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.