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Deer tracking Tips, Tricks, and Tactics.

rsmith

Member
1,835
52
After the thread popping up about trying to get a tracking dog I sat and thought to myself what I would do. I then realized every deer I have shot, only 2 so far, went less than 60 yards and fell down. The other deer I have helped track, 5 deer so far, have all be almost the same with the farthest track being almost 200 yards but we had nice blood to follow so it was easy. I also have a large interest in tracking dogs and the tactics and science behind them, thanks for the book recomendation buckmaster I will be ordering it to read here soon if anyone else has any books they could recommend that would be great. I figured it would be beneficial for not only me, but others as well to hear some other hunters tricks and tactics for tracking deer that may have been shot bad or just tracking a deer in general from first blood to white bellies what they do to make sure there tracking job is successful.
 

loose_is_fast

Junior Member
618
108
McClure
Slow and steady wins the race..... toilet paper has more than one use. Mark the trail periodically in case you lose blood. Always mark last blood. Three people is 1 TOO many.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
I think I did a write up on this topic last last year, but I can't find it... I thought I called it "after the shot" or something along those lines. I've got a pretty busy day ahead of me and won't have time today. I'll be back though. Everything after the shot is very important! Stay focused and pay attention. This ain't TV, don't turn the cam to show a guy looking at the sky with his eyes closed...you are missing a lot of info you just might need.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
I might of still been over at the other place when I did that thread...hmmmm, maybe that's why I can't find it here.

I also can't figure out how to copy paste or quote my other post into this thread...
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
It's still a small market here in the USA. Many of the dogs and their genetics are imported from Europe as they are more commonly used there.
The blood tracking market as a whole is encouraging "new blood" to be imported into the USA for breeding only the best dogs.

I've been down the path that you are now 3 years ago. To be honest, I don't have any of John Jeanneney's books. John is the tracking guru but is beginning to slow down now being in his younger 80's. I do have one of the son's of John's prize stud dog, Tommy. My kids named him Jaden. He's a family pet first and a hunter second, dual purpose. Jaden will be 2 years old in a couple more weeks and has been doing a fine job tracking this season, 5 for 5.

You may have interest visiting: http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/
 

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rsmith

Member
1,835
52
It's still a small market here in the USA. Many of the dogs and their genetics are imported from Europe as they are more commonly used there.
The blood tracking market as a whole is encouraging "new blood" to be imported into the USA for breeding only the best dogs.

I've been down the path that you are now 3 years ago. To be honest, I don't have any of John Jeanneney's books. John is the tracking guru but is beginning to slow down now being in his younger 80's. I do have one of the son's of John's prize stud dog, Tommy. My kids named him Jaden. He's a family pet first and a hunter second, dual purpose. Jaden will be 2 years old in a couple more weeks and has been doing a fine job tracking this season, 5 for 5.

You may have interest visiting: http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/
Thanks for the tips! I will have to see if I can find some of his books to read. That's awesome you got a dog with a background like that as well. Would love to hear some of your advice as well Giles, I usually just highlight it blue and then copy paste it.

 

Joel

Senior Member
3,049
113
Centerburg, Ohio
The doe I shot the other day was hit dead center in one lung but the arrow completely missed the other. Blood started of ok, then slowed down, then just pin drops here and there for 30 yards or so. I was getting nervous and thinking some people may have given up. After another half hour or so of looking I found more blood, little drops, then it got heavy again and stayed heavy. Corn stalks were soaked in blood and I ended up tracking damn near 500 yards and then found her.

I guess the point is don't give up. I was starting to think muscle hit and was feeling pretty bummed. The persitance paid off. These are tough animals and it's not always blood gushing for
30 yards and then dead deer, though that is ideal.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
Nothing beats experience. Go on every track you can. Even if you watch the deer drop, track it. You will be surprised on what you learn.

Take it SLOW! The harm is done, take your time. I'll admit, once I shoot, I'm the worst about waiting. I have to go find first blood...then I go to the truck and generally change my cloths. Maybe even go to the store for beverages or even drive home to get my sled and stuff. At any rate, I'm in no hurry once I find blood. Day or night doesn't make a difference to me.

Never take more than one person. A search party isn't doing anyone any good in early stages. Once you find the deer, you can call 20 buddies to help drag. But following a trail gets confusing the more guys you have.

Blood is easy to follow if you have it. Learn to notice little things like turned leaves on the ground. A hurt deer will disturb the ground more than a healthy deer.

Look at weeds and trees for blood or disturbance.

Always mark last blood. I like to leave one foot close to last blood and if I don't see any more, I mark that spot before lifting my foot. This will end up drawing a line to follow and give you an idea of direction of travel.

Don't be afraid to backtrack!

Find a light that your eyes like. You can practice this in your back yard. Take a paint brush or rag with red paint (or blood) and flip it into the yard without looking. Then go find it by following the spray. You will find a light that your eyes really love, that's the light you need to have. I have two lights. One is a craftsman fluorescent shop light, the other is a Streamlight pocket carry. I've heard of people using standard lanterns also. Heard lots of good things about them actually. I've just never tried one.

Experience experience experience! It has taught me much more then I can ever explain. Stupid things like spiders... spiders will get on the tiniest specks of blood. Some of these guys have teased me about saying this, but I'm telling you...spiders will tell you if your on the right trail.

