ABarOfSoap

if you shoot a deer and hit liver or 1 lung and you dont see the deer drop, how long would you wait before you go and track it?

Tribal

I would give him a 8 hours. Why not, he isn't going anywhere.

GMMAT

temperature?

weather (imminent rain?)?

Given only the information you gave.......I'd say 4 hrs, min.

Jeff

Washington Hunter

Anywhere from four to eight hours.

Its really going to vary from person to person.

Finch

I think every situation is different. The main thing I listen for USUALLY is the "death kick" as I call it. If you put a good hit on a deer and you see it run off and hear kicking and leaves rustling...you more than likely have a dead deer. I listen for this'commotion' and give it a little while and take up track. I have never jumped one out of it's bed after hearing the above 'commotion.'

However, I made a mistake this past October and took up track too soon. I did not hear the "death kick" and thought that perhaps the buck had died silently.[&:]Well, I jumped him after waiting 30 minutes after the shot. Waited about 3 hours and jumped him again. Had to wait until the next day and recovered him. Well, come tofind out thatI had a one lung hit and did not realize he could live that long on one lung.

I have learned to never underestimate a Whitetail.

PS: Read the book Trailing Whitetails by John Trout, Jr. He covers about every situation possible that could happen to a bow/gun hunter based on shot placement.

BobCo19-65

If you know you only got one lung and nothing else (which is hard to know), I'd get on it right away. Your only chance on it is to have it bleed out. You WILL be tracking a long ways.

Liver, or lung/liver combo, minimum of five hours. And it should be farily close if not pushed.

If you have questions like these, I'd suggest getting the book "Tracking wounded deer" by John Trout. He is an expert in this stuff.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Excellent advise right there. I haven't had the opportunity to read said book but I want to. Perhaps after I do I will revise my recovery thread. Here's a link for that with some great replies.

http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/tm.aspx?m=1665984

NCYankee

Yo're right to ask for that info.

I hunt in an area that has a fairly healthy coyote population. Even on a single-lung shot I would wait maybe an hour at the most (rather than feed the coyotes). Remember that the animal will be running hard and most likely "drown" in its own blood. I had a lung shot last year and waited about 30 minutes. When I found that buck an hour (60 yards downhill in thick Goldenrod) later he was already getting stiff and his tounge was blue (no oxygen).

ABarOfSoap

sometimes with the bow its hard to see where you hit, i tried lumenoks and all 20 of them are busted out of the bag!

outdoorslover

I hit a doe in the liver lung area and it died in minutes. I thought I got a solid lung hit so I went after it in 30 minutes. It turns out I hit the liver and maybe the lungs. I would say wait 5 hours if it was surely a liver hit but if it was a single lung you'll have to start tracking right away because they can live off of one lung. I highly recommend that book, Tracking Wounded Deer. It is pure genius and is the best book on the subject. The author sure knows his stuff.