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- Apr 1, 2014
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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.
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.