I shot a hog tonight with a 270 at about 100 yards. Since my dad wasn't hunting far away from me he heard the shot and came over to help me track. We started tracking the hog but couldn't find any blood drops which is normal for my ammo. The respectful hunter he is he said let's go home after not even really looking for blood at this point we were less than 10 yards from the point i shot it. This is the 3rd time we shoot something and he doesn't want to recover it because it didn't drop. So now I am pissed af at him once again. Any suggestions how I could track the game by myself and actually recover it since I respect the game I hunt? I thought about just leaving my gun at home and switching over to bowhunting only, which is what I really want to do.
Just observe as much as you can after the shot. You'll get excited, at least I do, after I let loose an arrow but you have to gather your self and pay attention to how the shot felt and how the animal reacted. Look for an entrance/exit hole, was the animal running hard or was he hunched up kind of running a little bit and then walking? All those things are signs of a good hit or a bad hit. Make a mental note of the last place you saw the animal and start looking there. Look for tracks, broken twigs or branches, turned over leaves, places where he might have fell and thrashed around to get back up. Hope this helps, good luck !
I've spend hours blood trailing hogs with blood and never recovered them. My advise is make shots that count. I really aim for the heart and or far shoulder. This stops them or makes it hard for them to run. I feel your pain though. My issue was always blood trailing friends hogs after they took a BS shot. Kilboars Hunt Club
