The Worst Mistake

I know its about that time when everyone is starting to feel the itch. Since it’s hot as all get out outside and Game Check has been beat over like dead horse….I thought I’d try to move onto another topic.

Look fellas, especially you younger guys and newer hunters…. but even you old geezers who should know better. You’re gonna hear me say this time and again when the season starts and I start tracking wounded deer for folks..…..but I’m gonna go ahead and start preaching ahead of time anyways. If you want to find your deer….”Don’t get down and start immediately tracking it right after the shot!”....Don’t even walk over to where he was standing. Don’t do anything….Don’t even fart loud for at least 30 minutes….and then sneak out and go back to camp to assess what happened. Look at your watch and time it. If its too much for you to handle and you just HAVE to get down before 30 minutes….get down and go back to camp. Call up your buddy or get on Aldeer…tell them what happened….and then follow the advice they give you. They’re thinking will not be hampered by all the adrenaline and dopamine.

The vast majority of hunters do not appreciate just how tough deer are or how well and how long they can tote a marginal injury…..even a fatal one. I say that as having been that hunter myself. I’ve logged in a LOT of hours in a tree stand over the last couple decades and would have considered myself to be a fairly seasoned hunter before I got into tracking. Having gotten into tracking though it is allowing me to see things from a perspective that I was never able to before.

Even though I’m still a fairly new tracker, I can already see that the deer are a lot tougher than I ever gave them credit for. I think back on all of those blood trails now that just petered out and left me clueless and I understand a little better why I never found my deer. This season when that buck comes in and you make the shot…..if you don’t see him go down or you’re not just ABSOLUTELY sure that you just smoked him…..don’t get down and go to chasing after it. It’s the #1 worst mistake made by hunters after the shot that cost them their deer.

I say that now but it’s still inevitable that come hunting season we’ll have an excited member come over the airways announcing that he just stuck a dang good ‘un……Everyone we’ll ask….”Did you get a good hit on him?”…..and he’ll respond……”I think so but I’m not sure.”……Then, despite multiple posts pleading and advising for the hunter to back out…..the hunter will go silent for a couple hours….only to come back and report that they’re not sure what happened…..They’ve got good blood but it just petered out or they tracked it for a couple hundred yards and jumped it, etc. That story plays itself out over and over and over….to the point that it’s like you already know how the story is going to end before it ever happens.

There’s one simple thing you can do this year to improve your odds of retrieving your deer fellas but it seems like it’s the one thing that’s the absolute hardest for folks to do…….and that’s don’t get down and push your deer. If its not an immediate kill….it’s nothing…and I mean nothing for the deer to still be alive 4-6 hrs later……much less within 20-30 min after the shot when most start looking. When you read things saying give gut shots a minimum of 8-12 hrs, they really mean no less than 8-12 hrs and that still might not even be enough. When you get of your tree or stand after the shot, its very likely that the deer is still within 100-150 yards of the shot location and nearly a certainty that its within 300. It’s usually only when the hunter pursues the deer too soon that it flees the small area. Most folks have the deer up and moving out ahead of them while their tracking and don’t even realize it. Don’t make that mistake and let it cost you your deer.

.......and that’s your CnC tip of the day…….brought to you by our good friends at the Anheuser Bush Corporation.

It's all good advice.. and stay thirsty my friend.

Good advice. I needed to do that last year on a doe. I know I hit it, but I was so excited about my second ever deer, never did find it. But my dogs did weeks later, they've probably brought me back half a skeleton over the past 8 months.

Great post thanks for the advice!

It’s all a mental thing. The same way many people go through a process of shooting by taking a deep breathe….aiming small….squeezing the trigger, etc…..that process you go through needs to carry over and continue after the shot as well…..and the next step after pulling the trigger is to force yourself to simply do nothing…….realize that your body and mind are basically under the influence of drugs that your body just released and that you’re thinking and behavior are likely altered as a result. A lot of folks just completely come apart after the shot for a good while cause they are so amped up. Remind yourself of this fact the same way you remind yourself to squeeze the trigger…..then back out and don’t allow yourself to screw it up.

This mistake has cost me 2 wall hangers over the past 4 seasons. Needless to say I have learned my lesson. Even if it was the hard way.

Good post

It's hard to give it that time in the heat of battle. That's the longest 30 or 40 minutes of your life. Probably some good advice too , when you have good light and can, is to just sneak over to look for blood and not barge through the woods.

