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I don’t know about you, but one of the worst feelings in the world is failing to recover a whitetail you’ve shot with a bullet or arrow. It happens. It’s one of the sad realities of hunting. But a lot of lost animals could have been found if the hunters practiced proven recovery strategies.
Having the privilege to hunt deer as long as I have, with a wide variety of weapons, has taught me a great deal about how to handle the situation after the shot. Yet despite that fact, it’s easy to forget the fundamentals. A recent event serves as a great example.
I was deer hunting on opening weekend with family and friends at my land in central Minnesota. I shared my elevated box blind with my 9-year old daughter Karlee. She spotted a nice buck as it broke from cover and crossed a stubble field. When the deer presented a clear broadside shot he was about 240 yards away. I had the opening for a fleeting moment and fired.
Honestly, the shot didn’t seem perfect. I felt as though I’d flinched off the vitals when I squeezed the trigger. The buck bounded with gusto, as if un-hit, and immediately disappeared into the thick cover across the field.
“I missed him Karlee,” I told my daughter.
“No Dad, I think you hit him perfect,” she answered.
We disagreed about it for a few minutes and decided we’d give it a good 30 minutes before we went over to investigate. Well, as it turned out, Karlee was right on the money. I had double-lunged the buck and he had gone just 25 yards before piling up.
Karlee’s “feeling” about the shot illustrates the #1 fundamental about recovering deer. It is…
Always assume you hit the animal.
A lot of hunters, thinking they missed, don’t take the necessary time and make the required effort to determine whether they struck the deer. Go to the exact spot where the animal stood when you shot at it. Look for hair and blood. And look for evidence of a miss too – like a struck tree in front of or behind the spot.
If there’s no sign of a strike, don’t give up. Examine the line the deer took on his escape and continue looking for sign. Even a deer with a bullet or arrow through the lungs can travel a great distance before dripping a single drop of blood. Every hunter owes it to the animal and themselves to make every effort to substantiate a clean miss.
With archery, it’s obviously easier to know if and where you hit an animal. But don’t always take a miss for granted here either. Several years ago, a bowhunter in southern Minnesota shot at and thought he missed a Boone & Crockett buck right under his stand. He saw the arrow pass safely under the vitals and stick into the ground.
Disgusted at missing this “chip shot” at the buck-of-a-lifetime, he climbed down to recover his arrow. As he put it back in his quiver, he noticed a tiny smear of blood on the shaft. He checked his own hands for blood, thinking that he’d inadvertently cut himself on the broadhead. No cuts.
He went a short distance on the buck’s tracks and found another smear. A drop here and a splash there, after thousands of yards and countless hours of tough searching, brought him to his expired trophy. As it turned out, one broadhead blade had severed a blood vessel above the deer’s hoof. It was enough to kill the animal. Luckily, he had noticed the blood on the shaft – or his buck-of-a-lifetime would have always been assumed to be the one-that-got-away.
My recent hunt with Karlee brings up fundamental #2…
Wait.
Never get out of your stand immediately and rush to the shot site. Wait, look and listen. Even if you dropped the deer in his tracks, chamber another round or nock another arrow and be on high-alert. More than one seemingly dead deer has suddenly sprung to his feet and dashed into oblivion.
If the deer has crashed away, wait at least a half hour before making chase. And that’s if you feel as though you made a perfect shot. If you know you’ve hit the paunch, hindquarter, neck or other suspected non-mortal area, wait longer. In fact, if your bullet or arrow hit off-the-mark, wait a half hour before sneaking AWAY from the shot site. Then give that animal several hours, or even wait until the next day if weather conditions allow, before getting on his trail. This will give the deer plenty of time, unpressured, to lay down and stiffen up. Chances are, you’ll find the animal laying in the first bed he curled up in.
This article has only scratched the surface of effective deer recovery. Next month I’ll get into more details. Until then, shoot straight and may all your blood trails lead to happiness.
Good Hunting.
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