Both of your reasons really, but mainly to give the deer some time before we send a dog in behind it. If someone calls me and needs a deer tracked, then you can just about be assured that it’s not hit in the heart or lungs…..if it was…..then they would likely find it easily and not need a dog. Sure, they’ll be a few exceptions to the rule but playing the percentages….. if I went out to track every deer within 2-3 hrs then I’m assuring myself of dealing with a LOT of live deer. Waiting 5-6 hrs at a minimum gives the deer time to die or at least weaken some from the marginal hit. One exception to the rule would be if you just blew the leg off and someone was gonna try to bay that deer up. That tracker would just assume get on a leg hit immediately. Me personally, I prefer to play it conservatively and give any track time.
This is actually something I have a hard time getting some calls to understand. In their heads, the hunters want to think that I can just come out right then and get their deer for them. I just can’t come out there though and get a dead deer for someone when it’s still alive no matter how big of a hurry they’re in.
A sweet spot to send a dog in would be anywhere from 5-12 hrs after the shot. A fresher track will allow the dog to be able to follow it easier because they not only blood track it….but they also track the deer itself similar to the same way someone’s deer hounds would on a dog drive. That scent and the ability of the dog to track “the deer” itself dissipates quicker than the scent coming off the blood. The rate at which these scents age depends on the conditions (moisture/humidity). The older it gets the harder the dog has to dig it out.
What I would recommend to everyone is to give your deer some time after the shot and then do an “assessment” of the situation. Don’t just take off in behind it thinking it’s gonna be just right there. Use the information gathered at the hit site and the first 50-75 yards……combined with how you saw the deer react, etc…..to come to a general conclusion on where the deer is hit. It’s like being a detective. Use that assessment to decide how to precede from there. Is it a leg hit?......Is it a back slap?.....Is it a gut shot?......Is it a smoked arse?
If you know you just gut shot a biggun and it’s the best deer you’ve ever seen, etc……don’t be afraid to back out and call in the guy with the remote control deer finding machine. Most guys don’t charge much more to track your deer than the gas money that you’ll spend this weekend on the way back and forth to your clubs. If you take the right steps after the shot then it’s pretty routine to come out and recover a deer with a dog if you hit it good enough. It’s all the stuff the hunters do to fugg it up before we get there that makes it challenging.
