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Tracking

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SE_Hunter

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Last night I shot a nice buck at about 5:00. It was a complete pass through. I picked up my arrow and saw some blood but it looked clean. The hair on it was brown. I waited for an hour and started tracking it. Went about thirty yards and saw it was bleeding bright red blood. The blood left marks high up on the shrubs it had walked through. The blood was coming out of both sides of the deer. I called for help and continued to track it. Tracked the blood trail for about 200 yards along a side of a ravine. It was still dropping a good blood.

We then lost the trail..we went back and remarked the trail and searched until about Midnight. We have a ton of coyotes in this area as well. I heard them attacking something off in the distance. I not sure it was the buck but the thought passed through my mind.

Its killing me not to be there now but I have some family members tracking it for me. I had to work today.

Any ideas? Should I have backed out and just left it?

I lost a doe once and promised myself I would exhaust every resource to recover the animal.
 
Hard to say at this point but if I am not sure of hit location, i always leave them overnight.

I don't like that the arrow looked clean as arrows dont lie, but again, that is just another clue.

It is possible you hit the straps, which would results in high blood on trees etc and with the bown hair.

Let us know what happens, Lord knows I have been there and its no fun when you dont know :(
 
Thanks for the ideas. When I shot the deer it did a little kick and took off running. Found pools of blood and thought it would be an easy track. I could see where it stopped and the blood was pooled. We didn't go further ahead than the 200 yards, just did a circle search.

When I found that much blood on my last kills (for does they usually only went 50-100 yards).

I have passed on several bucks giving them the chance to grow so its been a while. I know bucks are much tougher.

This seemed to be the the dominant buck in the area because it I saw it chase off a 6 and 8 earlier in the day.
 
I don't like the fact that he bled that much without bedding down. Sounds non-vital to me as briskets and muscles can bleed like crazy and then just stop.

Based on the arrow, lack of bedding and distance traveled, I'd say good chance he'll live to see another day :)
 
huntyak --

Went back and checked my arrow again, there was some white and brown hair on it. Must have been a brisket hit which caused the blood loss. Man, I can't believe how much blood he lost. The way he kicked, bolted and had pools of blood I was sure he would be down for the count.

Hopefully your right and that he will survive for another day. His rack was wide... but his body was massive!

My relatives did a grid search today. They could find no more blood. So my hope is that he survives. Still makes a person feel terrible.

After all the work that goes into practicing, preparing the land and trying to manage the herd. It sucks.
 
I shot a buck 2 weeks ago that had nothing but white hair and fat on it, not a drop of blood for 80 yards. Found him dead a week later after two full days of lookin. You just never know. I say if you feel confident in your equipment and feel like you made a decent shot, he's gonna be dead somewhere.
 
Go lookin near water with the wind blowing toward you. That's how I found mine. You definitely know when you are near something dead.
 
I had a brisket shot last year and it didn't bleed very good. You nigh have hit gut, considering the amount of blood. It's hard to say, I have shot deer in the guts and have had them bed down but they where does. A big buck might go half a mile or so before bedding down.
 
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huntyak said:
I don't like the fact that he bled that much without bedding down. Sounds non-vital to me as briskets and muscles can bleed like crazy and then just stop.

Based on the arrow, lack of bedding and distance traveled, I'd say good chance he'll live to see another day :)
Click to expand...

I agree with the lay down part. If you shot him in the liver or guts he would definitely lay down not too far if he wasn't pushed.
 
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