Tracking

[ger34]

Everyone has their own personal comfort zone for shooting deer.... I know a guy who has taken 2 or 3 deer at 80yds with his Exomax.... thats double the distance I feel comfortable with ...but then again...I am "comfortable" at 40yds

3 yrs ago i shot an 8pt at 30 yds with a 12g using Remington Copper solids in 3"...he ran 150 yds and crossed a creek... I found a 3" piece of lung where he was first shot... but i tracked him for 3 1/2 hrs on my hands and knees finding pin drops of blood in the leaves before he ran through the willows beside the creek and left huge smears of blood on the branches.... that same year I bought this

[url]http://www.bluestar-hunting.com[url]

and I don't leave home without it

your call

P.S any admin want to fix that url to make it a direct link...feel free...I can't figure it out... lol

[secret]

Dont sweat it.....The coyotes will get it!
R Real
A archers
G giant
E Egos

[bob1961]

ok guys pete (DEPUTY) is a good guy i've known for many years....he is torn up bout losing this deer, as i have been with the four deer i have lost since 1982 plus two large bear also....it happens and to all of us reguardless of the yardage....it has been raining for a few days when he shot this deer yes, but at the time it wasn't raining when he shot and when i got back there with him after an hour and a half the blood was still the way i want to track blood when it is wet out....we followed a good blood trail at a fairly fast pace then it just stopped to where we couldn't pick it back up 50 yds from the last small 1/4" round drop in a grid search....i just wasn't there when he shot this deer so i don't know the alertness of said deer....i know the first deer i took with my xbow was at 50 yds, but i knew what my xbow could put an arrow at that yardage too....plus the deer i took was totaly in the dark that i was there also as it never flinched at the trigger pull TWANG or the THWACK as it hit home....the deer just walked away feeding as it was for 20 feet till it fell over all in bout 20 seconds....i try not to critisize anyones shot without me being there....my second deer was shot at 20 yds and ran 500 yds till it dropped dead and both deer were shot with just bout the same arrow path through them both, one from the right and the other from the left side....two deer shot with the same arrow path through them and two entirely different outcomes on how far each went after the shot....these whitetail deer are very tough animals compaired to what they look like just walking around....pete i feel you did what you were suposed to have done within your comfort zone as anyone else on this or any other forum .........bob

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[one shot scott]

Sorry to hear about the lost deer deputy, sometimes they simply dont know that they should be dead. sh!t happens, go out an get another. It a part of bowhunting that none of us like, but we have to accept. At least you know you did everything you could to find it.

[Lakelover]

I and Buddies have tracked deer hit with a 7mm Mag. 2 miles and never did find him. It was a big long trail of blood over snow, 4 of us at least 4 hours.

This year is the first with a CB. I pass no judgment, but will sure consider what I have read here.

[See4miles]

I'm not here to gripe about the shot. I just want to tell you about the bloodtracking stuff called Luminol Bluestar. Its the stuff the crime units use to detect blood. (You see them use it on the TV show CSI) You must use it in total darkness, it works with the iron in the blood to cause a chemical reaction and glows in the dark. It works! And it works well , in some cases better afer a rain. It keys on the iron, so the blood washing and thinning doesn't matter. I keep a few tabs in my truck with an empty spray bottle and a gallon of fresh water. Check it out. You can get it a lot of places, but if not where you live, you can buy it on line.

My first experience with it was when a buddys kid shot a nice buck. He actually gut shot it. We broke out the bluestar as a last ditch effort and went 400 or so yds right to the dead 8-point. We never would have found this deer without it.

[bob1961]

sounds like a good product to use at night, but if you shot a deer in the mourning that's a long time to wait till dark....one other thing you can use also is peroxide, mix some blue food color in it to have it show up as blue foam when it hits blood even during the daylight .........bob

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[See4miles]

Sounds good as well Bob, didn't know about that til now. Thanks.

As for the bluestar, it will work two or three days later they say. I can't verify that as we did our tracking the same night the buck was shot. Of course you lose the meat if it you have to wait to long, but maybe not, it would depend on the weather. Also, if you just shot the best buck of your life, you're still gonna want that rack. If you make a morning shot, you have the entire day to find him before you resort to this stuff. It will always be a comfort for me to have this.

A deer with a truly fatal wound never ceases dropping blood, even if the droplets are too small for the human eye. This is the go-to stuff if all else fails.

