tips for tracking, anyone have some?

[scott]

Feel like typing this morning, maybe it is the rain and the cool weather we are getting.   i am new to predator hunting and this will be my first year of trapping, so i do not have a lot to offer on those subjects but i can on others:  

No matter how good of shot you or your buddy are, it is only going to be a matter of time before you hit a deer and the shot will not be the best.   i it a very bad feeling to hit one and not be able to find it, but practice and what you do after the shot can help in the recovery or a second shot.  

when hunting small game or walking in the woods, if you jump a deer watch it and see where it runs, then go down to the area and try and track the animal as far as you can.  after awhile you will learn how to track them pretty far just by looking for kicked up leaves and what their tendencies are.  deer are a creature of habit and most of time they will do the same things.   i you do hit one and do not recover it, keep going back to the area until you do find it, watch for crows.  once you do find it try and trace its steps back and see if you can figure anything out.

things i have learned:   deer hit will go uphill,  if you hit one and think it was not so good let them go for as long as possible, they are much harder to find after you jump them.   be as quiet as possible when tracking and always look for them ahead of you, do not get so tied up on the blood trail and always looking down.  always carry toilet paper with you, when you find blood put a peice on the ground.  when you loose the blood trail start doing figure 8's in all directions for about 50 yards before you get on your hands and knees.

[bigben]

I find it to be true the other way around.  if they are hit they will generally go anywhere.  at that point a sound and a pain startled the deer.  when you hit one good you will generally see them go down a hill.  atleast in my experiences.  I have tracked a few marginally hit deer a couple times in the past.  the best thing is get two people and one stands at the last drop of blood and the other searchs.  The first thing after the shot wheather it be rifle or bow i look and listen.  most of the time you can hear a deer either bed down or crash hard.  if it beds down give the animal atleast 2 hours.  I hunt private property so this is not a problem.  if you hear it crash a lot of times it was dead once it hit the ground.  but I still give em 30 minutes.  get settled down and rerun the shot throught your head.  so far I have only had one that we could not find but I believe that I clipped just the sliver of flesh enough for a few drops of blood.  another thing that most deer do when you hit them is haunch up.  if I see this alot of times I know I hit it in atleast a vital shot.

[Buckwheat]

A friend just e mailed me about tracking a deer useing this.I never used this light but believe in his ability on tracking.

This is some of what he said to me.

Primos Bloodhunter blood tracking light which did an outstanding job of making the blood trail stand out from the surrounding leaves and ground cover.

[slyfox]

If the trail weak... I carry a spray bottle with peroxide and spray it as I start to loose the trail ,the blood then foams up and turns white...also carry flagging tape.and mark the trail  as I go with small pieces of tape so if you loose the trail you can stand back and see the direction the deer is traveling with out the need to retrack a disturbed trail.Helped me find many deer .......on the other hand .....if you take your time and place your shot   you will find your deer tracking adventures will be far and few between....JME/O