Here’s what you got to watch for AC…..Many times after the shot the deer doesn’t know what happened. We always assume that the deer has went into “flee” mode after the shot…. but in reality, the deer often just bounces of a short distance and then stands still trying to figure out what just occurred or if it’s being stalked by something. This is why folks often find spotty blood for the first 40-50 yards or so of the track where the deer initially bounced off but then run into a big puddle. That common “big spot of blood” within the first 100 or so yards that people report is where the deer stopped and stood.

If you are going to ease in to the hit site….then be sure to keep in mind that the deer very well may be bedded or standing only a short distance away. I lost a nice little buck one time with a bow easing in to check. I got down too soon cause it was getting dark and actually only had intentions of looking at my arrow and then going back to the house for a while. However, when I sneaked down there to look at my arrow….the buck was just standing out there about 50 yards bleeding……it was thick and I just couldn’t see him from my stand. He took off and I never recovered him. They don’t run very far from being shot…..most will bed up quickly……they run off because of being pursued.

Good advice, CNC. Thanks for the reminder!

Great advice! I seen this too many times!

I'll add, about 80% of hunters need to follow somebody around that actually knows how to trail a deer. It astounds me how many people don't know what they are doing.

Give the deer plenty of time
Always have a gun with you
Don't bring more than one person, unless you are just grid searching
Mark the shot location and trail with toilet paper at least every 10-15'
Don't overrun the blood
Don't step anywhere you haven't looked first
Realize they ain't gonna go in a straight line for long
The first 200yds don't mean crap, they won't necessarily follow the path of least resistance or head for a destination, but after that they will settle down.
If the blood is dried, wet your finger and rub it. If it comes off, it's blood.

That's a few things, blood trailing doesn't have anything to do with who has the best eyes, it's a method.

That’s great advice…..and that process/method needs to be done slowly and with patience. The monkey wrench for most folks is the big dose of simulant that hits them. It makes slow and patient nearly an impossible task. I think most folks would actually be better off to allow a competent friend to track the deer.

You shoot and have even the smallest doubt the deer isn't dead just out of sight, WAIT. If the shot is at dark and there is even the smallest doubt the deer isn't dead just out of sight, WAIT OVERNIGHT. If you don't know how to track, WAIT get someone that does or call a dog. You'll never go wrong by WAITING , but will almost always go wrong not waiting if the deer isn't dead.

The recurring theme is WAIT. If he's dead he ain't going another step, if not the race is on. Never fun.

These rules of thumb actually apply to all game. I don't mind having a few guys along, I just task each one. Last year when I shot my bull. I immediately backed out and made my phone calls. Luckily, I was only in about 2 miles. Help arrived (3 guys) and we began the search. Myself and 1 other up front looking for blood, the 2 others behind us marking the trail. It was after dark so, 1 guy marked with flagging, the other with reflective tacks. When we would hit a snag, I would hold, send other guy on a loop until he found the next spot. Found the bull and the fun began...

H., you are making a good point. I'm not trying to undermine it but sometimes in the heat down here you'll have to go in early or lose the meat. . Over the years we have found that the AVERAGE time of death for a gut shot is 6 hrs. I've seen them alive at 24 hrs. and some died at 2 hrs. Trailed one a mile 70 hrs. after he had been shot and he appeared to have just died. Was trailing 1 at 12 hrs., found all four chambers of his stomach ON THE GROUND. I was sure he was dead so I turned Annie loose. 250 yards farther she had him bayed alive. To save the meat I like to go in at about 5 hrs. I usually find the deer in such bad shape that he can't go much. If he does run and Annie can't bay real quick, I will back out and come back in 2 hrs. It is always a fine line/judgement call. One thing everyone needs to know is that we can track just as good in or after a rain as not. Each year hunters say they didn't call because the rain had washed the blood away. We could have trailed it. If you find bone it is leg bone not rib bone. If we have enough room we can bay and recover most broken legs. They need to be pushed so they don't clot as quick.

Good info. Glad to have you in on the discussion. I’m starting to get pretty fired up and ready for the season to start.


I’d bet that 7 or 8 out of every 10 deer shot get tracked within 30 minutes…..with bow shots maybe being a little longer and gun shots a little shorter. I’d bet that an even higher percentage than that of hunters are down out of their stand within 10 minutes and are rummaging around at the hit site. Many hunters are changing the very nature of the track from the get go. What I would hope that folks would begin to have a better understanding about….is that if they’ll just back out of the area without disturbing the deer….then it will be highly, highly likely that the deer will stay within a 300 yard circle around the hit site…..or it will at least make its first bed within that distance. Whether being tracked by a human or a dog….not triggering the deer’s flee instinct and running him out of this small area will make him much easier to recover.

another thing i find that newer hunters dont do is: pay close attention to the deers body language after the shot: Did he mule kick, was his tail up or down, did he kind of hunch up, was his head up or down, what did his stride look like. did he have a limp, all these things can tell you something about the shot placement. Also listen, Sometime you can hear the crash or if the deer changes direction.

