Blood trail question
General Topic
Initial blood found. 3 piles like this
Initial blood found. 3 piles like this
This was his bed where i bumped him
This was his bed where i bumped him
Blood trail question- disclaimer it was a gun shot. Shotgun season. I can delete if needed. I shot this buck with a 20 gauge and found big piles of blood 40 yards from where i shot him. I continued to follow the trail for a 100 yards. Decent blood but sometimes down to a spot or two. Eventually I bumped him out of his bed and decided to back out. I left him for 7 hours and took up the trail with a few friends. We eventually lost blood and started grid searching. I covered 5 miles on Saturday and another 2.5 miles on Sunday. I never did recover the deer. I checked all the water on the farm. Any ideas?
Probably when the blood started to thin out would have been the time to sit and have a good Think. BEFORE bumping him.
When you did bump him, which way did he go and how hard did he run? If you were able to determine his approximate line of travel, I would scour the ground for information, and check every log, rock, or wrinkle in the ground. Any place they can bed and keep a low profile by tucking up next to it or down into it.
Gut shot maybe, based on the blood and the way it acted? Stopping after just 40 yards? Hard to say for certain but just a probable guess. If so, you should have let him lay longer, minimal of 12 hours. The fact that you jumped him. He probably went a long way, or further than you thought. Certainly they find a thick/safe spot to bed and die. Good chance you may have walked past him, but they can and will go a long way after getting bumped. I once read that if you bump a gut shot deer from its bed. The chance of not recovering the animal goes to near 80 percent.
If he was gut shot, look for the nearest water. A gut shot deer will often go lay in the water, even deep or running water.
I feel strong about it being a gut shot just because it was bedded. It doesn't look fleshy at all even though flesh wounds close up fast. The deer doesn't bed quickly like that. Call a tracking dog if legal in your state? Gut shots are great tracks for dogs to take up. Maybe someone with more experience blood trailing can respond?
7.5 miles in his trail without blood?
Bou- I just tracked my steps with my phone. I walked 7.5 miles following blood, grid searching and checking water spots. I definitely screwed up by bumping him. I originally thought it was a good hit based on the blood found right away. If I hit him saturday is it too late for a dog? Dogs are legal in the state. Thanks
I have learned a lot of hard lessons as an outdoorsman, but the hardest lesson, and the hardest thing to actually do, is to back out and give the deer a lot of time. There's this urgent desire to hurry up and figure out what happened with the shot and resolve the situation. But paradoxically, if you hurry to resolve the questions you have about a shot, you actually end up with no answers and no deer. I feel for you, it's a tough lesson.
I personally think it would be a sign your deer went MILES if you did not see vultures circling and/or hear a bunch of bluejays and crows. You might find your deer (pile of bones) in the spring and be surprised that you walked by it several times. Without going into a bunch of stories I have heard and seen AMAZING hiding feats pulled off by a dying deer. They can completely disappear in very little.
I hope you find resolution, this is the type of stuff that keeps a hunter up for nights on end. Good luck.
Sot deer do amazing things. Several weeks ago I shot a buck with a 50 cal muzzle loader loaded with Barnes MZ bullets. The shot was at 30 yards, and I was in a Florida swamp. I had zero doubt that it was a double lung hit. Since I couldn't see the shot through the smoke or even the direction of the deer went, I waited 30 min before going to investigate. Blood at the scene and a direction. In all 45 min to when I got on the trail. Good blood at first and then trickled down to amount nothing. I lost the trail 3 times and picked it up again each time from literally pin head specks of blood on the side of grass or the undersides of stumps and logs. The deer changed direction, entirely, 3 times. I was thinking that I was not going to recover the deer. 3 hours and 200 yards later, I finally walked up on it. GPS, straight line, 178 yards. Blood trailing is an art. It takes a plan, methodology, patience and persistence. I've had several bad experiences on blood trails before to learn from. One of the lessons I learned is that blood trailing is not a party sport. I lost a deer when an inexperienced person insisted on helping by basically walking around the woods and jumped up my deer, while I was on the blood, never to be seen again. Keep looking starting from the last blood, if the weather permits you to recover the deer without spoilage.
How long did you wait before taking up the blood trail?
I've never hunted deer with a shotgun. Is a 20 ga. a typical caliber to use?
Matt
I waited 45 minutes to take up thr trail. I have a savage 220 slug gun. I was hunting a shotgun only zone.
The little blood from a 20gauge slug. Points to a non vital area hit. Looks like back strap, neck muscle or leg muscle blood. That was very little blood
A deer that beds within 100 yards after a shot from especially a slug blast I doubt is anything but a gunshot in that situation. Muscle shot blood is very bright and should bleed much further then 60 yards as he describes.
A dog tracker taking up a track like yours is very unlikely this time of year but it does not hurt to try? At least get some advice from him or her on what they think?
What others said above and what redquebec said is a very hard lesson we all must learn as hunters and you really have to just slow down and think before and after the shot. I understand shit happens and it does, but that is not the moment to panic or get to excited following. When in doubt you have to back out. Whitetails have a the strongest will to survive. Its absolutely incredible.
