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Recovering bow shot whitetails

John Eberhart

Well-Known Member
Vendor Rep
Joined
Apr 1, 2014
Messages
700
The first thing I would like to say is that this Saddle Hunter site is quite refreshing compared to most other hunting sites I've been on. For the most part, the hunters that post on this sight are hard core and it takes a hard core hunter to search out better methods of getting the killing job done, and obviously the harness style system of hunting is different from the norm and requires a hunter to reach outside the proverbial comfort level of what is presented as the normal, yet archaic conventional tree stand methods.

On other sites I swear there's fat guys sitting in their stained underwear in front of their computer all day just waiting to start an argument or dispute a post and by their comments it's obvious they have never stepped in the woods and don't know the difference between the fletch and broad head end of an arrow. The hunters on this site are just that, HUNTERS that kill **** and actually get in the woods.

Now to the Topic

What is your recovery process from the moment you release an arrow???????????????

Here's mine:

After the Shot

I can remember as if it were yesterday, the evening after Halloween in 1978.

Dave, a good friend, had asked me to help him set up on a big 10 point he had been seeing. I was managing the archery department at Jay’s Sporting Goods and agreed to help him on the condition that he gets me permission to hunt the property with him. That specific piece of property was probably the largest and best hunting property in Clare County at the time and he did manage to land me permission to hunt the last couple days of October as long as I was with him. The property owners didn’t allow any bowhunting in November because they were gun hunters and wanted a two week quiet period prior to the gun opener.

The property consisted of a huge, extremely dense wet swamp with scattered small dry humps and two rather large islands. North of the swamp were two large weed fields divided by a ¼ mile wide strip of hardwoods that extended nearly half a mile north to an east/west road. The hardwoods consisted of poplar, beech, maple, birch and chokecherry, red oak, and white oak food bearing trees. There were no crops for miles, so other than browse, at this time of year the deer primarily fed on acorns and chokecherries.

Dave wasn’t really up to snuff on the differences in bitter tannins between white oak and red oak acorns and had previously gravitated to hunting trees within the hardwoods that simply had the most comfortable crotches to sit in. This obviously meant luck would have had to play a huge role in Dave receiving an opportunity at the big 10 point.

On a single scouting venture we set-up a location for Dave in the crotch of a huge white oak within shooting distance of a large chokecherry tree. This was a magnificent location that had a rub-lined runway leading to it, several other runways, acorns and chokecherries as a food source, and a mass of droppings under each tree. The branches on the trees were too high off the ground to be utilized as licking branches for a scrape, but I believed there would have been scrapes there had the branches had hung lower. While I tried not to let my excitement show through in front of Dave, I knew this to be the location the dominant buck would gravitate to once out of the swamp bedding area, there was just too much buck sign for it not to be.

On the opposite side of the hardwoods from Dave’s tree we set-up a hunting location for me. About 28-feet up a small acorn laden white oak, I nailed a 2 X 4 in a small crotch to sit on and a 2 X6 in another to put my feet on and stand on. This location had three well-used runways passing by it that were well within my comfortable shooting range. It was a good transition area for deer to pass through and munch a few acorns as they headed farther into the wooded area away from the nearby swamp. On our way out I had Dave bite into a red oak and a white oak acorn. Due to its bitter tannins, he spit the red oak acorn out immediately and actually ate the white oak acorn and immediately knew from then on why deer always prefer white’s over red’s. We were now ready to hunt.

On Dave’s previous hunts he had been seeing deer as early as 3:30pm, so on the day after Halloween we were in our new trees by 2:00pm. I remember the date because I wanted to go the next evening, but it was Halloween and I took my kids trick or treating instead.

It was a clear sunny afternoon with the temperature hovering around the 45 degree mark when we left the house. Dave had a spike and some does come in very early and watched as they fed on both chokecherries and acorns beneath him. This was a tough situation for Dave because he had only killed a couple deer with his bow to that point, and under any other circumstances that spike would have been in deep do-do.

In the seventies there was no such thing as a whitetail trophy hunter, particularly with archery equipment. Back then passing up bucks with a bow was unheard of and according to DNR surveys, on average only 2% of bowhunters took a buck and only 7% took a deer with a bow. Trophies were most frequently by mishap and times have obviously changed.

Dave’s decision to hold off turned out to be a good one. The next deer he saw was the big 10-point. It was the pre-rut and as the buck casually followed the rub-lined runway towards his tree, the other deer fled the scene. At a distance of only fifteen yards the buck stopped and started feeding on chokecherries. By the time he turned broadside to present a shot, Dave was shaking so bad that he had a hard time drawing his bow, not to mention holding his pin on the buck’s chest. After opening his fingers to release the arrow, he watched as it flew over the buck’s back. Without hesitation the buck promptly disappeared back in the direction from which it came. Dave did get to see that buck one more time, in the back of the property owner’s pick-up on opening morning of gun season.

My first and only deer sighting was at 5:30 and it was a nice 2 ½ year old buck, which at the time was a rarity as well. He had come out of the swamp and was browsing along one of the runways that passed by my tree. It didn’t take long before he was within 10-yards and broadside. I drew my 60-pound Bear Polar II, blatted to stop him, and released my stick. Like Dave, I too had a small case of buck fever but did manage to hit the buck, but the arrow went in a little farther back than where I had aimed. He turned and headed back into the swamp. I could see my arrow sticking out of the ground and back then you could only take one buck with a bow, so I got down to inspect it. A quick glance confirmed my reservations about the shot. There was brown gritty matter covering the arrow, but there was also a descent blood trail. This meant that I had probably hit liver and stomach.

Dave and I met up after dark to exchange stories. Although Dave had missed he was very excited about the opportunity he had, in fact he wouldn’t shut up. Once he cooled his jets I told him about the buck I had hit. It was the first time ever that I had been on a hunt where both parties shot at a 2 ½ year old or older buck; that just didn’t happen back then. When Dave asked how many points mine had, I thought about it for a second, but couldn’t tell him. Interestingly, all I had seen was a good rack, and then tried to concentrate on the shot.

Although there were a ton of coyotes and bobcats in the area, we did not want to push the buck deep into the swamp where a recovery would be nearly impossible, so we decided to wait until morning to search for him. Later that night Dave gave me a call and informed me that he had to work the next morning. Dave worked construction and it was a day by day job.

The next morning, with another friend to hopefully help drag, we followed the dried up blood trail. It was easy to follow the blood on top of the yellow and brown leaves and even easier through the light beige tall weeds leading into the swamp. We found him in a bedded position in some tall weeds just inside the swamp. The beautiful little 8 point had traveled about 200-yards before bedding and eventually expiring. He was facing his backtrack, which confirmed our decision to wait until morning. When I gutted him out, he was still warm which meant he had survived well into the night.

While my ego kept me from mentioning it to Dave; our hunt definitely aided in the continuation of my learning process. It reaffirmed that concentrating my scouting efforts on the big destination area or congested transition route picture, and holding out for it, as opposed to setting up on the first well used sporadic singular sign, was the way to go. This may seem trivial and self-explanatory in today’s media driven marketplace, but back then there were no shortcuts to the learning process.

This hunt also reaffirmed my blood trailing knowledge that being patient and waiting before trailing on any questionable hit will more often than not, aid in the likelihood of recovering the deer. There is no doubt that 8-point would have been pushed far into the swamp had we trailed him that night, and likely not recovered. Dave and I weighed the likelihood of coyotes and or bobcats getting to him before daybreak against our odds of him being dead and easily recovered that night, and his warm insides coupled with him being in a bedded position the next morning definitely confirmed we made the right decision.

After the Shot

No matter how hard we try, not all deer are hit perfectly and die within sight or hearing distance, or die within the proverbial half hour waiting period. The question is; what do you do after a questionable shot to have the best possible recovery rate? In most instances simple knowledge of knowing how long to wait before pursuing a shot deer is far more critical to its recovery than being an expert blood trailer.

You just released an arrow and watched it hit the deer. Now what? Your homework begins immediately upon your arrows impact. Picture the hit and mentally mark exactly what landmarks the deer passes by as he leaves the area. Once out of sight, listen for the direction he is traveling until out of earshot. Mark its last sighting with an easily identifiable from the ground landmark, and take a compass reading as to which direction you heard him travel from that landmark. Once on the ground the reading will give you a direction to search if there is a lack of blood.

