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tracking a hit whitetail

buckeyboybuckeyboy Member Posts: 5,833
edited August 2005 in Bow Hunting and Target Archery
Just wondering what tracking tactics youall employ after you hit a deer. yes I know it depends on the hit but Ive shot a few that I really dident know how good the hit was[?]
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  • DIRTYRATDIRTYRAT Member Posts: 2,167 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Usually I'll wait atleast 15 minutes before looking for my arrow. Find the blood and follow slowly... I lost a deer last year, Blood-trail dried up totaly. We had the Coleman lantern fired up and looked way past dark and I even took off of work the next day to look for it...I shot a beautiful 11 pointer once {gun hunting} and kept chasing him and eventually ran him off of the property and into a field where a couple of other hunters finally finished him off...HARD LESSON LEARNED!

    Ruric, NE OHIO,
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  • Slash0311Slash0311 Member Posts: 1,676 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    For bow, I wait a MINIMUM of 30 minutes especially if I don't know how good the hit was. I use an arrow to mark the blood. This really helps when the drops start getting spread out. I watch for hoof prints and look for blood in them. This would show a shoulder or hind quarter hit. I also watch for blood on plants and trees off of the ground. This can show the height of the hit. All of this comes into play on deciding to keep tracking. Also I try to see if the deer is walking in a straight line or erractic. My experience shows that if it's walking straight, then it's going to be a while. Also, I listen as much as I look. If I even think I have heard it jump up, I stop and wait at least an hour or two before going again. Last year, me and my buddies were tracking a deer shot with a bow. After a few hundred yards, my buddies golden retreiver found the buck and got a punctured lung and a few seperated ribs. We stopped on the trail, marked last blood. Found the deer next morning about 75 yards from where we stopped. It was done.

    waco.gif

    When in doubt, unload the clip, Semper Fi
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  • bang250bang250 Member Posts: 8,021
    edited November -1
    I wait at least 30 min. if I didn't see it or hear it go down. If I start having to track to far and blood trail gets light, I'd stick the arrow in the ground to mark last blood and go back to camp and get the guys. [:D]

    If huntin' is a sport, then your lookin at an athlete- T-shirt

    Gun bans have never accomplished anything, other than to create a safe working environment for criminals.
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  • buckeyboybuckeyboy Member Posts: 5,833
    edited November -1
    Wow sounds you guys all do the right thing I see so many guys hit a deer start tracking it right away.Jump him and you will most likly never see that animal again. I too have learned some hard lessons.
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  • gogolengogolen Member Posts: 1,619 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Wait until dark and listen for the coyotes to start yippin[:D] J/K
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  • bang250bang250 Member Posts: 8,021
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by gogolen
    Wait until dark and listen for the coyotes to start yippin[:D] J/K


    Not funny[:(][;)], I lost my very first deer ever shot to a pack of freakin yotes. I had shot it right before dark I waited just a bit to long to go lookin' and then got lost in the woods, when we found him he was skin and bones, literally.



    If huntin' is a sport, then your lookin at an athlete- T-shirt

    Gun bans have never accomplished anything, other than to create a safe working environment for criminals.
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  • buckeyboybuckeyboy Member Posts: 5,833
    edited November -1
    Yea, I think we have all seen that. thats only bad thing about letting a deer go overnight but sometime's you have to. the yote's are happy[:)] free meal.
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  • gogolengogolen Member Posts: 1,619 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    bang I know its not funny I lost a nice 8 point to a bear 2 years ago, and my dad lost a nice sized doe to a pack of coyotes last year.
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  • bang250bang250 Member Posts: 8,021
    edited November -1
    I actually do laugh about getting lost in the woods that night but it wasn't funny then. The woods you know so well look a lot different in the dark.
    The sad part of my story is that the deer didn't go that far, I heard him crash but like I said it was my first one ever and I didn't know that is what it was, the blood trail was spotty and he got back into some thick stuff that we had to crawl to get into. it was a nice little 7, for my first it was nice. Lesson learned.

    If huntin' is a sport, then your lookin at an athlete- T-shirt

    Gun bans have never accomplished anything, other than to create a safe working environment for criminals.
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  • gogolengogolen Member Posts: 1,619 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My 8 didn't go that far either but unfortuantely it was through a cranberry bog and a cedar swamp, found him in the morning all tore up.
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  • buckeyboybuckeyboy Member Posts: 5,833
    edited November -1
    Bang I can relate to that. everything looks the same when your in the thick the flashlight just seems to bounce back . thats before it goes dead and ya start thinking your going one way and and your going in the oposite direction. whats even worse was I was HUNGRY[:D]
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  • headzilla97headzilla97 Member Posts: 6,445
    edited November -1
    last year during a deer drive i jumped 2 does in a corn field and dropped the one. she stagggered and fella few rows over. I thought she was down for good and went to pick her up. well when i got there she was gone. now this was in standing corn. I was following a blood trail that was just awsome. waist high blood every where and she was falling down kind of looked like bucxky boy after a night on the town. well to make a lng story short this deer totally disapered we looked for it for 2 days and nothing

    Messenger Boy: The Thesselonian you're fighting... he's the biggest man i've ever seen. I wouldn't want to fight him.
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  • buckeyboybuckeyboy Member Posts: 5,833
    edited November -1
    Boy she tasted good[^] never leave a dead deer unattended[:D][:D]
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  • surekillsurekill Member Posts: 1,926 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I'll smoke 1 or 2 cigarettes 1st then go and get my bro's. thats if I dont see or hear it go down which is rare [:D] If I have to track it use flashlights,,mark blood with T-P..Even if it goes down I still go get help to drag it out[:D]
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  • SuspensionSuspension Member Posts: 4,783
    edited November -1
    surekill already explained it, a pack of camels, a flashlight, and some toilet paper will make for a good deer tracking night in my eyes. [:D]

    I try not to get excited, note I did say try. If I see it drop, I wait 30 minutes minimum, if I do not see it drop or am not positive then I wait 1 hour minimum, no matter how late it is. I'd rather find a dead stiff deer in the dark than a million little blood spots. I mark spots that I locate blood with a green branch broke off and stuck into the ground. I use a mag light and normally craw on my hands and knees if it's dark (closer to the dirt helps my bad eyes). Pretty fancy stuff huh. Oh yeah, I always enjoy help while I'm tracking one to. [:D]

    One night I was helping a buddy look for a (as he said, huge buck) anyway we split up because the thing stopped bleeding, I ended up in a hollow filled with green briars. There I was with my handed dandy mag light when I stumbled onto a pack of about 10 wild dogs, they weren't to friendly either, kept stalking around me while I drug my * through all those briars. Once I was in open woods they got braver, coming closer and closer so I climbed me a tree for about an hour until they left, then I scooted straight back to my truck. [:D]
    Found his buck a month later while we were rabbit hunting, it was a really nice deer, to bad he shoot it poor.
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  • buckeyboybuckeyboy Member Posts: 5,833
    edited November -1
    Wild dogs or cyotes. shoot one they will get the idea.[:D][:D] Nice to hear from ya Susp. hope all is well[:)]
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  • SuspensionSuspension Member Posts: 4,783
    edited November -1
    quote:Originally posted by buckeyboy
    Wild dogs or cyotes. shoot one they will get the idea.[:D][:D] Nice to hear from ya Susp. hope all is well[:)]


    Thanks Buckey, nice to hear from you to.
    That night my mag light wasn't holding a shell very well to shoot anything. [;)]
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