When do you stop looking??

[AKElroy]

When I was 11, my dad shot a doe from the front porch of our hunting cabin. Had to be 250 yrds off-hand, and several of his buds were daring him to take the shot. The doe went down, and then immediatly scrambled to her feet & ran. This was probably 1:30pm. At 6 pm, we finally found her, sitting in a clearing looking around. He had just knicked her throat, and she lost a lot of blood. It still took another shot @ 20 yrds to put her down.

I am 44 now, and that is still the longest search I have ever been on. We must have walked 5 miles of LCRA land to recover that animal. (that's where she ran, not where we shot her) Every hunter in the camp (5 of us) looked all day for that deer. It was never an option to quit looking, and today I still see the same thing. I hunt Central Texas, and if you shoot, you better return with a deer or a clean miss story, or the whole camp is helping you spot blood to make sure you missed.

I have seen a number of posts lately regarding hunters that have lost wounded animals, and it got me wondering when we should stop looking. Thoughts?

 

[WalkAbout]

I would stop looking a few hours after dark and come back the next day. I've helped other people find deer by looking for buzzards circling in the general area where the deer was shot the next afternoon. I've personally lost one deer. I looked and looked off and on all season and never found hide nor hair of it. Its a pretty crappy feeling.

b

 

[hardluk1]

Hard to deside when enough is enough but way to many people make a marginal shot and go look right away and they my never find there deer. They just keep pushing it away. Alway give time for one to die or stiffen up so a finishing shot can be made. I try to always shoot center of chest to give me and better chance at a good kill. Never shot for the neck. I have helped to find several deer the next morn that were still good to eat . Bleed out most of the night from a bad shot. And one deer that was truck hit by a friend makeing a grocery run that ran off. Came back from town and deer ran again . So came back the next morning to track and ended up shooting the deer as it was stiff and very slow getting up. He got a nice 10 point.

 

[AKElroy]

I would stop looking a few hours after dark

Last year one of the hunters on our lease shot a nice 8 point that he could not find. It was well after dark, but we had powerful lights & were able to scan for cornia reflection from the downed animal, and that's how we found him. His eyes gave him up; he was in some thin tall grass and just blended in perfectly. We had walked by that animal several times when it was light out; didn't find him until it was dark enough to see those eyes.

 

[LeverGunJunkie]

I hit a nice 8 point at 0915; a wavering offhand shot from my off side; he went down hard, and stayed down for a few seconds. Then out of nowhere this beast gets up, and runs off like I never hit him. Fair amount of dark red blood at the site. Blood trail starts off good, and ends at 1 mile. We continue to follow tracks until we find where the buck bedded, for probably 2 hours and only lost a little blood. Searched the rest of the day until the snow came in that night. Looked the next day, but the 5" of snow covered any visible sign, and that's when I quit. If it wasn't for the snow, I'd still be out there. Can't remember a time I felt lower. Best buck opportunity of my life to that point, and I wounded a truly awesome animal that might have become coyote food. The only deer I've lost, and hope it never happens again.

 

[srkavanagh6621]

The deer huge buck I lost this year didnt get away easy and im still not done looking. initially after the hit we searched for about 4 hours that night with no deer but lots of blood. we came back in the morning at 7 and followed blood until 10 where it stopped. from 10-2 we cirlced and walked the CRP and slough circling it hoping to stumble upon it with no luck. We are hoping the coyotes will give us a trail to him or we were thinkin about taking a plane up and maybe be able to see where he is laying. IT SURE IS A TERRIBLE FEELING TO LOSE ONE. But sometimes there just isnt anything you can do about it.

 

[CoRoMo]

Approximately a year or so.

Seriously though, I've lost only one animal in all my hunting (not counting pheasants). We found her the next year, well... what was left of her, quite a ways further than where we decided to stop looking.

 

[FLAvalanche]

Down here there is no sense looking the next day.

One, it's too hot and the meat will already be spoiled, two, if its run that far it's on someone else's property and they're not going to let you retrieve it, three, there are too many predators and scavengers for anything to be recovered the next day.

 

[Armored farmer]

We find the end of the blood trail, then follow footprints if possible, then try to make a visual search based on general direction of travel/nearby cover such as thickets or water source.
BTW....this method is seldom successful.

Those deer are hard to out-guess. They do things that don't make any sense. They don't think like we do. Time doesn't matter to a deer. You may think "he won't head out over that open country". Two minutes later, as you watch in disbelief, he dissappears over the distant horizon.

 

[sourdough44]

Depends on lots of factors. But I will say it all starts before the shot is taken. I take pride in taking only mostly 100% shots. That means reasonable range at no more than a walking deer. You hear about the guy with the 300 yrd one shot kill, how many did he wound before & after?

 

[jbkebert]

I have helped to track two liver shot deer in the last several years. One belonged to my brother the other to a friend. My brothers deer left little drops of blood for a ways then a huge puddle. Seemed like it would be a fairly easy job. We looked for 4-5 hours that night only to return the next morning. The deer was found it had circled back to within 60 yards of where it was shot. We covered a mile or better of trails.

The other we found the arrow once again and a massive blood trail that just went from great to nothing. After looking for several hours we figured he jumped the fence onto a neighbors property that is a real prick. We never recovered that deer and everyone just felt sick about it.

The last deer I helped track for a long long time was the black buck my buddy shot down in TX. This deer was hit in the shoulder with little penatration. It was a 45-50 yard shot using one of those expandible jobs. 7 people searched along with two hounds for the better part of two days. We found it but not before the yotes and other critters did.

I have gut shot one deer in my all the time I have been bowhunting around 20 years. I found that buck 4-5 hours later. Most of the meat was pretty ripe but I ate him anyway just ground a little more fat into the burger and the rest was made into jerky. I was showing off in my youth and took the shot at 55-60 yards. I was very capable of hitting a target at that distance and I still am. However those 3-D jobs don't take that small step between the arrow being loosed and impact. Since that time I have taken 30 or more deer with a bow. I think all but one were taken well within 25 yards.

Point is you owe that animal for the shot you took and every possible effort should be made to recover from your screw up.

 

[interlock]

When i shoot a deer i never go straight into it. I normally have a coffee from my flask and take it easy for 10 minutes or so. then when i am sure i have marked where it dropped well i make in. I have my rifle ready in my hands if needs be.

if the animal does not see me then it is likely to have just layed (lied led laid?) down and died. if it is hit badly and it knows i am there it will run off into the woods.... and as we know they can run a long time.

i tend to shoot only pretty comfortable shots, neck or chest so i don't follow much up. i always take a dog. if her labrador nose can't find it.... it is lost. none have been yet.