DJ,

I think your idea of taking a bearing using a compass is a great idea especially if the landscape is kind of featureless. If you own a GPS and a rangefinder you could also make those work for you too although I can't say I would buy them especially for that.

Like some of the others I use TP and I mark where I took the shoot from and when I get to the general area, where I thought the deer was standing and then the last place I saw it. Sometimes its easy to convince yourself you are in the wrong spot if you don't find any sign of hair or blood.

I am sure I have read here of guys using gas lanterns or UV filters on torches to make the blood show,but I have never tried it.

Over here we rely heavily on dogs/hounds for finding deer, either working them on or off the leesh depending on preference. A good teckle or GWP is an education to watch, but even my Border Terrier was quite good.

Finally, always carry a torch. I find those small 3 or 4 LED
head torches take up no room and through enough light to save the day when it comes to following a track in the evening.

Regards,

Pete

Hello;I just recently aquired a GPS. One of the main functions I forsee for this toy is to mark the location of a kill in featureless terrain, if I have to make multiple trips to pack it out. Things that have worked well for me in the past is weaving back and forth in the general direction the wounded anmal left or just calculating the probable escape routes. Some times there are only one or two ways out of a place. As for the theory of letting wounded game stiffen up, I believe the sooner you follow up the better. I once followed a wounded elk for a couple of miles . Five minutes after I caught up with him, someone else walked on the scene.
Grizz

Probably nothing wrong with you being a bit slower following a blood trail, as long as you do not miss any clues. Haste makes waste here.

I always carry some kleenex or paper towel in my pocket for whatever ( mostly runny nose when it gets cold and bum wipe).

After the shot keep focussed on the spot you hit the animal and try not to take your eyes of it again until you get there.Carefully make mental notes of landmarks at the spot.

Reach in your pocket and pull out some paper or whatever and drop it where you are to mark the shooting position. Stay focussed on the place where you hit the deer, and go there immediatly look for colour of hair, type of bone splinters and type of blood. Mark this spot with some paper towel, as well as frequently along the blood trail to get the direction of the animals flight path. (A truly mortally hard hit animal usually runs of in a rather straight line). Those signs, together with the reaction of the animal on the hit, the sight picture of your scope when the shot went off, and the sound of the bullet impact should tell you roughly where you hit the animal.

You now ought to know whether you have an abdominal or chest shot, or broken leg. With a decent chest hit you should find it ussually within a hundred yards, following the blood trail.

If it is a gut shot or broken leg, the animal can travel far if disturbed and you well may never find it, all depending on circumstances and damage to the animal.

The essence is still to look real well and follow a blood trail. Remember also to look for blood higher up along branches or trees if the animal is shot in the shoulder or upper leg, or ham.



It is best done with at least two people. One like a blood hound follows the bloodtrail, the other aside the tracker at easy eye distance scanning the terrain ahead, gun at the ready to fire the moment the wounded animal jumps up. With one more peerson we could have one on each side a little distance of the tracker.



With more then 3 people others can act as blockers outside the bush clump if it is relative small, keeping in mind the animal will travel as much as possible upwind, through available cover. It all depends on the situation and terrain what strategy to use.



To wait or to immediatly proceed on the blood trail???? It all depends on whether there is snow for easy tracking or may be rain to wipe out the sign, are there a lot of coyotes around, how much bush is there for him to hide in. Is there a decent blood trail? Is it approaching darkness or early in the morning? All factors combined should determine your course of action as to proceed immediatly on the trail, or wait till later. There are no set hard and fast rules. Let the type of wound,terrain, weather conditions,light available and whether you are alone or not dictate your course of action. Take your time and miss no clues. Be systematic and scan the surrounding terrain real well.

Well done Shrike.

Well done, and true words.

dj - something else i have heard of but never tried is using glow sticks when it is darker out. the color of the glowstick apparently makes blood show up very well. perhaps someone with more expereince using them can elaborate.

A few other things I learned. Lay your flashlight as close to ground level as you can this will throw shadows and really show tracks. Looking straight down there is no contrast and shadows.
The other thing is when following tracks a tape measure or a stick to measure distance between tracks helps if the animal is at a steady pace. If you loose the track you can use the measurement in a radius to find the next one.
Get down to the animals eye level and look for the easyest path and the nearest cover.
Dont rush right in, let the animal calm down and maybe lay down.

One more, Dont buy any flagging that is orange and black alternateing stripe. In the dark forest it is hard to see. Bright green also disappears at a distance.

Good stuff, this is why I love this forum.

I would add that this is an excellent reason/excuse for getting a wife or other prospect involved. There is no more valuable tactic or device here than a keen spotter at the sight from where you shot. But if your on your own, then keep it simple. The place you should have hit the critter "should" be the place where your tracks and his met. Shrike was right on about being VERY obesrvant from where you shot and keeping an eye on the spot. Anyone who has lost a golf ball knows the value of picking out landmarks. In cedar trees Ive found I can usually pick out a rock in the vicinity that sort of stands out and Ill take a good mental note of where the spot is from the rock. This is done before taking a single step forward.

The markers are good advice as well.

Being a Bowhunter for over 25 years, you learn to track well or loose you game. The first thing I do is note the Animals reaction to the shot with a Gun.



Did he hump up at the shot and run off? If so could be a belly, punch shot or liver shot.



Did he spring up at the shot and run off? If so could be a heart or low lung shot.



A High lung or shoulder shot that makes contact with major bone structure will sometimes result in a knock down. Same with any brisket shot. Also these kinds of shots can result in the animal squatting slightly and then bolting off.