If the deer expired within sight, slowly pack up your gear and get down. This will usually take 5 to 10 minutes which is ample time for total expiration. If the deer didn’t expire within sight but you think you heard him drop and thrash, wait 30 minutes before exiting your stand before trailing him. Anything outside a visual or hearing expiration, wait 30 minutes and while waiting, mentally go through your mental snapshot of the shot process as to which way the deer was angled and where the arrow entered. This should give you an idea of what vitals, if any were hit and how long to wait before trailing.

Deer vary in color, so only when I see white hair on the ground do I pay any attention to hair color. White hair can offer useful information on location of entry or exit and if you don’t know where white hair patches are located it is advised to look at pictures or road kills to find out.

Once out of the tree and at the shot sight, check the ground and arrow if recovered for the following clues and react accordingly.

1. Abundant, slightly aerated blood

As deer breath they suck air into their lungs and some air will mix with the blood if your arrow passed through the lungs. With a double lung hit there should not only be aerated blood, there should be an ample amount of it from very near the hit site to the expiration location. A double lung hit deer will usually expire within sight or hearing distance and rarely travel over 100 yards.

On straight down or severe quartering shots it is common to hit only one lung. Deer can and often do survive single lung hits, depending on where in the lung the arrow passed through. I have taken three bucks with a scarred over single lung from an arrow wound and the wounds were all near the outer edge of the lung where the blood veins are small in diameter and clot quickly.

A lady I know, Kim Ruby, owns a pair of Bavarian bloodhounds that she uses for tracking deer and while I have never used them for a recovery she has told me several times that whenever they have not recovered a deer that was hit in the body cavity area, the shooters had always expected they only hit one lung.

If you think you only hit one lung, wait at least 4 hours before attempting recovery. When trailing, if you bump him, back off and give him at least 4 more hours if not longer.

NOTE: While many 3-D and video competitions give more points for heart shots, always aim for a double lung shot on the real thing. Depending on the shot angle the heart can be partially protected by heavy shoulder bone. Lungs ride higher in the chest cavity and are not as protected by bone as the heart is. Lungs are also much larger than the heart, offering a larger margin for error. Double lung shot deer also expire faster because their lungs quickly fill up with blood causing them to drown, whereas a heart shot animal runs until it pumps the majority of blood from its system.

2. Abundant blood (with no aeration)

This usually indicates a main artery hit such as the heart, jugular, femoral artery, or front portion of liver. When large arteries are cut and there is a pass-through exit hole, a large volume of blood will pump immediately with every heartbeat making for an easy to follow blood trail to the expiration sight. Wait 30 minutes and then slowly trail the deer.

If you jump him, you didn’t pass through both lungs or through the heart as possibly expected. You likely passed through a single lung or the rear portion of the liver and you should wait for 4 hours before resuming.

3. A small amount or no blood

This could be a flesh wound or a lung, heart, or liver hit with a high entry and no exit wound.

If you think you hit vitals, you didn’t get a pass through, and there is not much blood, wait a couple hours before trailing. It is always better to be safe than sorry and the longer you give a deer to expire, the better your odds of recovery. Waiting will allow the deer to bed down and possibly bleed out or become too weak to jump up in front of you when pushed and go to a more remote area where recovery will be more difficult. If you jump a deer with these hits, back off for 4 hours before resuming. Continue this process until recovery or blood trail expires. If a large artery was not hit, the blood will coagulate and the bleeding will stop.

If positive vital organs were hit (excluding a single lung or liver), even without a blood trail the deer should be easily recovered by grid searching or by searching in larger and larger circles from where the deer was last heard.

Three or four razors punched through flesh (flesh wound only) will usually leave a descent blood trail for a distance and then just peter out when the blood coagulates and clogs the cut arteries.

The farther an artery gets from its original source, the more it branches out into smaller diameter arteries and veins. As they get smaller in diameter they allow less blood flow, so even though there may be good blood at the shot sight, it is best to wait a few hours before trailing. This precautionary waiting period will give the deer time to either; bleed out, get to weak and allow you another shot, or recover and move on.

Back in the late 1980’s my son Joey hit a 3-point buck halfway between his left rear hoof and knee, cutting the main femoral artery going down his leg. At this point the femoral artery is quite a bit smaller in diameter than what it is through the top of the hind quarter before it branches out. Joey told me that he saw the buck run about 50 yards and stop and that in the few seconds it took him to run that short distance, his lower leg was already red from blood. Joey took out his binoculars and could see blood running down the buck’s leg as he stood there. Within a few minutes the buck walked off, crossed a nearby creek and disappeared into the timber. We left him alone all night and found him the next morning not 40 yards from the creek.

There is no doubt that had we pushed that buck too soon, we would have pushed him back into a nearby wet swamp, and likely not recovered him.

4. Stomach matter and little or no blood

The dreaded gut or intestine shot! This is a killing shot and the procedure is very simple. Wait for 30 minutes, quietly get out of your stand and don’t even think about walking in the direction the deer went for at least 4 hours. Go home and work on your honey-do list. If the weather is below 45 degrees, wait 6 to 8 hours. This deer will usually require ample time to expire.

A gut shot deer will rarely travel farther than 200 yards before getting sick and bedding down in some sort of security cover. If left alone, the deer will likely be expired when you come back or be too weak to go very far. The down side is that there will likely be very little, if any blood, and unlike double lung and main artery hits where they run until they crash, this deer will maintain its full mental capacities. If pushed, this deer will head for the thickest, nastiest security cover in the area where a recovery without a blood trail will be extremely difficult.

Early in the season when the foliage is dense a gut shot recovery may require a lot of searching, so get as many friends together as possible when you return, and form an organized grid search.

Ninety percent of the calls Kim has received for her tracking dogs have ended up being gut shot deer and they are always recovered if the hunter didn’t previously push the deer back into a wet swamp.

5. Stomach matter and good blood

This indicates a shot towards the back of the ribcage, likely passing through the stomach and liver, both of which are fatal. I have never recovered, or heard of anyone else that recovered a deer that had a scarred stomach or liver.

Liver shots can have huge variances in expiration times. I have witnessed liver shot deer expire within minutes as if hit through the heart, and have seen others be alive, yet too weak to move, after 16 hours. The reason for such diversity is that the arteries going into the liver are large and as they spread throughout it towards the rear of the liver, they get tiny. When the large arteries are severed, they bleed out quickly, with the opposite being true when the small arteries are hit. Liver shot deer usually leave such good blood trails that you will think, he can’t be much further.

Similar to gut shot deer, liver hit deer rarely travel very far prior to getting sick and bedding down, and they also retain their full mental capacities. If you think you hit a deer behind the lung area treat it in the same manner as you would a gut shot deer even though there may be a good blood trail.

Back in the early 1990’s, Chad Stearns (manager of Jay’s Sporting Goods) and I went hunting and Chad hit a 2 ½ year old 8-point, what he thought, through the lungs. When we met up after dark we took up the trail and after about 150 yards, we decided to wait until morning. There was a ton of blood at first and it rapidly petered out into a difficult to follow blood trail. There was no way with the original amount of blood that this buck was hit in through both lungs.

I had to work the next day and Chad went back at noon to recover what we figured would be a dead buck. Keep in mind it is now 17 hours after the shot. After about another 250 yards of tracking Chad did find the buck, but he was not dead and he did not take his bow, but the buck couldn’t get up. Chad ended up killing that buck with a large branch by breaking his neck.

Remember to always take your bow with you when blood trailing a questionably hit deer. There may be a time when a wounded deer requires another arrow to finish the job.

Note: Deer hit in the liver, stomach, or intestines find comfort lying in water because it soothes the wound. I have aided in the recovery of several deer that died in creeks and lakes, and they always had these types of hits. So if there is nearby water and no blood trail, be sure to search in the water.

6. Spine hit

This type of hit should never be a plan, but from high elevations it sometimes happens. A spine hit deer will immediately fall to the ground and most often will flounder around. Immediately knock another arrow and wait for a shot opportunity where you can place an arrow through his lungs.