Whos has to blood trail a deer shot with a rifle? If you do you need to go to the rifle range, or quit shooting squirrel rifles. LOL Biggest mistake i see people make, is they have no idea where the deer was standing when they shot, they never mark the spot before the shot.

If you haven't had to, you haven't shot enough deer.

During mid-January A LOT of people do……Probably a third of the tracks we go on are for are kids as well.

This ^^

A majority of my rifle shot deer run. On the flip side, a majority of my bow kills die within eyeshot.

If I have a deer run off when shot right before dark, I always go to the spot it was standing to look for blood while it's still light. It's always worked better for me to do that, than to not go look before dark. Judging by the blood left and the action of the deer dictates how long I wait before tracking.

About 1 out of 10 rifle shots have to call in a dog. More of these are shot with an elephant gun than a squirrel rifle. Shot placement is everything. Mark the spot at last blood and the dog will work it out from the point where Pharaohs army has wandered around looking.

Bazinga.

Dang good advice here. I've been guilty of pushing a bow shot deer and didn't recover. It was a tough lesson to learn but a lesson learned none the less.

Only thing I'll add is mainly for those gun hunting. If you get a chance for a follow up shot, that is safe of course, take it! I've heard it too many times that someone thought the first shot was fatal and didn't take an easy follow up only to lose the deer. I shot a buck last year that ran like he was hit hard, only for him to double back and stop almost in the same spot I shot him. I put another in him and he didn't take another step. Both shots hit in the vitals, but why chance it if you can be sure he ain't going anywhere.

Do ya'll not know what LOL means? I was joking.

I always tell folks to make sure you know where the deer was standing and to mark the last spot you saw it when it ran off. Hopefully, they will note both but at least I hope they get one right.

I get a ton of blood trailing practice each year on hogs. The thermals find most of mine that fall close to where they were shot but we do trail a bunch each year and normally through some nasty stuff. Watch yourself a wounded hog can be in a bad mood.

And let me warn those of you hunting deer in hog country, I am seeing more and more situations where the hogs find the deer before the coyotes or I do. And they are not always willing to just give it up. Be careful. Carry a weapon with you.

Glad you cleared that up. You'd be surprised how many hunters actually think that way.
I forgot to mention that the 'yotes will sometimes find and jump a gut shot deer and run him a long way. MOST of the time a gut shot deer will waddle off and bed within 200 yards but I have been seeing a lot of mature bucks that if gut shot during the rut will go over a half mile before bedding. I think they are trying to get back to their home range or maybe still following the doe and don't even know they are shot. Some are jumped by other critters. I have trailed wounded deer that were still trying to mount a doe or going along working a scrape line and dripping blood in his scrapes. Lots of times a wounded buck will follow his scrape line home and bed.

As a new hunter would someone care to elaborate. What does tail up or down and/or head tell me after I shot?

Here are some non-wounded signals deer send. Would be nice for someone to post the same for wounded deer ...

8 Messages Deer Send Hunters With Their Tails

Tail up usually means a miss, deer tuck their tails when hit.

tail down is always a hit, tail up isn't always a miss. Sometimes they hunch up, sometimes they run off normal. With practice, you can hear a hit. Shot sounds a lot different when you hit brisket vs missing a deer.

like i said you kinda have to look at all things and decide what it tails you. In my experience, Tail down, body kinda hunched up, and head not all the way up is a gut shot. Another one if his back end drops instantly, but his front legs hold him for a split second, spine shot (not necessarily breaking vertebrate) its possible he might get up, put another round in him

These are some of the most common “marginal hits” that may require some diligent tracking efforts. With a bow you might also include a shot right into the shoulder plate. Each one of these hits leaves different sign that will tell you which one you’re dealing with. For example, like trackncur mentioned…a hit to area 2 will commonly leave pieces of bone at the hit site. The vast majority of leg hits will likely have to call in a dog to recover and then it will depend on the ability to be able to push the deer for possibly 1-2 miles or more. Property lines and roads are often issues. If y'all are interested and new guys have questions, we can talk about each one. Anyone feel free to comment on any one hit area or all of them.

