How long to search for a shot deer?
This is my question how long do you look for a deer that has been shot?
Tonight i shot a decent 6 pointer at around 6:30 got out of my stand found my arrow and my fob that had popped off went down to the house gave this deer about an hour to sit and lay my father and my daughter came out with me at 7:30 my 6 yr old daughter was the last blood marker I had great blood for about 75 yards then he layed down and led us on a wild goose chase we had good blood then poor blood and it went that way for along time it got to the point where we had to pretty much use a magnifying glass to find the drops of blood we gave up at 10:30 3 hours of looking and probably 400 plus yards of tracking did I give up to soon I am planing on looking tomorrow morning hopefully the coyotes dont have a field day with him
Tonight i shot a decent 6 pointer at around 6:30 got out of my stand found my arrow and my fob that had popped off went down to the house gave this deer about an hour to sit and lay my father and my daughter came out with me at 7:30 my 6 yr old daughter was the last blood marker I had great blood for about 75 yards then he layed down and led us on a wild goose chase we had good blood then poor blood and it went that way for along time it got to the point where we had to pretty much use a magnifying glass to find the drops of blood we gave up at 10:30 3 hours of looking and probably 400 plus yards of tracking did I give up to soon I am planing on looking tomorrow morning hopefully the coyotes dont have a field day with him
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Do you have a good idea where you shot him? If ther is a chnace I think I made a gut shot, I will wait 6 to 8 hours. If I think I got a good shot, I still wait 2 to 3 hours. I have learned that the hard way several times over the years, a deer that has been bumped while tracking, will almost never be found ( except by the coyotes).
You definately want to look in the morning. I have recovered 2 deer the day after they were shot. The first one was gut shot and we bumped it in the dark and backed off until morning. The next morning we located it easily. The 2nd one was hit high in the back from a treestand. The arrow angled down steeply but did not punch out the bottom so there was virtually no blood trail. Remember.. wounded deer often go to water, so if there is water near where you are hunting, I would definately comb the surrounding cover. Good luck. I hit one hard tonight too about 1/2 hour before dark which I hope to recover tomorrow. Can't sleep, so I'm up reading all these posts and thinking about my shot!
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I hope you find your deer.I have had some heart wrenching searches my self.I have found a few different things to help some of the times.One of them is to search the thickest area around where you lost blood.The other is to search in a circle.Just keep going in a bigger circle.If your on a hillside walk along the top looking down the hill then walk along the bottom looking up the hill.Some times looking at the same terrain from a different angle will help find that white belly.Another technique I have thought of,but have'nt tried myself yet is to take your climber stand and climb a tree with a good vantage point.I think you would be able to cover a large area that way.I know what it's like to not find an animal you know will die by your hand and not be able to recover it. I've done the wait till morning thing the last two years on a doe.Only to feed the coyotes both times.Both times they ate the hind quarters and loins.Good luck on your search.
I wait a minimum of 30 minutes before I leave the stand after shooting a deer. Then I go home or to my truck and wait another hour. If I think I made a poor shot, I'll wait two to three hours before beginning the search.
When the blood trail becomes difficult to find I start marking the spots with one sheet of toilet tissue so I can see the direction the deer is heading.
I have often found deer after loosing a blood trail by lining up the direction of the last spots of blood I found and going straight that way for at least 200 yds. I found one deer 150 yds from the last drop of blood. I found another almost 100 yds away.
Good luck.
When the blood trail becomes difficult to find I start marking the spots with one sheet of toilet tissue so I can see the direction the deer is heading.
I have often found deer after loosing a blood trail by lining up the direction of the last spots of blood I found and going straight that way for at least 200 yds. I found one deer 150 yds from the last drop of blood. I found another almost 100 yds away.
Good luck.
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