Post by: Jim Jackson on May 18, 2022, 12:37:31 PM
I do know that even liver shot pass through shots that squirt pretty good are hard to trail across a TX pasture when they are running 90 to nothing.
I have more, but want to see what the gang comes up with.
:campfire:
Post by: woodchucker on May 18, 2022, 01:32:42 PM
Learn to TRACK!!! I've been doing this since I could walk, so it just seems "easy" to me.
Every animal that walks, leaves tracks. Follow the TRAIL. The blood, just confirms you're on the right one.
1) Watch
Where was it standing? Pay close attention to the things around the animal when you took the shot.
This tree, rock, bush, etc. You should be able to find EXACTLY where it was standing when you shot it, and then find evidence of a hit.
What did it do? Squatt? Jump? Kick? "Hunch up"? It's reaction to the shot, will usually tell you where you hit it. Not THINK you hit it...
Where did it go? It ran down hill, past that that rock, past that tree, crossed that brook, into that brush, etc.
This should help you find EXACTLY the last place you saw it. Put the pieces of the puzzle together, and you have the start of your trail....
Post by: TIM B on May 18, 2022, 01:42:45 PM
Tim B
Post by: woodchucker on May 18, 2022, 02:10:31 PM
So, you have waited about an hour, and put the pieces of the puzzle together...
Everyone loves a blood trail that Ray Charles could follow!! But, this one's gonna be tougher....
You found EXACTLY where it was standing, and confirm a hit. Brown and white hair tells you that your arrow entered high, and exited low. At the shot, it hunched up and trotted off down hill. Now, look for the "landmarks" that you remember from after the shot.
Things look different at ground level but it's important that you find them BEFORE you start following the trail!!
The tree, the rock, the brook, the brush it disappeard into... Walk SLOWLY in the same direction it traveled after the shot. So, you do this, and find a few drops of dark red blood. Then, you find the front half of your arrow. The arrow is covered in dark red blood, has green mush on it, and it stinks!! This tells you, your arrow probly hit the liver/stomach area. It is going to die. But, it's gonna take a while!! So, wait a few hours more...
You get back on the trail, but find very little blood. You slowly work your way to where it entered the brush, and you lost sight of it.... Now what??
Post by: Terry Green on May 18, 2022, 02:54:36 PM
In very fine dirt eviroments, i.e., Craine TX for example, a trotting animals blood can hit the ground and roll up into blood filled dust balls.... so pay attention. :campfire:
Post by: Wudstix on May 18, 2022, 03:02:04 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2:
Post by: woodchucker on May 18, 2022, 03:11:09 PM
Now you have no idea where it went?? Everything that walks, leaves a trail. The trick is finding it!
Blood can be anywhere. Blood soaks the hair, long before it hits the ground. Squat or kneel (sit? Hey, I'm old)
and look 2-3 feet off the ground in every direction. Many times, you will find more blood on trees and leaves, than you will on the ground. Once an animal gets into heavy cover, they brush against all kinds of things. Blood gets transferd to trees, sticks, logs, leaves, etc.
4) Not just blood!
Remember, you are following a trail. Any animal walking through the woods, will leave sign that it has been through there. The easiest to find and see is overturned leaves. Get your head a foot or so off the ground, and you can easily see a trail of overturned leaves, going in a certain direction. I have actually laid on the ground, and picked up a trail of overturned leaves! Also, The sign has told you, that this animal is hit hard... A hard hit, hurting animal will stumble!! This will be easy to see once you know what you're looking at. ALWAYS remember!! Look around, left & right, you should be scanning a half circle in front of you the entire time...
5) Mark the trail
I have never carried TP or surveyors tape, to mark trails. IT IS a good idea, should you choose to do so!!
I have always marked my sign, buy simply breaking a small branch. The important thing, is to make a mark, and that YOU know what it is and what it means!!
If you loose the trail? If you loose the trail, go back to your last mark, and make widening half circles in the general direction the animal was traveling. Another thing to remember is, ALWAYS look behind you!! By lineing up your marks, you will be able tell the direction of possible travel.
6) When in doubt, Down Hill
In my 40+ years of doing this... I have NEVER seen a fatally hit animal, go up hill for a long distance.
