BobCo19-65

At the 100% level, only when I find it down. Most of the time though, but not always, I am around the 75-90% level as to where I actually hit the deer. I try to keep as open of a mind as possible and let the clues, tell tales, andexperience lend a hand.

Rob/PA Bowyer

Seeing the animal go down is by far the most important thing to see. One thing I've learned from tracking is the shooter rarely knows exactly where the shot goes, and I speak for myself as well. Too many things play tricks on the eyes so if I don't see the animal go down, I don't necessarily trust what my eyes told me. I use it as an aid but not the most important piece to the puzzle...

Example: On film, I shot a buck at 19 yards, head down, feeding, leg forward. Chip shot....I buried the pin right behind that leg forward at the top of the heart, squeezed off the shot and I SAW the arrow pass thru the boiler room. My buddy filming it filmed the buck run down the alphalpha field and it stopped. When it stopped he turned the camera on me. I questioned him, film the deer go down and he shook his head no...I'm puzzled. I grab my binos (take them, use them) and glassed the buck...no exit hole...I'm really puzzled. I know I shot him right above the heart.....or that's why my eyes said.

When playing the video in slow motion, the arrow was perfect but the deer dropped so far that the arrow went through his hide just above his spine. In real time my eyes didn't see the deer drop, my eyes only saw my yellow and white fletch disappear through his hide.

I don't trust what my eyes see at that exact moment. I trust what I see when the deer runs off and what my binos tell me.

If I don't see or hear the animal go down, I wait!

Sliverflicker

Learned at a young age you always wait no matter how good you think the shot was, even if I see it go down. I figure if I have waited all year to hunt then wait days, weeks, months, sometimes years forthe shot I want, I can wait another hour or two to claim my reward!
I shot one slightly angling away one time aiming for the far shoulder (26 yard shot), upon recovery of him the exit hole looked as though I had shot him quartering to me, that is some serious arrow deflection off of the ribs!
Better safe than sorry!

ijimmy

My story is similar to Rob/Pabower , the first really nice 8 point I shot in Pa was a 15 yard shot , his head was down his leg was forward , broadside shot , chipshot . I released the perfect arrow right where you want it behind the shoulder about 1/2 way up , using a vortex minimax 2 inch cut 2 blade broadhead , The deer hardly reacted just started walking away I watch him walk out of sight , to my disbelief ,I tell myself that deer shold have been deed in 20 seconds, I get down to find my arrow covered in blood , and a large puddle of blood next to my arrow . I call my buddy on the radio and he gets down and we begin tracking , a 1/2 mile latter I come up on the deer still alive and put a muzzy through him , dead on the spot .I check my entrance and exit holes for the first shot and they and dead perfect , Im stumped , just goes to show you sometimes things happen that are hard to explain .

My buddies kid from up there shot a nice 8 point way back quartering to shot , 3/4 of the way up , from the ground , Not what I would consider a good shot , and the deer went down within 50 yards .

Seeing them go down is an awesome sight but does not allways happen , even on perfect shots .

The buck I shot last year , I thought I missed from his reaction , a 5 yard shot , sliced his heart , no blood , very little that is for 50 yards and then , blod eveywhere deer died 70 yards from me but was out of my sight .

JoeRE

Never trust your eyes in regard to shot placement. I have a couple of horror stories where I learned the hard way. If you are sure, wait half an hour, if you are unsure, you better wait several hours at lease. If it went down within sight, well get your butt over there!

BigJ71

For me there is no set time I should wait till I start tracking my deer. There are far too many variables to consider and each time is different. I put a good shot on a doe last year right at sundown, I thought she would dropbut she didn't go down within sight. I wasconfident in my shot andstarted out after her in only 30min.

I did this for two reasons....One, my arrow very foamy and bubbly with lots of blood, I knew it was a double lung hit. Two, I had seen lots of coyote activity in this spot while scouting.

Sure enough when I got to my deer (about 60yds from where I shot her) she already had her tail bit off! I had got there just in time. I could hear the coyotes howling andrunning around 35-40yds awayin the pitch black of night while I field dressed her, they were not happy.

It all ended up good because I got my deer and the coyotes gotto snack on the organs.

If it had been a different situation where there were no coyotes in the area I would have waited as least an hour even though I was confident I'd put a good hit on her.

huntingson

If I do not see it go down or hear it crash, then I wait, back out and come back after a couple of hours. If it is dead, it will still be dead. If it is alive, then it will be dead by the time I get back.