Of course spine shots, leg shots, and the like, are most of the time self evident as the animals exit or like there of.



Knowing how the animal reacted at the shot can give you some hint as to how hard he was hit, how far the expected tracking, what evidence to look for, how soon that evidence should start to show up on the track, and how soon to track.





Examine the spot of the hit for evidence. Like Blood, Bone, Hair and what kind of hair. Believe it or not, in most cases there will be evidence at the initial place where the shot on the Animal took place. Examine what you find! You may find that any evidence that you find may also confirm you observation at the time of the shot and the animal�s reaction to what we discussed above.



Now for tracking.



If you have observed any of the above, it may aid in your tracking. You should also remember any evidence you find while tracking can add to what you already know about the animal and his wound.







Here are some observations for tracking.







Yes use tp to mark the trail.



Never allow anyone to scout ahead



Don�t have more than three people assist you in tracking on the initial attempt.



Never destroy the track by walking on it unless you have a good blood trail in which case it want matter as long as you use tp.



If the animal has a mortal wound forget the wind direction, all the animal is thinking about is getting the hell out of there in the initial few moments after he has been shot.



With a Heart shot, arterial shot (This includes leg shots, neck wounds and the like) �light to medium red blood� is the norm.



Lung Shot, �bright red and/or foamy red blood� is the norm



Gut shot, Liver shot. �dark red blood� may have a foul smell with green material in it if it is a pouch shot



Lung shot, Liver shot, or heart shot animals will seldom run more than 250 yards or less before expiring.



Arterial and blood vessel shots like leg, neck or belly shots can go on forever it seems. In deer, the actual vein or artery if not a main body cavity artery will collapse and stop the bleeding. The vein or artery will clot and the blood will then re inflate the vein or artery allowing the deer not to bleed out because of the clotting. This is the reason sometimes you will find a place where the animal has bedded with a good deal of blood on the ground and then no sign of blood anywhere when they leave the bed. Often if you can track them for a little bit they will begin to bleed again.



Remember a high Lung shot will often take about 65 to 100 yards before the body cavity will fill with blood and begin to exit the wound canal. You may have to look around on the bushes for sprayed blood coming from his nose or mouth to track at first. If you then hit a good blood trail, your tracking will be short and sweet, for your game is dead and near.



Also if you find no blood at first, get down low and look up the trail especially in open woods. You can often see overturned wet leaves kicked up where the animal has run and can often give you some idea which way he has run.



Gut shot deer will often run to water after their initial flight. They may run up hill and down hill.



Often hard hit deer will first run up hill them double back down hill, if they start to run out of gas. (Blood and oxygen) but no matter, hard hit deer will often be found within 300 to 400 yards no matter. Remember this if you have to run a grid pattern and you�re sure you have a hard hit deer or animal. The more eyes you have when running a grid pattern the faster you can cover the expected grid.



Always have the experienced tracker in the lead and ahead somewhat of the others by about ten yards.



Always keep someone on the last known sign of the track when you loose the track or mark it well before you explore.



Hope this helps, there is much more to this than I have expressed here, but experience is the best trainer.



Good luck

I used a product called Starlight Bloodhound a couple of years ago and was blown away by its effectiveness. In darkness it makes blood glow even when there is none visible to the eye. I was trailing a gut shot deer for another hunter and remembered that I had a bottle of it (two years old)in my truck. After dark and when the trail was no longer visible to the naked eye, every spray from the bottle showed that one hoof had traces of blood on it. It was wild to see the blue glow about every four feet. Unfortunatly I ran out before we recovered that deer and the cost is kind of prohibative. $25 for one bottle!
I saw an advertisement for a very expensive aviation flashlight that had a blue lens cover that was supposed to illuminate blood. I wonder if any blue filter on a bright Zenon bulb flashlight would make blood illuminate?

Grizz,



Before GPS, I used an emergency strobe light to mark kills made at dusk so I could find them later. Might mesh well with that GPS.



Plus in your country the strobe would make grizzlies charging you at the kill site really cool to watch.

At the spot were I hit the deer there were a dozen or so tufts of white hair. It made me think that I'd gut shot him. But when I found him the entrance and exit wounds were a little less than 1/2 way up the animal. Why was this hair white? My friend that I was hunting with told me that any hair blown off the animal like this was looks white, is this true? What have you guys seen in this regard?
By the way you've answered a question I had before. I waited for the full 30 minutes because last year I lost the only deer I ever have lost that I knew I wounded. Last year I shot a deer that was behind some weeds with a 300 WSM and a 180gr TSX. I didn't wait but a couple minutes because I had heard it crashing into some bushes. Again I found a lot of white hair at the shot sight but I had a signifigant blood trail-the blood wasn't dark or greenish but because of the white hair I thought it was gut shot. I started from the hit site and tracked blood for about 75 yards. I found a puddle of blood and some exit tracks but then no more blood after the puddle. I guess that like you said it laid down and clotted up. I figured if I'd waited 20-30 minutes it would have gone ahead and died in the puddle spot but figured by starting immediately I pushed him away. I searched for hours and never found the deer although I'm sure it became coyote fodder. The only time I've lost a deer like that is when I didn't wait so I figure from now on unless I can see it lying down dead I plan to wait at least 20 minutes.
Another time several years ago I tracked up a deer that I knew was well hit after only about 10 minutes. I walked up and had a disagreement with a Bobcat over who was going to get to eat this particular deer. Fortunately I saw him before he saw me and had reloaded my muzzleloader. I guess in this case if I'd waited longer the Bobcat might have eaten a good bit of my deer but I have to think that this was a very rare occurance.........DJ