Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Searching for wounded deer

How long do you search for wounded deer that is leaving little to no blood trail in spite of having been knocked down and stayed down after the shot yet got up and ran off? How about in the rain when the blood trail is being washed away?

I trail until I can't get a bearing anymore and then try a grid search. Rain? Push him hard immediately.

No blood? Sounds like you hit a horn. Little blood, top of back maybe? Shock temporarily stunned him. WAG.

Around here, go downhill to water.

If it got up after a prolonged knock-down, I'd back off and let it lie, rain or no rain. Then grid search with a compass. I want the deer to lay down, stiffen up, and bleed out, not run into the next zip code because I keep jumping it. Just my take.....

There is a big difference between little and no blood trail. I'm with JPro at this point and would wait. The rain wash is already done. If doing over, push after it ASAP in the rain.

It is probably too late but a look for cut hair and for any blood or hair on the exit side where the deer was hit helps with clues as to where the deer was hit. No exit probably means less blood trail. You have to know the exact spot where the deer was when hit, which is always worth noting/marking just in case something like this happens. The caliber, bullet, position of the deer and distance should give a pretty good idea as to whether the bullet exited. I'd say sight picture at the shot should be a major clue but it won't be for many of us. Knowing where it was hit is a major factor in whether to push or wait. If that's unknown, wait.

And of course, where legal and available, a dog is the best tracker.

Once bumped, I'd leave it at least a couple of hours before pushing it again. If late in the day, leave it till morning if the weather is cold. If the weather is warm, saving the meat is likely a lost cause. I tracked a buck for almost 8 hours for a friend who had to work, that he had hit the evening before. Microscopic blood trail at times. The buck was warm and had died not long before I found it about 2:00 pm the day after it was hit. The meat was fine.

It’s just hard to say one way or another. I was involved in a rodeo last year and a watched my buddy make a perfect hit on a buck. Not sure what happened bullet failure or something else but we just couldn’t find the buck after two days of hard searching. It was almost mind blowing we couldn’t find it.

Guessing you won't need to worry about processing fees?

Sounds like a CNS shocker shot to me.

GFY dickweed.

Did you say that in your best dressed at church Christian voice?

See, there is a bright side, you didn't have to pay to get it processed.

Depending on the particulars, I will look a couple days if need be. Done it before.

If I can't find any blood and am not sure about where the crosshairs were, I will look for 20 or so minutes...unless there's snow then I will follow the tracks a few hundred yards to see if there's any sign of a hit.

One thing I NEVER do is push a deer that I think or know is marginally hit. Rain or not. Let him calm down and bed. He'll stiffen up and likely die if the hit was fatal. If you push him, he'll just keep moving.

One thing I ALWAYS do if a critter drops instantly is be ready for 2-3 minutes. IME when they drop like that they're just stunned (excepting CNS or backbone shots) and they'll often get back to their feet and lead you into no man's land.

Yep, drop at the shot deer always trouble me and I'm ready to go right the fugg now with them.

You are on ignore so feel free to post all the azzinine juvenile stuff you like.

Grid search when blood runs out. I try to let deer lay for a while before I go look for him if he runs. I shoit them in the shoulders so they don’t run too far.

After last Saturday the deer don’t have to run far, let alone downhill, to find water around here...

It's all up and down around here, so deer run to the bottom for water when wounded. This is a bear I called in for a buddy, he wounded it, and it ran to the bottom. Two finishing shots at a few feet away as it laid behind a log waiting for us!

Im sorry Fireball2 but I dont see a bear in your photo.....

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?










Those are the quarters and loose meat in bags. We took the hide, head and gear out the day before.

I am a big believer in if it is still breathing, I am still shooting.

I agree with that. If one drops at the shot, but is still giving a tail flicker 20 seconds later, I'm going to shoot again. 5- 10 seconds seems pretty normal for one to stop moving/twitching, but waiting too long just lets a wounded animal get its wits and strength back together. If it picks its head up any after it drops, or tries to push with a leg, I'm shooting again.