Farthest you’ve tracked a deer?

What is the farthest you’ve tracked a deer after the shot where you’ve ended up finding the deer in the end? This is without using a dog....just normal blood tracking. Where was the deer hit?

A mile give or take

About a mile or a little better. Bumped him up once, backed off waited about 4 hours and found him about 600 yards from where I bumped him

Dad shot a small buck just as it jumped a ditch. The bullet sliced it's belly open and it ran off with its guts hanging out. Blood everywhere when he would jump a log his belly woukd hit leaving a big bloody circle. Finally caught up to him and jumped him no shot because the guns were left at the property line. He didn't go maybe 50 yards and laid down. Got up on him and held his rack while dad cut his throat then he jumped up ran a couple yards and bled out. A deers will to live is amazing. If someone shot the skin on the tip of my pinky finger off I'd hit the dirt and start rolling around.

The only time I have ever shot at a deer with a bow and arrow I trailed her about a quarter mile thru an old cutover bottom before I found her. When I got the deer to the truck I gave up bow hunting and havn't been back.

I'm with the about a mile club....but it wasn't from blood. My little sister gut shot a 6 point, and of all the ways to track a deer, we tracked him from the corn that was falling out of his guts. That's no lie!

About 80 yards.

Keep the stories coming but I’ll go ahead and explain why I’m asking this question in case anyone wants to elaborate on their answer. What I’m trying to get an idea of…. is when I’m tracking a deer with my dog Otis…..how far out is a reasonable distance to track and still have a good chance of finding the deer already dead from the initial shot? I’m already learning that these tracks can quickly go from 400 to 600….to 800…..to 1,000+ yards and farther. I have to believe that you pass a certain point where your odds of the deer being dead from the initial shot/reaction go way down and your odds are much more likely that the deer is still alive out in front of you. Most deer that are hit hard will bed down within a reasonable distance if not pushed. So as I’m tracking, the farther I go….the more I have to start altering my idea of how wounded the deer may be. At some distance you pass a threshold where the probability of finding the deer dead falls off a cliff. Where is that distance?

Longest I have tracked one was probably about 100 yards. Most of mine have been probably 40 yards or less.

Just jinxed yourself

About 300 yards give or take. Shot a big doe at about 40 yards one morning. She ran out of the field with the other three. I waited a few minutes, and went to the edge of the field. Found pools of blood. I was thinking the deer was dead right out of sight, so I pushed on. I jumped her once, and backed out for an hour or so. Basically made a semi circle. Found her 2.5 hours later. Shot through the shoulder, and was dragging a leg when I jumped her. My fault for not giving her enough time, but I honestly thought she was dead.

It's tough to judge thru terrain, but a mile or so I'd say without a dog. A lot further with a dog.

My farthest to date is about 1/2 a mile maybe a bit more. I shot a buck about 6 years ago, and after walking off the distance (318 yds.), I realized it was farther than what I thought. I grazed his belly enough to allow the guts to start coming out. I trailed him by following pieces of gut and organs coming out. He eventually lost his stomach. I caught up with him next to a creek dying but very much alive. I put him down for good but felt bad that he had suffered as much as he had. I'm a bit more careful with shot placement now.

1/4 mile on one of my best bow bucks.

400 yards My best by bow. He took a few steps just as I touched off the trigger..

to answer yer question.....in my experience once you pass 300 yards yer odds go down on finding that deer, and certainly after 500 yards the odds drop a LOT.

I have tracked a few deer over 500 and found them with a dog. A deer that can go 500+ isn't hit well at all and may not be recoverable...but as long as you have blood I'd keep tracking. Might be able to bay the deer and kill it. I tracked a buck prolly 600 yards before dog bayed a very much alive buck that decided to fight instead of run. It got ugly fast but the deer was shot again and dropped. It had been shot four times by the original hunter, but not in a fatal spot.

I agree. This will be a little different if it’s a gun or bow but another way of looking at it would be that once you pass lets say 100-125 yards on a gun shot….then you can pretty much cross of the list it being heart or lungs. Once you pass lets say 250 yards with a gun then you could probably write off it being liver or anywhere in that front cavity. Most deer that have been hardcore gut shot will bed up somewhere within 200-500 yards. I think once you pass the 500 yard mark then you have to start assuming that you’re dealing with a pretty marginal hit…..maybe really high or really low. Once you make it out to 750-1000+ then its very likely that your still dealing with a live deer that’s got a flesh wound or busted up leg. This is assuming that the deer hasn’t been heavily pushed just after the shot.

I agree totally with Troy. I've tracked numerous deer over 500 yards and have only found one of em. One time I shot a big buck. Hit him low I think the first time, then slung another round at him when he was running which hit one of his tines and blew it off. I trailed blood for at least 700 yards before it dried up. Never found him.

I think you're pretty much spot on with this assessment.

This is all assuming that the deer hasn’t been pushed by an initial search. From my standpoint as a dog tracker, I may or may not know that from the info the hunter gives me. If someone has done very much searching, then its highly likely that a deer would be pushed at least once if it were inside that 500 yard mark while the searching was taking place. This would take that 300 yard gut shot out to 500-800 yards. In reality, were probably talking about a realistic search zone out to 800-900 yards maybe unless the hunter just got down and backed out before any extensive searching. In that situation, our 500 yard estimate may be more accurate.

