Tracking question

[dmcianfa]

He should have lined up a tracking dog before the rain came.  Once the rain hits, your screwed if you've got minimal blood to follow.  Always watch the weather when tracking and make your decisions as more information is obtained.  Knowing that rain is coming is a tell tale sign and should have popped the idea in his head  "if I don't take drastic measures now, I may not find this animal".  Know your local tracking dog trainers and make friends with them.  Bring them venison and pay them dully for their services if need be.  Most are just happy to get their dog some work, so wherever you plan to hunt, plan to set up a dog service if need be even if you give the guy a call and introduce yourself on the way out to your hunt and may not even need him or his dogs.  I have recovered plenty of deer in this fashion that were funky trails that had experienced trackers or me puzzled to say the least.  More often then not the dog was able to disprove our crazy ideas or theories about which way the deer went in less than a minute or two and recover the animal in less than a half hour.  Depends on the dog though too!!!  Walker hounds are my first bet. 

[Challenger]

ORIGINAL: dmcianfa

He should have lined up a tracking dog before the rain came.  Once the rain hits, your screwed if you've got minimal blood to follow.  Always watch the weather when tracking and make your decisions as more information is obtained.  Knowing that rain is coming is a tell tale sign and should have popped the idea in his head  "if I don't take drastic measures now, I may not find this animal".  Know your local tracking dog trainers and make friends with them.  Bring them venison and pay them dully for their services if need be.  Most are just happy to get their dog some work, so wherever you plan to hunt, plan to set up a dog service if need be even if you give the guy a call and introduce yourself on the way out to your hunt and may not even need him or his dogs.  I have recovered plenty of deer in this fashion that were funky trails that had experienced trackers or me puzzled to say the least.  More often then not the dog was able to disprove our crazy ideas or theories about which way the deer went in less than a minute or two and recover the animal in less than a half hour.  Depends on the dog though too!!!  Walker hounds are my first bet. 

Curious, what's the going rate for that?

[longbeards]

I have had a few deer run after I put what I thought was a great shot on them. Some have left blood trails, some haven't. Here is a video that will make you ask yourself , how?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERaeWUkqXZA

[SwampLife]

^^ cool video. I have only seen mortally wounded deer twitch their tail like that.

ORIGINAL: mightyfofaad

ORIGINAL: bwhntr

Many Shades of Red



The blood color of a heart-shot deer (when lungs are spared) is similar to those with muscle wounds. The blood appears crimson, but not as bright as the blood of a muscle wound.

Excuse me, but actual heart shot deer do not require tracking.

fwiw, i beg to differ. I have seen deer shot in the heart go a long ways with a weak blood trail. especially in cases where the hunter immediately got down because he figured 'he is heart shot'.

i shot a buck 3 years ago through the heart that ran 60 yards. bedded down for 36 minutes,(yes i timed it) got up, walked slowly hunched over into an oak hammock for 150 yards and fell over. Deer left only a few drops of blood from POI to where he bedded down, a large pool of blood in the bed, (i watched him lick the entry/exit wounds as he laid there) and not a drop from the bed to where he fell over. (Mind you this was archery.) I promise you things are not as cut and dry as we would like them to be.

to whoever posted about gutshot deer, they can and will run uphill, or several hills at that. I recently learned that one.

to the OP i would have to think you hit the deer a little too far forward and either high or (my money is on) low. there had to be some hair at point of impact, white would have told you immediately that there is bad news.

sorry to hear you didnt find him. but if he makes it, he will grow. =)

[metrx]

I'm not writing to cause controversy...just want to be clear about that.  I'm no doctor...and I know all wild animals are tough, but there is NO WAY a heart shot ANYTHING is going to live for 36 minutes after its shot in the heart. 
 
I forget where I read it...studies were done years ago on people who were legally executed via firing squad.  They went limp but were technically alive for as long as 15 seconds.  If a deer is shot in the heart and lives for 15 seconds and runs in excess of thirty miles per hour...I am no mathematician, but you may have to get your tracking boots on for that one.

[metrx]

Actually in NY there is a deer tracking service.  I never used it. And its FREE.  They have volunteers that put their dogs through training and depending on the region of the state you are hunting in and require assistance, they send a handler and their personal dog.  I think they work off donations.  Check it out
 
www.deersearch.org/

[Challenger]

ORIGINAL: metrx

I'm not writing to cause controversy...just want to be clear about that.  I'm no doctor...and I know all wild animals are tough, but there is NO WAY a heart shot ANYTHING is going to live for 36 minutes after its shot in the heart. 

That would seem like a no-brainer, but, I guess some of our forum members are shooting at deer from the planet Krypton. [:D]