I have seen them go up hill to get to thick cover, and up hill because they were pushed that way.
7) WATER
A hard hit, fatally wounded animal, always heads for water!
When all else fails... Check every spring, brook, creek, pond, etc. you can think of!!
This is just one old woodchuckers experience.... OMMV :archer:
Post by: Appalachian Hillbilly on May 18, 2022, 08:55:27 PM
This is all on the side of a mountain. I shot the deer and watched the nock disappear right behind the heart area. Arrow was laying in the weeds covered in bright bubbly blood from point to the soaked feathers.
The deer took off straight up hill. Thought for sure he would make it to the thicket and that would be tough.
NO BLOOD! Period! Crawled on my hands and knees and NO BLOOD! I went to the fence line and started a cross search back and forth.
Finally gave up and called for a dog. Then I walked straight towards the stand.
I found the deer 40 yards facing the stand! No blood on the hide Period. He had ran aways and turned to look back. Fell right there.
When I field dressed him, his abdomen was full of blood!
The shot went in between the diaphragm and back of one lung on the bottom and exit through the other lung.
He bled out running up hill, all internally into his abdomen.
I started the search to wide .
Entry and exit pics
Post by: LookMomNoSights on May 18, 2022, 09:30:04 PM
Post by: GCook on May 18, 2022, 10:33:02 PM
I'll throw one out.....This is the same on our place north of Abilene TX. Also, if the animal is just piling through the brush, or staying on trails tells you a lot about it's condition. Also look higher on the grass and brush for blood if you aren't seeing much on the ground.
In very fine dirt eviroments, i.e., Craine TX for example, a trotting animals blood can hit the ground and roll up into blood filled dust balls.... so pay attention. :campfire:
Post by: Wudstix on May 18, 2022, 10:49:00 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2:
Post by: woodchucker on May 18, 2022, 11:05:01 PM
Peroxide works GREAT!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Those dang yellow leaves!!! :banghead:
I love yellow fletching!! But I won't use it on my hunting arrows...
Post by: Ryan Rothhaar on May 19, 2022, 06:08:33 AM
One thing I learned is a wounded deer will go...exactly where he wants to. It's about safety. Hills, terrain, thickets, creeks/rivers....we had them cross them all. Tracking for other hunters on "cold calls"....we have seen it all.
The #1.... absolutely #1, thing you can do to increase your odds of recovery is to give the deer time to die. Our average track on unpressured gut shot deer is under 300 yards. Jump them one time and the average is closer to 900. If I don't see my deer fall I give it 4 hours. If I doubt my shot it's 8, or overnight.
Now after 13 years and 80 some recoveries, Oskar is bringing up the next generation 😀
This is our new girl Budi (rhymes with "booty"). She just turned 1 yr and is a tracking machine.
The greatest lesson I've learned is that I'll never be without a Teckel. Takes the stress out of blood trailing!
R
Post by: cacciatore on May 19, 2022, 07:24:23 AM
Post by: Terry Green on May 19, 2022, 09:18:38 AM
Here's back up for Ryan from years ago... one of the 1st stories ever entered on Tradgang from March 18th 2003. Luckily I had seen this before as a young man and was paying attention....
Know Your Terrain, by Terry Green
Thanksgiving Blessing.
https://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=108974.0
Post by: LookMomNoSights on May 19, 2022, 09:34:40 AM
The dog is the coolest for sure! Never seen one in action myself on a deer for me or anyone else I've helped recover for but think that's just the coolest thing. Nothing like watching hounds work, especially when they are really good at it. :clapper: Only ever seen that with coon hounds and coyote hounds.
Post by: Terry Green on May 19, 2022, 09:39:47 AM
Post by: supernaut on May 19, 2022, 09:47:38 AM
Keep them coming please. :campfire:
I like to practice my tracking skills year round. I'm always in the woods and if I jump bedded deer, I'll go and track them. It has taught me a lot about reading sign. It's not the same as tracking a wounded deer but I think too many hunters only practice their tracking after a shot, good or bad. Just my 2 cents.
