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Finding a shot animal

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Finding a shot animal

Postby Jhg » 09 06, 2022 •  [Post 1]

So you sent an arrow and it looked good but you can't be sure. You followed up and lost blood after about 100yds. But it is wet. Hunters remorse sets in despite your attempts to manage it. Its been two hours of on the knees searching.

What are some tips/advise for finding an animal you are sure is mortally wounded?


Here is my contribution:

Follow the crows. I recovered a very dead, very hard to find elk by paying attention to a pair a crows who where sticking around over some timber about 100 yds away from the shot. They were cawing and croaking, flying around, then returning to circle again over the same place. I bee lined it to where the crows were and there was my bull. He had rolled down into a hole and without blood, would have to be almost stepped on to find. He was probably dead within 5 minutes of the arrow.

Look, AND listen. It could be the difference between losing an animal, or the meat.
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby Lefty » 09 06, 2022 •  [Post 2]

Even with all the excitement of the shot. Try to listen as the animal leaves. The general escape routes often tends to follow trails.


Good shoots dont always leave a blood trail. look at the leaves and turned over grass often seeable from a distance
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby six » 09 07, 2022 •  [Post 3]

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Never hurts to have a dog in camp.  I have been very fortunate to be able to follow a K9 officer on a lot of tracks.  Over the years with the help of the k9 guys I started using our family pet to track wounded deer.   First a lab now a hound (rescued bear dog).    The dogs track on ground disturbance and they pick up on the adrenalin dump the deer leave behind when there is minimal blood.  It takes a couple rounds for the dog to figure out there is a prize at the end of the track.   Once they do they act like a drug addict meeting up with their drug dealer when you grab the lead and harness.   Here’s a couple pics from a practice track.  Deer dropped at the shot so I took the dog out of sight and worked her into the crosswind. 
Elk are where you find em...
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby ewade73 » 10 07, 2022 •  [Post 4]

On this years recovery for me I became the dog. 25 yard shot slightly quartering away felt good light brush. Bull turned up hill and went crashing through the brush was able to stop him for a few seconds. Could not see him but could hear him again as he started crashing away from me and slightly down hill. It was getting late so really wanted to try and get on him asap which is not normal protocol and risky but felt the shot was good. So I go to where he was shot and no arrow but found blood farely quickly . Followed blood to where he stopped and then had a hard time finding which direction he went from there so spent about 10 min fanning out the direction I heard him go. No blood was found but felt confident in the shot. Went back to last blood and dropped about 60 yards downhill which was downwind and actually told myself that if I circle below him I will be able to smell him and that is exactly what happened. Smelt bull elk started uphill and there he lay about 100 yards from last blood. Would have spent more time looking for blood but quartering a bull in the dark by myself where wolves roam was what I was trying to avoid and it worked for me. If it would not have worked I would have gone back to blood and continued to fann out looking for blood and probably would have found him at dark. Would still much rather dress an elk at night by myself than let one sit overnight and possibly spoil
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby Swede » 10 07, 2022 •  [Post 5]

It has been my experience that when the crows are hanging around, there is no usable meat to recover. It has happened to me too.
I have smelled and followed my nose to find them. I have followed blood and tracks. This season it took me 2 1/2 hours of tracking and searching to see where the bull stumbled, fell and rolled over some brush downhill over a bank.
There are some basic tracking tips, but no absolutes that I know of. Watch for a place where the critter changed directions.
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby >>>---WW----> » 10 09, 2022 •  [Post 6]

I use a small spray bottle of peroxide. Just spray a squirt of it on anything that looks suspicious. If it is blood, it will foam up. I've used it on blood that was over 2 days old and it still reacted.

And I highly recommend a book by Tom Brown entitled Nature Observation and Tracking. There are some amazing tips in there. It is a must have for learning the skills of tracking.
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby 7mmfan » 10 10, 2022 •  [Post 7]

Jhg wrote:So you sent an arrow and it looked good but you can't be sure. You followed up and lost blood after about 100yds. But it is wet. Hunters remorse sets in despite your attempts to manage it. Its been two hours of on the knees searching.

What are some tips/advise for finding an animal you are sure is mortally wounded?


Here is my contribution:

Follow the crows. I recovered a very dead, very hard to find elk by paying attention to a pair a crows who where sticking around over some timber about 100 yds away from the shot. They were cawing and croaking, flying around, then returning to circle again over the same place. I bee lined it to where the crows were and there was my bull. He had rolled down into a hole and without blood, would have to be almost stepped on to find. He was probably dead within 5 minutes of the arrow.

Look, AND listen. It could be the difference between losing an animal, or the meat.


My Dad taught me this years ago. He recovered a mule deer buck that he'd been looking for for 3-4 hours by observing Ravens getting agitated a hundred or so yards away.
I hunt therefore I am. I fish therefore I lie.
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby Swede » 10 10, 2022 •  [Post 8]

Back in the early 1990s I came upon a bow hunter that had shot a spike elk. He claimed he was an expert tracker and did not want me to interfere with his locating the bull. I left and went to my truck. I found out the next day he never recovered the animal.
I am quite experienced at tracking bow shot elk. I usually find them, but a few times I have been very concerned that I might not find my elk. Such was the case when I hunted with RJ and Joe in Idaho. The brush country they hunt is a hard place to track an animal if they are not bleeding at least some. I was fortunate the little bull did not go real far.
This season I tracked my 5X5 for about 2 1/2 hours for only 250 yards before I found it. Again, I was getting concerned. I have also lost a couple of times. I have read about many tricks and techniques for tracking, but if there is no discernable evidence to follow, you are in trouble. Waiting for scent or birds to guide you is not a receipt for success. They are a bonus or as I like to acknowledge, they are a special gift from God.
The best thing you can do to help yourself in the tracking business is to take only high-quality shots with high quality equipment.
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby WapitiTalk1 » 10 10, 2022 •  [Post 9]

>>>---WW----> wrote:I use a small spray bottle of peroxide. Just spray a squirt of it on anything that looks suspicious. If it is blood, it will foam up. I've used it on blood that was over 2 days old and it still reacted.

And I highly recommend a book by Tom Brown entitled Nature Observation and Tracking. There are some amazing tips in there. It is a must have for learning the skills of tracking.


Yes sir, have used the small peroxide spray bottle since you recommended it years ago. And, I just found the T Brown book you mentioned and ordered it. Can’t have too much knowledge. Thanks Bill.
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby Swede » 10 12, 2022 •  [Post 10]

My advice to all here on the forum is to get a tree stand hunting book and then a tree stand, so you can put to use the things you read and learn about tracking. :D
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Re: Finding a shot animal

Postby >>>---WW----> » 10 14, 2022 •  [Post 11]

Another tip that might be worth mentioning is to place a sheet TP on every drop of blood you find. You'd be surprised at how well it can help you line out a track. And you never have to worry about going back and picking it up. The first good rain will dissolve it away.
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