I did it!

L

Lark Bunting

New member
Sep 14, 2016
710
Shot my first ever big game animal today! 2:45 this afternoon my son and I were out for an afternoon hunt when we rounded a corner and she jumped up from her bed. I ranged her at 22 yards, knocked an arrow and let it fly. Shot was just up her leg, little low, but the fletchings were covered in bubbly blood so I figured it was a good hit. The blood trailing sucked! It took 1:45 to find her while tracking little spots here and there.

I had her in game bags in 1:15 and we loaded up the packs. Took a half hour to get to camp, loaded up and just got home. I will have to post pictures tomorrow.

So happy!
 
That\'s awesome Lark. :upthumb: Glad to hear you got one. Can\'t wait for some pics.
 
My son asked for a moment before we began the next step. Showing compassion for a beautiful animal.
 

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Nice pics Lark. I do the same as your son with every thing I shoot. Glad you and your son got to be together for your first deer.
 
Very nice Lark!
The sweet feeling of success!
Congrats on the deer and experiencing the time with your son
Memories for sure!
 
Awesome job Lark! Congrats on your first big game kill and KUDOS on doing that with a bow! :upthumb:


You said the tracking wasn\'t fun, I was just wondering how long after you shot, did you get up to track.


I just wanted to pass this on, as it\'s helped me a lot over the years....





