Dangit...blood trail stopped

[homeagain]

Was walking along a logging road about 10:30 scouting. Heard a grunt, so I went to one knee and grunted back. In a couple minutes, here came a buck pushing a couple of does. Mind you I'm sitting out in the open. Well, The does passed me about 10 yards and pay me no attention. The buck crosses the gulley and stands broadside about 15 yards. I let the arrow fly. Thwap. Hit a little further back than I wanted. He moved right when I flung... good blood for about 250 yards, though. Then nothing. He headed up hill toward a thicket. But trail completely vanished. Heading back out to see if I can pick it back up.


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[KahrMan]

Give him some time and he will probably bleed out in the thicket.

[homeagain]

No luck. Combed the thicket. Nuttin. Blood trail vanished. No deer to be seen. Like aliens abducted him. Probably didn't hit him as well as I thought and he ran quite a ways.


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[Howler]

Did you have blood high on brush or trees? If not it might have been a leg or very low chest hit. Did you find the arrow?

[homeagain]

No arrow. Likely either still stuck in him or exited across the ditch. Had a few drops on some small trees. Not much. Seems like the size of the drops on the ground varied from very small to about the size of a half-dollar.The last drops found were about the size of a half-dollar. Did the zigzag, Circle, retrace back to the last blood trail for the last five hours. Checked under logs brush and thick stuff.


Butchering syntax with Tapatalk Edited November 1, 2014 by homeagain

[Dane]

I've always planted an arrow at the last two places I've found blood and worked inch by inch outward. I've trailed on pin drops until I found where he really started to bleed. Be patient and work slowly it is there somewhere.

[Grand Torino]

Good luck. The only time I ever lost a deer was with an arrow. We had 6 people knowledgeable in tracking and never did find the damn thing. It was the last time I went bow hunting. :(

[whiskey]

Sucks man, but it happens. Wish I had been online more this weekend, I would have brought my pup down and seen if she could help. 

[bersaguy]

Back years ago when growing up on our ranch if I shot a deer and it left a blood trail but we lost it I would go back to the house and get one or two of the Fox hounds we had that were trained to run and track deer and we would take them and put them on the blood trail. Don't recall ever losing a deer. Those Fox hounds would not give up till  they found the deer. You could tell by their barks when they were trailing and when they found the deer and then you could tell if the deer was down or running when the dogs got close to him. Deer seem to act a lot like a rabbit with a beagle on his trail. The rabbit 95% of the time will make a large circle and come almost right back where it was jumped. A deer will do the same but were the rabbits circle might be 50 yards the deers is liable to be 3 miles or more before coming back into the area or dying . Back then before the days of 4 wheelers if we had to get the hounds out we also got the horses out............ :rofl:  :rofl:  Not about to do as much walking as may be involved chasing a wounded deer.