- Outdoor columnist Ben Smith reminds hunters that you owe it to that animal to give it all you’ve got to recover it because it died to feed your family.
It’s a bad feeling. You shoot a deer, feel like you hit it, but can’t find it. Sometimes it’s because you actually missed it. Sometimes it’s because you made a bad shot. Other times it could be because you did a poor job of tracking it after the shot. Let’s go through some tips to make sure you recover every deer you shoot this winter.
The first, and most obvious, thing to make sure of before you pull the trigger is making a good and ethical shot. It needs to be a shot you feel very comfortable taking, preferably one that you’ve practiced before. This alone would solve most deer hunters’ problems when it comes to tracking a shot deer. However, not every deer that is shot, even with great shot placement, drops in its tracks.
I’ll never forget taking a friend hunting for the first time several years back. We hunted separate stands that evening and about 30 minutes before dark I heard him shoot. Ten seconds later I heard another shot. And about 30 seconds after that, another shot. I was laughing in my stand thinking he was missing deer left and right. I climbed down and went to check on things and almost died when he described what happened.
He told me that he shot a doe, but it ran off. Thinking that he’d missed the first one, he shot at another one in the plot. It too, like the first one, ran back into the high sage grass surrounding the plot. Amazingly enough, there was one more deer that hadn’t left the county yet, so again, thinking he’d missed the second deer, he fired off another round at the third one. Thank goodness she dropped in her tracks, or he still might be out there shooting.
At first, I too thought he may have missed the first two deer, but wanted to go look for blood anyway. We arrived at the spot of the first shot and immediately found a blood trail into the sagebrush. Not twenty yards into it, there was the first doe that he’d shot at, deader than a hammer. I probably should have been excited for him, but now I was mortified at the thought of having to clean two and potentially three deer that evening. Given the results of the first and last shots, I knew we’d better look for the second deer, too.
And what do ya know? A giant pool of blood at the second shot location and another dead deer about 30-40 yards outside of the food plot. My fears had become reality. I was going to have to clean three deer that evening. My friend, that will remain unnamed, had no idea that sometimes when you shoot a deer that they will run a little ways before dying. Shortly after this incident, he left for Iraq so I’ll chalk this up to good practice that the bad guy may not always be un-alived with one shot.
Now that everyone knows that deer don’t always die immediately after being shot, we can discuss some ways to ensure you recover your animal. The first thing you need to do before taking the shot is take careful notes on where the deer is when you pull the trigger. I’ve shot several deer over the years that I had trouble recovering because I just could not pinpoint where the deer was when I shot. I try to use a landmark of some sort before I ever pull the trigger. A tree, a clump of grass, a dead limb, something that you can visibly see to have a good starting point if the deer runs after the shot.
The next thing to do after the shot is watch and listen. Watch where the deer goes after the shot and listen to hear it potentially crash. Listening may be harder than watching if your ears are ringing from shooting a gun, so be sure to wear ear protection for the shot and take it off afterward. Once again, pick a landmark for where the deer goes out of sight. This will help you tremendously in the event there’s not much blood from the shot.
So, what do you do after you find blood? The first thing that I like to do when I find the first drops of blood is give it an inspection. This will tell me more about the shot that I made. Bright red blood often indicates heart, or lungs. If there are bubbles in it, it’s usually a lung shot and a short recovery. Dark red blood can mean liver, or artery, also usually resulting in a shorter recovery. You can also look at where the blood is located. If it’s sprayed all over tall weeds and trees you’ve likely hit an artery and should be finding your deer soon. Blood that is mixed with green or brown is not a good sign. This is usually a gut shot deer and you should probably back out and give it plenty of time to expire.
The best thing to do once you find blood is mark the blood trail, especially the beginning of it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been trailing a deer only to lose the blood and have to go back and start over at the beginning. A lot of people do it differently, but I like to use some orange flagging tape when I’m trailing a deer. It’s easy to see and easy to pick up when you’re done. During trailing, just rip off a strip and drop it next to the blood trail.
Possibly the most important thing after the shot is don’t give up easily. Sometimes deer just don’t bleed much depending on the shot and the ammunition you are using. I’ve recovered deer that bled like someone took a five-gallon bucket of red paint and threw it out all over the woods. I’ve also recovered deer where I found two drops of blood. Be patient, be meticulous, and keep grinding. You owe it to that animal to give it all you’ve got to recover it because it died to feed your family. If all else fails, don’t be ashamed to ask for help. There are plenty of people with tracking dogs that love to help. As always, be safe and happy hunting!
Ben Smith