Post by: Terry Green on May 19, 2022, 10:35:18 AM
Post by: Wudstix on May 19, 2022, 01:38:03 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2:
Post by: meathead on May 19, 2022, 05:31:05 PM
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
Post by: Terry Lightle on May 19, 2022, 07:59:10 PM
Post by: GCook on May 20, 2022, 12:59:29 PM
Post by: Roger Norris on May 20, 2022, 04:24:35 PM
Post by: Wudstix on May 20, 2022, 08:44:04 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2:
Post by: woodchucker on May 20, 2022, 09:40:47 PM
Leave a trail overnight... Chances are 50/50 you'll find bones in the morning.
Post by: Wudstix on May 20, 2022, 09:51:52 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2:
Post by: woodchucker on May 20, 2022, 10:27:39 PM
Went to get help dragging..... Came back to bones!!
Post by: Doug S on May 21, 2022, 12:06:19 PM
NEVER Assume you drilled it perfect. Unless the video says you did! In fact never assume anything. It's never the same.
Post by: Friend on May 21, 2022, 09:10:47 PM
Did not have to call in Hank last season.
I have enjoyed blood trailing without a doggy for 35 years. Now, I have gotten spoiled and do only a few more complicated tracks a season without a dog.
Post by: madmaxthc on May 21, 2022, 11:10:33 PM
First of all, because they offer you an opportunity to improve your own tracking skills
Secondly, because they have their own limitation. I remember a few years ago, a friend of mine shot a wild boar. He tracked him for some time, and concluded he must have made a poor shot, and decided to let it go, since it was getting late. However, I had clearly heard the pig gargle, sign of a chest shot. I went back the next morning with my dog, and he started following the trail of the group of pigs uphill. I thought there was no way the one with the chest wound was going uphill for long, and sure enough, I soon noticed a solitary track steering away from the rest and heading back downhill. The dog kept following the group though. I went for the solitary track, and found it soon after, dead in the middle of a small creek. Had I be blindly following my dog I would have never recovered the pig.
When in the woods, remember not to walk with your legs, but with your brain, ears, eyes, and nose.
Cheers :thumbsup:
Max
Post by: Jim Jackson on May 22, 2022, 11:01:08 AM
:campfire:
Post by: Keefer on May 22, 2022, 11:19:19 AM
Another thing I’ve noticed on some Deer and usually a smart old doe or a mature buck is they do what I call a “Jen Psaki” and “Circle” back from the direction they were coming in from.
If you were a Mature buck and you just walked a few miles without any disturbance of any kind and everything seemed relatively safe and all of a sudden you are hit with a sting of some kind would you run into an area you never been yet or do a “Jen Psaki” and circle back from the direction you just came in on?
Smart mature animals like a buck will “Sometimes “ go back and possibly to their bedding area.
I know not every animal will do this but if you see a deer coming in from a bedding area or a trail and you get a hit just watch if it runs back on that trail where it just came from.
Post by: woodchucker on May 22, 2022, 12:00:25 PM
As I said, I've been doing this a long time...
I grew up in a family of gun hunters, hunting "mountain" deer.
I learned to track, walking along with my Pop, GrandPop and Uncles, since I was about 5-6 years old.
I was taught that a Buck that knows you're on his trail, will make a swing, to bed & watch his backtrail.
I learned over the years, that Bucks, like people, are creatures of habit...
If they make a left (or right) swing, they will continue to do so.
I killed the biggest Buck of my life, 7 miles up the Union River in Maine. He was a 256# 8pt.
There was about a foot of snow on the ground, and it was still snowing like crazy!!
The first time I jumped him, he was bedded on the left side of the trail.
The second time, he was also bedded on the left side... I thought "Slow down, and kill this Buck"
I slowly followed his track through the snow covered Hemlocks.... I was only glancing at the track, I was LOOKING in the Hemlocks on the left side of the trail......
Snow fell from a Hemlock branch as he stood up... My old pump barked, and he dropped in his bed.
He was about 15 steps from the trail.
Post by: Doug S on May 22, 2022, 12:12:03 PM
I have found many a deer by watching the other deer that may have been in the vicinity. fawns or calves will make a track job easy by staying in the area of dead mom. The other animals notice things.