I think once I pass 800 yards then I’m going to switch gears and assume that I’m no longer dealing with a dead deer and that its more likely to be a live deer situation. I think once I reach 1500+ yards then there should be real consideration given to calling off the search. Yes, there’s still a small chance that the deer might be able to be wore down by the dog past that point and bayed up…..but when you start talking about going on multiple tracks per week for the general public, then chasing those deer for 2-3 miles with a very low probability of recovering them becomes a lot of unnecessary wear and tear on the dog for no good reason. I have to start thinking about the next track and not wearing out or injuring my ace pitcher.

My only addition to this is that I think you can slightly extend the 100-125 out to 150-175.

I've shot a deer that at least destroyed one lung, and possibly two (but might have hit one lung and exited through liver), that ran 150-175 total before dying. She took off at max speed leaving a tremendous blood trail. I couldn't believe how far she ran with that much damage. I say after 175 yards the deer likely has a functioning lung and heart.

I agree. It’s amazing how far deer can run even after making a good shot. To be honest though, we could probably safely assume that if I’m getting called out there to track a deer with a dog then it likely hasn’t been hit it the heart or lungs…..I bet I won’t get many calls that are even hit inside of that front cavity. So really were probably talking about a sweet spot between the 300-800 yard marks where we should likely find most lost deer that have already died prior to me arriving. This is helpful to know with me using GPS.

Gut shot deer is where a trail dog will really shine.

Almost a mile. Tracked about 1/2 mile and then lost blood trail when he entered a sedgefield. We found him later that afternoon on a trail through some woods. He was gut shot.
In hind sight we pushed him too much at first.
We would have never found him if he had bedded in woods and died instead of trail.

I'm in the mile club. I went through a phase when I was little, where I guy shot several deer in a row. Pushed them, tracked on a speck of guts or blood every 50 yds, that kind of deal.

Yep……..All of this should kind of make the hunter stop and think too. There’s pretty much two options after you’ve shot a deer. Either you’ve made a lethal hit and the deer will likely stop somewhere within 300-500 ish yards where it will eventually die…. or you’ve made a very marginal hit, in which case there becomes a very low probability of recovery no matter what you do. If you don’t do anything to push the fatally wounded deer outside of that 300-500 yard zone then there is a high likelihood of recovery with a dog. If the deer makes it outside of that 500 yard zone though without being pushed then there is a high likelihood that your shot was very marginal and the deer won’t be recovered anyways. So the most important thing that most people could do is to back out and give the deer time. The end result is going to be what its going to be at that point. The only thing you can really do is make the situation worse by pushing the deer. The natural reaction is to want to get down and go figure out what happened as soon as possible though and this just complicates thing. Six to eight hours later is nothing for a dog. Depending on tracking conditions 16-24 hours is really not even that hard for a dog with a good nose. If you start tracking and it looks really marginal for the first 50-75 yards or if you go 100 yards and things peter out…..back out and give the deer some time before stomping out that 300-500 yard circle.

Approximately 1.3 miles...not positive where it was hit, but about 20 years ago, before we knew better, a buddy of mine shot a nice buck crossing a powerline at about 200 yards. He called me on a walkie talkie to tell me where it and another buck were heading so I could run to try to cut the second buck off and possibly get a shot. As I was traveling towards where the other buck would possibly cross, I jumped the buck my buddy had shot. That deer ran straight for the highway and started walking again traveling through every rub and scrape on that piece of property. There were several holes in the fence bordering the highway, and that deer would walk in and out different openings entering our property and back off on the highway right of way. It was leaving great blood for us to follow, so we kept expecting it to be dead at any second. We eventually tracked it to a swamp where we jumped it and decided it was gonna make it after about 1.2 miles. About a week later, my buddy went back in that area to check things out and he was able to smell the decaying deer and found it probably 200 yards from where we had last jumped it. Coyotes and buzzards made it impossible to determine exactly where it was hit.

^^^ yep. Every deer I've ever had to track past 300 yards, I've never recovered. Fortunately, it's only been a few.

60(ish) yards - first/only bow kill. I'd say 2/3 of the deer I've shot with a rifle dropped in their tracks. I've never not found one, fortunately.

I'm trying to remember back through the years, but nothing spectacular comes to mind. I do have two stories though of deer we tracked and never found (well, sorta)....

Friend of mine shot a very large buck one afternoon about an hour before dark. I don't know why, but he was using a borrowed shotgun and had ONE slug. ONE!!! I don't know where he hit the deer, but it laid down within sight of him. He sat till dark and climbed down, ran the deer off. Next morning we go in there and start trailing. Tiny blood spots just quit after about 100 yards. Three of us spent the next two hours canvassing every inch of a 45 acre block of woods. We had finally given up, deciding this deer probably didn't die. We were on a dim woods road that served as the property boundary, so we decided to walk it out to the pavement and just go home that way. We were walking that road, now in the total opposite way the blood trail was going, and I'm guessing 1/2 to 3/4 mile as the crow flies from where the shot occurred (again, in the opposite direction the deer ran off, and the opposite direction from where we just spent the past two hours. I noticed a trail coming off the bank with fresh skid marks in it, and what was in the roadbed???...two drops of blood. Wasted another 30 mins or so and never found another thing.

