Tracking and After the Shot Lessons Learned

[crappyice]

The doe I just shot last night presented so much varied sign that I was about to call off the search and return hours later to only find her laying 10 yards away out of the range of my flashlight. It got me thinking, let's put here any stories of the shot and what follows - share your successes, failures, observations and as much information that will be helpful to future hunters regarding the shot angle. This is not a place for the infamous "void" discussion or being judgmental about shot angles, distances, etc. Stay objective with your posting and add as many pictures as you can.

Suggested Format:

Date - Time - Region - Weather - Weapon of choice (bullet/type of broadhead)
From the Ground or How high off the ground
Distance of shot - angle of deer
Deer's reaction - direction of travel
Hit site/First sign - pics man!!!
Pics of blood - color, smell, location
How long did you wait before tracking?
Observations along the track?
Recovered? Backed out? Lost?
If recovered - entrance/exit wounds? What was hit?

After reading Dead On by John Jeanneney I am fascinated as much by the post-shot work as I am the pre-shot work.


 

[Chef]

So my 7 point the infamous biz prediction buck, I shot him at around 20 yards from 15ft up I thought he was broadside but he was quartering to just a little. After the shot he took 3 big leaps and stopped stood there for a second mule kicked and sprinted away.

Waited 30 min and climbed down checked the arrow and it was covered in guts. I followed what looked like good blood for 30 yards but then decided it was best to go back to camp eat dinner and then look for
Him.

Walking back in after dinner I found him. He was 15 or so yards from where I stoped looking. I walked within 10 feet of him on my way to dinner.

The arrow hit one lung liver and guts, he didn’t even go 50 yards after the shot.


My feeling is it’s always better to wait if there is a doubt but unless it’s a true far back hit and the only wound is liver or guts they will die fast.

One lung alone is no good either but you combine one lung with liver or guts they die fast


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[crappyice]

10/19 - 5:50 shot a doe with the Matthews Halon and 100 grain Nap Thunderheads
15' off the ground in a climber to a quartering to doe at 12 yards
The shot "felt good" and entered just behind the shoulder. She ran back the same way she came and went up over a hill (rocks, down trees, etc) and out of site. 
I climbed down after about 25 minutes and could not find my arrow, blood or hair at the hit sight but I saw where she tore up the ground after being hit. I followed the new tracks 20 yards to my arrow that showed very little blood and had a faint smell of gut.

Eventually found blood fairly regularly but not really heavy. The earlier blood found was bright in color and seem to have small bubbles which I was excited about. Some of the later blood got "gutty" and made me nervous which is when I was about to back out. 

Entrance was through Front shoulder which was WRECKED like it was shot with a bullet and exited through the 3rd rib from the back of the rib cage. It hit one lung, liver and sliced the gut which was absolutely LOADED with acorn.

 

[Nomad]

Sure buy a better flashlight . Today one can get a pocket sized light that can light up,an area a couple hundred yards out .

[crappyice]

Sure buy a better flashlight . Today one can get a pocket sized light that can light up,an area a couple hundred yards out .

Yup flashlights are helpful if you know where to point them. Which adds another component to this thread maybe…what else is a “must have” on a track…I like HunstStand tracking feature and good old fashion TP to mark the track especially dog is required


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[SportsmanNH]

1 hour ago, crappyice said:

Yup flashlights are helpful if you know where to point them. Which adds another component to this thread maybe…what else is a “must have” on a track…I like HunstStand tracking feature and good old fashion TP to mark the track especially dog is required


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You are better off having a roll of pink or fluorescent orange flagging tape rather than TP . Their cheap and work great. If its at night I will put on a reflective trail marker tack like Bright Eyes along with the flagging if the blood trail is skimpy. You can see those tacks for over 100 yards . You put enough in and you can get a good direction the deer is going. 

https://www.amazon.com/Hanson-Fluorescent-Orange-Flagging-Tape/dp/B000DZBHCW/ref=pd_lpo_3?pd_rd_i=B000DZBHCW&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/LEWIS-ORIGINAL-BRIGHT-EYES-BLISTER/dp/B0000AVWE8/ref=pd_bxgy_img_1/133-0167867-8528112?pd_rd_w=PHjdR&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=4HWAGCS8MCCPKKMAPE5E&pd_rd_r=25ae01f2-6289-4baf-b9ee-ac36a31c5693&pd_rd_wg=9ZX9Y&pd_rd_i=B0000AVWE8&psc=1

[wolc123]

I bow hunted for about 30 years and had some very limited success over that span, killing and recovering  6 or 7 deer, not missing any, but striking and loosing almost an equal number.

