Hunting situation #10

[JerryToth]

Hey Musketman;

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. May I offer one more scenario?

OK, I'm whitetail deer hunting with my 50 caliber Early Lancaster using patched roundball. Dozens of you fellows have encouraged me that it is quite adequate for whitetail.

A deer at say, 60 or 70 yards. I shoot from a well-braced position against the tree I'm hunkered down next too. I know it's a good shot. With the cloud, I can't see anything, but I do see the deer run past the edge of the cloud off into the woods. At 75 yards, I can't see the hit spot.

What do I do next? Perhaps more importantly, Why?

Ironsights Jerry.

 

[musketman]

I would reload and then go check for signs of a "HIT," then slowly follow the blood trail to it's source...

Why should you go and check is more of an ethical question, just because a deer shows no sign of being hit, doesn't mean you missed...

If you assume the shot was a miss and the deer runs off a few yards and lays down to die, it could be a lingering painful death...

Or worse, the deer lives and slowly dies from infection, with all the critters and insects feeding on it's exposed flesh...

We owe the deer a benefit of a look, at the very least...

 

[roundball]

Cause I wouldn't have missed :: ::

But seriously, as I'm sure you know, we have to assume we've hit it...heck I've made perfect heart shots on deer standing broadside 35yds in front of me and they bolt off like they haven't been touched...but pile up 25yds later

 

[Rebel]

well first off, what wuz ya doin' out in the woods with that out of date rock crusher rifle in da first place? Everbody knows ya kaint hit nuthin' with one of them 'ol timey guns. Ya gots ta have one of them new Remington 700 bolt action muzzleloaders to be able ta kill anythin'. Heck everbody knows that. Shootin' about 300grs. of them Pyrodex pellet thingees, and one of them pistol bullets in a girdle, with a 4-12 power scope on it. Heck, ain't we lernt ya nuthin ya danged idjit? :crackup: Just joshin' ya Ironsights, case ya ain't figured that out yet.

 

[Stumpkiller]

In that situstion: I kick up the leaves where I'm standing as I'm reloading (So I know Point A). I make a mental note of where the deer was and approach that spot carefully. I mark the spot I think the deer was standing with a piece of period correct toilet paper. Little inch-sized pieces of T.P., stick in bark or on branches, or just placed beside the drips of blood are a big help. I then s_l_ o_w_l_y begin a fan-shaped sweep of the area behind that spot, looking for any hair, blood, fat, tissue displaced by the ball. Even if I find nothing, I'll then follow the deer's path (as best as guessed through the smoke screen), again, in a slow zig-zag fan pattern.

One trick I've used is to drag 30 ft of 1/4 inch line behind me as I bloodtrail (in addition to the little T.P. pieces). If you lose the trail, drop it. When you pick it up again leave something at that spot and bring the line forward again. This gives you a good visual track of the line the deer is traveling. I generally hunt in heavy cover, and I find blood & tissue in the knee level brush and undergrowth.

Sometime it looks like they were using a Wagner PowerSprayer and others there's nothing but disturbed leaf litter as a visual clue. Move carefully and don't spoil the spoor, as you might need to go back and re-affirm your course. The best events, of course, are where the deer piles up in sight.

And then, there's the situation where you noticed the deer arch it's back, tuck it's tail and hop off oddly, and as the smoke clears you notice the branch a few feet in front of you is bouncing around with a fresh, ball radius sized chip missing out of it. Erk. Your best bet in this case is to wait at least a half hour before following the deer's flight path. Look for corn or green stomach contents as well as blood. Sniff close to the ground - you'll remember the smell once you've sampled it. The inside of deer has a distinct odor.

In all cases; be patient, keep your cool, look up and scan ahead frequently, try to think like a wounded deer ("find thick cover, the way I came was safe before this bozo popped up, if I jump sideways 12 feet he'll loose my scent (deer don't know YOU can't smell THEM), downhill seems easier at the moment, button-hook so I can see if he's following me" - or whatever the equivalent non-language deer thoughts would be). And always remember: deer sometimes do just the opposite of what you would expect.

 

[musketman]

Your best bet in this case is to wait at least a half hour before following the deer's flight path.

Problem is with this, in a half hour time, someone else could find your deer and tag it for themselves...

 

[JerryToth]

Hi all;

Musketman, yes we always look... Shucks once when I hit a twig a few yards in front of the muzzle while shooting at a deer 100 yards out, (with a 243 Centerfire), I still spent 4 hours looking... just in case. And with that little high speed bullet, you know it blew up at the twig.

Stumpkiller, I like the idea of pulling a long string to show the general direction. I carry a 100' roll of orange surveyor's tape with me and maybe I can just unroll and pull that if I ever get a tough tracking job.

Hopefully, now that I've retired the 243, I won't have that problem again! If it was allowed here on this forum, I could go on for quite a while talking about how superior the muzzleloader is to the 243 for deer! But I won't talk about that!

Regards to all,

Ironsights Jerry.

 

[roundball]

I carry a quarter roll of TP squashed flat in a ziploc bag for possible tracking jobs if I shoot one right at dark...if any small pieces get left behind rain dissolves them shortly so there's no litter

 

[54JNoll]

THe other posts pretty well summed it all up. After any shot you got to follow up. A deer can change direct 3 to four times in 100yards so marking blood as you go becomes important.

One time I made a shot which felt good. I heard the deer run off into the woods. Wind was calm so the smoke lingered and fully obscured everything. I could not see where the deer entered the brush. I marked where I shot from and had a mental image of where the deer was when shot. I took a compass bearing and walked to the spot. It was not far but this would give me another reference to my Shoot location. Once at the spot I looked for blood. NONE. I did see where the deer had dug in making his escape. I knew he ran to my right because I heard him run that way. I followed some turned up leaves for 60 yards in through the woods and found the deer. Finally found blood just before the deer fell. I knew he was down because I could hear the stumbling and brush crashing. A friend came over to help as he heard my shot. Neither of us found any blood even when backtracking the deer. Fortunately he ran in a straight line.

I had a doe that dropped little pin pricks of blood earlier that year that changed direction many times. Took 2 hours to track her 100 yards.