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...while I always prefer a DRT (dead right there) shot and while tough tracking tracking jobs always create anxiety in me, there is something very satisfying about the succesful culmination of a reasonably tough tracking job. I am not talking about the ones from a poor hit. I am talking about the ones where it was good shot but for whatever reason the animal just didn't die and for whatever reason the blood trail didn't start for 50 yards and was only sporadic, and then gradualy picked up and then you glance up and there the animal is all piled up. As nerve racking as it is, they are some of my fondest memories. Mike  What I have learned on AR, since 2001: 1. The proper answer to: Where is the best place in town to get a steak dinner? is…You should go to Mel's Diner and get the fried chicken. 2. Big game animals can tell the difference between .015 of an inch in diameter, 15 grains of bullet weight, and 150 fps. 3. There is a difference in the performance of two identical projectiles launched at the same velocity if they came from different cartridges. 4. While a double rifle is the perfect DGR, every 375HH bolt gun needs to be modified to carry at least 5 down. 5. While a floor plate and detachable box magazine both use a mechanical latch, only the floor plate latch is reliable. Disregard the fact that every modern military rifle uses a detachable box magazine. 6. The Remington 700 is unreliable regardless of the fact it is the basis of the USMC M40 sniper rifle for 40+ years with no changes to the receiver or extractor and is the choice of more military and law enforcement sniper units than any other rifle. 7. PF actions are not suitable for a DGR and it is irrelevant that the M1, M14, M16, & AK47 which were designed for hunting men that can shoot back are all PF actions. 8. 95 deg F in Africa is different than 95 deg F in TX or CA and that is why you must worry about ammunition temperature in Africa (even though most safaris take place in winter) but not in TX or in CA. 9. The size of a ding in a gun's finish doesn't matter, what matters is whether it’s a safe ding or not. 10. 1 in a row is a trend, 2 in a row is statistically significant, and 3 in a row is an irrefutable fact. 11. Never buy a WSM or RCM cartridge for a safari rifle or your go to rifle in the USA because if they lose your ammo you can't find replacement ammo but don't worry 280 Rem, 338-06, 35 Whelen, and all Weatherby cartridges abound in Africa and back country stores. 12. A well hit animal can run 75 yds. in the open and suddenly drop with no initial blood trail, but the one I shot from 200 yds. away that ran 10 yds. and disappeared into a thicket and was not found was lost because the bullet penciled thru. I am 100% certain of this even though I have no physical evidence. 13. A 300 Win Mag is a 500 yard elk cartridge but a 308 Win is not a 300 yard elk cartridge even though the same bullet is travelling at the same velocity at those respective distances. | ||
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Shooting deer with arrows is always that sort of series of events. The DRT shots are usually not so explainable, and pretty rare. A person wouldn't think that you could run a 3 or four blade expandable makes a huge nasty wound and out of most bows/crossbows they almost always make 2 holes. I killed 3 deer last fall two bucks. One ran 75 yards without putting a drop on the ground huge body deer. After 75 yards he started bleeding well. The second buck went 40-50 yards before putting a drop on the ground and then it was tiny 1/16 inch drops one or two of those every 10-20 feet or so. Ihad to follow them until I had a direction figured for where he was heading 100 Yards on the second one took a couple hours. After that I knew there was a lot of yellow leaves on the ground stopped by a row of spruce so I went there, searched and found much better blood. With arrows, you can use lighted nocks. The amount of anxiety they take away is amazing! When you see that arrow go through Bambi in the scope, you absolutely know the hit is good and Bambi is dead. You just don't know where yet, but the rest of the search is a treasure hunt, instead of every step dreading that the blood will disappear. I've shot deer with a rifle right at the end of legal shooting time. More frequently than with a crossbow you wind up with no blood at all. Those I hate! You have to do everything to establish for an absolute face that there is no blood. At the same time, you have to be dead certain of the hit which can be difficult, but a trained shooter follows through, and you can usually see the hide pucker when the bullet hits. If you are hunting a good area, there's going to be lots of tracks and sometimes you lose that help as well. At that point about all you can do is start the grid search, and if you shot the deer near the end of legal shooting hours you have to do the grid search in the dark. Your brain says hurry up and find the deer. You understanding of the job at hand tells you go slow, be careful to miss nothing. Step. Light up everything within 20 feet of you. Step, light again. Repeat and repeat and repeat. I've found a few that way but it is not fun, it is not satisfying at the end, for me it's just over. After having done so many of them I've seen a lot of variations, and it is easy to wonder if THIS ONE is one of the extreme cases. | |||
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I have tracked/followed up 100s of deer for myself and others. High lung shots are normally the ones that give you late blood trails. Or improperly placed shots. As it takes longer for the chest cavity blood to reach the hole. For about 2 decades for bow hunting, I just got the dog. A good blood trailer is just amazing, I trained 3 labs to blood trail. They well find a dead deer so fast it is amazing. I also notice a properly hit deer rarely goes over a hundred yards. I have had so many people tell me over the years. I made the perfect double lung/heart shot only to learn that it was not. I heard many people say we need to wait until morning. I know then that they did not make a good clean killing shot. If one leaves the deer over night the meat has soured and is not worth recovering. | |||
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I always double lung shoot my deer in the crease just behind the shoulder, so I damage less meat. Usually run 30- 50 yds in a straight line. Easy to find, especially in winter with the vegetation down. Pig hunting can be a different story, especially late spring doing spot and stalk and the grass is tall and trees have leaves. Sometimes you're taking a quick and less perfect shot. Pigs don't always bleed out very well and tracking/locating can be a challenge. A dog would help for sure. It is always a satisfying feeling when following up and as you round a bush and get the "A=Ha" moment when you see your quarry piled up. | |||
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My most exciting hunt in a long time was going into the thick stuff after my brown bear. I hit him beautifully with a 300g A-Frame at 13 yards, but he tumbled stood up and roared and took off into the brush. We waited 5 minutes then went after him. Brush was so thick we needed one hand to pust it aside. Smelled him before we saw him waiting on the blood trail dead. The best! Regards, Chuck "There's a saying in prize fighting, everyone's got a plan until they get hit" Michael Douglas "The Ghost And The Darkness" | |||
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Any body can track a blood trail, it gets harder without blood on the ground..I taught some tracking lesson to the US Border patrol, and when ranching I wascalled on to assist in finding lost hunters in the Big Bend country. If you can read then you can learn to track. I told a couple of officers a twin engine plane had landed and unloaded a load of coke, they freaked out..they couldn't read. I learned from my Texas Ranger Grandfather mostly practicing on cattle and horses and deer. Later on human trafficking on horse and mules. Its fun to be exposed to tracking and taught by the best..Every hunter should learn and practice it. adds another demension to the hunt.. Ray Atkinson Atkinson Hunting Adventures 10 Ward Lane, Filer, Idaho, 83328 208-731-4120 rayatkinsonhunting@gmail.com | |||
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The last deer I shot that didn't fall in its tracks ran into thick brush. This concerned me, so I gave it a half-hour before following up. The recovery turned out to be simple -- just follow the coyote which showed up tracking the deer's trail. Despite clamoring down from the blind as quickly as possible, the coyote was able to pull part of the intestine from the anal cavity before I could get there! | |||
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Good thing it was only one a pack can eat a lot in a short while | |||
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