JustRace

Tonight I went out with the purpose of shooting a mature doe. I have already got a nice buck, and a smaller doe. So I pass up on some small deer tonight and finally a nice doe walks out with about six other deer. I take the shot at around 30 yards. The arrow looked like it hit in the perfect spot, she ran and stumbled to the ground a few times. I decided to wait about 45 minutes before I even left my tree. I get to the ground and can't find any blood at all. I finally find blood about 10 yards from where I shot her. Its a nice blood trail, then it just ends by the road and I find my arrow. I found a couple more drops in the road and then nothing again. So I started to zig zag looking for more blood, then I stumbled upon just tons of blood for about 40 yards, she is bleading like crazy. I track her and track her, then she goes right into a swamp with that really tall grass and I can't find a thing. I looked in the swamp for about a half an hour and couldn't find anymore blood, so I decided to call it quits. Its amazing how much drive these animals have. I have not given up though this story will be continued tommorrow morning

The arrow appears that I hit her low. The blood on the ground was very bright (not dark)and on the broad head side of the arrow there was quite a bit of white hair. The first thing I did was smell it to see if it was a gut shot (it didn't look like it when I took the shot)

Bulzeye

Glad to hear you're not giving up.
Did you see where you hit her? or where the arrow was sticking out as she ran?

Were you shooting from an elevated stand where the white hair could mean the arrow exited low? or were you shooting from the ground where both the entry and exit would have tobe low?

Bright blood is good. Any bubbles? Lung if bubbles, maybe muscleif none.

JustRace

I could not see the arrow. From looking at the feathers it looks like it almost completely passed through and ended up getting pulled through. I was shooting out of my ladder stand. When the arrow hit her (she had no idea it was coming) she did a big jump into the air, not one of those where they hunch up if its a gut shot. The weather says its suppose to rain tonight and tommorrow morning, figures, but I am confident that she went down in the swamp.

Killer_Primate

Take a dog with you and teach it to find the deer. Once it is found, praise the dog like crazy (even if the dog isn't the one who found it). It took my dog only one try. The second deer we recovered, he took me straight to it, and he's not a tracking breed. He is an Australian Cattle Dog (red healer), and from what I've read, any healthy dog can track once it knows what you're expecting.
Good luck.

GregH

Good tip, Killer Primate. My dog passed away in September, now all I've got is cats. They're excellent hunters, but not much at tracking, they'd rather hunt important stuff like mice and birds rather than deer!

JustRace

Well I went out in the rain this morning and trompted around in the swamp. I was able to find the blood trail from last night in the rain but no more blood after that. I looked all over the swamp just hoping to walk up on it, but didn't have any luck. I want to get one more before gun season starts on the 15th, bow hunting is way more challenging and enjoyable.

Killer_Primate

Sorry to hear about your dog Greg. I lost one a few years ago, and I thought I was ready for it, since she was old, but man was I wrong. It was very painful.
Taking my dog out to track has become one of my favorite parts of the hunt. I'll even go get him when I don't really need him, just to have fun and practice. And he's such a good boy, I'm even thinking of putting him up in the stand with me and/or stalking. I've been working with him to sneak through the woods so that I can stalk with him, and he seems like a natural.

Bulzeye

Sorry to hear you haven't found her.
Sound like she was bleeding pretty steady in spite of teh missign blood near the road. Blood trails are less evident when deer run, and I bet she ran across the road and then started to walk again later on the other side.

It coudl very well be a non-lethal muscle hit (too high maybe?).
I think muscle wounds would start bleeding more after an exertion like running. The dots connect. She may be down, but it may be a long way off.