blood trails in the rain

[mbcook]

This topic may have been covered here before, but it is one that i have never really thought about since this is my first year bow hunting. As i was sitting in my stand late yesterday afternoon i heard a roll of thunder off in the distance, as i was watching a potential shooter buck. So the situation i am wondering about is if you have shot a deer and you also know there is an approaching storm what do you do? Do you go ahead and start trailing and take the chance of bumping the deer?, or Do you wait until the storm passes, and take the chance of the rain washing away the blood? 

[Woods Walker]

Hoo boy...that's a toughie.

If it were me, I think a lot of what I'd do would depend on where I hit the deer, and/or how good of a hit I thought it was. In theory, a double lunged shot deer with an arrow will be dead inside of 10 or 15 seconds. if I was SURE I hit him that way, I'd go right after him. If I wasn't sure, then I'd probably have to gamble on waiting until the rain stopped, with hopes that he didn't go all that far before bedding and hopefully I'd find him with a systematic, diligent search. As you say, nothing is wrose than bumping them out of that first bed, rain or no rain.

But to further answer this, this is the EXACT reason I don't bowhunt in rain that is even moderate in intensity, and also why there's a very good chance that if I were in a stand and it REALLY started pouring (with no end in sight) I'd probably not take the shot in the first place.

[bobow]

But to further answer this, this is the EXACT reason I don't bowhunt in rain that is even moderate in intensity, and also why there's a very good chance that if I were in a stand and it REALLY started pouring (with no end in sight) I'd probably not take the shot in the first place.

One other thing I would worry about if it is an electrical storm, I don't think I would want to be in a tree! 

But then it was mentioned you were watching a shooter buck.  So if he decides to not leave and a strong lightning storm comes through, bust him or take your chances?

Is that a conundrum?  [;)] 

[vipermann7]

I agree that it depends on the situation. If you know the deer will be down by the time you can even get to the ground, then go for it and track it. That can be hard to decide, because I've shot deer that I was sure I double lunged, but I only got one lung and they made it a couple of hours, making for a pretty rough tracking job. Overall, I think losing the blood trail isn't nearly as bad as bumping the deer. I've tracked a lot of deer that left little to no blood trail. It makes for hard tracking, and youre more or less searching than tracking, but it can be done. I would let the deer be, and risk losing the blood trail. Its better than losing the deer if you bump it, and if it's down, it can be found with a thorough search. Dogs help too. Even a dog thats not trained to find deer can run across it. Ive done that as well.

I think when you weigh the pros and cons of this situation, and consider the ultimate goal is to find the deer, it becomes an easier decision to risk losing the blood. A blood trail is by far the easiest way to find the deer, but its only one way, and it can be unreliable. Blood trails mysteriously vanish all the time, even on a well hit deer. You could get to tracking before the rain comes, and the trail disappears anyway. In the mean time you bumped the deer and now its 500 yards farther down the trail. A blood trail is only one method of recovering a deer, and I think if the situation says let the deer lay, then the deer should be left to lay no matter what that means for the blood trail. Blood trails arent the magic bullet we can't live without, it just makes us use our other skills if we lose it.