Post by: Bowwild on May 23, 2022, 08:27:47 AM
One time in particular, it wasn't my deer but a friend gut shot a 141" (yep, we found and I measured)
it. The buck who went through a narrow band of pines and across a wide open alfalfa field (short height). I was knee crawling looking for blood and even feeling the ground beneath the plants for tracks. It was going to be very tedious.
I scanned a couple hundred yards ahead across the field. A wooded area with a power line through it stood out in the direction of this deer's travel. I went well around the likely travel vector to avoid damaging the likely trail and intersected the power line ROW. Found blood immediately and saved tons of time and frustration.
That deer left the right of way and entered a narrow woods where the leaves were really scuffed up. I called of the tracking (it was a couple hours after dark). I was afraid we'd mess up the trail in the woods.
Came back the next AM easily followed the scuffed leaves to a standing cornfield. The blood was easy to see and the trail started meandering (almost like stumbling) over the next 20 yards and there lay the big buck.
I always have trail marking surveyors tape or TP with me when tracking.
I grew up hunting rabbits over beagles. I've never observed dogs recovering deer, but I would imagine it is very effective.
Post by: Sam McMichael on May 23, 2022, 08:48:34 AM
Post by: Roger Norris on May 23, 2022, 09:00:46 AM
It also helps with the difference in how things appear from the treestand and on the ground. I often hunt some pretty thick stuff. Visibility from 10 feet up is one thing. Once back on the ground, everything changes. A compass is required gear.
I am slow and meticulous on a blood trail, and do not like it when helpful folks "scout ahead"...but looking around with binoculars has shown me the white underbelly or tail many times.
Post by: Wudstix on May 23, 2022, 12:30:39 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2:
Post by: Bowwild on May 23, 2022, 05:02:54 PM
Post by: madmaxthc on May 23, 2022, 08:59:45 PM
Another tip comes to mind:
If you have a good blood trail, and suddenly becomes lesser and lesser, with few drops, distant from each other, don't despair: it often means the blood pressure has gone down, due to the blood loss, and the animal might have collapsed shortly thereafter. Look behind you to make sure you have an idea of the general trajectory of the animal, and try to spot the next clear sign before stepping away from the last. Also raise your eyes from the tracks and look around often, as you might spot the dead animal a few tens of yards away.
Just my two cents 🙂
Max
Post by: Cory Mattson on May 25, 2022, 10:39:24 AM
1 - Shoot Bright fletch to monitor your arrow flight and location of the hit. Light Bulb nocks count and are workable in this situation.
2 - Do NOT take your eyes off the deer!!! Look for blood coming out of the deer and look for the arrow if it is in the deer or sticking out the other side. Keep looking at the deer even after the deer gets beyond cover. It could side step, backtrack or run into a more distant spot that comes back into your view. Keep looking! The deer might flush other game or birds after it is out of sight.
3 - LISTEN for a crash after it is out of sight.
4 - Before you get down NOTE a land mark at the point of last sight. A large boulder? A tree?? An unusual tree??? If you keep field notes write it down.
5 - Take a compass bearing from where you are in your stand to the spot where you saw the deer run. Write it down.
6 - While still in the tree use binoculars to study the forest floor for your arrow? blood sign?? Any hair in the area the deer was hit.
7 - After 15 minutes safely climb down from your stand as quietly as you can.
8 - QUIETLY walk to the hit site. Look for blood, your arrow, any hair and any other spoor.
9 - The Arrow: Look at it, Smell it, place it safely away into a quiver.
10 - With all the information factoring in #1 through #9 make a decision whether to follow or wait.
I'll add here that the blood trailing cards given out at NBEF classes are excellent for beginners and intermediate level hunters to help them make a decision on the hit quality. Handy for matching hair length and hair color to hit location.
From the spot where you hit the deer to the spot where you last saw the deer slowly "blood trail" and follow sign. Abundant sign along the trail will either confirm to you that you should be trailing OR tell you to back out if you are not seeing enough sign.
Know what a lethal hit is - and what kinds of hits are not fatal. Arrowheads that go through the ribs on a broadside or slightly quartering away deer are best. Some bows are OK in the shoulder area. Lower neck is often fatal. Top of the neck above the back bone is not. Arrows through the guts kill a deer and WHEN you follow is way more important than HOW you follow. Outside the body cavity leg, shoulder hits are often not lethal.
