Need advice on tracking one!!

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Realtree

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Shot one yesterday evening close to dark at 45yds with my crossbow. Aimed a little high and being rushed by the darkness and distance i let the arrow fly. He ran off wide open. I found the arrow about 10 yds from where he was shot broken in half. So it did make a pass thru by the looks of the arrow. We tracks small drops of bright red blood for maybe 100 yds and when it entered the woods it got to dark red blood and bigger drops then quit bleeding. The last drop was leading over to a straight up and down deep holler to a creek. We backed out and I'm going back today around lunch to look more. Any suggestions? Thanks
 
I suggest getting on your hands and knees and searching for blood. Sometimes they will take sharp turns off the trail they were traveling and u keep searching the wrong way and your deer may be laying dead 50 yards off to the left or right. Happened to me last night i lost blood and walked every where. I back tracked to the last blood and took a flash light and crawled on my hands and knees until i found which way the trail went and then i got back on good blood again and eventually it led me to my 12 pointer i shot. I was about stressed out because i searched every where but it was all in the wrong direction until i found which way he went thru the thicket. Im sure deer can stop bleeding in some circustances but if u hit them good with a good broak head i doubt he stopped bleeding. U just went thru a spell where he didnt bleed as much drops but if u look gard enough you should be able to get back on track and finish the track. Dont give up on it.
 
Take arrows or markers and mark where u found last blood then spread around and look for drops from that last spot and keep referencing back to where u last found blood to make sure u stay on the right trail
 
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EastTNcowsNwhitetails":2sasfu6d said:
I suggest getting on your hands and knees and searching for blood. Sometimes they will take sharp turns off the trail they were traveling and u keep searching the wrong way and your deer may be laying dead 50 yards off to the left or right. Happened to me last night i lost blood and walked every where. I back tracked to the last blood and took a flash light and crawled on my hands and knees until i found which way the trail went and then i got back on good blood again and eventually it led me to my 12 pointer i shot. I was about stressed out because i searched every where but it was all in the wrong direction until i found which way he went thru the thicket. Im sure deer can stop bleeding in some circustances but if u hit them good with a good broak head i doubt he stopped bleeding. U just went thru a spell where he didnt bleed as much drops but if u look gard enough you should be able to get back on track and finish the track. Dont give up on it.
Click to expand...


great advice

with out blood odds you wont find it
 
I take toilet paper. Tear off a tiny piece and put it next to the blood spots. Helps if you have to back track and when you look back you can get a better sense of what direction they are running


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RobbyW":20yq6fmb said:
I take toilet paper. Tear off a tiny piece and put it next to the blood spots. Helps if you have to back track and when you look back you can get a better sense of what direction they are running


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Click to expand...

x2 The paper "trail" can really help in finding the next spot of blood by showing the direction of travel. And, toilet paper breaks down in the next couple of rains.

I'm usually pretty big about backing out at night and looking the next morning unless rain is in the forecast. But, with high temps, more than likely the deer is going to be spoiled after a few hours of death. When the temperatures are as high as they are, even overnight, it probably is best to continue the search rather than coming back the next day if salvaging the meat is a concern.
 
Sounds like you've done about all within reason to find it.

High shots like this (with an arrow) are often non-fatal, at least from the wound itself.

Unfortunately, the deer would have two big things going against it's survival in the coming days/weeks:

1) High temps this time of year are more likely to lead to deadly infection (still could take days or weeks before death)
If this doesn't kill the animal, it may weaken the animal enough to make him easier prey for dogs & coyotes.

2) Coyotes & dogs drawn to the smell of blood.
I believe this is a much bigger "issue" than many imagine.
They can quickly cue in on this weakened animal, which might normally be able to escape them, but with the smell of blood, they will "dog" him harder, seeming to realize he is injured, and be more likely to finish him off.
 
Hate to hear of your luck.

As a side note. I tracked a buck once over 950 yards on my hands and knees. I hit him back and he was quartering away. At one point I lost blood completely. I started making circles and after 2 hours found a speck of blood. About 30 yards from that he opened up and bleed good his last 50 yards of a death run.

I got him out of the woods real late that night !!
 

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