Recovery: What to do After the Shot.
?The biggest reason why many animals are not recovered is that bowhunters take up the trail too soon, simply bumping the animal. The second reason, the animal is not mortality wounded. When mortally wounded, 90% or more of the deer will bed within 250 yards of the shot. If an animal dies beyond this, some outside factor pushed the animal. What you do following the shot can make or break a successful recovery.
Use arrows with bright fletchings. You need to see the arrow in flight, in the animal and on the ground afterward. Dark arrows don\'t do you any good if you can\'t see them.
Unless you witness a double lung pass through, often times a half hour wait isn\'t enough. The only shots that put an animal down quickly are double lung hits and heart shots. If you are not 100% sure of your hit, simply put.... wait!!! The animal isn\'t going to go anywhere, he\'s dead, why hurry. Sit back, collect your thoughts, replay the shot, the hit and where the animal went. Also, this gives you a chance to listen and relax. If your arrow was a pass-thru, wait 30 minutes, get down, get the arrow and study it, and wait. Mark the direction but don\'t pursue, if you wait, he\'ll be there or he\'ll live another day.
Types of blood sign
Lung hit: Blood that appears frothy with bubbles. Wait 30-60 minutes.
Liver or Kidney: Very dark blood. Wait 2-4 hours. Jump him and he may go far. Gut or intestinal: Blood that has particles of vegetation. Wait 6-8 hours.
Heart and arteries: Blood will appear a dark maroon color (like the liver or kidney). Wait 30-60 minutes.
Flesh wound: Blood will appear a light red. Wait or push ? a tough decision.
Deer Hair
Side and neck: Hair is short and fine (1-3/4 inches) brown with black tips and gray near the bottom.
Brisket: Hair is curly, up to 2 inches long, stiff and are whitish-gray with black tips.
Shoulder: Hair is wavy up to 2-1/2 inches long with two bands of black near the tips and brown through the rest.
Heart: Long and fine usually 3-1/2 to 4 inches in length, black tipped, tan below and the rest gray.
Stomach: Hair is slightly wavy, coarse and up to 2-1/2 inches long and will usually be all white.
Hindquarter: Wavy hair usually 1-1/2 inches long with brown and black tips, gray below that and gray at the bottom.
Chest: Hair is fine and wavy, usually about 1-1/2 inches long. They are black tipped with black or tan, followed by a tan and a grayish-white at the base.
If you think it\'s a single lung hit because of angle, wait at least 4 hours. This includes the area just under the spine...because of the angle, you might catch the second lung but miss the first....wait.....let him expire. Let\'s put to rest that there is no void area between the spine and the lungs. That is a myth. If you place an arrow under the spine, you will catch at least one lung. The lungs push up against the spine. Check out a deer?s anatomy prior to going afield.
If you think you caught the liver.....wait...he has to bleed out. Wait at least 2 hours, if not 4....again, he\'s dead and not going anywhere if given the chance to expire. Jump him and he may go forever.
If you catch the guts only, you?re in for at least a 6 hour minimum, 8 hours is more preferred and overnight is even more important. A deer hit in this area of anatomy has the ability to run for miles and will often times die as a result of poisoning from the digestive fluids than from actual blood loss. In case of rain, wait....get down, find the blood trail (if any) and wait....listen for coyotes or better yet, leave the area and come back in the morning. If you know your property, you\'ll find him close. A gut shot deer will most often seek out water.
General tracking tips:
1. Always stay quiet and wait in your stand at least 30 minutes after the shot. Any noise might push the animal away and he could be bedded less than 100 yards away. Never push an animal too soon. Give them ample time to bleed out. Note the direction the deer headed and where you saw it last. Take a compass bearing on the direction of the deer.
2. Climb down quietly and go to where the deer was standing when you shot it. Mark this location with toilet paper or tracking tape. Look for your arrow. Also look for blood and hair from the animal. Study the types of blood and hair you find ? this will help indicate where the animal was hit.
3. Always move very slowly and quietly when tracking wounded game.
4. Always follow to one side of the blood trail and mark where you find blood so you can return to it later if you lose the trail. Occasionally mark the blood trail with toilet paper or tracking tape. These markings will help you find the last sign of blood if you lose the trail farther along.
5. Check the sides of trees, bushes and high grasses for signs of blood, (this will also tell you the height of the wound on the animal). Often blood can fall to the ground without hitting tall grass, so look carefully.
6. Check which way the blood is splattered to determine which way the deer is traveling. This is a good clue if the deer doubles back on its own trail.
7. Look for abnormal scuffmarks and overturned stones where perhaps the deer may have stumbled.
8. If you lose the blood trail, go back to the last spot you found blood and begin a circular search pattern. Begin with a small circle and continue to increase the size of the circle until you find blood again.
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9. If there is no blood where you shot the deer, move in the direction where you saw him last. If there is still no blood begin a circular search pattern.
10. Just because you haven\'t found blood doesn\'t mean the deer hasn\'t been hit. The bleeding may be internal and if the shot was high it may take a while for the chest cavity to fill before it begins to leave a blood trail.
11. A vitally wounded deer will most often run down hill when possible, although there are exceptions to this rule.
12. Wounded deer will head for heavier cover to bed down and will most often run with its tail down.
13. Keep help to a minimum. The help of more than one or two hunters should be avoided. To many people trudging through the woods can deter finding the deer by destroying valuable sign.
14. At night use such tools as Coleman lanterns and spotlights to help find blood and hair. Using trailing aids like game finders and products that make blood fizz or glow in the dark are also ways to help find your deer.
15. A dog can be useful in tracking. Use your nose, too because sometimes you can smell a deer (especially a gut shot one) that you cannot see.
16. Pay attention to coyotes, magpies, crows, and jays. They sometimes make a lot of noise when the animal lies dead.
17. Never give up until you feel you have exhausted every effort to recover the deer.
TRACKING WOUNDED DEER
The following describes types of hits and how you should track for each.
* A lung-shot deer will run hard 50 to 65 yards. After that he will usually walk until he falls. The blood will sometimes have tiny bubbles in it. This blood trail usually gets better as you track the deer. However, if the deer is hit high in the lungs, the blood trail may sometimes become light and even disappear completely. The deer could be \"filling up\" inside with blood, showing very little external bleeding. The hair from the lung area is coarse and brown with black tips. The deer will usually go down in less than 125 yards. Give the deer 30 minutes before tracking.
* A heart-shot deer will sometimes jump wildly when hit. The blood trail may be sparse for the first 20 yards or so. A heart shot deer may track as much as a quarter of a mile, depending on what part of the heart is damaged. The usual is less than 125 yards. The hair from this shot will be long brown or grayish guard hairs. Again, a 30 minute wait is advised. But, if while trailing you find where he has bedded back off and wait an hour before taking up the trail again.
* A liver-shot deer. The liver lies against the diaphragm in the approximate center of the deer. It is a definite killing shot. The blood trail will be decent to follow and the deer
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should bed down and die within 200 yards, if not pushed. Wait two hours minimum, four is better. The hair from the liver area is brownish gray and much shorter than the hair from the lung area. If you push the deer out of his bed, back off and wait another hour.
* A gut-shot deer is probably the most difficult to recover because of the poor blood trail and the hunter\'s impatience to wait him out. A lot of bowhunters want to hurry up and find the deer. Since the liver and stomach are close together, it is possible that the deer will go down and die quickly if the shot also penetrates the liver. If the deer is dead in an hour, he will still be dead in 6 hours. Have patience, he will not go anywhere. Wait him out for at least 6 hours, preferably 8. Wait overnight if the deer is shot in the evening.
When a deer is shot in the stomach area, he will usually take several short jumps and commence walking or running. His back will usually hunch up and his legs will be spread wide. The hair from this wound is brownish gray and short. The lower the shot is on the animal, the lighter colored the hair will be. The blood trail is usually poor with small pieces of ingested material (stomach contents). If the intestines are punctured there will be green slimy material or feces. Take your bow with you because a second shot might be required.
* A spine-shot deer will usually drop in his tracks or hobble off. Either way, a second shot will probably be required to finish off the deer. If a spine-shot deer hobbles off, wait a half-hour and track slowly and quietly. Look for the deer bedded down.
* A neck-shot deer will either die in 100 yards or he will recover from the wound. The lower portion of the neck contains the windpipe, neck bone (spine), and carotid (jugular) arteries. If the arteries are hit, the deer will run hard and drop in less than 100 yards. The blood trail will be easy to follow. A shot above the neck bone will give you a good blood trail for about 150 to 200 yards before quitting. The deer will more than likely recover to be hunted again.
* A hip-shot deer. A large artery (femoral) runs down the inside of each deer leg. This artery is protected from the side by the leg bones. The femoral artery is most often severed from the rear or at an angle. If this artery is cut, the bleeding will be profuse and the deer will usually be found in less than 100 yards. The ham of a deer is also rich in veins with a lot of blood. A hip-shot deer should be tracked immediately. Track him slowly and quietly to keep him moving (walking). If you jump him and he runs, back off for a few minutes then continue trailing. You want him to walk, not run. A walking deer is easier to trail.
* An artery-shot deer will almost always go down in less than 100 yards. The aortic artery runs just under the backbone from heart to hips, where it branches to become the femoral arteries. The heart also pumps blood to the brain through the carotid (jugular) arteries.
Sever any of these arteries and you\'ve got yourself a deer. There is one catch, these arteries are tough. It takes a sharp broadhead to cut through them. A dull broadhead will just push them aside. Keep your broadheads sharp! Give the deer half an hour before tracking.






