After The Shot

[Lockdown]

I will start this off with some generalizations for anyone that is new(er) to blood trailing. The following is nothing more than my opinion. For what it’s worth, between myself, friends and family, I have been involved in over 100 kills/blood trails. Archery, Shotgun, Rifle, and muzzleloader.

One thing I would REALLY like to emphasize is that some deer don’t bleed worth a dang. (If you encounter this, don’t panic). The ones that don’t USUALLY have one thing in common: lack of blood pressure to FORCE blood out of the body. “But you never have a good blood trail if you hit them high.”

WRONG

I have seen 3 different deer hit in the aortic artery that runs under the spine and each one has left a very obvious blood trail. Arrow to the flank - blood everywhere. Deer died in 100 yards.

In general, hits to areas that are not vascular (guts, backstraps, etc) don’t bleed well simply because blood isn’t forced out of their body. Especially if hit high, blood pools in their body due to gravity.

Another thing that can cause a poor blood trail is skin stretch. If a deer has its front leg stretched forward, once the arrow passes through, the leg will move back and the hide will effectively cover the hole. Ever see a blood trail where a deer takes off hard and there’s a spirt of blood every 8’ or so? I believe that is because blood is only escaping when the hole in the hide and cavity align. It’s not heart beat spurts.

One misnomer is that if you hit lung you will have a short recovery. Not all lung hits are created equal. Let me explain.

Deer need two things to stay alive-
1) An acceptable blood pressure in their circulatory system
2) Oxygen transmission in their lungs.

Simply put, their brain needs oxygen! If they have blood pressure and if their lungs can function at all, they’re going to run a ways. I have experienced unrecovered one lung hits. (Will give an example later). I have also read stories about deer that were gutted and found to have survived on only one lung.

I often see people hit near the last rib or two and they’re excited. “I got lung. He’s dead.”

Most likely true.

BUT… how soon? The lungs near the exterior are all capillaries. With a hit like that it’s going to take a while for it’s lungs to fill with blood to prevent oxygen transmission. And it’s going to take even longer to drop its blood pressure to the point the brain is starved of oxygen.

I’ve seen rear lung hits go down quick. I’ve seen rear lung hits run a loooong ways.

So just because you have bubbles in the blood, that doesn’t mean you only need to give that deer an hour before you take up the track. The situation is more complex than that.

This will likely be quite a long thread, and I would like to post some pics and examples along the way. I will go into detail. But I’m going to stop there for now.

If anyone else has thoughts and experiences, please share! This is all about learning. So feel free to post your experiences.

[Ol Split ( ) Toes]

Rear lung hits typically don't bleed all that well but usually you catch the liver also.

[hcooper84]

Agree with the legs/shoulder covering the holes at times. My buck last year I shot slightly quartering away. Went through crease on entrance and very tight to the back of the opposite shoulder. A couple drops of blood at impact, virtually zero blood until I found him dead 60 or so yards away. Shot got part of the heart and both lungs. To me it looked like the shoulder covered up both holes as he was running off. I also use a small single bevel so I overall expect my blood trails to be not as heavy in some situations.

[<DK>]

Great post

Are we allowed to post blood trail pics ?

[Lockdown]

Great post

Are we allowed to post blood trail pics ?

That is encouraged. Add anything and everything you want. I will be doing the same as I get time.

[PaPublicLandHunter]

Thanks for the information lockdown. I am definitely going to
Be following this thread to learn.

[<DK>]

[Bonecrusher101]

Another thing I’ve been doing and it’s made a huge difference in recovery success, but also time I’m out there searching. Especially, if I shoot one at last light in the evening…

After the shot I always watch for the deer to go down, but often times they tote the shot out of eyesight. No matter what I turn on my handheld gps. It’s calibrated and has my location I mark a waypoint from my tree if I don’t already have one. Then I use the arrow pointer on my gps map and set a spot where I last saw or heard the deer crashing or running (before ever climbing down!) It lets me measure in feet from my current location so It’s usually a spot around 100-150 yards away from where I’m setup at but it’s a lot of time just past where I can see. It’s never perfect but it sets an excellent approximation point if I need to start grind searching from there.

I wait my allotted time then go to where the deer was standing at the shot and look for blood and attempt to follow tracks or blood from where I shot it at.

I can’t tell you how many times I have found blood then just gone to my dot where I last saw or heard him and within a 10 yard circumference the deer will be right there piled up.

And walking from where I shot him to where I last saw/heard him gives me a better direction of which way he headed. Anyway it’s been working great for me if you carry a handheld gps maybe it can help you too.

[<DK>]

The Callie Chronicles (Shane Simpson)







https://youtu.be/VSQRgUgePmY

[<DK>]

No Mans Land

[Huntress13]

The deer I just shot. Double lung. No pass through. The broadhead lodged in opposite rib. He broke off the back side of the arrow. All I had was a few very tiny drops of blood, and when I finally found slightly better blood, that's where he was laying. I was following him more on water/mud he was spattering after going through a creek. If it wasn't for that I probably would have had to go back in daylight. In the pics you will see how very little blood was on his body. Last blood he had brushed against the branch.

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[Huntress13]

Shot a buck once with a 12 gauge at 30 yards quartering away, from the ground. Slug went right into his armpit and lodged in opposite shoulder, not a single drop of blood. It was in an open field looked 100 yards away and not a drop found. Finally spotted the deer belly in car headlights from the lane, he ran 150 yards, heart shot. No blood until the last 10 yards.

Other deer hit with arrow, lots of blood, never recovered. Single lung is best guess of dog tracker.

[Ryan549]

I was in college and a buddy and I were walking down the mountain in Pennsylvania. We were getting close to the truck and spotted a doe, she was about 60 yds… but we were young and cocky- my buddy took the shot. She spun and he hit her in the rear end. We thought we were in for a long track until we walked up to the impact site. He was shooting a big mechanical, it cut her tail clean off and there was blood everywhere- the most blood I have ever seen on a bloodtrail. Turns out he went straight up the tailpipe and she died almost instantly.

[greenhorndave]

I was in college and a buddy and I were walking down the mountain in Pennsylvania. We were getting close to the truck and spotted a doe, she was about 60 yds… but we were young and cocky- my buddy took the shot. She spun and he hit her in the rear end. We thought we were in for a long track until we walked up to the impact site. He was shooting a big mechanical, it cut her tail clean off and there was blood everywhere- the most blood I have ever seen on a bloodtrail. Turns out he went straight up the tailpipe and she died almost instantly.

The ol Texas Heart Shot

Some great tips in here. The GPS/Pin approach is simple and quick. Should get you in the ballpark.

[Brokenarrow1980]

Muzzleloader hits no matter where the location seem to leave poor blood trails. New hunters may be discouraged but you must be very observant of fresh tracks, broken limbs ect. And very sparce blood. I probably shot close to 75 deer with a Muzzleloader in my lifetime and I may of had maybe two that had what I would consider good blood.