If only it were mandatory to follow those ethics in order to be an archery hunter we would see the horror stories of tracking on here reduced by 95%.
95% is high. There are MANY prominent members here who have lost or not recovered deer this season. This thread is a great tool to help us all. Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2
I spined this guy at 20 yards. Sent 3 more arrows into the boiler room. I watched him shake and spin around on the ground like Homer Simpson for 5 minutes trying to get up (one side paralyzed from spine shot). The heart had 2 slices in it, and both lungs were punctured. (One of the lungs had 2 arrows) That's 4 arrows in heart/lungs. Their will to live is amazing.
Not sure if this is the right thread but here goes.. A friend was hunting on public land and a doe came running in front of him wounded with and arrow sticking out, and he shot , recovered and tagged it . His argument was that the other hunter didn't track it and according to his photo this was shot in the evening / dusk . What are your thoughts on this or how long would wait to tag it as your kill?
Sounds like he made the ethical choice. If the first shot wasn't lethal and the other hunter wasn't around, I say that he was in the right to kill and tag it.
I agree. I'd try to kill her, then tag and gut. I wouldn't hurry, but honestly I wouldn't wait around. I'd feel bad if it was some kid's deer, but could just as easy be someone who couldn't find her or didn't try. If I know hunters in the area, I'd certainly ask around. Also I'd volunteer to share or even give if the hunter finds me gutting.
I"d like to add to this impressive letter , first off, Thanks.. I have learned these facts from others and take pride in recovering animals My only addition would be to listen for bluejays if you have them in your area.. for some reason they love to sit and jabber at dead deer and coyotes laying on the ground... Once while tracking a buck, 2015, and filming, you could hear a dozen bluejays calling in the area my buck died... Bluejays also give the hunter a heads up on critters, deer , coyotes or humans, moving... they are like the tattle tales of the woods
Hey guys. New to the site but wanted to add in a little trick when I'm on a hard to follow blood trail, sorry if it's already been mentioned. Not sure if I read about it or thought of it on my own a long time ago but I've used plain hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle to locate otherwise unnoticed drops of blood. It fizzes/bubbles up on contact with blood so even the slightest drop becomes immediately apparent. I just spray it on the ground and any vegetation around the area I'm trailing. It's saved my butt more than a couple of times and if it helps you find your deer it's more than worth the 99cents per bottle. It's also environmentally safe from my understanding. I always carry it in my truck now just in case.
Don't be afraid to use technology in your recoveries. I downloaded the "BowHunt Simulator App". You can set your tree stand height, arrow weight, bow fps,deer distance, angle, qaurtering direction and wind speed. You then simply place your pin exactly how you did on the animal you just shot and it will replicate your arrow flight. It then will show you the exact organs impacted in 3 dimensional format. It also generates a string jump simulator, showing the likely drop of a deer at the given distance given the bow speed and distance provided. This is formatted as a game or simulation but this is a valuable tool. I use this after almost every shot just to help plan what my first track move should be. I also use sattelite images on google maps on my phone. Taking into account that a marginal hit deer may circle down wind of the shot, I will try to anticipate the path that deer will likely take. This allows me alot of info so that I can make the best first move out of my stand. This can be something as simple as walking 400 yds the opposite direction to circle out of range of a geographical spot of high probability that a wounded deer might be. Ultimately the best first move of any hunt, is to be cautious and give it time. Use your resources, don't get ahead of yourself, and be smart. You owe it to yourself and the animals that you pursue
I always bring a buddy. Can't tell you how many times I lost the trail only to have someone else say "got blood!" Nothing like it!
I didn't see it mentioned anywhere but I always have some toilet paper with me. Every so often I will tie a little to a tree or something near by the last blood I have found. Especially if you are getting a faint blood trail it makes it easier if you lose the trail to go back to the last known blood to start over. This made tracking my friends last deer for me and him a lot quicker. The **** was high and no exit wound we didn't get a good heavy blood trail until the last portion of his final steps. We had to go back to the last toilet paper to find the couple drops of blood we last saw and try to find where he went next.
I've used orange ribbon but can appreciate the value of TP...just in case I once shot a buck quartered away, took both lungs w/ a Muzzy 3 blade. It was like he was shot out of a cannon as he flew through some poplars and into a field w/ sparse, chest-high grass. I brought my brother-in-law out w/ my 6 yr old niece. Her job...stay on last blood. He was spraying blood the whole way but tracking was tough, only where drops caught the stems of the grass. Took us 1.5 hr to find him 100 yards away stiff as a board. The coolest thing...when he bolted the poplars he had the arrow buried all the way to the start of the bright yellow fletch. We found that arrow about half way through tracking. He actually bit the broadhead end and pulled it through! This was verified by the cuts on his mouth and tongue! Tough animals!
Great thread. I checked the link for trackers in Kentucky because of this thread. Found a girl less than 10 miles away with a tracking dog. I will be referring her to a few of my friends. Thanks again! Another little tip. If a deer is hit high and the blood is hard to follow, look at the underside of the brush where you suspect the deer ran. As the deer moves, it pushes the brush over which gets the blood on the underside. Good luck. Hunt safe today so you can hunt again tomorrow.
New to the forum, drinking beer and cruising old threads. I wish I had read this thread in particular when I first started bowhunting. Invaluable info here. I found this post to be especially interesting. It’s well known in humans that the apex of the lungs receive less perfusion than the base of the lungs. It’s not because there are less blood vessels at the apex but more so because of gravities effect on the pulmonary circulation. For those interested in more info on this, google “V/Q mismatch”. I’m not sure if this is the case in whitetail deer but it makes sense from a physiological standpoint. Theoretically, what this means is any high double lung shot on a deer could maybe produce a non-fatal shot. Still an extremely unlikely outcome, but based on this post, obviously in the realm of possibility. For whatever it’s worth, I always try and heart punch deer when possible. A deer shot through the heart will not survive PERIOD. Great post and great thread. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I concur with all the things you pointed out. Most importantly "wait ". You just gotta wait if you did not see that deer go down in front of you and you need to see him lay dead for a good while and even then that time has to be debated. I always look at the eyes if they go down in front of me. I never saw a dead deer blink nor a deer die with his eyes closed so if he is close to you and you see those eyes closed or a tail flick do not approach that deer.