  Most of those loses were high hits (several shoulder blades and some high backs) caused mostly by the deer “ducking” at the sound of the bow’s release.  It is likely that most of those deer survived the wounds.  I know for sure of one that did, and only one (Hit too far back) that surely didn’t.

That recovery percentage is horrible and archery season never contributed much to my family’s food supply (up until 2014 when crossbows were legalized for the last 2 weeks). I mostly just used archery season as scouting for gun season, which always provided the bulk of our meat.  I am a “meat first” guy to the extent that FSW is an “trophy anter” guy.

I can still picture the last buck that I shot an arrow from my vertical bow at, back in 2012, like it was yesterday.  We were over at my sister’s house, which is built near the front corner of my parents farm, with our girls for a Halloween party.  I am the only one in the family that hunts and my attention was drawn to a young 4 point buck that I saw standing back by the woodline.

I left the party on foot about an  hour before sunset, and walked down the roadside, to my parent’s house, on the other front corner of the farm.  I already had my camo on for the party.  I grabbed my bow and arrows out of my truck, and headed to a stand in a hedgerow, that was on the back property line.

I wasn’t up in that stand 15 minutes when I heard crunching and sticks breaking behind me, in an overgrown field that hadn’t been farmed in about 10 years, on the back neighboring property.  The owner had died and that land had been in tax receivership and was not posted, but I could not shoot that way from my tiny uncomfortable hang on stand.

The buck was headed right for me though.  I drew my bow as he crossed the hedgerow, thru an opening, right next to my stand.  He had been walking at a brisk pace, but must have caught a glimpse of my draw 15 feet above, or heard it. He stopped abruptly, about 15 yards away, at a quartering away angle.

I put my pin on the sweet spot, a little far back behind the shoulder due to the angle, and touched off my release.  I can still see what happened then, as if it was in slow motion.

He reared down and back, taking the arrow, with an old mechanical o-ring style broadhead, thru the neck, just below his head.  He ran off with it almost centered and equal lengths of shaft sticking out both sides.  
 

i soon heard crashing sounds in the thick brush, about 50 yards away.  That crunching sound went on for about 5 minutes, then all was silent.  I waited the typical minimum recommended half hour (about until sunset), before getting down and walking into the brush where I heard the noise.

I found him there, bled out, after taking that 2” diameter cutter across his jugular vane.  I gutted him quick, went up for my dads wheeler, hung him from a tree behind their house, cleaned myself up, and was back to the Halloween party in time for the kids breaking of the candy filled pinyata.  
 

That was the last arrow that I will ever launch at a deer with a vertical bow.  Thanks to the crossbow, my archery season efficiency has improved tremendously, now making up about 30 % of my total meat harvest, since 2014.

 That has been a real time saver, not needing to waste any beating up my shoulders and trying to maintain proficiency with a bow, and with archery season now just two weeks, instead of almost two months.

As far as the tracking lessons learned, all but one since the crossbow became my only archery weapon along with mechanical broadheads, has crashed down in sight or easy hearing distance. 
 

I got fooled off the blood trail, by a crash I heard in the adjacent thick brush, on that one.  That must have been another deer and resulted in that recovery taking about a half hour longer than it should have because I wasted that much time grid searching that brush patch.

When that came up empty, I returned to last blood (which I had marked with orange biodegradable ribbon I always carry), soon finding my double lunged 8 pointer, about another hundred yards away.

That will be the last time I sharpen and re use a mechanical broadhead.  They have never gone over  50 yards with the factory sharp new ones.

Sorry for the length, but you asked for lessons and that’s all I can think of right now.  It is very comfortable here in this warm bed.  My freezer is almost full, thanks to the early antlerless gun season at home and ML up north so far.  I am in no big hurry to get out there with my ML on this predicted rainy day up in the Adirondacks.    
 

i almost forgot the most important lesson that I have learned in my 40 years of deer hunting.  If you want to be the one who orchestrates the deer ‘s trip to “deer heaven” (mankind’s food supply) then you got to keep things right with He who determines “where every sparrow falls”.  If you ignore that, you will need to buy some more chicken from the store and you might feed some venison to coyotes, and those will be the least of your problems.

Edited October 21, 2021 by wolc123

[The_Real_TCIII]

Fantastic tip at the 12:40 mark

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[The_Real_TCIII]

Fantastic tip at the 12:40 mark





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I used it Tuesday and it put me right where I last saw her


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[wolc123]

17 minutes ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

I used it Tuesday and it put me right where I last saw her


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Did you find her ? 
 

The compass tip is a good one but the best advice on that video is the Bible text written across the screen when you first tap the link. 
 

