Deer Tracking Advice for New Muzzleloader Hunters

[ravenousfishing]

Well for many of us, deer season is done or winding down. Here in Maryland, we still have a late 3 day firearm season this weekend and then we're done with the smokepoles til October. A thread started this weekend by a fellow Md hunter got me thinking about a couple of similer questions I had when I first got back into muzzleloading hunting back in 2007. The replies I got from people on this forum were invaluable in keeping up my confidance in traditional rifles for hunting. I only wished I had had this knowledge before I started hunting with the PRB, as the learning curve wouldn't have been so steep.
I figured I'd repost these links so that newer hunters would have a better idea of what to expect than what their preconcieved notions may or may not be.
Bottom line is that if you do your part with the rifle, the PRB (or conical for that matter)WILL do its job. You just may need to look a little harder for your deer.
After my first season back: http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/214729/post/498875/hl//fromsearch/1/
After My 3rd season: http://www.muzzleloadingforum.com/fusionbb/showtopic.php?tid/241734/post/800325/hl//fromsearch/1/
And this weekend:
"On the shot, she kicked, ran about 30 yds and stopped. I watched for a couple min through binoculars as she walked away slowly, but never wobbleing or showing any sign of being hit. In fact, one of the other does stopped running as well. As I played it over in my head, I knew I had a good sight picture when I fired, and I'm plenty comfortable with this rifle at this range. I decided to climb down a few minutes later and sneak out to the field, that way I wouldn't push her if it was a poor shot and we could come back after retrieving my buddies deer.
Back at the barn, the 3 of us realized that somehow, we had all left our bright LED lights at home. So we scrounged up a few weaker lights and a Coleman lantern and off we went for my buddies deer. We picked up her blood trail easily in the snow and found her piled up maybe 20 yds into the woods. By now It had been an hour since I had shot so we went to look for my deer. I went to where I was pretty sure she was standing and........nothing. I walked up the path a bit and back in case I was wrong, but not a drop of blood. Man you've got to be kidding. Last week I had shot a doe with the same rifle and there was blood sprayed out both sides of her trail, making it easy to follow. When I went back to where I thought she was standing, my friend pointed out a 3 ft long furrow in the snow and leaves and said that looks like where your bullet went, and sure enough, it lined up perfectly with the stand. But, no hair, no blood. Nothing. Again, I ran it all through my mind, but couldnt see how I missed. With the snow, it didnt take long to find where the 3 deer had run from the kicked up dirt and leaves. One buddy walked in on one trail, another started near the furrow, and I went to where I had last seen her. after 15 min of searching, my buddy following the trail of leaves found her piled up 50 yds from where she was shot. There was one drop of blood 5 ft from where she lay. The .530 RB over 110g ffg had passed through both lungs and 2 ribs before exiting into the ground.
I guess the moral of this overly long story is you gotta play the cards that are dealt you. Be familer with your equiptment and dont give up just because there is no blood. If you feel that you should have hit your target, you probably did."

 

[Carl Fowler III]

Sounds as if ye had a high lung hit and the lungs needed to fill before blood leaked out profusely, she was probably spraying a light misty blood on surrounding brush and grass and very little was being deposited to the snow at ground level. Your poor lighting could have missed this and the hair from the wound that fell to the ground....happened to me this year and it wasn't till I went back the next day that I found the hair in the snow. You very well could have been side tracked by your buddy spotting the bullet path in the snow which could have caused you to believe you had missed...you did well to stick to it and follow all possible leads...never give up till your positive! :hatsoff:

 

[mzloder]

"Deer Tracking Advice for New Muzzleloaders"

Get closer, shoot them in the head!



LOL!

Seriously though, I almost always opt for the shoulder shot. Broken bone fragments make wonderful secondary projectiles! They bleed profusely and generally are DRT! I took the head shot on this button buck simply because he was sooooo close, 11 paces from my blind!

 

[Kapow]

I have shot several deer with the bow using multi blade razor sharp broadheads and not found a single drop of blood even with double lung hits, same with a bear I heart shot.

It may have something to do with whether they are inhaling or exhaling at the shot, who knows. One thing I find very helpful in recovering game is to just sit back and study the terrain ahead and think like a deer - now where would I run? More often than not they are on that path, but they are ALWAYS in their last tracks.

 

[lonewolf465]

I shoot patched round ball and fortunately have never had anything like that happen using that equipment. However, during the "conventionial" firearms season, the buck I shot never missed a beat. Cleared two barbwire fences and disappeared in a cedar grove. As I watched this, I thought, how did that happen? 90 yard shot, braced on a post, controlled my breathing, pressed the trigger and followed through on the shot. I found the spot where he was standing (we had fresh snow) and no blood. I found one tiny drop and some hair at the second fence he cleared. He was piled up under a cedar tree about 30 yards further. A small, 2 inch blood spot under him. The chest cavity was completely filled. A fatal shot but I know some would have walked away. I can't get myself to do that unless I am positive I missed.

 

[oldude]

Give em time. Even if you see them drop after the shot(in their tracks or after a short run)I give em 30 min cuz just because they went down don't meen thet are dead, If they go out of sight after the shot then give em an hour at least.If they are dead they ain't going anywhere but if they are laying down and not dead you might push/spook em into the next county.

Often there is more blood above ground (knee to waist high)than on the ground, alot of young/new hunters think of blood drops and not of blood spray. And they don't always start bleeding right away

 

[Old Creek]

i agree, i spent hours looking for sign on a spike i couldnt see how i missed with my bow then went home got my daughter (eagle eye) and spent another hour or so before i was convinced and even then went back for days looking. ive watched a couple of gut shot deer die and never want to see it again, i can stand my pain fine but yours will kill me.

creek

 

[30coupe]

High lung shots don't leave much of a blood trail no matter what you shoot them with. I double lunged a buck with a big Zwickey Delta a few years ago. I found two drops of blood no bigger than a pencil eraser between my arrow and the buck, but he was very dead indeed. The chest cavity was full of blood, but he tipped over before it had time to start spilling on the ground. Since I could see him lying in the open, it wasn't a big deal.

Broadside shots through the lungs are deadly, but not necessarily easy to track. Aim low!

 

[Dave K]

Lots of great advice in this thread. I can sure tell that many have been there and done that. :hatsoff: