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Recovering Whitetails - newer version Part 1

John Eberhart

John Eberhart

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Recovering Bowshot Deer

Over my 50 plus years of bowhunting whitetails I’ve learned that patience must be applied to just about every aspect of it, and this can’t be any more overstated than what to do once a deer has been shot. I’ve taken around 100 bucks and likely as many does with a bow and have also aided in the recovery of deer for many of my friends and there was a learning curve over the years as to; how long I waited before trailing based on the hit, the distances traveled before expiration per type of hit, expiration times, duration time of recovery based on the terrain, types of nasty terrain some poorly hit deer gravitated to and what vitals were hit upon field dressing.

One would think that for as much film and ink is printed about how to go about getting shot opportunities that there would be a descent amount of instructional information about the recovery process, but there isn’t. In fact I’ve seen many poor hit deer on TV and in videos where they would have done the viewing audience a favor if they wouldn’t have edited out the entire recovery process. No matter how hard we try to avoid it, not all deer are hit perfect and die within sight or hearing distance.

With modern equipment a pass through is common and should always be the goal. From elevated stands, a high entry without a pass through will oftentimes leave a poor blood trail because the blood remains within the body cavity whereas with a low exit the blood will spill onto the ground leaving a good blood trail if a vital organ was hit.

When a whitetail has been hit, watch until he is out of sight and then listen until out of hearing distance and unless he expired within sight, mark the last sighting with a landmark that will be easily recognized once you’re on the ground. If you heard him run quite a distance beyond that landmark, before exiting the tree use your compass and take an approximate reading as to which direction he went from the landmark. The reading will give you a direction to search if there is a lack of blood.

Even if you saw him fall or lie down, play it safe and wait 20 minutes to exit your stand otherwise your exit noise could spook him if he hasn’t expired. While waiting, mentally re-run the shot procedure to ensure you of the angle the deer was facing, and where the arrow entered as they should give you an idea of what vitals if any were hit giving you an idea of how long to wait before making the recovery.

With a pass through check your recovered arrow for the following clues and react accordingly

1. With a shot in the front half of the chest cavity the likely vitals hit would be the lungs and or heart. Dense coagulated blood likely indicates a heart hit and if there are tiny air bubbles in the blood it was a lung or combination heart/lung hit.

If both lungs and or the heart were hit there should be a descent blood trail beginning at or very near the shot site and will expire within sight or hearing distance (50 to 100 yards is the norm). Oftentimes during their full throttle death run they don’t follow routes and I’ve had 2 bucks run headfirst into trees with one breaking off an antler.

Even if your arrow doesn’t pass through with this shot and there is no blood trail because the blood remained in the chest cavity, the deer should be easily recovered by making visual circles from where the deer was last seen or heard.

On straight down or severely quartering shots it’s common to hit only one lung and in this case he must be given several hours before attempting recovery. When trailing, if you bump him, back off and give him several more hours before continuing. Just as with humans, deer can live with one lung and depending on where in the lung the arrow passed, the deer may survive.

I’ve taken three bucks that had scarred over arrow wounds through one lung and know 2 recovery dog trackers that hesitate to search for deer in which the hunter tells them they took nearly straight down or hard quartering shots into the lung area. A dog will find nearly 100% of gut and liver hit deer, but the percentage odds of recovering a single lung hit deer where the arrow obviously missed the heart due to the distance the deer traveled before seeking a tracking dog, are relatively low.

The takeaway is with any semblance of a broadside shot angle, a just behind the shoulder double lung hit should always be your goal. Lungs are much larger than the heart leaving a bigger margin for error and depending on the shot angle the heart can be partially protected by shoulder blade. Also, the blood from a double lung shot deer quickly fills the air passageways in both lungs drowning the deer a bit quicker than a heart shot where the deer runs until it pumps most of the blood from its system.
 
Part 2

2. A center or mid-body shot is likely to hit the liver, stomach or both. This is a common hit because many hunters tend to body shoot instead of aiming just behind the shoulder for a double lung hit. If the arrow is covered in dense coagulated blood only it was likely a liver shot, if there is also a gritty substance mixed in with the dense blood it was a liver/stomach hit, if minimal blood and green to brown stomach matter on the arrow it was a stomach hit, all of which are lethal.

With a liver or liver/stomach hit there should be an easy to follow blood trail to the expiration sight if the deer is given sufficient time to bleed out before an attempted recovery. A high entry into the body cavity without an exit may be an exception because most of the blood will remain within the body cavity.

The liver lies behind the lungs and in front of the stomach and a deer’s ribcage ends where the stomach begins making the entire liver somewhat protected by thin ribs with a broadside shot angle. An arrow has no problem penetrating through a couple ribs but the ribs will leave a telltale sign on the broad head that the liver was hit. If with a mid-body shot your recovered broad head has a dulled or ragged edged blade or blades, they hit rib bone and likely passed through the liver. This is important to note with a questionable stomach/liver hit because deer will expire quicker if the liver was also hit.

Liver shot deer can have huge variances in expiration times and there’s no way of judging how much time it will take the deer to expire just by looking at the amount of blood on your arrow or the ground.

I’ve witnessed liver shot deer expire in 10 minutes and have had others with really good blood trails for the first 100 yards still be alive after 16 hours even though they were too weak to get up.

The reason for such diversity in expiration times, and distances if pushed, is that the arteries entering the front portion of the liver are large whereas the vessels in the rear and around the edges are tiny. When large arteries are severed the deer bleeds out quickly whereas when tiny vessels are severed it can take many hours because they bed down within a short distance which lowers their heart rate and slows the bleeding.

Liver hit deer rarely travel very far prior to getting sick and bedding down and they also retain their full mental capacities until they expire. When only small vessels are hit and a recovery attempt is made too soon, the deer will be pushed into dense or wet areas in which a recovery will be more difficult and in some marshy swamp areas, nearly impossible.

The dreaded gut or intestine shot! Many whitetails are lost to these shots, and that should not be the case. The procedure for this shot is simple. Even with a pass through a gut or further back in the body intestine shot deer will not leave much of a blood trail, but will die and be easily recovered if given ample time before a recovery is attempted.

With a liver, liver/stomach or intestine hit wait 30 minutes before quietly getting out of your tree, picking up your arrow for inspection and leaving the area. Do not even consider walking in the direction the deer went for at least 4 hours and if the temperature is below 40 degrees, wait at least 8 hours as the longer you wait the better the odds of a short recovery.

If while tracking you see him bedded up ahead with his head up, or you jump him, even if the blood trail is easy to follow, mark the spot and wait another 4 hours before resuming your search.

Early in the season when the ground foliage is dense a poorly hit deer recovery may require a lot of searching, so if there is no blood trail get as many friends as possible and form an organized grid search.

If there is water in the area in the form of a creek, river or pond and you’ve lost the blood trail, make sure to search the banks and look into the water for the carcass as both liver and gut shot deer will gravitate to and oftentimes die in the water. Doctors have told me that liver and gut wounds burn and lying down in the water is a way of cooling down.

In 2016 I knew I had hit a big buck in the liver and gave him 5 hours before searching and found the 11 point expired in the middle of a small pond.
 
Part 3

3. Dense coagulated blood with a neck or hind quarter shot indicates the jugular vein, femoral or aorta artery was hit.

These are all large veins and arteries that pump blood from the heart throughout the body. The jugular veins runs through the neck and into the brain, the aorta runs from the heart up and along the spine and the femoral arteries connect to the aorta and run through each hind quarter and down the back legs.

When any of these 3 primary blood vessels is severed there should be an easy to follow blood trail to the expiration location and expiration is just a matter of time. However, with this hit the deer should still be given sufficient time to bleed out before a recovery attempt is made and this is especially the case with a femoral artery hit depending on how far down the leg the hit was.

If you’re positive you hit the jugular vein in the neck you only need to wait an hour, but with an aorta or femoral artery hit wait at least several hours before attempting a recovery and then use the same recovery process as a liver shot deer.

On an evening hunt in 1989 my 12 year old son Joe hit a 3 point in a rear leg just below the knee and severed the femoral artery. I knew that the farther down the leg the artery went, the smaller the artery got and the less blood it pumped. We left him alone overnight and he only went 150 yards before bedding down and bleeding out. He had lived well into the night as he was still warm when we gutted him out which meant that had we searched just after dark we would have pushed him.

No matter the angle of shot, the neck or hind quarters should never be the target area as the jugular and femoral arteries running through them are only about the diameter of a 16 penny nail and hits that don’t sever those arteries are usually not fatal. Of my 31 Michigan record book bucks 28 of them carried at least one old wound and many of them still carried the bullet or broad head and most projectiles were in the neck or a hind quarter.

4. A high shot into the back that severs the spinal cord will disable a deer’s hind legs.

A shot that severs the spine will drop the deer immediately but unless the aorta artery is also hit (aorta artery explained earlier) the deer will have its full mental capacities and will need to be shot again in the lung area to kill him. It’s suggested to make the second killing shot as soon as possible as sometimes a deer can move pretty fast by pulling himself with his front legs. On 2 occasions in the distant past I had to chase bucks down for quite a distance (once was a quarter mile) before getting a second shot because while getting down from the tree to take another shot up close, they crawled away at a brisk pace.

Common cause: While at full draw there is something archery instructors call a shooting triangle which is comprised of the 3 distances; from your shooting eye to anchor point, from anchor point to bow hand, and from bow hand back to shooting eye. When a hunter practices and sights in from the ground their head is straight upright and the distance from their shooting eye to anchor point is longer than when they tilt their head downward when shooting form a tree before drawing their bow. Tilting their head downward shortens the shooting eye to anchor point distance and changes the shooting triangle and causes the hunter to shoot high. Lowering their arm from parallel (when practicing) also slightly alters the triangle.

The ideal scenario is to practice and sight in from an elevation similar to that of what most of your hunting sites are set at. I always practice from a platform that’s 25 feet off the ground so my bow is sighted in using the exact same form (shooting triangle) I will be using when taking a shot.
 
Part 4

5. Thin layer of blood indicates a flesh or small artery hit.

Unless a large vein or artery is hit a deer will rarely die from a flesh wound. Flesh wounds often leave blood trails that are misleading and look as though the deer will expire, but generally the trail eventually just peters out. However, when an animal is hit you must make a concerted effort to recover it.

Wait at least 4 hours before trailing a flesh wounded deer, allowing the deer to bed down and possibly bleed out or become week if the artery is large enough to keep the coagulating blood from plugging the artery and stopping the bleeding. If you jump him and the blood trail is still easy to follow, back off for several more hours before resuming the search. Continue this process until recovery or the blood trail expires which will usually be the case. If a large artery was not hit, the blood will coagulate in the artery and stop the bleeding.

6. A slick slippery shaft indicates the arrow passed through an area with thick tallow such as; a high hit along the loin, a brisket or low chest hit or a high hind-quarter hit.

An arrow shaft coated with tallow is not a promising sign. However with hard quartering shot angles there can be tallow on the arrow with it still having passed through vitals. Tallow can plug an exit wound, so with a low brisket exit through tallow if you do not find a lot of blood, do not be surprised. The arrow will likely be wiped clean by the tallow as well, leaving no indicator 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 some vitals.

7. A solid bone hit such as a shoulder or knuckle with no penetration will obviously not kill a deer.

This hit will make a loud whacking sound and typically the deer will run off with all but a couple inches of the arrow sticking out. The arrow will eventually jar out or be pulled out by the deer and even though the likelihood of a recovery are slim, make every effort to find your arrow to insure that you did not penetrate deep enough to reach any vitals, and follow any blood trail until it expires.

Side note: Deer vary in color shades, so only when there’s white hair on the ground do I pay any attention to hair. White hair will give you additional information on location of entry or exit. It’s advised to look at pictures or road kills to verify where the common white patches of hair are located.

Additional suggestions on hits 2, 3 and 6:

Unlike double lung or heart shot deer that expire all sprawled out with their white belly showing, liver, stomach intestine, and large artery shot deer maintain their mental capacities and will usually be bedded nice and neatly in a hard to find place when they expire. I once recovered a buck that had crawled under the low hanging branches of a large spruce tree. There were several spruce trees in the area where the blood petered out and I just started lifting the branches that hung to the ground to check under them.

When trailing any deer with a questionable hit you may want to consider taking your bow because you may have to shoot the deer again to finish him off.

If it’s raining or rain is in the forecast, still wait the suggested time before attempting recovery. Yes, rain will wash away most 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.
 
Part 5

Tracking process:

It’s common to go over the same trail several times before spotting specs of blood and when trailing gets difficult, slow down, get closer to the ground and check the ground before placing your foot with each step.

Mark last blood with something easily visible like tissue or flagging tape and keep at least 2 markers on the trail behind you to give a direction to go by. If the deer was running the direction of the blood splatters on the leaves can also aid in the direction he 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, weeds, marsh grasses and cattails you will often find more blood on the tall vegetation than on the ground due to the deer’s body rubbing against it. If you think a deer may have expired in tall vegetation climbing trees may enable you to look down into the tall stuff for a white belly or carcass.

Wounded deer that retain their full mental capacities will almost always take the easiest route to get to a secure destination area. When blood trails are lost, check nearby runways, lanes, low spots or holes in fencerows, or whatever route is easiest for you to travel in that direction, to try and pick up the trail.

When trailing through a large grass or weed field, which can be difficult to trail in, look at the last two locations and get a line. Using that line, go across the field and skirt and search the inside edge of the tree line where blood will be easier to see on the leaves. Resume the search once found.

If a deer runs into a large standing cornfield there is an excellent chance that it will travel down the same row because running against the rows is more difficult. If the hit was questionable and there is a chance the deer will be alive and bedded in the cornfield due to its security cover, get your bow and a friend and follow this procedure. Have him stand at last blood while giving you half an hour before he starts trailing. With your bow, quietly cut over 15 rows (count them as you go) downwind from the row he’s in, then quietly go down that row about 200 yards in the same direction the deer was traveling, then cut back the 15 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. This same scenario can also be used if you are pushing a deer towards a known funnel in a wooded area.

Whenever you question whether to immediately look, or wait prior to blood trailing a deer, always wait as your odds of recovery will be much greater. Also keep in mind that the larger the animal, the longer it will usually take for him to expire (this is true with any type of hit).

In highly populated areas where property prices are high and hunting parcels are often small, some neighbors will refuse to let you trail on their property. The longer you wait for recovery, the better your odds that if the deer is expired, he will be on your property. I know several hunters and have heard many others that had their bucks stolen by non-friendly or jealous neighbors.

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.

Editor’s note: John has 31 bucks in the Michigan record book from 19 different properties and another 19 P&Y bucks from 13 different properties on his 22 out of state bowhunts and has co-authored 3 instructional bowhunting books and produced a 3 DVD instructional series.

What separates John’s accomplishment of having 50 record book bucks from 32 different properties from any other hunter in the country is that he’s exclusively hunted on public and knock-on-doors for free permission properties.

Whether you hunt public, free permission, family owned, leased, managed or out of state properties; attending one of John’s 2 day in-field/classroom workshops will give you the knowledge to take mature bucks. For information on Eberharts Whitetail Workshops or his instructional books and DVD’s please visit: www.deer-john.net
 
As always John your years of experience and knowledge are priceless. Your thoughts and words are presented in such a clear concise manner. Thank you for passing this knowledge on!!
 
Wow,
I've never seen anything this complete. I always carry a small notebook in my pack(mostly for deer travel notes) this is sure to be with me from now on. Favorite part... your honesty about bad hits impresses me the most, this does so much for the sport! This site just keeps amazing me more every time I'm here...thanks again!
 
Thanks for the great information John, it has a lot of useful information in it that I will keep for reference.
 
@John Eberhart thanks and excellent read. What is your opinion on gut shot deer and meat spoilage. I've heard of one butcher that absolutely refuses to process gut shot deer because of contaminated meat throughout the body. I myself have recovered several gut shot deer and the only one that was obviously spoiled was found nearly 24 hours after shot and temperatures were in the 60s.
 
As always, great info John. Thanks for sharing!


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