That one gave me this DRT on Tuesday:

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by wolc123

[wolc123]

I just went into my pack and tapped my “secret weapon” (a pocket King James Version) for a screen shot to simplify things for those who may have missed the point of Colossians 3:17.

 

Edited October 21, 2021 by wolc123

[Robhuntandfish]

I had a track myself this week.  Thought it was a high double lung but it was back and she was quartering more than it thought.  Arrow showed a good amount of blood, liver and gut.  Backed out for two hours and just went back to start a track and see if blood.  Had a good blood trail and luckily she never left the trail and was 150 yards away.

But some thoughts/tips on tracking i use.  

- bring a roll of orange tape to mark off last blood spots on trees for daytime tracks 

- nighttime i take a battery lantern and that lantern never leaves last blood spot.  I will go ahead and look around but that stays there to mark where i left off

- bow hunting - cant express enough how much i like a lighted nock- so much easier to determine hit area as you can see it better - even in full light.  (yes i was off on this hit a little - it was high as i thought but deer was quartered more than i thought.  Also finding and determining  from the arrow where the hit was is critical in knowing to back out or get on it

- unless i see the deer dead in front of me - i will not make a move for 1/2 hour minimum as you never know how close the deer is if it went down and you cant see it.  

- bring a compass, should always have one but tracking a deer will put off your sense of direction quicker than anything.  Many times after finding the deer and then first words are "ok where are we..."  

- bring in help at a certain point.  If i am tracking it first i like to do it quiet and stealthy in case i can get close enough to spy it , but if i have been tracking and cannot find it and need to come back - bring another set of eyes with you.  Many times me and a buddy as team usually figure it out

- look for blood to be on both sides of where the deer went thru.  if it is then this is a great sign usually.  If it looks like a spray of droplets its generally lungs

- if find no blood at hit sight look at least 40 yards around before determining.  I shot a doe once with 12 G and nothing but a little white hair.  Got dark and it was thick stuff.  Backed out til morn and found an eaten doe 90 yards away .  But what i didnt see was blood spray all over 30 yards into the woods and knew it was a good hit.  Shouldve went after her right then.  The white hair as i later found out, was mostly the under coat and thought my shot was low.  

- if deer is on a trail and tracks look like they are starting to slow or go from side to side on the trail its prob getting weak and wobbly

- Luna and Kunox!  

Edited October 21, 2021 by Robhuntandfish

[wolc123]

Another little tip about tracking deer that you have shot at in fresh snow: Don’t expect fresh fluffy snow to always show bright red blood on top.  Hot drops of blood burn thru that, often showing no trace on top.  

One time, I shot a large button buck (imagine that) dead center thru both lungs, behind the shoulder from 75 yards away with a Federal 12 ga lead sabot slug.  He promptly bolted into a thick patch of brush like there was no tomorrow (in this case there wasn’t).
 

 In the 50 yards that he covered from the impact site,  to the brush patch, I found just a single, tiny drip of blood on top of the foot of fluffy snow.  He made it another 20 yards into that brush patch (right next to the gut pile of his momma who had piled up there a week prior from another of those Federal sabots).

The momma was much tougher for me to find, on opening day the week before, because there was no snow there then and it was pouring rain.  I had to grid search the area that she disappeared into and she was also double lunged similarly. 
 

I would have shot jr then and there (I had two dmps) but I always go for the biggest one first and I was not 100 percent sure that she was hit, so I kept my gun on her until she disappeared with him.
 

 I love hunting in snow but it is not always the best indicator of a hit.  Another time, I prematurely gave up the trail of a buck that I had shot at at long range with my 50 cal T/C Omega.  I placed too much confidence in the snow indicating a hit.  Finding not a single drip of blood, in over 200 yards of following his tracks from where he stood when shot, I wrongly assumed a miss. 
 

That brings up another good tip:  Never ASSUME a miss until PROVEN.  The only two ways I know of doing that is to kill the deer with a follow up shot and count holes.  I will continue to fire if I an able until the deer goes down.  Then I will hold my gun on it for about 5 minutes, until it is not moving.   Finally, when I walk up to that carcass I will stick the muzzle of my gun into its eye and only bring out my knife if it don’t blink.  
 

My uncle lost the biggest buck he ever saw by skipping that step.  Every so often I can learn the lessons the easy way (from someone else’s mistake), but most of the time it has been the hard way (by making the mistakes myself).

That was the case with the snow and that ML buck.  He got to feed the coyotes.  I didn’t find him until 2 weeks later with the help of the crows.  He had made it into a little brush patch about 20 yards past where I had given up his trail in the snow, loosing it amoung a bunch of other deer tracks.

i probably shouldn’t have skipped Church that Sunday morning to go hunting.

