1) Everyone go by Wal-Mart…..Tractor Supply…..your local hardware store…..or wherever you want to buy it and buy a roll of orange flagging to put in your truck. If not, then at least grab a handful of toilet paper and generously mark key checkpoints of the track in tree limbs that can be easily seen. Mark the initial hit spot……mark first blood….mark along the trail every so often…..mark the last spot of blood……mark places where it crossed creeks and ditches…etc…etc…..I see the same thing play out over and over.....folks don’t know where these key locations are at when we go back in……”We had blood somewhere in here???......."I think we stopped somewhere around this bottom, I’m not sure.” Flagging these areas so that they’re easily visible and easy to go back to will make the search much more efficient and likely to be successful.
2) White hair is just about a sure sign of a low hit. The second track had white hair at the hit site as well as pieces of gut along the trail. Deer that are hit low in the guts need to be given LOTS of time….probably 8 hrs minimum with a gun. If it’s an afternoon hunt and all you find is a big wad of white hair on the initial assessment…..just go home and come back the next morning.
3) By all means, do a search on your own. I’m not saying you should just back out on every shot and immediately call in a dpg…….BUT….if you already KNOW it’s a marginal shot then take into consideration as you do that search that you may eventually want to call a dog. Don’t keep going past a controlled search of one or two people into massive search parties and yard dogs before conceding. You take a simple situation and make it complicated.
Flagging these areas so that they’re easily visible and easy to go back to will make the search much more efficient and likely to be successful. 