Look at a deer's skeleton. The "fingers" that stick up all along the top of the spine can be around 5inches long. A high shot over the spine that hits one of these will drop it instantly. It may lay there for up to twenty minutes but when it regains feeling it is on it's feet and gone, good as new. I see a lot of neck shots that do the same thing. Usually the neck shots can be bayed at about a mile.

shoot with both eyes open !!!!!

I'd much rather gut shoot one, than any of those other places marked. A gut shot deer ain't that hard to find, especially if you give him some time.

Waiting very long to track one on our place means its almost certain the coyotes will get the deer. If you let him lay over night its 100% they will get him. They worked one over good that a friend shot with a ml and we started tracking no more than an hour after he shot her. It was a short tracking job, but there wasn't much left of the deer. How do you guys that track with dogs balance the need to wait until the deer dies with the knowledge that coyotes will get the deer if you wait very long?

I use a .308 with Ballistic Tips, so mine are always DRT.

I've never hunted a place with enough coyotes for that to be a problem. Did have a bobcat eating the ass out of one about 4 hours after I shot it one time.

My brother gut shot a deer a few years ago ,,, he called me to help him find it ,,,, it was dark before I got to him ,,, we broke out of flood lights and started on a path of a drop of blood here and there,,, we tracked about 100yds and my brother wanted to give up ,,,I said no lets keep going ,,,

I go about 10 more yards and find a pile of intestines ??? I go a few more yards and find other internal parts ,,, ??? I keep going and I find the most blood since we started ,,, after about 200 yds we find a small creek with blood in it ,,, we cross the creek and go over the ridge of it and low and behold there was this huge doe laying dead.

the only internal organs left in the deer was the heart and lungs,,,, it's highly possible that we were pushing that doe as she heard us coming ,,,

if my brother would have made a good shot we most likely would have had a much shorter distance to drag that doe,,, so yeah ,,, shot placement is very very important.

By the way,,, those Winchester ballistic silver tips in a 270 will slice up the insides of a deer pretty nice,,

It’s actually not common enough to really be a big consideration PCP. I’ve yet to find one that’s been eaten by yotes. Trackncur has been at it for 20+ years now so I’m sure he has a few stories he could tell but I still bet that out of the total tracks it accounts for a very small percentage. Keep in mind also that at least half of the tracks we go on….the deer is still alive.

I always shoot right behind the shoulder, I can't recall the last time I have missed a deer, never had a problem finding deer or shooting them. Have had them run off 30-50 yards but the blood trails were obvious. Good shooting skills add up when the time comes to make a shot. Most of the deer I shoot never leave the field and are DRT.

CNC, thanks for the reply. I guess we are the coyote capital of the world.

The #5 area in the pic I posted is a very common hit. I got numerous calls last year describing the deer’s reaction as immediately going to the ground….laying there for “X” amount of seconds or minutes……and then jumping up and running off. Those are hits right across the top of the back that just momentarily shock it. Those hits are rarely ever recovered.

After analyzing some of these hits, I’ve come to the conclusion that I think folks would be better off to aim behind the shoulder rather than holding on the point of the shoulder. Aiming at the point of the shoulder is what I think results in all the hits in the 2 & 5 areas. I think you would be much more likely to find the deer if you missed somewhere high or low back in the body of the deer rather than in those areas.

With the dog we will recover almost every gut shot deer. Here in south Ga. or north Fla. Hunting season is from early Sept. to the end of Feb. It is a judgement call between leaving the gut shot deer for 6 hrs. or trying to beat the heat and the critters. It helps to have a good bay dog in case the deer is still alive and it usually is. A.J. doesn't track at night and the next day recovers lots of coyote eaten or spoiled deer. I recover about a dozen critter eaten or spoiled deer each season.About 1 out of 6. I have had coyotes beat me to my bayed dog and take the deer away from her and run it to the next county. I have run off 'yotes or cats eating on a deer less than two hrs. after it was shot. Lots of variables and it is a fine line call that has to be made with each case. J.J.Scarborough will NOT go after a gut shot before 6 hrs.