That wasn't what I consider a little blood,especially 3 piles like that.If he laid down probably more than a flesh wound.It was a large lead slug not an arrow.That blood is pretty dark.I would have like to seen the whole bed because alot of time you can tell where the hit is by location in bed.Having tracked more than a 100 deer I have yet to find one in water that didn't die crossing a river and I think that was just because water went in the hole.As mentioned a deer can hide in a patch of grass that you wouldn't think a rabbit would stay in.While you covered alot of ground he could have been missed.I bet he's there somewhere close
Here are a couple more blood trail pictures.
Here are a couple more blood trail pictures.
I am hoping to get back out and look some more this weekend. Thanks for the input and ideas!
Here are a couple more blood trail pictures.
Here are a couple more blood trail pictures.
Looks like a probable gut shot to me. Hope you can eventually get closure.
For those wondering about the 20 gauge, I've deer hunted my entire life with one. We aren't allowed to use rifle in Illinois. For many years we used semi autos with open sights but when H&R came out with the single shot Ultra Slug we switched to those with scopes. I've killed a slew of deer with these guns and never once wished I carried a 12 gauge to the woods.
IMO, I think it might be a partial liver hit. Dark blood and it bedded down. I've seen liver hit deer die quickly and others that did not. It all depends. If it was gut, I would think you'd see and smell that in those blood spots. I was thinking muscle hit at first, but the fact that it bedded down within 100 yards tells me something different. Just my 2 cents.
Agree with liver,also all those look like either stopping alot and then another bed
I don’t think the OP said the deer bedded within 100 yards. Looks like muscle blood to me. And not much of it.
He bedded within 150 yards.
This is a picture after I bumped him. The blood trail went by one of my trail cameras.
This is a picture after I bumped him. The blood trail went by one of my trail cameras.
It’s a shame his body was covered up to that extent. Hope you have some closure.
Boy no kidding Drycreek! That woulda been a helluva good break to get a pic of him. What a bummer.
The next day during your grid search - after you lost blood, did you go back to where you originally shot him? Many times they circle back after being bumped.
It looks to me your shot was right on windage wise. Just too high. Beautiful deer.
That is a good looking deer and once again. Too many reason point at it being anything but a muscle hit. Pictures prove it, especially the last picture. Deer do not bed down that quickly after being shot in the backstraps either. I do agree, that is an unfortunate photo as he passes by. If only that would have given answers.
Having his head up high like that may be a bit of a good sign. Just a shame that you can’t see a wound in that picture.
But look at the bright side… You know where he was and which direction he was headed at that point, which is WAY more than most people ever get to work with
Even unwounded deer bed down.
We don’t know the time elapsed between the shot and bedding.
How far it traveled after being shot.
He said he covered 7 miles. How far did the deer travel.
How far is that picture from the shot location.
What time of day was the shot.
How many hours passed between the shot and the picture. But from the facts we do know. It points to a non Vital hit.
I don’t say non fatal.
It may succumb 12 hours or 72 hrs later.
From the picture, it appears that blood is slowly seeping down from above the area visible in the picture. Then smears down and back after going through vegetation.
Let me use Gray Ghost picture to illustrate all the non vital area
The blood appears to be draining down from the yellow line area. The deer is alert and looks well. Liver and gut shot animals usually travel hunched up and head low.
Of course not animals react the same. And until it’s found no one knows.
But it’s important that we help others so they learn to track and read the spoor
How far it traveled after being shot. The bed was about 150 yards from where i shot it.
He said he covered 7 miles. How far did the deer travel. The deer traveled around 800-1000 yards estimated from shot to last blood. I walked 7 miles around the farm following blood and then grid searching and checking all water areas. The deer didn’t travel 7 miles that i am aware of.
How far is that picture from the shot location. That picture is around 500 yards away.
What time of day was the shot. Around 7:15 am.
How many hours passed between the shot and the picture. But from the facts we do know. It points to a non Vital hit. 2 hours and 25 minutes roughly.
I don’t see blood in that photo, guess we’ll never know the hit or outcome unless you can get another picture of that deer on cam or maybe find it dead. I still stick by more than a muscle hit there. Anything is possible, but an amped up deer that has just been shot with a slug, isn’t gonna bed in 150 yards in a relatively short timeframe to just take a break and chew its cud. Sorry you lost it, beautiful buck.
I don't see anyone suggesting that he was hit in the void
Yeah I agree most muscle hit deer don’t bed quickly. especially in the rut they just keep moving.
It’s very frustrating when you don’t know
I am just hoping for closure at some point. A trail cam picture showing hes fine or find him this weekend when i look again. Thanks for all the replies. It has been a learning experience thats for sure!
I am just hoping for closure at some point. A trail cam picture showing hes fine or find him this weekend when i look again. Thanks for all the replies. It has been a learning experience thats for sure!
There are alot of unanswered questions and I feel I should say that Altitude Sickness is not wrong as I made him out to be. I apologize because who really knows? I assumed the blood ended after 100 yards, not 800. This picture shows him walking wide open, after being jumped, ears tucked back, but head up, at 930, 2 hours after being shot. The more details I read and pictures I see. Anyones guess can be right. Deer are tough. Thats what I do know
