked good, (from stand heard her as she) made a large circle through swamp heard her run, crash swim/slosh around at times and marked spot.

When walking to spot, found bloodtrail out (of swamp);

Thought this pieces were lung. What do I do?

Blood is bright red and frothy not bubbles though.

Many thanks

Edited October 19, 2014 by thunnus

[jjb4900]

did you find the arrow, and how far were you able to follow the bloodtrail before you lost it?.......hour and a half is plenty of time to wait if you have a good hit and it shouldn't be far IF that's the case....can you describe where you think the arrow hit?

Edited October 19, 2014 by jjb4900

[landtracdeerhunter]

If in doubt, back out. Give a few hours, so you don't push the deer on. It's cold out, the meat will keep. As long as no precip. , to wash away the blood trail.

[thunnus]

Wow you guys are amazing: my first post and a lot of help in no time.

Arrow hit just behind shoulder blade, mid cavity (height wise) pointing down and back(2" too low but forward enough from that angle)

Just made a large circle and two drops of super viscous sticky bright blood in same direction 20 yards east.

Will wait and look. Can I tell if that is liver or lung or would have to wait just the same?

[ididnotvoteforobama]

Maybe you hit low , but still caught the bottom of one lung . Still give it some time like around 3 go out and pick up the trail at last blood.  you should see where she bedded after the hit , better to wait it out.

[jjb4900]

I wouldn't start making large circles at this point, you don't want to disturb what little bloodtrail there may be by walking all over it....hands and knees from first blood, and make sure you mark the spot before you move on to the next......liver shot could take a long time to expire as could a single lung hit.

[NFA-ADK]

Great advice!  Good idea to give her another few hours, mark the direction she was going.  Pull out and grab some food that should give enough time for her to stay bedded and hopefully bleed out.  When you come back be a detective and slowly track the direction of the blood marking every spot to draw a line in the direction she was going.  You should be able to retrieve her in 3 hours if you can wait that long.  Hope she is within 200-300 yards as long as you can wait a few hours.

 

Good luck and keep us posted! 

[NFA-ADK]

Again great advice guys!  I would like all the posts above but I ran out of likes!!! 

[Taylormike]

First off, congrats on the shot!  You hit and sounds like a decent shot.  You did or did not find arrow?  If arrow was found, how much blood on it?  If you didn't find arrow, but you think you hit a little forward but low, that deer will expire.  I agree with everyone that says do not push the deer, absolutely no reason to.  If she's down, she's down, no reason to push her.  Hopefully you didn't already go too far looking for blood.  If she's hit anywhere lethal I would guess, she's bedded in less than 250 yards. 

 

I would definitely wait it out.  From your picture, the blood on the leave is not a lot!  It may open up and start spraying the farther you track but that seems more like dripping.  Really need more information.  I do think you have a good chance at recovery.

[jjb4900]

not sure how much experience you have, but many new hunters will think they have made a perfect shot and just plow headfirst in the direction they think the deer went, because "it's gotta be right there" and the result is a messed up bloodtrail and lost deer.......back out, take some time to relax and go back at it slowly and methodically and make sure you mark each spot. 

[thunnus]

What a forum, didn't realize the sport is this alive and healthy.

Came back to house, going to give it another look in a couple of hours.

Thank you once again.

After initial shot and run through reeds of swamp, you are absolutely right, b line east.

(Didn't recover arrow/search for it-picked up trail as deer exited swamp)

If I cannot recover her is the proper thing to call in DMP (eastern Suffolk)?

[jjb4900]

do you mean DEC? no, you don't have to notify them if you can't recover, but don't even be considering that as an option at this point.........point of impact and the arrow can give you a lot of clues, and it should really be the point you start trailing, regardless of where you last saw the deer travelling.

[Taylormike]

I'm going to bet she would have expired where you heard her leave swamp.  You probably kicked her up, when you return in a few hours, start up where you left off.  Try to find the spot in the swamp you think she left, see if you find substantial blood there.

[Fletch]

As she ran away did you see the arrow still in her or was it a pass through? If a pass through did you actually see where you hit? Arrow hole/blood on her side?

 

Did you find any hair at impact spot?

 

How far from shot to where you picked up blood coming out of swamp?

[thunnus]

To everyone, thank you. To jb4900 my second season w/ a bow but 10 for 10 w/ rifle upstate. Waited an hour before climbing down. Packed everything out (other way away from deer) and didn't start search for 90 minutes.

To your point, not enough experience yet to get this right.

Thank you again, will follow your advice.

[NFA-ADK]

I will come out and help if you want I am in Huntington, sometimes two sets of eyes are better than one!  I will send you a PM with my contact info if you are interested.

[Jeremy K]

I have seen guys put a square of toilet paper on a blood drop as they find them, it helps give a visual of the direction of travel .

[wooly]

I hate to be a royal pisser, but that doesn't look like good blood to me.

Those chunks likely are not pieces of lung, but rather blood clots forming already from a non lethat hit.

They can start to clot up within the first 100yds believe it or not.

I hope I'm wrong and you find her, but I believe your blood trail will dry up shortly after she left the swamp.

 

[Terry]

In my experience that's not liver blood. Anytime I have seen blood from the liver it is almost purple it's so dark.

[Uncle Nicky]

_{This sounds like a quartering to shot? I'm thinking it could be hit in the shoulder area, hope I'm wrong. Good luck on the recovery!}

Edited October 19, 2014 by Uncle Nicky

[thphm]

Call Dear Search Inc. and find out if there is anybody on L.I. if that is where you are hunting.

[chiefbkt]

Definitely not liver blood. Did you find any hair where you hit her? From the description, you may have caught a tiny part of the lung and then hit diaphragm. You'll get blood that color with no bubbles. Not sure how fatal that is, but I would give her several hours. Good luck.

[TreeGuy]

Hair ???? Is/was blood watery, sticky, spongey, slimey ?

[TreeGuy]

Disregard. I re read and you said sticky.... sticky as in slimy like it will hang like a goober from your fingers or just sticky like texture

[TreeGuy]

And try your best to find hair where u shot. Post a pic of it if you can