I'm tired of typing...
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
What about watery blood, anyone ever seen it before? I wish I'd taken pictures. I have no idea where my shot hit, guessing high. Most of the blood looked like muscle blood, red red. But then some of it looked watery and I'd never seen that before. Deer was not recovered. Followed blood for 3/4 mile to the property line, deer never bedded and only bled real good for the first 80-100 yards.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
Staff member
48,879
274
Appalachia
My experience has been a deer that can lick it's wound, will do so to get it to stop bleeding. Greg and I visually saw this years ago and that blood was watery.
 
What about watery blood, anyone ever seen it before? I wish I'd taken pictures. I have no idea where my shot hit, guessing high. Most of the blood looked like muscle blood, red red. But then some of it looked watery and I'd never seen that before. Deer was not recovered. Followed blood for 3/4 mile to the property line, deer never bedded and only bled real good for the first 80-100 yards.

Could it have been the frost melting that caused it?
 
Nothing beats experience. Go on every track you can. Even if you watch the deer drop, track it. You will be surprised on what you learn.

Take it SLOW! The harm is done, take your time. I'll admit, once I shoot, I'm the worst about waiting. I have to go find first blood...then I go to the truck and generally change my cloths. Maybe even go to the store for beverages or even drive home to get my sled and stuff. At any rate, I'm in no hurry once I find blood. Day or night doesn't make a difference to me.

Never take more than one person. A search party isn't doing anyone any good in early stages. Once you find the deer, you can call 20 buddies to help drag. But following a trail gets confusing the more guys you have.

Blood is easy to follow if you have it. Learn to notice little things like turned leaves on the ground. A hurt deer will disturb the ground more than a healthy deer.

Look at weeds and trees for blood or disturbance.

Always mark last blood. I like to leave one foot close to last blood and if I don't see any more, I mark that spot before lifting my foot. This will end up drawing a line to follow and give you an idea of direction of travel.

Don't be afraid to backtrack!

Find a light that your eyes like. You can practice this in your back yard. Take a paint brush or rag with red paint (or blood) and flip it into the yard without looking. Then go find it by following the spray. You will find a light that your eyes really love, that's the light you need to have. I have two lights. One is a craftsman fluorescent shop light, the other is a Streamlight pocket carry. I've heard of people using standard lanterns also. Heard lots of good things about them actually. I've just never tried one.

Experience experience experience! It has taught me much more then I can ever explain. Stupid things like spiders... spiders will get on the tiniest specks of blood. Some of these guys have teased me about saying this, but I'm telling you...spiders will tell you if your on the right trail.

I'm tired of typing...

Some good points. I don't mind taking more than 1 person though when tracking if they know what they are doing. My kids I can honestly say are pretty good at it especially my son and youngest daughter. They can find blood that I can't see. I think it is partly because of their young eyes and they can stay squatted for long periods. On a difficult trail my youngest daughter will stand at last blood, my son and wife will look in the immediate area for blood, and I will carefully try to follow the likely path looking for blood up ahead. This can vary as if we are finding blood every few feet then I will stay with the pack. The key is you can't have people walking all over. If we are at a complete loss then having a few people allows us all to take a different trail trying to look for blood.

Tracking is something that reading about can't replace experience. There is alot of evidence out there and some of it can be misleading. Persistence usually pays off. I learn something on about every tracking job.
 

at1010

*Supporting Member*
4,943
139
Back out

Unless I watch the deer die. I back out. I change. Have a cup of coffee and calm myself. Find blood and stay on it. If you have a buddy have one guy stand at last blood the other crawl on hands and knees if needed to keep moving.

A deer hit with one lung can go a long ways so why push it. That deer will most likely bed within a hundred yards. Let him/her bed down and expire.
 

motorbreaker

*Supporting Member I*
1,542
63
North of Toledo
Back out

Unless I watch the deer die. I back out. I change. Have a cup of coffee and calm myself. Find blood and stay on it. If you have a buddy have one guy stand at last blood the other crawl on hands and knees if needed to keep moving.

A deer hit with one lung can go a long ways so why push it. That deer will most likely bed within a hundred yards. Let him/her bed down and expire.

I've had dog trackers tell me that its better to push a one lung hit deer. They say it keeps them bleeding out.
 

giles

Cull buck specialist
Supporting Member
Bump for good measure. Little things like reading these older threads might be enough to help you make the right decision if needed. Paying attention to every detail after the shot is VERY important if you need to call a professional. They don’t want the dog to fail either, so they will screen their calls and take ones with the best chance of retrieval. What you remember after the shot might help them take your call over the next guys. I honestly believe, that’s why that guy took TC’s call. It was the things he remembered about how that deer reacted after the shot.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,735
274
North Carolina
A good idea is to get to know who actually has a good dog in the area to show up and get the job done as well..... The guy TC got hold of and came out was a good guy and if needed I wouldn't hesitate to call him....
 

Bigslam51

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
25,778
127
Stark County
What Dave and J said. It is of the utmost importance that you remember everything that happens upon impact, the reaction of the deer, what direction he went, tail down or up. Even the sound of the arrow hitting the deer is a good indicator of where your arrow impacted the animal. If you even have the slightest inclination that you put a bad shot on the animal, just leave. If it's in the evening, wait til dark, if it's morning give at least an hour before you even get out of the stand. I can guarantee that my buck would of never been found if I would of stomped around the area that night, or even the next morning. I will say this, if it wasn't for the guys on this forum, I would be way behind in all aspects of hunting, including tracking knowledge. When in doubt, back out.