 

[BowmanMike]

@Robhuntandfishmade a lot of good points.

Two years ago I shot a doe walking past a few minutes before legal time was over.  I hit her back a bit and my lighted nock really enabled me to see where I hit. She just ran a little way and then stood there, looking miserable. That alone confirmed a hit too far back. I had no shot at her at that point, so I stayed put and watched her as long as I could before it got too dark. She moved some but looked like she did not want to go anywhere. 

I really focused on a few landmarks where she stood,like fallen logs etc. I climbed down as quietly as I could and left in the opposite direction I saw her last. A friend came back with me 4 hrs later,ideally I would have waited longer but rain was coming. 

We looked for blood and I could not find the first spot where she stood. Luckily the 2nd spot was by a rotten stump and that's where I found blood,really dark blood,liver hit. We advanced the sparse trail by my friend staying at last blood and me looking for more. The trail was meandering and hard to follow. Finally the blood got a little better and I found her. She was pretty stiff and expired several hours ago,but I am glad I waited.

Later that season I shot a doe from the ground and she had a similar reaction to the hit,she was quartering away and didn't bolt too far but looked miserable.

I didn't dare to sneak close to try to get another shot as she was just standing at about 60 yds. I did get my arrow and it had guts on it. I marked the hit site with tape and backed out. The next morning I looked for her and we had gotten a dusting of snow, so no trail to be followed. She was in this bowl of a little wetland which I thought she wouldn't leave. I searched by the water first but didn't find her,so then I started grid searching from the last point I saw her. I got lucky and found her which was tough because she basically crawled under an upturned root clump.

It is important to keep a cool head after the shot and think about what the best approach is. I could have easily lost both deer but got them. Ideally they go down in sight,but that is not always the case.

The first was straight up liver shot,the 2nd was guts, liver and one lung.

[The_Real_TCIII]

Did you find her ? 
 
The compass tip is a good one but the best advice on that video is the Bible text written across the screen when you first tap the link. 
 
That one gave me this DRT on Tuesday:
 

I didnt. But i didn't find first blood until i followed that heading to the last place I saw her and was able to get started


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[BizCT]

7 hours ago, SportsmanNH said:

You are better off having a roll of pink or fluorescent orange flagging tape rather than TP . Their cheap and work great. If its at night I will put on a reflective trail marker tack like Bright Eyes along with the flagging if the blood trail is skimpy. You can see those tacks for over 100 yards . You put enough in and you can get a good direction the deer is going. 

https://www.amazon.com/Hanson-Fluorescent-Orange-Flagging-Tape/dp/B000DZBHCW/ref=pd_lpo_3?pd_rd_i=B000DZBHCW&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/LEWIS-ORIGINAL-BRIGHT-EYES-BLISTER/dp/B0000AVWE8/ref=pd_bxgy_img_1/133-0167867-8528112?pd_rd_w=PHjdR&pf_rd_p=c64372fa-c41c-422e-990d-9e034f73989b&pf_rd_r=4HWAGCS8MCCPKKMAPE5E&pd_rd_r=25ae01f2-6289-4baf-b9ee-ac36a31c5693&pd_rd_wg=9ZX9Y&pd_rd_i=B0000AVWE8&psc=1

+1. I always carry a roll of fluorescent orange flagging tape. It comes in handy tracking and if you leave and come back the next day. My Dad and I have found several afternoon shot deer the following morning after losing the track at night but coming back the next day to follow the orange tape.

[BizCT]

I also agree with what several others said about the more eyes the better. Next time you shoot a deer 3.8 miles from my house, call me @crappyice!

[wolc123]

8 minutes ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

+1. I always carry a roll of fluorescent orange flagging tape. It comes in handy tracking and if you leave and come back the next day. My Dad and I have found several afternoon shot deer the following morning after losing the track at night but coming back the next day to follow the orange tape.

I use the biodegradable stuff that they sell expressly for that purpose. It also works well to tie off the rectum after deploying the butt out.  “Leave no trace behind” (long term anyhow). 
 

[Steve D]

You can't go wrong with these. They just clip on a tree branch or whatever, are highly visible, and reflective with a light. Reusable, light weight, and cheap to buy.

I have a bunch in my pack at all times. I have seen them in Walmart on occasion.

