i need everyone's help on this: shot at a buck today with bow ,i'd say 40 yards and thought it was a miss ,however since arrows and broadhead combo's are'nt cheap i thought i'd go recover it. well after picking up the arrow and walking arround a bit ,i found a blood trail . i looked at my arrow,now, i thought i missed the deer but the arrow fletching was covered in dried blood.i went back home to get out of the area for a while and to get a knife because i did'nt have one with me.any way i waited about a hour and a half to give the deer time to expire. went back and tracked it up and down the hill,it went arround a holly tree ,to the other side of the mountain ,back down the hill,and off on the road .that's where i lost track of the blood trail,and it was turning dark. the blood had bubbles in it and bled all the time i tracked it. i marked the last place i found blood with a ribbon so i can continue in the morn, but what would be the best way to continue tracking ,go at daylight or wait till frost leaves

Personaly I would go at day break. My concern would be yotes getting at the deer if he's down. Blood with bubbles sounds good ya might have only got one lung. I hope ya find him in the morning. Let us no how ya make out.
Joe

yeah,we got a few of them dern thing here,actually a lot,i do appreciate your help ole' buddy. you and yours have a merry christmas OK

thank's everyone, have a' MERRY CHRISTMAS' talk with everyone after a ' HAPPY NEWYEAR' maybe?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

is your problems .no one but shpstrjoe helped me out .thanks man

Hey Joe, I see that Primos is advertising a product that will help in seeing blood on a wounded animal.
Have you heard anything on this, and if you have, would it be worth keeping in a guys hunting pack??

Eric

I sometimes carry a spool of sewing thread, white as its easy to see. Then when you get to an area you loose the blood trail in, I backtrack 50 yards or so, tie the thread to a bush or tree where the blood is and then follow the blood trail back down to the point you loose it at, stopping to tie the thread waste high every 10-20 ft or so.. Now look back along the path of the thread, now visually extend it out beyond you, it will give a good indicator of where the deer potentially might be going. Not always fool proof but it can give a good indication of where to look for the next sign of blood.

Couple of years ago my wife hit a big 4x4 mule deer right at dark. We went back for flashlights and started trailing it. We ended up trailing that dumb thing for several miles in the dark... would loose the trail for sometimes up to 100 yards before picking it up again. We finally lost the trail on a ridge just as a storm was blowing in. We marked it up where we were stopping and returned the next day. From an opposite canyon my brother found the deer dead behind some brush with his spotting scope. It was within 60 yards of where we had quit for the night. Most of the meat was recovered (both hinds, the exposed shoulder... the shoulder on the ground was bad).

All I can say is dont give up... it can be really hard tracking and very frustrating but IMO it sounds like you are doing it right. Some lost animals wont die for days, some will get better... you just never know. I wish you luck and hope you find it.


-DallanC

Before Primos came out with their device I helped several people track wounded deer at night with a plain old Coleman gas lantern. There is something about the frequency of light emitted by one that makes blood almost turn fluorescent. I was amazed the first time I tried it. It also helps to have a buddy along when tracking in the dark. When you lose the trail, one of you can stay at the last sign and the other cast in ever-widening circles until more sign is found.
Sure hope you find your deer. Just remember that things happen even when you have done everything right, so don't be too hard on yourself if you don't find him.

ElyBoy wrote:

Hey Joe, I see that Primos is advertising a product that will help in seeing blood on a wounded animal. Have you heard anything on this, and if you have, would it be worth keeping in a guys hunting pack?? Eric

Never tried any of those things Eric I don't no if they would be any good or not.
Joe

SingleShotLover wrote:

Before Primos came out with their device I helped several people track wounded deer at night with a plain old Coleman gas lantern. There is something about the frequency of light emitted by one that makes blood almost turn fluorescent. I was amazed the first time I tried it. It also helps to have a buddy along when tracking in the dark. When you lose the trail, one of you can stay at the last sign and the other cast in ever-widening circles until more sign is found. Sure hope you find your deer. Just remember that things happen even when you have done everything right, so don't be too hard on yourself if you don't find him

Welcome to the HuntingNut. I too have good luck with the Coleman Lantern I'm not sure why but they do work well
Joe

Kentucky.....

I'd say forget about huntin' for a while and start practicing.

Harsh I know, but man if you shot at 40 yards then you shoulda knowed you would put a leathal hit on it.

Some Truths is unavoidable.................