Tracking advice

My son shot a buck this afternoon. When he shot the deer it hit the ground. He thought dead deer but he got back up and ran out of the lane low to the ground. Said he looked hurt. Looked in dark some but no blood. Backed out and taking dog in morning.
Any thoughts?

Did he look in the right place? I know I've been off by 5 yards and it cost me 2 hours of searching only to realize I started in the wrong spot

There's a good chance it's a high back shot....very low recovery rate on those.

Yep, sounds like back slap

Low running, in my experience, indicates a fatal chest shot. Certainly not a gut shot. I've seen a lot of them that didn't bleed much because the shot was mid to high in the chest and most of the blood pooled down into the chest cavity. They really didn't start bleeding good until the cavity filled with blood. By then the pressure causes the heart to stop so they are very close. When I think this may be the case, I concentrate on where the deer was standing when shot and look for hair instead of blood.

Anyways, with a decent dog, you'll find it.

William Crawford meeting us tomorrow

I bet you will find it in the morning. Only tip I have is if blood is sparse,put toilet paper pieces at each spot found.

If he hit him there is blood, Expand out from where he thought he shot him. I like to track using a roll of toilet paper. Start where the deer was shot and mark with a piece of toilet paper. Expand out until your next drop put another piece of paper. You can use the paper if your unsure if a red spot on a leaf is blood or not. Blot it and if it comes back red it's blood. It's raining here. If you get rain it will make it a lot harder if it wasn't a good shot. The nice thing about toilet paper is that you don't have to go back and pick it up. It will deteriorate very rapidly.

I hit one a little far back a couple years ago. Not way back towards the intestines, but liver area. He hit the ground. I thought he was down climbed down and when my foot hit the ground on some leaves he took off like he wasn't even hit. Finally found a pool of blood where he was laying about the size of a softball. Was going down to 30 that night and it was a big deer so I knew I needed help getting him out so I waited till the morning. Next morning I found one little speck of blood on a leaf. I could see the direction he ran though. I killed around 20 or so deer on that stand and knew they all ran straight to the bottom of the holler, if they made it that far. So I got in the bottom of the holler and just started looking. found him about 200 yards from where I shot him. Walked back through were he ran and still didn't see any blood. I guess it was a little high and the blood just filled the chest cavity.

How long did it lay there? If it laid there a while then it is probably a back-whack or neck shot. Either way it will be a long, hard recovery, if at all, even with a good tracking dog.

Didn't lay long , head was wobbly .Son said he hit the ground kicking then got up running off low to ground. Thought he was hit hard

The dog should lead you right to him alive or dead. The rain we had will only his nose work better.

Well???

The guy is heading over with the dog now.

Good Luck, I hope you guys find him.

Ditto

Rained pretty hard last night. No luck so far

Rain usually makes the trail easier for the dog.

That is good. You may have a good chance then. Been 18 hrs. He should be dead nearby if it was any vitals. Who's dog? Good luck.

William Crawford dog. We tracked a good ways. Neighbor heard the dog barking then William saw a deer get up. From the distance we went it looks like he may make it.

I`m not the only one that has been tracking for a while and the only thing that I have learned is if there is bone it has to be a leg shot 95% of the time. When one say back slap just because it fell down and stayed down for a bit got up and took off. All this is, is guessing. I had a hunter call me in Ga. in Tolbot cty told me the same story fell down got up ran off. I could not get to him because I was back up with calls....I got Timmy Oller to take the track....he found the big 12 pointer 400 yds out.

When a hunter calls me to come and track his deer all I need to know did he think he hit him, blood or no blood I`m coming to help. No one really knows where the deer is hit except maybe the hunter. 90% of the time the deer is never hit where we think it was. I hear trackers say liver hit cause the blood was dark, lite red what ever, the tracker was not there to see the shot being made. When you get there the story usually changes from tons of blood to maybe one drop. I found out lone time ago doing the guessing shiiii only made a fool out of me...I did not know what I was talking about after the track was over.