Bright Pinkish Red Blood with bubbles is best. This is a lung hit. You can sometimes get bubbles in a throat hit but you might never hit a throat.
RED blood no bubbles can be a hit that is not internal. Leg hits - high neck - many of these bleed well for a time but are not fatal.
RED Blood and little darker is Liver - Good job - give it a rest - you will get this deer.
Back Leg and hip - Femoral Artery - LOTS of Blood - The Deer probably won't make it out of your sight. Don't do this deliberately.
Back leg Non Hip will often run out of sight and never be seen again.
Purple Blood - Paunch, Kidney - and junk - DON"T push it and you will get it. Chill out a few hours. Not fun but doable.
Throat - if using Sharks - won't make it 40 yards. When using most regular heads this hit may not kill the deer in time for you to get it. Don't do this deliberately.
Good steady blood is hard not to follow.
Remember when you follow the blood trail you are looking for blood sign but also leaf scuffle, you are also tracking, look for blood spray knee high, sometimes waist high, any bushes or trees the deer may have crashed into, if it crosses a creek look for dirty water, muddy water, blood in the water. Blood on clean creek side rocks and pebbles, mud trails through a beaver pond, duck weed that appears a deer, hog or bear just swam through. Dew knocked off the tops of clover or soybeans after a hog ran through.
Don't be intimidated by thick cover. This is actually easier to work with since close thick cover is constantly wiping blood off the deer. I'll take thick cover over an open field any day.
If you have reason to believe you have made a double lung or heart/lung hit you can follow the blood trail right away and you should recover your deer in 10 or 15 minutes, maybe sooner.
If you have reason to believe you made a good solid Liver hit slip out for an hour or two - then trail slowly - you should have good steady blood sign and walk to your deer. I have read wait 4 hours? That would certainly work but I usually get on it two hours in.
If you have reason to believe you made a gut hit back out quietly. If it is cold and it is evening return at first light. If it is morning return at 3:00 PM. If it is evening and warm return at 11:00 or midnight. In all cases follow carefully and you should be OK especially if you use big broadheads.
If you have reason to believe you hit ONE lung back out. More on this later.
On ALL trails mark that landmark you picked and punch it into your GPS when you get there.
On ALL trails at about that point where you marked a landmark you should be marking the trail every ten yards or so. I use Clothespins with florescent flagging - OR - Toilet Paper. If you use clothespins you need to go get them when you are done. Toilet Paper can lay with no harm.
On all trails Do NOT get ahead of blood sign. Do Not walk forward until you see next blood. Whether alone or with ONE helper Mark Last Blood at least every 10 yards in thick cover and 20 yards in open woods.
Remember - your job is to follow sign - Not to go wandering off onto where you think a deer might have gone. You hear all the time "deer follow the path of least resistance" - "deer go to water" - "gut hit deer go to water" - Whatever! Hey how about this; Deer are always walking through water most places! whether they are hit or not. Never mind that background noise of arm chair wannabe's. Your deer is somewhere in front of the blood that spilled out of it so stay focused on sign.
On all trails you are looking for blood and white belly, but be aware that if a deer is not dead that white belly will be hidden and you could step on a deer before seeing it.
What to do when sign runs out???
Crows and Vultures here in the east. Magpies out west. Ravens up North. Study any you see. Chances are they are there for a reason. Especially on hunting clubs and public land birds learn to look for dead deer. Gut hits particularly will have vultures working the thermals. Crows will often call to other crows when they see a dead deer on the ground.
Grid searches: Have their place. OK to invite one or two trusted competent friends to help. Start 20 or 30 yards BEHIND last blood - and begin Sweeping Arcs at a 40 yard circle - then a 50 yard circle - 60 yard circle. - Looking now to pick up a fresh trail with sign. We prefer arcs over square grids. Understand the purpose of starting behind last blood is deer often change direction.
Use your nose: Get on the down wind side of any thickets and smell the air. You could pick sweet essence of a deer smell. You could pick up rank gut smell. Either way Check the wind first. Then walk into the wind. Use a talc bottle it will help you sort out wind direction.