Here in MI, they also legalized dogs for tracking deer a few years ago. I hooked up with a local in my hunting area who has a good tracker dog. He is also the sheriff of the town so I can't do any better than that. He does it for fun and won't accept money, he likes the hunt. I haven't had to use him yet, but its nice to know he's available.

[DEPUTY]

Sounds good as well Bob, didn't know about that til now. Thanks.

As for the bluestar, it will work two or three days later they say. I can't verify that as we did our tracking the same night the buck was shot. Of course you lose the meat if it you have to wait to long, but maybe not, it would depend on the weather. Also, if you just shot the best buck of your life, you're still gonna want that rack. If you make a morning shot, you have the entire day to find him before you resort to this stuff. It will always be a comfort for me to have this.

A deer with a truly fatal wound never ceases dropping blood, even if the droplets are too small for the human eye. This is the go-to stuff if all else fails.

Here in MI, they also legalized dogs for tracking deer a few years ago. I hooked up with a local in my hunting area who has a good tracker dog. He is also the sheriff of the town so I can't do any better than that. He does it for fun and won't accept money, he likes the hunt. I haven't had to use him yet, but its nice to know he's available.

I saw your link for it. How much is it? Looks pretty good.

[vixenmaster]

Deputy sorry you lost yer deer, it makes us all abit sad when that happens to us. Its happened to me over the yrs & leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I have been training my pup since last Fall to help me track/trail any deer i shoot. I usually trail it 1st & leave it untouched & go get my pup. She will be on the deer before i ever get there. If i shoot one & i can't find it i will put a leash on her & let her go. Yardage & weather conditions i leave that to the person to decide to hunt in or shoot their game.

[See4miles]

DEPUTY,
I didn't post a link but it shouldn't be too hard to find on line. Up here in MI, we get a package with 6 tablets in it for about 25.00. You must use distilled water, be sure to remember that. If you use any type water that has iron in it, the batch is ruined. DOnt dip it from a puddle or stream out in the field. Two tablets do about a quart of water. Get extra when you buy and use a tablet with some other animal blood if you can and test it in your backyard some night. You will keep it around after that if you do.

Sorry you lost your deer.

[ecoaster]

It can and does happen that you lose one. A few years back I shot a real nice 10pt from the ground. The shot was only 22 yards. I hit him a tad high. Above the lungs and below the spine. Got a complete pass through on this deer and this is what the arrow looked like.


He went 20 yards after the hit and crashed. Then he got up and walked away. Chris4570 and I tracked him for 3-4 hrs and he led us in a 2-3mile circle right back to where I shot him. There was sparse blood but it was always rubbed off on things he walked by or droplets. No big amounts of blood or spray.

I am completely confident the wound clotted up and that deer lived to see another day. It just goes to show you that even though you have a deer broadside it is not a guarantee. You have to pick a spot, a very small sopt to aim for and forget about the fact that you see the entire side of the deer.

[redeye]

One thing that helps a lot is to wait for a quartering away shot.It works much better for getting into the lung heart area.If you are a little left or right you still get into the vitals,with a broadside shot a little bit back too far off the shoulder you miss the lungs and the deer can go quite a distance even with a liver hit.You can hit leg bone or shoulder also with a broadside shot by being a little too forward or high.A quartering away shot is the way to go,especially if the range is long.I've always had better results with easy tracking using the quartering away shot.Even if you hit the stomach the arrow will come out behind the shoulder on the far side and you can find the deer.

[OMC-MOOSE]

When you shoot a deer with an excal, track it over 400 yrds. and don't hang it on the pole there are really only 2 things that could have gone wrong, hit location or broadhead failure. the latter is most certainly a possiblity worth considering in this instance.[/quote]

This is why I never have, and never will use a mechanical broadhead. Think about it..."mechanical" should tell ya enough...anything mechanical can and will at sometime "breakdown". If I do my part, my fixed blade broadhead will do it's part 100 % of the time.

[DuckHunt]

A few years back I shot a real nice 10pt from the ground. The shot was only 22 yards. I hit him a tad high. Above the lungs and below the spine....

I am completely confident the wound clotted up and that deer lived to see another day.

I agree. I shot an 8pt in 1996 with a fixed blade broadhead from a compund bow exactly where you mentioned. It is a non-lethal hit. I was hunting on a military base and we trailed the deer across an open field to a park area where he was hanging out with other deer. With a spotting scope you could see the three bladed broadhead mark on both sides a couple inches behind the shoulder just below the spine. We watched him for a few weeks before someone else was lucky enough to harvest him with a proper hit.

If you hunt long enough, you will eventually lose one. All you can do is learn from experience.

DuckHunt