Amazon.com : Orange Reflective Tree Marker (Pack of 20) 3” Hanging Trail Marking Reflectors, Trail Marking Tape, Trail Marking Ribbon, Trail Tape to Mark Trail, Highly Reflective Markers for Hiking or Hunting : Sports & Outdoors

 

 

[grampy]

10 hours ago, crappyice said:

The doe I just shot last night presented so much varied sign that I was about to call off the search and return hours later to only find her laying 10 yards away out of the range of my flashlight. It got me thinking, let's put here any stories of the shot and what follows - share your successes, failures, observations and as much information that will be helpful to future hunters regarding the shot angle. This is not a place for the infamous "void" discussion or being judgmental about shot angles, distances, etc. Stay objective with your posting and add as many pictures as you can.

Suggested Format:

Date - Time - Region - Weather - Weapon of choice (bullet/type of broadhead)
From the Ground or How high off the ground
Distance of shot - angle of deer
Deer's reaction - direction of travel
Hit site/First sign - pics man!!!
Pics of blood - color, smell, location
How long did you wait before tracking?
Observations along the track?
Recovered? Backed out? Lost?
If recovered - entrance/exit wounds? What was hit?

After reading Dead On by John Jeanneney I am fascinated as much by the post-shot work as I am the pre-shot work.


 

Great Idea for a thread!!!

John Jeanneney was a great blood tracker, along with being my mentor, and sponsor in Deer Search. We started tracking together in 1998. I thought I was pretty good at tracking, until I met John. I learned so much from him, while on many, many blood lines. His book, "Dead On" is a must have for all hunters! Packed with useful blood tracking information.

I could probably fill a few pages of this thread with just some of the things we have learned over the years, tracking wounded deer, with, and without dogs. I have always tried to help other hunters, with what I've learned over the years. And still do. John once told me, "we track more in one year than the average hunter will in two lifetimes". That adds up to seeing a lot of different things while on track. So, I'll add a couple that may help.......

-After the shot, if the deer is not laying within sight, wait a minimum of 45 minutes before checking for sign.

-No two lines are ever the same. Take stock of every situation, and make the best decisions, given all the information you have.

-When in doubt back out!!!

-If evidence shows a sure gut hit, wait at least six hours, before taking up the track.

-Blood drops are not round! There will always be "little fingers" coming off the drop of blood if you look close. Those "fingers" will point to the direction of travel of the deer.

Never walk on the blood trail!! This will help if you need to call a tracking dog.

 

 

 

[Cabin Fever]

If you use the orange/pink ribbon, please go back and remove it when you're done! Especially on public ground. I can't tell you how many times I've come across a trail of ribbons that certainly appear like they were from someone blood trailing. Low to the ground, knee high, leading through thickets, etc... 

[Cabin Fever]

28 minutes ago, Steve D said:

You can't go wrong with these. They just clip on a tree branch or whatever, are highly visible, and reflective with a light. Reusable, light weight, and cheap to buy.

I have a bunch in my pack at all times. I have seen them in Walmart on occasion.

Amazon.com : Orange Reflective Tree Marker (Pack of 20) 3” Hanging Trail Marking Reflectors, Trail Marking Tape, Trail Marking Ribbon, Trail Tape to Mark Trail, Highly Reflective Markers for Hiking or Hunting : Sports & Outdoors

 

 

I use these as well. I keep them in a baggie at the bottom of my pack. I like the clips better than ribbons. I usually only use about 6 at a time to mark blood and to help establish the path of travel. After I clip the last one, I'll go back to retrieve the previous 5, then use them marking forward, and keep repeating.

[Steve D]

14 minutes ago, Cabin Fever said:

I use these as well. I keep them in a baggie at the bottom of my pack. I like the clips better than ribbons. I usually only use about 6 at a time to mark blood and to help establish the path of travel. After I clip the last one, I'll go back to retrieve the previous 5, then use them marking forward, and keep repeating.

I do the same but carry a bunch. I only use them if the blood trail is spotty. I carry a bunch so I don't have to keep backtracking and I figure if nothing else if I should keel over it will be easier to find the body

[The_Real_TCIII]

You can't go wrong with these. They just clip on a tree branch or whatever, are highly visible, and reflective with a light. Reusable, light weight, and cheap to buy.
I have a bunch in my pack at all times. I have seen them in Walmart on occasion.
Amazon.com : Orange Reflective Tree Marker (Pack of 20) 3” Hanging Trail Marking Reflectors, Trail Marking Tape, Trail Marking Ribbon, Trail Tape to Mark Trail, Highly Reflective Markers for Hiking or Hunting : Sports & Outdoors
 
 

@Treeguy gave me a couple dozen of those


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[Robhuntandfish]

1 hour ago, The_Real_TCIII said:

@Treeguy gave me a couple dozen of those


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i think he tags salmon wiht those too!