Tracking Question - Recent Kill

[WingsnOeight]

A few questions for the forum...I killed a nice 8 pt tonite, about 15 minutes before dark.

After shooting the Buck, he jumped and took off quickly, I saw him run down a hill behind me and veer off to the right out of sight, his tail was up.

I thought I had a decent shot, about 20 yards, slightly quartery towards me. I waited a few minutes, got out of my stand, found the arrow stuck in the ground had decent blood on each of the feathers, not overwhelming blood like some I had seen, but each one had blood on it. Then I started to find some blood.

I started to find drops of blood on leaves, tracked for about 40 yards, then lost the blood trail once it started getting dark.

What condition will the deer be in if I can actually find it tomorrow, it is supposed to be around 34 degrees tonite.

How far do you think deer will travel without being pushed, I have killed a few deer, but most have only travel 30-40 yards, this is my first experience with this situation. I am already regretting not waiting for possibly a better shot, but I thought I had a decent angle, and I thought he sort of sensed my a little.

Any suggestions are appreciated, thanks all.

[WingsnOeight]

Noticed a mistake after reading my post, first line...I said I killed a deer, well, actually not sure about that...I shot a deer I should have said.

[crazyfarmer]

was his back hunched up when he ran off? If so thats a gut shot and they need 6-10 hours to pass. Ive seen alot of deer run off with their tail up after a good shot. The deer will be fine in the morning since its to cold to spoil:)

just go back to where you lost the blood and start over.. hands and knees method works to help point you the right way. Im usally on the ground like a bloodhound looking for specs of blood when it runs out

he's gonna head downhill to thick cover or water more than likely.. just ease through the woods as you track and make sure he's not still alive and gets spooked

[Iamcdneh]

It's fairly cool so as long as it's not taken on my coyotes, it should prob be ok. One thing I would do if it were me is to get out early in morning. Good luck on trackin it down. One thing I've done before is take a roll of TP with ya, tear off a small sheet and drop at every point u find blood. nice thing about doing this is as you get further from your impact spot you can look back and kinda see the line the deer was travelling and can often point you in right direction. Also its biodegradable so you dont have to pick it all up...

[flbuckmaster]

he will be fine at that temp for several days.

jay

[huntman]

What did the deer do excatly when the arrow hit him? I have found deer that didnt bleed to much within the first 80 yards so i dont think you will have a problem picking up a blood trail once you look beyond the 40 yards you said you stopped at. Stopping when your not sure of the shot is the right approach. Did you find any hair at the impact site? If so what color? That will tell us a little more. Also is there anything eles on the arrow that would indicate a gut shot? Was the blood a deep red or a pale red color? Sorry for the 20 questions but those will help the guys on this forum help you!

[wabi]

With that cool of weather tonight the meat should be fine. You probably did the right thing in not pushing on tonight! If it was a marginal hit it's best to give plenty of time before you track. If it was a good hit, it will still be just as dead in the morning.

[njxbow]

at 34 degrees it will be fine. if it was over 45 degrees then i'd worry

[Ben S.]

My guess is you will find the blood trail in the morning. It's always harder to find when you're a little anxious. If it was a kill shot(and I think it was)he'll lay down and die right there. Where are you hunting ? Maybe some forum members live near you and good give you a hand in the morning.Good luck..

[WingsnOeight]

Hey forum, thanks for all the great input. He took off immediately and without hunching or stumbling, tail up.

My main concern is how hard will it be to track dried blood drops, vice wet blood. I saw the wet blood drops every few yards or so on leaves relatively easity until it got too dark....I guess I might have to get on my hands and knees.

I am still regretting not waiting for a pure broadside shot at 15 yards, but I felt he was sensing me a little, maybe I got a little antsy.

Again, thanks for all the great comments, I live in Northern VA (originally from Michigan), speaking of Mich, any word on full cross bow inclusion yet, I know we are waiting on the Senate to pass the House full inclusion bill.

[Sandman]

Dont worry just take your time~! Take along some flagging tape or if you have help all the better. If your alone mark your blood drops with the tape. I have found in the past when I lost the trail and cant find anymore blood and there are far too many deer trails to determine which is the right one by standing back and looking at the tape you can get a better idea of the direction of travel by seeing a good portion of your blood trail. Just remember to pick up the tape when your done~!

Good luck~!

Cheers,
Robin

[Fox]

Next time get yourself an LED light, they seem to work quite well and never seem to die.

Good luck in the morning, not sure about your area but in some places you can use a dog to help you track a bow shot deer as long as you are not loaded when tracking.

[Grizzly Adam]

Good luck! You'll get him!

[Rudy]

The deer I shot on opening day did the same thing. It ended up running about 3 hundred yards from where I shot it. It rained that night so I didn't have any blood to follow. Me and a buddy kept looking for over 2 hours before we found it. I'm sure it died within 10 minutes because it was a neck shot. The deer was still warm in the morning and it was 45 degrees out that night.
Good luck!

[WingsnOeight]

Thanks for all the tips last night, went out this morning..after crawling on my hands and knees for about 2 1/2 hours looking for blood on leaves I found him. I would love to include a photo but it looks like you have to have a web site to post an image...is this correct? The best tip was to use the toilet paper, I put a piece on each blood spot, you can look back and really see what the deer was doing, very nice tracking tool. Then if you lose blood trail for a few yards, you just project his path and crawl until you find more. Very good tip.