I hope this helps you and your sons with your many future animals to come. Congrats again Lark
 
Thank you everybody! I did the butchering myself on Sunday. It took FIVE HOURS!!!! But, at least I know I got ALL the fat off and ALL the silver skin off.

Iccyman, this is how it went down:

My son and I had left camp at 1:00 sharp after enjoying a filling lunch. I literally jumped up out of my chair and told my son, \"Grab your stuff, I have a feeling we\'re going to get one this afternoon\". We walked north from camp as we hadn\'t gone that way yet. We made our way in a circle to the west then back to the south as I wanted to go check out a meadow we had seen that morning but the wind was not in our favor. Half way to the meadow the wind shifted again so we found a huge rock outcropping and sat in the shade. We sat there for 20 minutes checking the wind about every 30 seconds and I got that feeling again...\"Buddy, grab your bow, we need to go\".

As we were walking quietly my son looked up at me and asked, Dad, what\'s the matter?\". I replied, \"I am a little frustrated, we\'ve done so much research on elk and just couldn\'t get it done. Everyone says we should be hunting smart, not hard. I don\'t know how to hunt smart for deer...I think we will just have to get lucky...\"

<whisper> \"FREEZE!!!!!!!!!\"

This was when we rounded the corner of another rock outcropping. I watched the doe jump to her feet and just stand there frozen.

I had time to range her out to 22 yards. I shifted my feet slightly, knocked an arrow, attached my release and drew back. I put my 20 yard pin right in the middle of the V, took a deep breath and exhaled and slowly tensed my back muscled and the release let go. It hit a little low but I was shooting uphill and I tried visualizing the exit channel and knew I had just hit both lungs. She turned 180? and ran down hill. She was near a boulder and ran behind it so we couldn\'t see anything, just heard her crashing through the trees for a second...maybe two.

I turned to my son and mouthed the words...\"Holy Crap...did that just happen?!\" He high-fived me a couple times, quietly, and I dropped my pack at my feet. I looked at my watch, 2:46 pm. I marked a tree with ribbon and had my son mark one next to him, I also marked my GPS. I then walked up to where the deer was standing and marked a tree. I could see my arrow so I marked it as well and saw it was covered in bubbly blood.

I told my son to go back to where we were standing for the shot and stand by my pack. I ranged him just to verify it was 22 yards and then joined him to grab a snack and talk about what just happened. It had been 30 minutes already. I was amazed at how quickly it had passed.

We grabbed the bows and packs and went to look for blood.

That\'s when I noticed that there was no puddle where the deer had been hit. We knew the immediate travel path as the ground was disturbed. I finally saw the first speck of blood. It was less than a dime in diameter.

I asked my son to tell me what he remembered seeing and he confirmed a good hit just above the leg...and reminded me of the bubbly blood on the fletching.

We marked every drop of blood down the mountain, as this was the first time I\'ve ever done this I was not taking any chances and I knew we would be picking up the flagging tape on the way out.

The deer ran downhill toward a confluence of two creeks. We tracked her pretty well to the second creek crossing. I found a pretty big blood stain on a downed log just on the other side of the creek. Then, it just disappeared.

We looked right, left, straight, started a radial grid search, backtracked our footsteps to see if we missed something, went back to the last know spot of blood. I almost threw up at this point. The knot in my stomach got worse after thinking of the tens...if not hundreds of threads I\'ve read about lost animals on various forums.

I finally walked about 30\' up hill and to the left and found a big blood spot, then walked another 10\' and saw her. She had a long snakey tube coming out of her nearside shoulder... and I was in shock thinking intestines were coming out the shoulder. Turned out, it was the foamy blood coming out the nearside lung. Relief, Joy, Sadness, Respect, Shakes, Hugs...

It was one hell of an adventure!

I don\'t think we jumped her too soon. I took the standard protocol and knew it was a good hit. As it turned out, we found her .34 miles from our camp. I\'m guessing she didn\'t even run 400 yards after the hit but when you\'re in the woods looking around...she could have been anywhere. I was extremely relieved when I found her and give a LOT of credit to my son for keeping his head in the game and looking as hard as he did for the tiny blood droplets. I am going to replace broadheads this week just in case it happened to be a result of them to finish out my elk hunting season.
 
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