Another time I shot a doe with my bow, strong quartering away shot, never found arrow. Blood trail was very spotty and far between. A month later we found a rotted carcass WITH MY ARROW STILL IN IT on the total opposite side of 600 acres. Almost two miles by road, probably slightly less through the woods.

My Dad shot a buck a few years ago that was a rough tracking job...Dad was hunting a greenfield and heard a buck chasing a doe in the thicket about 75 yards away. Dad caught a couple of glimpses of the buck and knew he was a good one. A few minutes later, the doe shot out into the field and stopped (looking back at the buck, of course). She stopped for maybe 5 seconds, but took off running back into the thicket. The buck cut across the corner of the field in an attempt to cut the doe off. As the buck ran across the corner, Dad shot (about 60 yard shot).

It was probably 1.5 hours later when began looking for blood. We picked it up right away and followed good blood for a long ways. We had trailed blood for about 400 yards when we jumped the deer. The buck ran about 100 yards and we heard a lot of thrashing, then silence (like the deer had crashed and expired). We backed out and came back about 2 hours later to bed #1. We tracked decent blood through the thicket for another 100 yards and heard the buck jump up and splash in the creek. At this time, we KNEW we had to wait till the next day and make a final attempt. After hunting the next morning, we found bed #2 right beside the creek and tried to find blood on the opposite side. We looked for a LONG time, but never picked it up. We were about to give up when I heard Dad holler! The buck was dead about 150 yards from where he'd crossed the creek... The deer was hit in the liver and it was obviously our fault for pushing him. The deer went ~700 yards from where he was shot.

The creek sure was cold on that 45° day!

3/4 mile

There are 2 deer I trailed that stood out as really long. My recollection tells me both were at least 17 miles. Was scratched and bleeding both times from crawling on hands & knees through rough country. Looking at the map both deer were found less than 1/2 mile from where they were shot. Time and hard going added the other imaginary miles.

First deer was shot on the last dog drive of the day. No dogs behind him but he was moving. In a clearcut & bounding. Only shot at his vitals was as he jumped above the cover. I tried to lead him & shoot at his shoulder each time he jumped. Had a BAR 270 & knocked him down on the 2cd shot. He got up & I unloaded the rest of the clip as he disappeared into a ravine. Blood was poor so marked the spot with my hat & came back in the morning.

Following morning trailed 1/4 mile through terrible cover. Sparse blood but I was aided by the fact that the deer was following the terrain & on an established deer trail. Blood finally ended. I had a 1/4 mile trail of toilet paper so I walked in the direction. He was dead in a creek 40 yards further. My shot went through both back hams & he bled out.

Next deer was standing in a pasture. We saw each other at the same time. When he ran away, the rack was out past his ears. I was supremely confident in my shooting ability. So as he ran straight away, I put the crosshairs on the base of his neck & shot. Deer ducked low & hauled it out into the woods. Lots of white hair at the site. Backed off & called my buddy.

We trailed that deer at least 4 hours. He jumped a gully. Went through a creek. Ran up hills & into & through some of the nastiest briar patches in the county. Blood was easy to follow at times. Other spots there was no blood for 20 yards then we picked it back up. After trailing an honest 1/4 mile blood just stopped. Couldn't pick it back up. So we quit.

Went back that afternoon to check in another creed. As I pulled in there was a lone buzzard circling. Deer was 150 yards from where we quit. Shot went into deer under tail & came out behind right shoulder. Inside was a mess but bullet only took out 1 lung.

Both marginal shots were at moving deer. Nowadays I don't take those shots. Both were found because of stubbornness.

I started back in 87.......still looking

600 yards or so with a bow / 200 yards with a 243

Bout 500 or so. One lunged a big 7 with my bow. Not a lot of blood but ended up trailing white foam coming out of his mouth.

About 500 yards or so. It wasn't a blood trail though, believe it or not it was his foot print. I shot him off hand in a cutover and he ran over the top of the hill out of site. Me and a buddy got to where I shot him and saw he wasn't leaving any blood but had a distinct foot print due to one of his hoofs being messed up. My buddy was an excellent tracker and followed his foot prints. When they'd seem to run out I would stand there until he could pick them back up. He ended up walking right to him.

Not the farthest, but a buddy and I on two occasions have trailed deer a couple of hundred yards through a waist deep swamp by following where the mud was kicked up in the water. One was a doe he shot and the other was the first buck I ever killed with my bow. It was a cow horned spike. This was at least 20 years ago or better. Both deer were bow shot and were found still alive, but incapacitated, on the other side of the swamp. Both were promptly dispatched as humanely as possible. Having done it twice in my younger days, I'll be honest and say if it happens again, I would be very tempted to just call myself feeding the gators, unless it was a monster.

Will check back in when i find him- started 10 years ago...