On one occasion I hit a large 8-point in the spine just in front of his hind quarters, immobilizing his hind legs. This buck fell to the ground but immediately began dragging himself away from me and into the nearby swamp with his front legs. I immediately knocked an arrow, but he was gone. I slithered out of my saddle and climbed down with bow in hand. I chased that dam buck for over 100 yards into the swamp before I could get off another shot to finish him off.

While that was a rare case with a spine hit deer, it is advised to get another arrow into a spine hit deer as quick as possible. It is also the humane thing to do.

7. Tallow on the shaft

Areas of a deer where there is thick tallow are; high on the back along the loin, brisket or bottom of the chest area, and along top of hind quarters.

Tallow on an arrow is not usually a promising sign. However with a rear, frontal, or high entry (from a tree only), you can have tallow on the shaft and still have passed through vital organs.

Tallow can plug an exit wound, so with a low brisket exit if you do not find a lot of blood, do not be surprised. Blood on an arrow might also be wiped off as it passes through the tallow, leaving little indicator on your arrow of what might have been hit internally. This hit should be treated similar to a gut shot unless you are sure that the arrow passed through the lungs, heart, or front portion of liver.

8. A knuckle hit with no penetration

This shot will make a loud whacking sound and the arrow may bounce off or slightly bury into the knuckle leaving the entire length of your arrow shaft exposed as the deer runs off. This is not a killing shot but you should make every effort to find your arrow to insure that you did not penetrate deep enough to reach any vitals. Follow any blood trail until it expires.

Additional Suggestions

Other than double lung or heart shot deer that expire all sprawled out with their white belly showing, deer that maintain their mental capacities will often be bedded nice and neatly in a hard to find place when they expire. I once recovered a buck that crawled under the low hanging branches of a spruce tree before expiring. There were several spruce trees where the blood petered out and I just started lifting branches that hung to the ground.

If it is raining or rain is in the forecast, still wait the suggested times before attempting recovery. Rain will wash away blood, however with a poorly hit deer you are still better off waiting and having him expire within a couple hundred yards as opposed to pushing him into a swamp or dense area of cover where the odds of recovery will be greatly reduced.

Tracking

When trailing, if blood gets difficult to locate, slow down, get closer to the ground, and check the ground before taking each step. It is common to go over a trail several times before spotting specs of blood. Mark last blood with something visible, and keep at least 2 markers on the trail behind you to give a direction to go by. I usually take tissue paper or flagging tape to use as markers, but on occasion have used my arrows by sticking them in the ground.

If the deer was running, the direction of the blood splatters on the leaves can also aid in the direction it is going

In many instances you can go faster by looking for kicked up leaves or dirt, especially if it has rained recently, which makes any alterations on the ground very easy to identify.

When trailing through dense brush, tall ferns or weeds, cattails, or standing corn, you will generally find more blood higher up on the vegetation than you will on the ground due to the deer’s body rubbing against whatever it is passing through.

Wounded deer that retain their full mental capacities will almost always take the easiest route to get to their desired security cover destination. When blood trails are lost, check runways, lanes, and low spots or holes in fencerows to try and pick up the trail.

When wounded deer cross open fields they usually go in somewhat of a direct route so when trailing across a grass or weed field, which is very difficult, look at your last two markers, get a line, and go across the field and try to locate the blood trail inside the tree line where it will be easier to re-locate on leaves.

If you think a deer expired in tall weeds, marsh grass, or ferns, climbing trees may enable you to look down into the tall stuff for a carcass.

If a deer runs into a standing cornfield there is a chance that it will travel down the same row. Get a friend, have him stand at last blood and give you a half hour before he starts trailing. With your bow, quietly cut over 20 rows (count them as you go) from his position, then quietly go down that row about 200 yards in the same direction that the deer was traveling, then cut back the 20 rows. This will put you in the same row the deer was in. Set up a simple ambush sight one or two rows off to the side and wait for him to start trailing. You may get a shot if he pushes the deer past you. I have used this method in the past.

If you are pushing a deer towards a known tight funnel in a wooded area you can make a loop and set-up an ambush site in that funnel and then have your friend trail the deer.

Whenever you question whether to immediately look, or wait prior to blood trailing a deer, always wait, your odds of recovery will be much greater. Just as being patient is the most important aspect of receiving shot opportunities, patience is also the most important aspect of recovering poorly hit deer.
 
Great post. I've read most of that info scattered around the net but never all in one place.

Using fluorescent orange marking tape helped a lot with my deer last year. Hit high, one lung and nicked the other, not a pass through, and also found a nick in the right ventricle. Good blood at first that petered out. Having a straight line of tape helped affirm that I was going in the right direction, especially when there was no blood and he was headed toward some tall grass. Glad he didn't make it because it was my first tracking job, first deer, and I was alone. I found him not far away by looking in the straight line and seeing the white belly.
 
Excellent post! Thanks for the info and expert advice. Losing a deer after you know it was hit is a major bummer. Info like this can only up the odds of recovery. Every time I track a deer I learn something new.
 
Thanks for putting all of that together John. That is great information and something that all hunters should refresh themselves with from time to time. I am going to make the topic a sticky! :D
 
Wow John what a great post . I know alot of folks who could use the knowledge including myself.. Alot of little details in there I have over looked before.. I usually give the deer an hour or 2 before I trail it unless I seen it go down.. Even if I'm sure it was a great shot, I guess I think of it as " if I did make a good hit on him he will still be there in 2 hours". Where as if I thought I made a great shot but didn't I could push the deer past recovery. Thanks for the post
 
JE, Well thought out post. I especially liked the part about hunters that actually get out kill ****! Here lately my recovery process has been shoot em', get down, and walk over to them! Every animal for last 3 years has been the kind I wish every bow kill was. Just lucky I guess. Anyway, great post. Very helpful.
 
1simplemann said:
ere lately my recovery process has been shoot em', get down, and walk over to them! /quote]

That is the best kind of tracking job!
 
redsquirrel said:
1simplemann said:
ere lately my recovery process has been shoot em', get down, and walk over to them! /quote]

That is the best kind of tracking job!
Watching em' go down sure makes it easy! My 9pt this year went 15 yds and flipped over backwards. Another buck wanted to fight him while he was flipping around. I wish I had it on video.
 
Wow...Great post! Thanks John, this answers alot of questions I've had about blood after the shot.
 
The first thing I would like to say is that this Saddle Hunter site is quite refreshing compared to most other hunting sites I've been on. For the most part, the hunters that post on this sight are hard core and it takes a hard core hunter to search out better methods of getting the killing job done, and obviously the harness style system of hunting is different from the norm and requires a hunter to reach outside the proverbial comfort level of what is presented as the normal, yet archaic conventional tree stand methods.

On other sites I swear there's fat guys sitting in their stained underwear in front of their computer all day just waiting to start an argument or dispute a post and by their comments it's obvious they have never stepped in the woods and don't know the difference between the fletch and broad head end of an arrow. The hunters on this site are just that, HUNTERS that kill **** and actually get in the woods.

Now to the Topic

What is your recovery process from the moment you release an arrow???????????????

Here's mine:

After the Shot

I can remember as if it were yesterday, the evening after Halloween in 1978.

Dave, a good friend, had asked me to help him set up on a big 10 point he had been seeing. I was managing the archery department at Jay’s Sporting Goods and agreed to help him on the condition that he gets me permission to hunt the property with him. That specific piece of property was probably the largest and best hunting property in Clare County at the time and he did manage to land me permission to hunt the last couple days of October as long as I was with him. The property owners didn’t allow any bowhunting in November because they were gun hunters and wanted a two week quiet period prior to the gun opener.

The property consisted of a huge, extremely dense wet swamp with scattered small dry humps and two rather large islands. North of the swamp were two large weed fields divided by a ¼ mile wide strip of hardwoods that extended nearly half a mile north to an east/west road. The hardwoods consisted of poplar, beech, maple, birch and chokecherry, red oak, and white oak food bearing trees. There were no crops for miles, so other than browse, at this time of year the deer primarily fed on acorns and chokecherries.

Dave wasn’t really up to snuff on the differences in bitter tannins between white oak and red oak acorns and had previously gravitated to hunting trees within the hardwoods that simply had the most comfortable crotches to sit in. This obviously meant luck would have had to play a huge role in Dave receiving an opportunity at the big 10 point.

On a single scouting venture we set-up a location for Dave in the crotch of a huge white oak within shooting distance of a large chokecherry tree. This was a magnificent location that had a rub-lined runway leading to it, several other runways, acorns and chokecherries as a food source, and a mass of droppings under each tree. The branches on the trees were too high off the ground to be utilized as licking branches for a scrape, but I believed there would have been scrapes there had the branches had hung lower. While I tried not to let my excitement show through in front of Dave, I knew this to be the location the dominant buck would gravitate to once out of the swamp bedding area, there was just too much buck sign for it not to be.

On the opposite side of the hardwoods from Dave’s tree we set-up a hunting location for me. About 28-feet up a small acorn laden white oak, I nailed a 2 X 4 in a small crotch to sit on and a 2 X6 in another to put my feet on and stand on. This location had three well-used runways passing by it that were well within my comfortable shooting range. It was a good transition area for deer to pass through and munch a few acorns as they headed farther into the wooded area away from the nearby swamp. On our way out I had Dave bite into a red oak and a white oak acorn. Due to its bitter tannins, he spit the red oak acorn out immediately and actually ate the white oak acorn and immediately knew from then on why deer always prefer white’s over red’s. We were now ready to hunt.

On Dave’s previous hunts he had been seeing deer as early as 3:30pm, so on the day after Halloween we were in our new trees by 2:00pm. I remember the date because I wanted to go the next evening, but it was Halloween and I took my kids trick or treating instead.

It was a clear sunny afternoon with the temperature hovering around the 45 degree mark when we left the house. Dave had a spike and some does come in very early and watched as they fed on both chokecherries and acorns beneath him. This was a tough situation for Dave because he had only killed a couple deer with his bow to that point, and under any other circumstances that spike would have been in deep do-do.

In the seventies there was no such thing as a whitetail trophy hunter, particularly with archery equipment. Back then passing up bucks with a bow was unheard of and according to DNR surveys, on average only 2% of bowhunters took a buck and only 7% took a deer with a bow. Trophies were most frequently by mishap and times have obviously changed.

Dave’s decision to hold off turned out to be a good one. The next deer he saw was the big 10-point. It was the pre-rut and as the buck casually followed the rub-lined runway towards his tree, the other deer fled the scene. At a distance of only fifteen yards the buck stopped and started feeding on chokecherries. By the time he turned broadside to present a shot, Dave was shaking so bad that he had a hard time drawing his bow, not to mention holding his pin on the buck’s chest. After opening his fingers to release the arrow, he watched as it flew over the buck’s back. Without hesitation the buck promptly disappeared back in the direction from which it came. Dave did get to see that buck one more time, in the back of the property owner’s pick-up on opening morning of gun season.

My first and only deer sighting was at 5:30 and it was a nice 2 ½ year old buck, which at the time was a rarity as well. He had come out of the swamp and was browsing along one of the runways that passed by my tree. It didn’t take long before he was within 10-yards and broadside. I drew my 60-pound Bear Polar II, blatted to stop him, and released my stick. Like Dave, I too had a small case of buck fever but did manage to hit the buck, but the arrow went in a little farther back than where I had aimed. He turned and headed back into the swamp. I could see my arrow sticking out of the ground and back then you could only take one buck with a bow, so I got down to inspect it. A quick glance confirmed my reservations about the shot. There was brown gritty matter covering the arrow, but there was also a descent blood trail. This meant that I had probably hit liver and stomach.

Dave and I met up after dark to exchange stories. Although Dave had missed he was very excited about the opportunity he had, in fact he wouldn’t shut up. Once he cooled his jets I told him about the buck I had hit. It was the first time ever that I had been on a hunt where both parties shot at a 2 ½ year old or older buck; that just didn’t happen back then. When Dave asked how many points mine had, I thought about it for a second, but couldn’t tell him. Interestingly, all I had seen was a good rack, and then tried to concentrate on the shot.

Although there were a ton of coyotes and bobcats in the area, we did not want to push the buck deep into the swamp where a recovery would be nearly impossible, so we decided to wait until morning to search for him. Later that night Dave gave me a call and informed me that he had to work the next morning. Dave worked construction and it was a day by day job.

The next morning, with another friend to hopefully help drag, we followed the dried up blood trail. It was easy to follow the blood on top of the yellow and brown leaves and even easier through the light beige tall weeds leading into the swamp. We found him in a bedded position in some tall weeds just inside the swamp. The beautiful little 8 point had traveled about 200-yards before bedding and eventually expiring. He was facing his backtrack, which confirmed our decision to wait until morning. When I gutted him out, he was still warm which meant he had survived well into the night.

While my ego kept me from mentioning it to Dave; our hunt definitely aided in the continuation of my learning process. It reaffirmed that concentrating my scouting efforts on the big destination area or congested transition route picture, and holding out for it, as opposed to setting up on the first well used sporadic singular sign, was the way to go. This may seem trivial and self-explanatory in today’s media driven marketplace, but back then there were no shortcuts to the learning process.

This hunt also reaffirmed my blood trailing knowledge that being patient and waiting before trailing on any questionable hit will more often than not, aid in the likelihood of recovering the deer. There is no doubt that 8-point would have been pushed far into the swamp had we trailed him that night, and likely not recovered. Dave and I weighed the likelihood of coyotes and or bobcats getting to him before daybreak against our odds of him being dead and easily recovered that night, and his warm insides coupled with him being in a bedded position the next morning definitely confirmed we made the right decision.

After the Shot

No matter how hard we try, not all deer are hit perfectly and die within sight or hearing distance, or die within the proverbial half hour waiting period. The question is; what do you do after a questionable shot to have the best possible recovery rate? In most instances simple knowledge of knowing how long to wait before pursuing a shot deer is far more critical to its recovery than being an expert blood trailer.

You just released an arrow and watched it hit the deer. Now what? Your homework begins immediately upon your arrows impact. Picture the hit and mentally mark exactly what landmarks the deer passes by as he leaves the area. Once out of sight, listen for the direction he is traveling until out of earshot. Mark its last sighting with an easily identifiable from the ground landmark, and take a compass reading as to which direction you heard him travel from that landmark. Once on the ground the reading will give you a direction to search if there is a lack of blood.

If the deer expired within sight, slowly pack up your gear and get down. This will usually take 5 to 10 minutes which is ample time for total expiration. If the deer didn’t expire within sight but you think you heard him drop and thrash, wait 30 minutes before exiting your stand before trailing him. Anything outside a visual or hearing expiration, wait 30 minutes and while waiting, mentally go through your mental snapshot of the shot process as to which way the deer was angled and where the arrow entered. This should give you an idea of what vitals, if any were hit and how long to wait before trailing.

Deer vary in color, so only when I see white hair on the ground do I pay any attention to hair color. White hair can offer useful information on location of entry or exit and if you don’t know where white hair patches are located it is advised to look at pictures or road kills to find out.

Once out of the tree and at the shot sight, check the ground and arrow if recovered for the following clues and react accordingly.

1. Abundant, slightly aerated blood

As deer breath they suck air into their lungs and some air will mix with the blood if your arrow passed through the lungs. With a double lung hit there should not only be aerated blood, there should be an ample amount of it from very near the hit site to the expiration location. A double lung hit deer will usually expire within sight or hearing distance and rarely travel over 100 yards.

On straight down or severe quartering shots it is common to hit only one lung. Deer can and often do survive single lung hits, depending on where in the lung the arrow passed through. I have taken three bucks with a scarred over single lung from an arrow wound and the wounds were all near the outer edge of the lung where the blood veins are small in diameter and clot quickly.

A lady I know, Kim Ruby, owns a pair of Bavarian bloodhounds that she uses for tracking deer and while I have never used them for a recovery she has told me several times that whenever they have not recovered a deer that was hit in the body cavity area, the shooters had always expected they only hit one lung.

If you think you only hit one lung, wait at least 4 hours before attempting recovery. When trailing, if you bump him, back off and give him at least 4 more hours if not longer.

NOTE: While many 3-D and video competitions give more points for heart shots, always aim for a double lung shot on the real thing. Depending on the shot angle the heart can be partially protected by heavy shoulder bone. Lungs ride higher in the chest cavity and are not as protected by bone as the heart is. Lungs are also much larger than the heart, offering a larger margin for error. Double lung shot deer also expire faster because their lungs quickly fill up with blood causing them to drown, whereas a heart shot animal runs until it pumps the majority of blood from its system.

2. Abundant blood (with no aeration)

This usually indicates a main artery hit such as the heart, jugular, femoral artery, or front portion of liver. When large arteries are cut and there is a pass-through exit hole, a large volume of blood will pump immediately with every heartbeat making for an easy to follow blood trail to the expiration sight. Wait 30 minutes and then slowly trail the deer.

If you jump him, you didn’t pass through both lungs or through the heart as possibly expected. You likely passed through a single lung or the rear portion of the liver and you should wait for 4 hours before resuming.

3. A small amount or no blood

This could be a flesh wound or a lung, heart, or liver hit with a high entry and no exit wound.

If you think you hit vitals, you didn’t get a pass through, and there is not much blood, wait a couple hours before trailing. It is always better to be safe than sorry and the longer you give a deer to expire, the better your odds of recovery. Waiting will allow the deer to bed down and possibly bleed out or become too weak to jump up in front of you when pushed and go to a more remote area where recovery will be more difficult. If you jump a deer with these hits, back off for 4 hours before resuming. Continue this process until recovery or blood trail expires. If a large artery was not hit, the blood will coagulate and the bleeding will stop.

If positive vital organs were hit (excluding a single lung or liver), even without a blood trail the deer should be easily recovered by grid searching or by searching in larger and larger circles from where the deer was last heard.

Three or four razors punched through flesh (flesh wound only) will usually leave a descent blood trail for a distance and then just peter out when the blood coagulates and clogs the cut arteries.

The farther an artery gets from its original source, the more it branches out into smaller diameter arteries and veins. As they get smaller in diameter they allow less blood flow, so even though there may be good blood at the shot sight, it is best to wait a few hours before trailing. This precautionary waiting period will give the deer time to either; bleed out, get to weak and allow you another shot, or recover and move on.

Back in the late 1980’s my son Joey hit a 3-point buck halfway between his left rear hoof and knee, cutting the main femoral artery going down his leg. At this point the femoral artery is quite a bit smaller in diameter than what it is through the top of the hind quarter before it branches out. Joey told me that he saw the buck run about 50 yards and stop and that in the few seconds it took him to run that short distance, his lower leg was already red from blood. Joey took out his binoculars and could see blood running down the buck’s leg as he stood there. Within a few minutes the buck walked off, crossed a nearby creek and disappeared into the timber. We left him alone all night and found him the next morning not 40 yards from the creek.

There is no doubt that had we pushed that buck too soon, we would have pushed him back into a nearby wet swamp, and likely not recovered him.

4. Stomach matter and little or no blood

The dreaded gut or intestine shot! This is a killing shot and the procedure is very simple. Wait for 30 minutes, quietly get out of your stand and don’t even think about walking in the direction the deer went for at least 4 hours. Go home and work on your honey-do list. If the weather is below 45 degrees, wait 6 to 8 hours. This deer will usually require ample time to expire.

A gut shot deer will rarely travel farther than 200 yards before getting sick and bedding down in some sort of security cover. If left alone, the deer will likely be expired when you come back or be too weak to go very far. The down side is that there will likely be very little, if any blood, and unlike double lung and main artery hits where they run until they crash, this deer will maintain its full mental capacities. If pushed, this deer will head for the thickest, nastiest security cover in the area where a recovery without a blood trail will be extremely difficult.

Early in the season when the foliage is dense a gut shot recovery may require a lot of searching, so get as many friends together as possible when you return, and form an organized grid search.

Ninety percent of the calls Kim has received for her tracking dogs have ended up being gut shot deer and they are always recovered if the hunter didn’t previously push the deer back into a wet swamp.

5. Stomach matter and good blood

This indicates a shot towards the back of the ribcage, likely passing through the stomach and liver, both of which are fatal. I have never recovered, or heard of anyone else that recovered a deer that had a scarred stomach or liver.

Liver shots can have huge variances in expiration times. I have witnessed liver shot deer expire within minutes as if hit through the heart, and have seen others be alive, yet too weak to move, after 16 hours. The reason for such diversity is that the arteries going into the liver are large and as they spread throughout it towards the rear of the liver, they get tiny. When the large arteries are severed, they bleed out quickly, with the opposite being true when the small arteries are hit. Liver shot deer usually leave such good blood trails that you will think, he can’t be much further.

Similar to gut shot deer, liver hit deer rarely travel very far prior to getting sick and bedding down, and they also retain their full mental capacities. If you think you hit a deer behind the lung area treat it in the same manner as you would a gut shot deer even though there may be a good blood trail.

Back in the early 1990’s, Chad Stearns (manager of Jay’s Sporting Goods) and I went hunting and Chad hit a 2 ½ year old 8-point, what he thought, through the lungs. When we met up after dark we took up the trail and after about 150 yards, we decided to wait until morning. There was a ton of blood at first and it rapidly petered out into a difficult to follow blood trail. There was no way with the original amount of blood that this buck was hit in through both lungs.

I had to work the next day and Chad went back at noon to recover what we figured would be a dead buck. Keep in mind it is now 17 hours after the shot. After about another 250 yards of tracking Chad did find the buck, but he was not dead and he did not take his bow, but the buck couldn’t get up. Chad ended up killing that buck with a large branch by breaking his neck.

Remember to always take your bow with you when blood trailing a questionably hit deer. There may be a time when a wounded deer requires another arrow to finish the job.

Note: Deer hit in the liver, stomach, or intestines find comfort lying in water because it soothes the wound. I have aided in the recovery of several deer that died in creeks and lakes, and they always had these types of hits. So if there is nearby water and no blood trail, be sure to search in the water.

6. Spine hit

This type of hit should never be a plan, but from high elevations it sometimes happens. A spine hit deer will immediately fall to the ground and most often will flounder around. Immediately knock another arrow and wait for a shot opportunity where you can place an arrow through his lungs.

On one occasion I hit a large 8-point in the spine just in front of his hind quarters, immobilizing his hind legs. This buck fell to the ground but immediately began dragging himself away from me and into the nearby swamp with his front legs. I immediately knocked an arrow, but he was gone. I slithered out of my saddle and climbed down with bow in hand. I chased that dam buck for over 100 yards into the swamp before I could get off another shot to finish him off.

While that was a rare case with a spine hit deer, it is advised to get another arrow into a spine hit deer as quick as possible. It is also the humane thing to do.

7. Tallow on the shaft

Areas of a deer where there is thick tallow are; high on the back along the loin, brisket or bottom of the chest area, and along top of hind quarters.

Tallow on an arrow is not usually a promising sign. However with a rear, frontal, or high entry (from a tree only), you can have tallow on the shaft and still have passed through vital organs.

Tallow can plug an exit wound, so with a low brisket exit if you do not find a lot of blood, do not be surprised. Blood on an arrow might also be wiped off as it passes through the tallow, leaving little indicator on your arrow of what might have been hit internally. This hit should be treated similar to a gut shot unless you are sure that the arrow passed through the lungs, heart, or front portion of liver.

8. A knuckle hit with no penetration

This shot will make a loud whacking sound and the arrow may bounce off or slightly bury into the knuckle leaving the entire length of your arrow shaft exposed as the deer runs off. This is not a killing shot but you should make every effort to find your arrow to insure that you did not penetrate deep enough to reach any vitals. Follow any blood trail until it expires.

Additional Suggestions

Other than double lung or heart shot deer that expire all sprawled out with their white belly showing, deer that maintain their mental capacities will often be bedded nice and neatly in a hard to find place when they expire. I once recovered a buck that crawled under the low hanging branches of a spruce tree before expiring. There were several spruce trees where the blood petered out and I just started lifting branches that hung to the ground.

If it is raining or rain is in the forecast, still wait the suggested times before attempting recovery. Rain will wash away blood, however with a poorly hit deer you are still better off waiting and having him expire within a couple hundred yards as opposed to pushing him into a swamp or dense area of cover where the odds of recovery will be greatly reduced.

Tracking

When trailing, if blood gets difficult to locate, slow down, get closer to the ground, and check the ground before taking each step. It is common to go over a trail several times before spotting specs of blood. Mark last blood with something visible, and keep at least 2 markers on the trail behind you to give a direction to go by. I usually take tissue paper or flagging tape to use as markers, but on occasion have used my arrows by sticking them in the ground.

If the deer was running, the direction of the blood splatters on the leaves can also aid in the direction it is going

In many instances you can go faster by looking for kicked up leaves or dirt, especially if it has rained recently, which makes any alterations on the ground very easy to identify.

When trailing through dense brush, tall ferns or weeds, cattails, or standing corn, you will generally find more blood higher up on the vegetation than you will on the ground due to the deer’s body rubbing against whatever it is passing through.

Wounded deer that retain their full mental capacities will almost always take the easiest route to get to their desired security cover destination. When blood trails are lost, check runways, lanes, and low spots or holes in fencerows to try and pick up the trail.

When wounded deer cross open fields they usually go in somewhat of a direct route so when trailing across a grass or weed field, which is very difficult, look at your last two markers, get a line, and go across the field and try to locate the blood trail inside the tree line where it will be easier to re-locate on leaves.

If you think a deer expired in tall weeds, marsh grass, or ferns, climbing trees may enable you to look down into the tall stuff for a carcass.

If a deer runs into a standing cornfield there is a chance that it will travel down the same row. Get a friend, have him stand at last blood and give you a half hour before he starts trailing. With your bow, quietly cut over 20 rows (count them as you go) from his position, then quietly go down that row about 200 yards in the same direction that the deer was traveling, then cut back the 20 rows. This will put you in the same row the deer was in. Set up a simple ambush sight one or two rows off to the side and wait for him to start trailing. You may get a shot if he pushes the deer past you. I have used this method in the past.

If you are pushing a deer towards a known tight funnel in a wooded area you can make a loop and set-up an ambush site in that funnel and then have your friend trail the deer.

Whenever you question whether to immediately look, or wait prior to blood trailing a deer, always wait, your odds of recovery will be much greater. Just as being patient is the most important aspect of receiving shot opportunities, patience is also the most important aspect of recovering poorly hit deer.

Awesome article John ! I have your dvd set and love it !


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Thanks John! That is the most detailed account of how to go about finding a bow shot deer I have ever seen. If you take time to study this post I am sure it will come in handy sooner or later for any bow hunter. Since my memory is sometimes not great, I think it might even be a good idea to make a hard copy and keep in my tracking bag with my lights, tissue paper, spray bottle of peroxide, etc.

Great Job!!
 
Great post. I've read most of that info scattered around the net but never all in one place.

Using fluorescent orange marking tape helped a lot with my deer last year. Hit high, one lung and nicked the other, not a pass through, and also found a nick in the right ventricle. Good blood at first that petered out. Having a straight line of tape helped affirm that I was going in the right direction, especially when there was no blood and he was headed toward some tall grass. Glad he didn't make it because it was my first tracking job, first deer, and I was alone. I found him not far away by looking in the straight line and seeing the white belly.
The first thing I would like to say is that this Saddle Hunter site is quite refreshing compared to most other hunting sites I've been on. For the most part, the hunters that post on this sight are hard core and it takes a hard core hunter to search out better methods of getting the killing job done, and obviously the harness style system of hunting is different from the norm and requires a hunter to reach outside the proverbial comfort level of what is presented as the normal, yet archaic conventional tree stand methods.

On other sites I swear there's fat guys sitting in their stained underwear in front of their computer all day just waiting to start an argument or dispute a post and by their comments it's obvious they have never stepped in the woods and don't know the difference between the fletch and broad head end of an arrow. The hunters on this site are just that, HUNTERS that kill **** and actually get in the woods.

Now to the Topic

What is your recovery process from the moment you release an arrow???????????????

Here's mine:

After the Shot

I can remember as if it were yesterday, the evening after Halloween in 1978.

Dave, a good friend, had asked me to help him set up on a big 10 point he had been seeing. I was managing the archery department at Jay’s Sporting Goods and agreed to help him on the condition that he gets me permission to hunt the property with him. That specific piece of property was probably the largest and best hunting property in Clare County at the time and he did manage to land me permission to hunt the last couple days of October as long as I was with him. The property owners didn’t allow any bowhunting in November because they were gun hunters and wanted a two week quiet period prior to the gun opener.

The property consisted of a huge, extremely dense wet swamp with scattered small dry humps and two rather large islands. North of the swamp were two large weed fields divided by a ¼ mile wide strip of hardwoods that extended nearly half a mile north to an east/west road. The hardwoods consisted of poplar, beech, maple, birch and chokecherry, red oak, and white oak food bearing trees. There were no crops for miles, so other than browse, at this time of year the deer primarily fed on acorns and chokecherries.

Dave wasn’t really up to snuff on the differences in bitter tannins between white oak and red oak acorns and had previously gravitated to hunting trees within the hardwoods that simply had the most comfortable crotches to sit in. This obviously meant luck would have had to play a huge role in Dave receiving an opportunity at the big 10 point.

On a single scouting venture we set-up a location for Dave in the crotch of a huge white oak within shooting distance of a large chokecherry tree. This was a magnificent location that had a rub-lined runway leading to it, several other runways, acorns and chokecherries as a food source, and a mass of droppings under each tree. The branches on the trees were too high off the ground to be utilized as licking branches for a scrape, but I believed there would have been scrapes there had the branches had hung lower. While I tried not to let my excitement show through in front of Dave, I knew this to be the location the dominant buck would gravitate to once out of the swamp bedding area, there was just too much buck sign for it not to be.

On the opposite side of the hardwoods from Dave’s tree we set-up a hunting location for me. About 28-feet up a small acorn laden white oak, I nailed a 2 X 4 in a small crotch to sit on and a 2 X6 in another to put my feet on and stand on. This location had three well-used runways passing by it that were well within my comfortable shooting range. It was a good transition area for deer to pass through and munch a few acorns as they headed farther into the wooded area away from the nearby swamp. On our way out I had Dave bite into a red oak and a white oak acorn. Due to its bitter tannins, he spit the red oak acorn out immediately and actually ate the white oak acorn and immediately knew from then on why deer always prefer white’s over red’s. We were now ready to hunt.

On Dave’s previous hunts he had been seeing deer as early as 3:30pm, so on the day after Halloween we were in our new trees by 2:00pm. I remember the date because I wanted to go the next evening, but it was Halloween and I took my kids trick or treating instead.

It was a clear sunny afternoon with the temperature hovering around the 45 degree mark when we left the house. Dave had a spike and some does come in very early and watched as they fed on both chokecherries and acorns beneath him. This was a tough situation for Dave because he had only killed a couple deer with his bow to that point, and under any other circumstances that spike would have been in deep do-do.

In the seventies there was no such thing as a whitetail trophy hunter, particularly with archery equipment. Back then passing up bucks with a bow was unheard of and according to DNR surveys, on average only 2% of bowhunters took a buck and only 7% took a deer with a bow. Trophies were most frequently by mishap and times have obviously changed.

Dave’s decision to hold off turned out to be a good one. The next deer he saw was the big 10-point. It was the pre-rut and as the buck casually followed the rub-lined runway towards his tree, the other deer fled the scene. At a distance of only fifteen yards the buck stopped and started feeding on chokecherries. By the time he turned broadside to present a shot, Dave was shaking so bad that he had a hard time drawing his bow, not to mention holding his pin on the buck’s chest. After opening his fingers to release the arrow, he watched as it flew over the buck’s back. Without hesitation the buck promptly disappeared back in the direction from which it came. Dave did get to see that buck one more time, in the back of the property owner’s pick-up on opening morning of gun season.

My first and only deer sighting was at 5:30 and it was a nice 2 ½ year old buck, which at the time was a rarity as well. He had come out of the swamp and was browsing along one of the runways that passed by my tree. It didn’t take long before he was within 10-yards and broadside. I drew my 60-pound Bear Polar II, blatted to stop him, and released my stick. Like Dave, I too had a small case of buck fever but did manage to hit the buck, but the arrow went in a little farther back than where I had aimed. He turned and headed back into the swamp. I could see my arrow sticking out of the ground and back then you could only take one buck with a bow, so I got down to inspect it. A quick glance confirmed my reservations about the shot. There was brown gritty matter covering the arrow, but there was also a descent blood trail. This meant that I had probably hit liver and stomach.

Dave and I met up after dark to exchange stories. Although Dave had missed he was very excited about the opportunity he had, in fact he wouldn’t shut up. Once he cooled his jets I told him about the buck I had hit. It was the first time ever that I had been on a hunt where both parties shot at a 2 ½ year old or older buck; that just didn’t happen back then. When Dave asked how many points mine had, I thought about it for a second, but couldn’t tell him. Interestingly, all I had seen was a good rack, and then tried to concentrate on the shot.

Although there were a ton of coyotes and bobcats in the area, we did not want to push the buck deep into the swamp where a recovery would be nearly impossible, so we decided to wait until morning to search for him. Later that night Dave gave me a call and informed me that he had to work the next morning. Dave worked construction and it was a day by day job.

The next morning, with another friend to hopefully help drag, we followed the dried up blood trail. It was easy to follow the blood on top of the yellow and brown leaves and even easier through the light beige tall weeds leading into the swamp. We found him in a bedded position in some tall weeds just inside the swamp. The beautiful little 8 point had traveled about 200-yards before bedding and eventually expiring. He was facing his backtrack, which confirmed our decision to wait until morning. When I gutted him out, he was still warm which meant he had survived well into the night.

While my ego kept me from mentioning it to Dave; our hunt definitely aided in the continuation of my learning process. It reaffirmed that concentrating my scouting efforts on the big destination area or congested transition route picture, and holding out for it, as opposed to setting up on the first well used sporadic singular sign, was the way to go. This may seem trivial and self-explanatory in today’s media driven marketplace, but back then there were no shortcuts to the learning process.

This hunt also reaffirmed my blood trailing knowledge that being patient and waiting before trailing on any questionable hit will more often than not, aid in the likelihood of recovering the deer. There is no doubt that 8-point would have been pushed far into the swamp had we trailed him that night, and likely not recovered. Dave and I weighed the likelihood of coyotes and or bobcats getting to him before daybreak against our odds of him being dead and easily recovered that night, and his warm insides coupled with him being in a bedded position the next morning definitely confirmed we made the right decision.

After the Shot

No matter how hard we try, not all deer are hit perfectly and die within sight or hearing distance, or die within the proverbial half hour waiting period. The question is; what do you do after a questionable shot to have the best possible recovery rate? In most instances simple knowledge of knowing how long to wait before pursuing a shot deer is far more critical to its recovery than being an expert blood trailer.

You just released an arrow and watched it hit the deer. Now what? Your homework begins immediately upon your arrows impact. Picture the hit and mentally mark exactly what landmarks the deer passes by as he leaves the area. Once out of sight, listen for the direction he is traveling until out of earshot. Mark its last sighting with an easily identifiable from the ground landmark, and take a compass reading as to which direction you heard him travel from that landmark. Once on the ground the reading will give you a direction to search if there is a lack of blood.

If the deer expired within sight, slowly pack up your gear and get down. This will usually take 5 to 10 minutes which is ample time for total expiration. If the deer didn’t expire within sight but you think you heard him drop and thrash, wait 30 minutes before exiting your stand before trailing him. Anything outside a visual or hearing expiration, wait 30 minutes and while waiting, mentally go through your mental snapshot of the shot process as to which way the deer was angled and where the arrow entered. This should give you an idea of what vitals, if any were hit and how long to wait before trailing.

Deer vary in color, so only when I see white hair on the ground do I pay any attention to hair color. White hair can offer useful information on location of entry or exit and if you don’t know where white hair patches are located it is advised to look at pictures or road kills to find out.

Once out of the tree and at the shot sight, check the ground and arrow if recovered for the following clues and react accordingly.

1. Abundant, slightly aerated blood

As deer breath they suck air into their lungs and some air will mix with the blood if your arrow passed through the lungs. With a double lung hit there should not only be aerated blood, there should be an ample amount of it from very near the hit site to the expiration location. A double lung hit deer will usually expire within sight or hearing distance and rarely travel over 100 yards.

On straight down or severe quartering shots it is common to hit only one lung. Deer can and often do survive single lung hits, depending on where in the lung the arrow passed through. I have taken three bucks with a scarred over single lung from an arrow wound and the wounds were all near the outer edge of the lung where the blood veins are small in diameter and clot quickly.

A lady I know, Kim Ruby, owns a pair of Bavarian bloodhounds that she uses for tracking deer and while I have never used them for a recovery she has told me several times that whenever they have not recovered a deer that was hit in the body cavity area, the shooters had always expected they only hit one lung.

If you think you only hit one lung, wait at least 4 hours before attempting recovery. When trailing, if you bump him, back off and give him at least 4 more hours if not longer.

NOTE: While many 3-D and video competitions give more points for heart shots, always aim for a double lung shot on the real thing. Depending on the shot angle the heart can be partially protected by heavy shoulder bone. Lungs ride higher in the chest cavity and are not as protected by bone as the heart is. Lungs are also much larger than the heart, offering a larger margin for error. Double lung shot deer also expire faster because their lungs quickly fill up with blood causing them to drown, whereas a heart shot animal runs until it pumps the majority of blood from its system.

2. Abundant blood (with no aeration)

This usually indicates a main artery hit such as the heart, jugular, femoral artery, or front portion of liver. When large arteries are cut and there is a pass-through exit hole, a large volume of blood will pump immediately with every heartbeat making for an easy to follow blood trail to the expiration sight. Wait 30 minutes and then slowly trail the deer.

If you jump him, you didn’t pass through both lungs or through the heart as possibly expected. You likely passed through a single lung or the rear portion of the liver and you should wait for 4 hours before resuming.

3. A small amount or no blood

This could be a flesh wound or a lung, heart, or liver hit with a high entry and no exit wound.

If you think you hit vitals, you didn’t get a pass through, and there is not much blood, wait a couple hours before trailing. It is always better to be safe than sorry and the longer you give a deer to expire, the better your odds of recovery. Waiting will allow the deer to bed down and possibly bleed out or become too weak to jump up in front of you when pushed and go to a more remote area where recovery will be more difficult. If you jump a deer with these hits, back off for 4 hours before resuming. Continue this process until recovery or blood trail expires. If a large artery was not hit, the blood will coagulate and the bleeding will stop.

If positive vital organs were hit (excluding a single lung or liver), even without a blood trail the deer should be easily recovered by grid searching or by searching in larger and larger circles from where the deer was last heard.

Three or four razors punched through flesh (flesh wound only) will usually leave a descent blood trail for a distance and then just peter out when the blood coagulates and clogs the cut arteries.

The farther an artery gets from its original source, the more it branches out into smaller diameter arteries and veins. As they get smaller in diameter they allow less blood flow, so even though there may be good blood at the shot sight, it is best to wait a few hours before trailing. This precautionary waiting period will give the deer time to either; bleed out, get to weak and allow you another shot, or recover and move on.

Back in the late 1980’s my son Joey hit a 3-point buck halfway between his left rear hoof and knee, cutting the main femoral artery going down his leg. At this point the femoral artery is quite a bit smaller in diameter than what it is through the top of the hind quarter before it branches out. Joey told me that he saw the buck run about 50 yards and stop and that in the few seconds it took him to run that short distance, his lower leg was already red from blood. Joey took out his binoculars and could see blood running down the buck’s leg as he stood there. Within a few minutes the buck walked off, crossed a nearby creek and disappeared into the timber. We left him alone all night and found him the next morning not 40 yards from the creek.

There is no doubt that had we pushed that buck too soon, we would have pushed him back into a nearby wet swamp, and likely not recovered him.

4. Stomach matter and little or no blood

The dreaded gut or intestine shot! This is a killing shot and the procedure is very simple. Wait for 30 minutes, quietly get out of your stand and don’t even think about walking in the direction the deer went for at least 4 hours. Go home and work on your honey-do list. If the weather is below 45 degrees, wait 6 to 8 hours. This deer will usually require ample time to expire.

A gut shot deer will rarely travel farther than 200 yards before getting sick and bedding down in some sort of security cover. If left alone, the deer will likely be expired when you come back or be too weak to go very far. The down side is that there will likely be very little, if any blood, and unlike double lung and main artery hits where they run until they crash, this deer will maintain its full mental capacities. If pushed, this deer will head for the thickest, nastiest security cover in the area where a recovery without a blood trail will be extremely difficult.

Early in the season when the foliage is dense a gut shot recovery may require a lot of searching, so get as many friends together as possible when you return, and form an organized grid search.

Ninety percent of the calls Kim has received for her tracking dogs have ended up being gut shot deer and they are always recovered if the hunter didn’t previously push the deer back into a wet swamp.

5. Stomach matter and good blood

This indicates a shot towards the back of the ribcage, likely passing through the stomach and liver, both of which are fatal. I have never recovered, or heard of anyone else that recovered a deer that had a scarred stomach or liver.

Liver shots can have huge variances in expiration times. I have witnessed liver shot deer expire within minutes as if hit through the heart, and have seen others be alive, yet too weak to move, after 16 hours. The reason for such diversity is that the arteries going into the liver are large and as they spread throughout it towards the rear of the liver, they get tiny. When the large arteries are severed, they bleed out quickly, with the opposite being true when the small arteries are hit. Liver shot deer usually leave such good blood trails that you will think, he can’t be much further.

Similar to gut shot deer, liver hit deer rarely travel very far prior to getting sick and bedding down, and they also retain their full mental capacities. If you think you hit a deer behind the lung area treat it in the same manner as you would a gut shot deer even though there may be a good blood trail.

Back in the early 1990’s, Chad Stearns (manager of Jay’s Sporting Goods) and I went hunting and Chad hit a 2 ½ year old 8-point, what he thought, through the lungs. When we met up after dark we took up the trail and after about 150 yards, we decided to wait until morning. There was a ton of blood at first and it rapidly petered out into a difficult to follow blood trail. There was no way with the original amount of blood that this buck was hit in through both lungs.

I had to work the next day and Chad went back at noon to recover what we figured would be a dead buck. Keep in mind it is now 17 hours after the shot. After about another 250 yards of tracking Chad did find the buck, but he was not dead and he did not take his bow, but the buck couldn’t get up. Chad ended up killing that buck with a large branch by breaking his neck.

Remember to always take your bow with you when blood trailing a questionably hit deer. There may be a time when a wounded deer requires another arrow to finish the job.

Note: Deer hit in the liver, stomach, or intestines find comfort lying in water because it soothes the wound. I have aided in the recovery of several deer that died in creeks and lakes, and they always had these types of hits. So if there is nearby water and no blood trail, be sure to search in the water.

6. Spine hit

This type of hit should never be a plan, but from high elevations it sometimes happens. A spine hit deer will immediately fall to the ground and most often will flounder around. Immediately knock another arrow and wait for a shot opportunity where you can place an arrow through his lungs.

On one occasion I hit a large 8-point in the spine just in front of his hind quarters, immobilizing his hind legs. This buck fell to the ground but immediately began dragging himself away from me and into the nearby swamp with his front legs. I immediately knocked an arrow, but he was gone. I slithered out of my saddle and climbed down with bow in hand. I chased that dam buck for over 100 yards into the swamp before I could get off another shot to finish him off.

While that was a rare case with a spine hit deer, it is advised to get another arrow into a spine hit deer as quick as possible. It is also the humane thing to do.

7. Tallow on the shaft

Areas of a deer where there is thick tallow are; high on the back along the loin, brisket or bottom of the chest area, and along top of hind quarters.

Tallow on an arrow is not usually a promising sign. However with a rear, frontal, or high entry (from a tree only), you can have tallow on the shaft and still have passed through vital organs.

Tallow can plug an exit wound, so with a low brisket exit if you do not find a lot of blood, do not be surprised. Blood on an arrow might also be wiped off as it passes through the tallow, leaving little indicator on your arrow of what might have been hit internally. This hit should be treated similar to a gut shot unless you are sure that the arrow passed through the lungs, heart, or front portion of liver.

8. A knuckle hit with no penetration

This shot will make a loud whacking sound and the arrow may bounce off or slightly bury into the knuckle leaving the entire length of your arrow shaft exposed as the deer runs off. This is not a killing shot but you should make every effort to find your arrow to insure that you did not penetrate deep enough to reach any vitals. Follow any blood trail until it expires.

Additional Suggestions

Other than double lung or heart shot deer that expire all sprawled out with their white belly showing, deer that maintain their mental capacities will often be bedded nice and neatly in a hard to find place when they expire. I once recovered a buck that crawled under the low hanging branches of a spruce tree before expiring. There were several spruce trees where the blood petered out and I just started lifting branches that hung to the ground.

If it is raining or rain is in the forecast, still wait the suggested times before attempting recovery. Rain will wash away blood, however with a poorly hit deer you are still better off waiting and having him expire within a couple hundred yards as opposed to pushing him into a swamp or dense area of cover where the odds of recovery will be greatly reduced.

Tracking

When trailing, if blood gets difficult to locate, slow down, get closer to the ground, and check the ground before taking each step. It is common to go over a trail several times before spotting specs of blood. Mark last blood with something visible, and keep at least 2 markers on the trail behind you to give a direction to go by. I usually take tissue paper or flagging tape to use as markers, but on occasion have used my arrows by sticking them in the ground.

If the deer was running, the direction of the blood splatters on the leaves can also aid in the direction it is going

In many instances you can go faster by looking for kicked up leaves or dirt, especially if it has rained recently, which makes any alterations on the ground very easy to identify.

When trailing through dense brush, tall ferns or weeds, cattails, or standing corn, you will generally find more blood higher up on the vegetation than you will on the ground due to the deer’s body rubbing against whatever it is passing through.

Wounded deer that retain their full mental capacities will almost always take the easiest route to get to their desired security cover destination. When blood trails are lost, check runways, lanes, and low spots or holes in fencerows to try and pick up the trail.

When wounded deer cross open fields they usually go in somewhat of a direct route so when trailing across a grass or weed field, which is very difficult, look at your last two markers, get a line, and go across the field and try to locate the blood trail inside the tree line where it will be easier to re-locate on leaves.

If you think a deer expired in tall weeds, marsh grass, or ferns, climbing trees may enable you to look down into the tall stuff for a carcass.

If a deer runs into a standing cornfield there is a chance that it will travel down the same row. Get a friend, have him stand at last blood and give you a half hour before he starts trailing. With your bow, quietly cut over 20 rows (count them as you go) from his position, then quietly go down that row about 200 yards in the same direction that the deer was traveling, then cut back the 20 rows. This will put you in the same row the deer was in. Set up a simple ambush sight one or two rows off to the side and wait for him to start trailing. You may get a shot if he pushes the deer past you. I have used this method in the past.

If you are pushing a deer towards a known tight funnel in a wooded area you can make a loop and set-up an ambush site in that funnel and then have your friend trail the deer.

Whenever you question whether to immediately look, or wait prior to blood trailing a deer, always wait, your odds of recovery will be much greater. Just as being patient is the most important aspect of receiving shot opportunities, patience is also the most important aspect of recovering poorly hit deer.
Great post ! Thank you!
 
Great post John! We all sometimes get caught up in the moment and want to go recover our deer right away. Thanks for the reminders!
 
I sneak out of the area. Then go home and grab my four legged tracker girl named “Luna”. She hasn’t failed me yet. Quick, effective, quiet.

My four legged tracker is Rico. He's an Original Mountain Cur, hot blooded squirrel dog and deer blood trailer extraordinaire. Dog's can take much of the pain out of deer recovery.
 
My four legged tracker is Rico. He's an Original Mountain Cur, hot blooded squirrel dog and deer blood trailer extraordinaire. Dog's can take much of the pain out of deer recovery.

It’s the best way to go about it. I can have done in 10 minutes what will take a human tracker 2 hours. And all it costs me is a half dollar size of the liver and a tennis ball.
 
Good stuff....As a fulltime traditional bowhunter for last 28 years.....if I had to pick one thing that is most important for recovering bowshot deer....well it starts before the hunt with one simple rule.......I make sure i will shoot through.... coast to coast every deer to ensure a blood trail. To do this everytime, i shoot my deer Close ( under 20 yards) with a HEAVY arrow ( 650 grains) and a cut on contact razor scary sharp broadhead. I demand an exit wound . it's a game changer.
 
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Awesome Post John. Sharing your knowledge and experience will help us all to become better and more ethical hunters!!
 
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