Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game After the Shot - Pursue or Give Them "Time to Bleed Out"?

I regularly see hunting recap stories, and even TV hunting episodes, where the hunter takes his shot, and then sits still to wait, for something.

The old reasoning for this is apparently to give the animal time to bleed and expire. Since this has never been a procedure in my hunting life, a long one, I am interested in what hunters here have as opinions on it.

Our philosophy is that a hit animal's demise will be accelerated by vigorous, immediate pursuit, in effect forcing, by its exertion, more bleeding and quicker expiration. Allowing the hit animal to stop, rest, and sometimes recuperate enough to make good a complete escape seems to me not a good practice.

What say you?

If it drops, I watch for a good 2-3 minutes through the scope, ready to fire again, as I've seen them try to get up after presumed to be dead. If it runs out of sight, I like to wait about a half hour or so, just in case it was a marginal shot. I do love to hear them crash, even if I can't see the fall. I don't immediately pursue an animal that looks to be hit with a bad shot, as I've seen many that stopped to rest and wound up bleeding out.

Depends entirely on the situation. Rain/snow coming or falling will mean a faster follow up than otherwise. Reaction to shot, weapon used (bow/rifle), cover, property boundaries, etc. will all contribute to my decision as to whether I go right away or I give it some time. I would guess that most of the waiting that you see on the Outdoor Channel has more to do with filming light than it does letting the animal expire.

I think it depends on the bloodtrail after the first hundred feet, and how many other hunters are in the area. I don't think you have anything to loose by waiting unless you are on public land with a lot of guys in the woods. Even then I would hope they would do the honorable thing if they came across your deer.

Fact remains, that a not mortally wounded animal when left alone, will quiet down and find some cover. There it will bed and "stiffen up". The longer it sits, the less it wants to get up.

This greatly facilitates finding the animal and finishing it off.

OTOH - when pushed/persued after the shot, it will put all left into distancing itself from persuer. Depending on blood trail (or lack of it) these are often then not recovered and errorneous thought to have been missed.

Best practice - always - is to find the place the animal has been hit and study the sign - tracks, hair, blood, rumen tissue, bones...

then track. Hones the skills and helps to make the right decision on how long to wait...

I dread being called to follow up an animal with my dogs and learn that it has been persued and pushed...

There is no "one size fits all" situations but I tend to agree with CMG.
As far as expecting another hunter to do the honorable thing, I wouldn't count on it.

A shot doesn't always 'spook" the animal into a huge adrenalin surge that takes it fruther away and gives the meat a bad taste, but following one thats alive sure can when they realize you are there.

I think the dumbest thing in the world, unless its raining or about to, is not give at least 30 minutes to the animal.

I mean on top of it, what is it that you have to do, that you have to get to that animal that fast anyway?

But as noted, some situations can call for it. Like coyotes, etc... others stealing your deer and so on. Of course if thats an issue, I'll crack the deer dead right there with a precise CNS strike and nothing else.

Last thing I want is someone elses deer personally.

Even if its raining or about to, I"m so confident in my ability to find the dead animal later, that I don't and won't get wet looking for one or worrying about one. It'll still be there when it quits.

Great post here. Many animals I could have found if they would not have pushed them first. That makes it much harder if not impossible.
Only thing I'd add, typically gut shots go less than 100 yards and bed up. LEave em in that bed and they die right there given enough hours. If you push them out of that bed its a circus for sure. And you don't need a blood trail to find a deer dead within 100 yards.

What I would add, that sometimes going out to look at the sign, if you don't know where you hit it, is the worst you can do because it'll jump the deer out of the first bed. If I don't know or know for sure it was a gut shot we go the other way away from it and come back 6 hours later.

I realize some say they have so many yotes that 6 hours would be nothing left. Can't say what Id' do then.

Rost, right you are. Discretion be used-not to push them, looking for sign.

With as many people that hunt Washington's elk seasons,if you shoot an animal, you'd better be like Rosco P. Coltrane and be in "hot pursuit"

Otherwise you may just get to your animal to find another dude gutting it.

I'm not that hard up for elk steaks to take another guy's elk,but there are lots of fools that are.

I don't doubt that at all, given that situation I think I"d strive to make a head or high neck shot everytime, just wouldn't be worth it to not, and as such if I can't, just pass the shot.

I look and listen till I see it drop or can't see or hear anything, then smoke a cigarette. After that I carefully pick my way toward were I last saw it to not spook it if it is still alive.

I go to the spot where the animal was shot, if sign indicates I go ahead. For example, shot a doe and upon arriving where she was standing there was lung tissue in the briars, so I went on in and got her. Sign of bad hits get wait time.
GreggH

I always get right on the trail and finish it asap!

Wait 5-10 minutes unless it was a DRT to examine the site. If blood is bright and copious I might wait another 5-10 or slowly head in after it right then. If blood is dark and clotty I might head in for breakfast and take volunteers back out after an hour or more. My wife's dad hit a low shoulder small piece of lung last year. He came into camp for a couple hours before we all went out. We jumped the poor doe after a hundred yard scout and finished her after a couple botched shots. I think she'd never been found had he pushed her initially when her adrenalin was flowing.

Going in right away around here is a foolish proposition. You bump that deer and he takes off into a northwoods swamp and you kiss your chances of recovering him goodbye.

It all depends on the situation. In this open country, normally I can see it fall if it's within 100 yds or so.

I usually try to wait for at least 15 min. before taking up any kind of trail.

Unless I see them go down or hear the crash I give them time. Got on and stayed on a gut shot elk right away ONCE, never again.

We hunt from blinds, so it takes about 15 minutes to pack up our gear before tracking. A heart/lung shot deer seldom goes more than 75 yards anyway.