After the Shot: Tracking

[mtnmutt]

Yet another newbie question.

I have zero experience in this. I have followed tracks. I took the CO Advanced Bowhunting class where they did a blood trail mockup. Lets face it, I am way inexperienced. Plus, my low 53DW/24DL/436 grain arrow isn\'t as likely to get a complete pass-through as a guy\'s shot.

I carry Hydrogen Peroxide to spray on suspected blood spots. It causes blood to foam up.

Tell me how you would track if you don\'t see or hear the animal go down.

Here are some scenarios to consider, please add others:

1. You don\'t know where you hit the animal. You are 90% sure you hit the animal in the vitals. There is a possibility you hit shoulder or at least the opposite shoulder, however, you do not know. You can\'t find your arrow, therefore, you assume it is still in the animal.
   [/*:m:ehd71rvu]
2. High double lung shot, no pass-through, it may take awhile for the cavity to fill with blood.[/*:m:ehd71rvu][/list:ehd71rvu]
   If you can\'t hardly find any blood and lose all sign after 150 yards, how long will you search: 1 full day, multiple days? Stay in the area daily to look for birds circling?
   
   You found your arrow and/or blood. What colors or characteristics of the blood indicate the place the arrow struck? Dark blood: liver shot? Foamy blood, lung shot?

 

[bnsafe]

mnt mutt, i had that scenario last year. i hit the elk perfectly but hit the off side shoulder. had a sparse blood trail, not a drop for about 30 yds. first i went to where the elk was standing when i shot an couldnt find anything so i went back to where i shot, three times, just to confirm where the elk was. it will look different even in short spaces. when i couldnt find blood i followed where i saw the elk go. they will usually take the path of least resistance or a trail. i found some tracks that i were certain his an followed them for a few yards. after about 30 i found a dime size drop of blood, then i started fnding drops about every 5 yds. after that its a slow job. my advise is dont lose the drop you found. mark it with something or stand there til you find another drop. i have lost the trail before an had to backtrack a long ways cause i couldnt find last spot. as far as blood
bright with bubbles = lung
bright red = heart, lungs, artery somewhere
dark red = liver
any fat, poop, etc = paunch.
personally i wouldnt carry hy peroxide, just more weight to carry for nothing

 

[Deertick]

In my experience ... there are a few things to always keep in mind.

1. If the animal is dead now, he\'ll be dead in 45 minutes, too. You\'ve got time. Even the coming of dark or rain won\'t change this. Therefore, if you are pretty sure he\'s down, err on the side of giving him more time.

2. When you do start after him, take your time, under the same principle, but also realizing that small bits of sign are visible only to those who are not in a hurry. There is no penalty for going slowly, except possibly weather.

3. I\'ve found that you can generally \"line-out\" an animal\'s death run ... after the first bit of sign, go back to the beginning, and look at the woods. I know others will say not to do this, but I\'ve found it useful to go back to the beginning and ask myself \"Now, where is the most likely spot he\'d go?\" I\'ve found animals for me and for others this way.

4. The greater the time/distance after the shot, the lower the odds of recovery. You can\'t change that. It\'s a law, like gravity.

5. The further they go, though, the less likely it was a (vital or non-vital) fatal hit.

6. Gut shot animals often bed up quickly. They may not die quickly, but the do bed up. (Experience here is with non-elk, so elk hunters please weigh-in!). This allows an opportunity for the patient hunter to exercise said patience and find the animal.

7. A wounded and non-recovered animal will give you one of the worst feelings, and the worst sleep, that you\'ll find in life. (Not THE worst, but pretty bad -- bad enough that you will remember it always. I may or may not remember every deer I\'ve killed. I can remember the ones that were hit and not recovered, though.)

8. Animals are terribly tough, and that is some consolation for #7. (I once hit a whitetail buck above the spine with an arrow -- tracked him 400 yards to property edge and river ... looked for days ... found him next week during rifle season, chasing does. Shot him with a bullet ... and found that 1 year ago he had been hit with a bullet in the left lung ... bullet was still there, lung was nothing but \"scar\" ... and he appeared happy and healthy.)

9. I\'ve never tried the H2O2 thing. Anyone have success with that?

10. Wear a watch. Give a minimum of 30 minutes by the clock before you go after him, 45 minutes if there is time left for that in the day.

11. Mark where you stood at the shot, and where the animal stood right away. Don\'t move your feet until you\'ve memorized the location of the tree by where you last saw him.

12. I\'m not all that impressed that interpreting a bloody arrow tells you much other than that it was a hit and was or was not in the paunch. Hair on some animals tells the hit location, but overall, I wouldn\'t put a lot of trust on someone who looks at a bloody arrow and says \"Yep, liver hit.\"

 

[timberland]

My experience with elk is that if you are quiet after the shot and give them enough time, they do not travel far. (Archery) That being said, unless it is very thick where you hunt, you should find the animal with or without blood. The ten seconds after the shot is almost as important as the ten before.

Look, listen, and remember. What did the elk do? Burn in your mind where you lost sight of him. Listen for a bark, cough, or crash. I\'ve had elk stand and bark right where a cow tipped over. If an elk beds or dies within 200 yds and you see him pass an opening 100 yds away, your half way there.

I agree with everything \'tick said about time but will add another. If you\'re semi-confident about the shot and you track him more than a couple hundred yards, sit down and re-evaluate the shot and give him at least another hour or so.

 

[F M]

One thing I would add is light for after dark tracking. The led lights don\'t work very well for some people. I\'m one of them. Blood just does not show up well for me. The old style bulbs and lantern light works good for me.

 

[bowhunter]

One thing I would add is light for after dark tracking. The led lights don\'t work very well for some people. I\'m one of them. Blood just does not show up well for me. The old style bulbs and lantern light works good for me.

X2...Lantern seems to work best for me.

 

[elkmtngear]

All good info here.

My opinion on a suspected gut/ liver hit...slowly back out and give that animal a full 3 hours. Typically they will lay down and slowly bleed out if undisturbed. If you bump that animal...chances are very high you will lose it.

If you\'re pretty sure you made a good hit in the chest with good penetration, and you suspect the animal is down, but you are having trouble blood trailing...get downwind of his suspected position, make sidehill sweeps, and use your sense of smell. We have recovered MANY bulls in this manner.

 

[Swede]

Blood is not the only thing to look for. Wounded animals may run and leave distinct tracks. They stumble too.
Don\'t just check the ground for blood. Look at leaves and other things the animal may have brushed up against.
In the evening and early morning, you can sometimes find your animal by walking below where the dead animal lays. The wind is going down and when you cross it, you walk upslope into the wind.

How long to you continue to hunt for a wounded animal. Until you are totally convinced you will not recover or salvage it.

 

[WW]

Toilet paper is one of the best tracking tools you may have. Place some of it where you stood when you shot. Then some more where the animal stood when you hit it. Then more of it at each place you found blood. It really helps to be able to look back at the marked blood trail every once in awhile. If all of a sudden you stop finding blood, there is a good chance he changed directions on you. Be sure to check both sides of the trail until you find more blood. TP is much better than flagging tape because you don\'t have to go back and pick it all up. It will disappear after the first good rain.

Immediately after the shot, make some mews to slow him down. if that doesn\'t work, try a nervous bark to stop him. Calling will usually settle them down. Many times they have no idea what spooked them in the first place.

 

[mtnmutt]

You are all great! You provided much more detail than I ever saw on other forums.

I will do my very best to make a perfect shot. I know from my one experience that elk can move after you release that arrow and before the arrow reaches them.

I really like the idea of marking the spots as you find them. Looking at a back trail can be very helpful.