Guess what I`m trying to convey is calling a shot based on what the hunter tells you is crazy just guessing who the hell knows where the deer was hit. Go track it find out if its dead, hit bad or just cut....that back slap maybe a dead deer for the hunter. One other thing when a tracker make statements he has found 17 deer in a row some dead and some bayed and shot is not being truthful.....I do not care how good of a dog one has that is not happening. if it does it is luck luck luck.

Found him finally! In a pond 240 yards from where he shot him! Must have sank, 2 weeks later he surfaced. The neighbor told us a deer was in their pond, dad goes to look, and there he is!

Awesome!

That's awesome!.....Could you tell where you hit him?

Glad you found him but I bet it wasn't awesome getting that head off and out of there.

Good one..

High gut shot

What was the dog tracking?

Nice deer by the way!

Glad you found it. Did the dog lead you guys close to the water source where it was later found, or was it way off track?

It rained really hard for a while the night he shot the deer. The deer ran out of the field, and straight to the pond I believe. The dog made a hard right and went south . The deer was straight east. They never really got close to the pond.

I wonder if he ran in the pond and drowned? Was the shot right under the spine? It’s possible the deer lived for a while and eventually circled back to the pond. We tracked one this past year that was shot just under the spine and it was still very much alive the next morning at 14-15 hrs after the shot. It was messed up and weak though and just ran 100 yards and laid back down after jumping it.

always check the nearest water.

I would have trusted the dog, too. Especially on a gut shot that the sign had been washed away the night before. That's usually a gimme. Always trust your dog.

" One other thing when a tracker make statements he has found 17 deer in a row some dead and some bayed and shot is not being truthful"
Sure seems like some pent up resentment out there.

It's not penned up, he cried all last season about it. 34 posts and probably half of them are negative about IdahoMike.

Why do y’all so adamantly defend someone that only shows up here for a few weeks out of the whole year to promote themselves and then leaves? I just don’t get it. I could care less anymore about “tracking in my area” or any of that bullchit, I feel like I make my own way…. …..BUT….just from the sheer perspective of our Aldeer brotherhood here, I don’t get it. You would think it would matter that folks try to give as much back to the forum as they take but that doesn’t seem to be the case. Do y’all just need someone to be your hero or what?

Seems to me most folks need to shoot a little better. Shoot them in the heart and they dont go far. All about shot placement IMO

^^^^ hey there's an idea. I'll give that a try next year

"Why do y’all so adamantly defend someone that only shows up here for a few weeks out of the whole year to promote themselves and then leaves? I just don’t get it."

As opposed to someone who promotes themselves here nearly every day of the year?

Sorry to jump in the gutter but I object to someone such as AJ claiming someone is a liar when I personally know otherwise. I know from personal experience that Mike and Lucy do what Mike says. His energy and drive are beyond comprehension. He lives to find deer with his dog and does a remarkable job of it.

When I get a call that I can't take my first recommendation is IdahoMike.

IdahoMike is easy to defend because he is never negative about the other trackers, no matter what some of you throw at him. It really is a huge turn-off the way you talk about the guy, when all he does is track deer and stay above the fray.

Nah….you were just trying to stir chit up and I obliged you out of boredom. It’s all good though. Carry on.

Just taking a wild guess I’d estimate I went on around 75 tracks this season. Out of those there were two Aldeer members and maybe 2-3 Aldeer lurkers. The other 70 came from me handing out 1500 business cards over the last couple years in Macon and Bullock Co and making up a dozen signs and putting them out at all the major cross roads. The reason I come to this site is because I love talking about hunting and habitat management and I love sharing my ideas and helping others. It’s really got nothing to do with me promoting myself.

I should add that my go to referral on tracks after Mike has been CNC.

There.....now we can be friends..

I'm sorry . I'm not perfect. You must have never made a bad shot.