Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer Bow Talk Thoughts on Blood Trail?

Shot a buck on Redstone Arsenal last night. Had good blood on arrow, but not a lot on the ground. Looked like a clean pass through. Buck was at 25 yards and slightly quartering towards me. He ran about 30 yards and stopped. Stood there for at least 5 minutes and then eased off slowly. I only found 3 decent spots with blood, but nothing heavy. Lost all sign of blood at 50 yards. I waited an hour before trailing. Definitely didn't jump him. I looked for 2 hours in surrounding area. Game Warden said no tracking dogs allowed on RSA and it rained last night. I'm pretty much toast on finding that deer.

I probably rushed the shot. Had a little bit of buck fever and he was coming in hot. I grunted him to a stop in a good open lane. Its been a long season for me. Pretty sure it was a Big 8 I have been hunting for a month. Worked my azz off to get that shot. I'm really bummed out. Here are some pics. Let me know what you think about that shot...besides that it sucked.

No telling if its a fatal shot or not. You should be looking for that deer today. Maybe ya find him

What did the arrow smell like? It looks like good blood on it and I don't see any gut matter on it. You said he stopped and walked off slowly, it sounds like he was hurting pretty bad so probably a liver hit. He is most likely bleeding internally is why there's not much blood. Your best bet of finding him is to go walk the woods in a semi circular pattern widening the pattern with each pass. If he's liver hit he'll lay down probably within a 400 yard radius if he isn't pushed. With the rain and not being able to use a dog it's going to be a body search. Good luck with finding him.

Id go find that deer. That arrow looked good in my opinion. Like someone else said..when I see them walk off slow like that they are sick. A gut or liver shot. Either way, he will most likely be lying out there somewhere. Take a friend or two and scour that area. I dont think he will go far and hell be laying somewhere.

You spent a month hunting him. You ought to spend at least 3-4 hours looking for him.

^^^ Agreed. Arrow looks good. He’s laid up somewhere so don’t give up. Hope you find him!

Looks like a liver shot to me, especially if he was quartered to you and you shot behind the shoulder. He is dead by now.

I concur with everyone else. The arrow looks like liver blood. The arrow is usually drenched in blood. Could be one lung and liver due to quartering to you. More than likely has some intestine blocking the exit hole. 90% of deer you watch walk off slowly have some sort of paunch shot (liver or gut). If you didn’t bump him last night, he’s dead now. Just grid search.

Liver shot is what it looks like. Liver shots are awful on blood trails but still very lethal. Go find your deer. Sometimes I can smell them when I get close especially if they've been laid up a while. Might can back track and use the wind.

I agree, that's a dead deer.

I went back in. Just got out. Looked for a solid 2.5 hours. Game warden on arsenal helped me search. No luck. Searched a grid up to 400 yards out. I was hunting about 75 yds off a creek in a flat bottom area. Creek on west side and a ridge on east side. Flat is only about 175 yds wide where I shot, but opens up more towards south. The creek is running north to south and wraps back to the east and pinches up to the ridge. Gets really steep there. The creek crosses the deers path (headed south) about 250 yards out. My guess is that he crossed that creek somewhere. Water was low last night, but way up today from rain. The area across the creek is closed. I searched all over that flat bottom and ridge up to a field there on the southeast side, which is where I first saw him a month back. He was headed more towards that southeast ridge side than the creek. That was the direction he came in. Wind was from ESE too.

Definitely second guessing that shot. Maybe I should have been more patient. He crossed on my right at 25 yrds and quartering slightly towards me. He was even with or maybe slightly back from my right. He probably would have crossed in front of me at 25 or 30 yrds with a better quartering away shot along that path. Wind was perfect to sit on it for a minute. My biggest concern though was getting a clean shot. There was a lot of thick stuff to get in the way on front right. With all that said, I still had a good angle and open lane. He was only quartering slightly. My aim was tight to that shoulder, but its all a blur LOL. Barely remember anchoring properly. Appreciate the responses.

Were you on some sort of blood trail? Or more so just walking in the direction he ran looking?

Mainly just walking. Only had blood in the first 50 yards. So I had an idea on the line. Just two or three spots like the ones I posted, so not a lot of blood. I searched hard last night for blood, but nothing after the last spot. I searched in a semicircle type pattern and broadened it as I went out. We did the same today, but much larger area with 2 people. Rain had washed out the blood spots from last night, but I had them marked. Not being able to use a tracking dog on arsenal is a bummer.

Sorry ya didn't find him. Good on you for looking more, that's how good hunters roll.

Trailed one recently, had good dark blood for 75 yards then nothing. I follow the trail he was on for another 50 yards no blood so I went back to the last blood and circled .. found him 50 yards out from last blood. Sorry you couldn't find him.

I feel your pain. I shot one last year quartering towards me. Hit him hard but never found him. I think he survived.