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How long to wait....................

Willie

Willie

PMA Member
How long should you wait until tracking a deer you don't exactly know how well you hit. At first, I thought I missed because after I shot he went out another 35 yards and stood and looked around. His tail was down and he didn't seem too agitated. I grunted a few times and off he walked down over the ridge out of sight. While he was standing there I saw him wobble just a bit. I waited 15 minutes and climbed down to find my arrow. I found the arrow and it had blood from broadhead to nock. The blood wasn't the super bright red blood you usually see but it was blood nonetheless. The arrow didn't appear to have any "gut" contents on it. I didn't start to track at all but I didn't notice any blood trail in the immediate area of the arrow (10-15 yds). What's anyone's opinion? Should I wait 4 hours, 6 hours...tomorrow morning???
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Good Question

As you know there are many variables that can effect the recovery.

When you can't identify the location of the hit there are a few other clues to go by. So I have a few questions for you . . .

Describe in a little more detail the reaction of the animal?

What angle was the buck at the shot? (ie broadside and under the tree)

What did the shot sound like?

Did you here anything after you lost site of the buck?

Remember under most circumstances it's best to give it plenty of time.

I would also like to stress that you should give a gut shot animal a minimum of 12 hours.
 
was the blood dark red?? smell your arrow, does it smell like guts?? with the little detail you have given it sounds like a liver hit because that's where i hit mine yesterday. answer OneCams questions and we'll be able to give a better answer.
 
Also look for hair where you hit him. Hair color and length can give you clues about the hit.

I like to error on the side of caution. I shot one Monday. Looked too far back like a liver hit so I gave him 3-4 hours. Turned out he was dead before I got my bow hung up. But I'd rather do that than walk up on a bad hit and have him run off with no blood trail.

Good luck!
Old Buck
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Good points also would like to add. If you start tracking and find a bed and he isn't in it - give him longer. Let him bed down and die. Liver is very fatal, but takes a bit longer for them to die. Usually they huntch up and walk off. They normally don't go very far and bed down and it takes them awhile to die. Heart shot deer can pretty normally go 150 yards. Double lung shots seems to be the quickest kill. One lung a mature deer can go quite some ways and live for awhile. Best to give them time and let them bed down and die. If you push them they can end up in the next county.

And like has been mentioned earlier wounded deer like to head for water, down hill, and for thick cover.

Good luck.
 
Well I started my search a little after 3:00. Went to where my arrow laid and I looked at it again. It's not dark red blood and there are some white hairs on the shaft of the arrow. There was no smell of guts and I showed the area to another local bowhunter and he said that it wasn't a gut shot. He felt maybe it was a liver shot but couldn't be sure. The deer's reaction was strange. After I shot he went another 30 yards roughly and just stood there and then he walked off. I really expected to see him just fall over right there - that's when I knew I wasn't sure of the shot. He was standing broadside at 25 yards and I could hear the arrow hit. I didn't hear anything after he went over the ridge.

When we started to track and it was just drops of blood - no spurts like a lung shot. I'm guessing it was low due to the white hair. He dripped blood for about 75 yards and it was difficult to find - hands and knees sometimes to find the next drop. I flagged each drop and have an idea of the area he went to. It's pretty wooly and I think I'll head back out tomorrow at first light. I thought six hours would be plenty of time if I hit him decent. Man, I have to tell you guys, I've got the worst feeling in my stomach over this. He was a nice deer in my book, but that's not what it's all about - if I can't find him I hope he lives to see another day.
 
if you got white hair on your arrow you may not have hit anything fatal. a liver shot deer will die quickly if not pushed. good luck.
 
I had the same thing happen two years ago with a nice 8 pt. He looked up flinched right when I shot and I hit him too high. Left and right was ok, but too high for any vitals. I had similar bright red blood with real spotty trails of blood only when he slowed down. Spent two days looking for that deer!!!

Good luck!!!
 
I had the same thing happen also. I shot a buck 3 wks ago and thought the shot was good. When we started to track him there was only 3 drops within a 80 yard area. As soon as we hit the timber it was like someone dumped the blood out of a 5 gallon bucket. He bled so bad we could shine the light up the hill for 75 yards and still see it. When we got to the top of the hill it stopped completely. I thought it was a lung shot the way it was spurting out of him and as bad as he bled, but when we couldn't find him I new it couldn't have been. Needless to say we did find him....
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only 3 weeks to late. My friends found him tonight while looking for a buck one of them shot.
 
Sorry I haven't gotten back on this topic. I went out yesterday with the help of a buddy and we searched the entire area for hours. No signs at all. I don't know what to do or think. I second guessed my shooting abilities and shot over 60 arrows yesterday when I got back in. My accuracy is fine. I guess I'll chock it up to the "Fever". I decided to let the area settle down today and I'll be back out tomorrow afternoon. Thanks to everyone for their opinions and advice. This is a great site and I have been reading posts for the past several months. It's nice to know that a newcomer like myself can get the advice of complete strangers on a subject that we obviously take very seriously. Good luck to everyone this season and hopefully this buck will give me another opportunity this year.
 
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