I gotta side with JJ on this one with the gut shots. If they’re calling us in, then it’s because the deer is not hit well. It’s almost a guarantee that the hunter has put some kind of shot on it that will take a matter of hours to die. If we play the odds, then its almost a certainty that we’ll deal with a very much alive deer if we rush in……the odds of yotes finding it will vary but still only be a fraction of our total even if we give the deer some time. I see it as choosing the better gamble and I bet that’s how JJ is looking at it as well. If we rush in on a gut shot deer and run it across the river or onto someone else’s property, then it’s a lost/spoiled deer just the same. I appreciate a deer as much as anyone and don’t like to see disrespect shown by wasting….. but if they’ve put a marginal shot on it to the point that we have to track it down with dogs….then just recovering the deer is a win at that point.

I think that might be a little bit of an unwarranted jab at AJ on this one. I either talked to him or tracked with him dang near daily last season and I don’t recall him finding a bunch of yote eaten deer. I completely see his point on not tracking at night. In some ways I hate not to do it because its cooler and better scenting conditions….but I also recognize that it takes a dangerous situation and makes it that much worse for the hunters and the dog. Knowing that better than half the deer will still be alive….I’d rather deal with them in the daylight. I’ve been thinking about it here lately and I’m probably going strictly daylight myself as well. Just too many variables…especially being in hog country to boot.

"mule kick" does not necessarily equate to a double lung/lethal hit, regardless of what is seen on TV. I believe(feel free to flame away) that is means they were startled, as much as anything.

Good info in this thread. Waiting is key.

I agree shot placement is the most important thing. And waiting atleast 30 minutes.

I was taught to shot just above that lighter colored spot on your picture just behind the leg. Aim for 1/3 of the way up and just behind the leg. That will be a heart shot and will kill them every time. Please consider that the heart is in the middle of the chest, so if they are at a slight angle, you just have to envision where the heart is and so you hit the heart.

Also people need to practice more than just a few shots before season comes in.

When I was teaching my son how to shoot I built a shooting house at the location where we target shoot (away from the main property). It is elevated the same height as the stands we hunt from, and has the same size windows. I would put targets out at different distances and tell him to get rifle from the corner, out the window and shoot. I wanted him to learn how to do it quickly and quietly. That means not hitting the roof or sides of window with the barrel. Then to hold rifle out the window and do nothing except watch where the shot was and pretend the deer ran out of the field. To make a mental mark exactly where the deer ran into the woods. And to listen, can you hear the deer still running? Did you hear him fall? Did he hit water? My experience with deer that are not DRT is that they will run out of the field and stop to see if anything is pursuing him. If everything is quiet he will usually lay down to rest and lick his wounds. If you made a good shot he will bleed out in 20-30 minutes.

My son was 9 when he killed his first deer and has never had one he could not find. If we cant make a good shot then we dont shoot.

My neck shots have always resulted in DRT's. Never had to track a wounded deer in 33 years.

I think it would help if you sight your rifle in alot tight than a pie plate. I started shooting long range matches. My 308 will shot under a inch at 100y nowadays most rifles will shoot to within a inch or so. Also make sure your rifle is on target and not been knocked off. If you think it maybe off go shot it and see. If you can but a bullet in a three inch spot with ease then you know where your shot will be. Aim small miss small with this you'll stay within the killing zone.

No flaming here. I agree 100 percent. If a deer mule kicks from a good shot, the tracking dog is not needed. If it mule kicks and no blood is found, or maybe a piece of skin with white hair attached, then it was only grazed or scared. The dog will tell me that it's not hurt. A mule-kick doesn't necessarily mean a wounded deer.

Lots of hunters can't say that. I track several head and neck shots each year and it is always a long and exciting track that we stick with till the end because we know the deer will eventually die. Had to lose one head shot this year after tracking a mile because she crossed onto property where they wouldn't give us permission to track. We did recover a nice buck this year with the end of his nose shot off. Recovered a couple of bucks this season that had holes in their necks that you could see through. One 308, one 270. Bayed both at 1 mile. Almost forgot 1 neck shot with a 243 that we caught up to at 1/4 mile. He was just walking along in front of us.

If a deer is shot in the actual head, not jaw or ear, with a rifle, i can't see needing a tracking dog. Every deer i've shot in the neck has been DRT, and i've shot a lot of them in the neck.

i like a spine shot more than the head or neck. There's less movement and more room for error. I Like to shoot a little below the 5 zone on the chart. DRT. Had my first one this year that was a tad high, but it dropped him, he was moving some so i put a second shot on it.

I want to be clear. I prefer a broadside heart or lung shot, but in Alabama woods getting that shot is a prayer sometimes.

That's exactly why a good tracking dog is so helpful. Getting that perfect double lung shot at a standing deer from a good rest ain't gonna happen every time.