[Whitetail4ever]

Here's a thought...if you need to track a deer for a long time, don't find it, come back the next day...etc. etc., does all that trompin around spook deer out of the area? Not to mention, branches breaking and scent getting on all the branches and stuff. What do you guys think about that? Just curious.

 

[bps3040]

Yes, it puts your scent everywhere. I use to hunt a ranch where we would get a 250 acre plot for 3 or 4 guys to bowhunt. Well, one of the guys was a great shot, but would always get excited and jump his deer. It would have died right where it was, but he would jump it. We would track it for half the night and find it. The next couple of days we would not see many deer and the ones you saw would all be on edge/nervous

 

[ruffme]

In my experience it does

 

[jdamet]

I made a poor shot on a buck last year, he is still alive and kickin this year though. I thought my shot was on the money so I spent 3 days tromping around the woods searching for him. I gave up at dark on the 3rd night. I sat in my stand on the morning after and whacked a big fat mature doe. She brought her herd through like they didnt have a care in the world.
Its hard to say how they will react.

 

[ILAntlrAddct]

You bet it does, its best to always back out if you know you made a borderline shot in the first place. Your always going to leave scent around by tracking and recovering game but some of it can be avoided if you know when to go after them.

 

[NCTriggerman]

From what I can tell it does have some impact on heard movment, but there are varibles in anything such as weather, temp, rain, wind, and the woods it's self. If its the thick stuff like we have here in eastern NC were you have to fight to get through the wood, then your scent will be all over for awhile. If its thin hardwoods then the impact you have will be less. Just what I have observed in the woods.

 

[Whitetail4ever]

Do you guys think the deer recover after a week or two?

 

[j.blay]

I had a 6 point buck 10 feet behind me with nose to the ground as I was gutting another buck. I heard a rustle behind me and there he was. He ran off 50 yards and looked back while I scrambled for my bow. He disappeared before I could draw on him. I believe I saw him 3 days later from the same stand I shot his cousin from. I usually give it a week or so before hunting a stand I've shot a deer from.

 

[[email protected]]

I say no, or if it does it is only briefly. Deer have intrusions on their homes all the time. What are they gonna do, pack up and relocate each time they find some human scent left behind? I have done enough night track jobs and seen deer the very next morning enough times to know it isn't a big deal.

 

[Griz34]

I say no, or if it does it is only briefly. Deer have intrusions on their homes all the time. What are they gonna do, pack up and relocate each time they find some human scent left behind? I have done enough night track jobs and seen deer the very next morning enough times to know it isn't a big deal.

This has been my experience also. I've even shot and tracked deer one night, and then killed a deer from the same stand the next morning.

 

[bowhntng4evr]

When I have to track a deer, I wear my Elimitrax overboots and gloves. I also spray Deer Dander on the bottoms of my boots. Haven't scared a deer yet. But yes, stomping through the woods and leaving your scent everywhere will scare deer out of the area. If you bring someone to help track, they also have to be scent free. Deer are already skittish animals. If you make a marginal hit, wait to start tracking it. For a gut shot, wait till the next day. For liver or one lung shots, wait 1 or 2 hours. Double lung shot, about 20-30 minutes.

 

[1/4ing away]

A couple years ago my uncle shot an 8 point with a gun, dropped the deer, and he said he saw another buck run off through the water. He drove his 4 wheeler to the deer, loaded it up, and left. He told me I should go hunt that spot the next evening in hopes of killing the other buck. I killed a 9 point the next evening about 50 yards from where he shot his. So in this case...no.

 

[weave]

I can tell you that, last year, one of the parcels I hunt was loaded with deer...then the neighbor and some buddies decided to "explore"....they were all over the place and I never saw #$%^ for deer the rest of the season.....so tracking would have the same effect in my book.

 

[gdcpony]

Tracking should only be a little quicker than still-hunting. You should follow all the rules accordingly. Might help. I hunt the same day in the same area and while I rarely get a shot at one, I don't notice them behaving oddly either. I think allot of guys let the excitement of the kill get the better of them. I don't think I'm any different, except that I treat tracking like stalking. Never know when your "great shot" wasn't so good.