Dogs: Good blood trailing dogs are more common every year. Any dog has a better nose than you. I have had Labs that were duck dogs help find deer and it was very easy and very quick recovering deer with non trained dogs.
Remember MOST trailing is not that difficult. The exception; a One Lung hit is the most difficult hit to follow and recover. Bright pink red blood with bubbles but it never ends. Also we should point out that if you jump a deer - STOP! Single lung hit deer are the deer you hear guys say go hundreds (as in multiple hundreds) of yards. Deer hit in one lung die. They ALL die. Many are not recovered but this is due to making mistakes and misjudging. Many die the next day. The hunter could be back at work by then or driving an interstate. If you have reason to believe you have hit a deer in one lung back out. Follow 4 to 8 hours later like a gut hit. Most of the time a single lung hit deer will bleed out internally and stiffen up in it's bed within one hundred yards of the hit. If you kick it up the deer might flee a couple hundred yards putting it out of reach and out of sign to follow. Two main causes of one lung hits are shooting a deer at too sharp a quartering angle and shooting a deer that is too close out of a treestand.
When things get hopeless. Remember you can't find a deer that isn't dead. Some deer are not fatally hit and most of these heal up. It is amazing really. We have seen some amazing things the last 40 years. We'll cover some of that elsewhere. Large blood blobs and clots is sign that the animal may be healing up. Especially when you have plenty of bright red blood for 100 yards and then you get a few coagulated blobs and then it stops. NOTE: Old school trailing recommends to push these animals to make them bleed but today's bowhunter rarely has legal access to be "making a deer run".
Most deer we recover within 30 minutes. Far and away most fall into this category. Most gut hits we recover. Far and away most. Unknown hit locations we recover most of these and most of these are recovered quickly many surprisingly fast.
When I know a deer is fatally hit I stay after it second day looking for vultures. Better to recover for closure and a photo than to not know. Coyotes will find a deer in my area. Sometimes the first night and always by the second night and they clean a carcass out. Nothing left but bones and some sour smell.
Day OR Night???: When we started blood trailing in the 70s we used Coleman Lanterns. In just one season we figured out that by backing the back side (side closest to your legs) with folded aluminum foil the lantern method was much more enjoyable and effective. Lanterns are good but not practical everywhere. In my search I ended up using portable lighting for high tech modern city bicycle riders. I had a unit that cost $150 in 1999 with a battery pack bigger than a 20oz Gatorade. It worked but cost and the difficulty keeping it charged kept me searching. Today we use Powertac E5R qe 0427 - it is a 900 Lumens small flashlight - rechargeable lithium battery. Easy- super high functioning. $125
This is a step up from a Fenix which we still like and use and are only $65 but they use CR-123 lithiums and Fenix's eat batteries! I carry both always.
I use these even during daylight in thick woods, late afternoon slanted light, cloudy days, dusk; and of course at night. Blood trailing at night with artificial light is often easier and more productive than daylight. Nighttime trailing keeps me focused and prevents my eyes from wandering off the blood trail.
With a decent work ethic and good honest effort you will recover most game you hit. Most of the game you do not recover will heal up.
Good Luck and Good Hunting <><
<---------------<<<<<
Post by: Wudstix on May 25, 2022, 11:01:28 AM
Good read!
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2:
Post by: supernaut on May 25, 2022, 11:15:35 AM
Post by: woodchucker on May 25, 2022, 11:34:45 AM
:thumbsup: :clapper: :thumbsup:
Post by: Terry Green on May 25, 2022, 07:56:07 PM
Anyone wanting to know about 2 blade vs Multi blade now's your chance, Cory has mega date on that. I'll let him tell. Me, 4 blade Zwickeys all day long... since the early 80s. Gezzz I'm getting old.
Post by: Wudstix on May 25, 2022, 08:09:25 PM
:campfire: :coffee: :archer2:
Post by: Russell Southerland on May 25, 2022, 08:15:28 PM
Post by: JR Chambers on May 26, 2022, 12:11:54 AM
Post by: Terry Green on May 26, 2022, 02:37:56 AM
I shot this hog on the side of a mountain near a saddle, it ran over the saddle and down the other side of the mountain..... water.....
https://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=30454.0
Post by: gregg dudley on May 26, 2022, 09:45:39 PM