Tracking Techniques For Wounded Deer
You can basically feel your heart pumping faster as the cross hairs of your scope come centered over a ten point buck. Here is the moment you have been anticipating; you gently squeeze the trigger and, Wham! You hit the deer, but it started running, so you are going to require to track it down to put the deer out of its misery. There are many tracking techniques, but there are some basic guidelines that basically every deer hunter uses.
First off, it helps a lot to know where you hit the deer. If the deer falls on the spot, then you have most likely hit it in the spinal column, brain, or right in the heart. If the deer jumps after impact, you may have shot the heart, lungs, or some muscles. If the deer is slightly hunched over and runs with its tail down, it is most likely a gut shot. After you have discovered the area that the bullet has hit, a good quality pair of binoculars, such as some Nikon sport optic binoculars, can assist in your search. If you have binoculars, you are more likely to see which direction your deer is running, and you might even see where it comes to rest.
It is good to wait some amount of time between the shot and searching for the deer because if the deer thinks it is being chased, it will keep moving, especially if it is shot in the gut. If a deer does not feel like it is being chased, there is a decent chance that it will hide on the ground in thick cover and try to rest. After laying down, the deer will have difficulties getting back to its feet and could possibly bleed out in the resting spot. After waiting anywhere from 30 minutes to a few hours, let the searching start. When you think the time is right, look for spots of blood on vegetation, trees, and on the ground. Other tell-tale signs are hair, bone fragments, russled up leaves, and hoof prints.
The important thing to keep in mind when tracking a deer is to always be patient. If you wait for a little while and just listen and observe the surroundings in the place where the deer was shot, you may hear the deer running or discover some other clues. The deer will probably lay down to rest in the meantime. Also, hunters who try to hurry the tracking process will most likely overlook many tell-tale signs and lose the trail they were pursuing. There are a couple products out there that make tracking a little less difficult, such as chemicals that light up blue when they come into contact with blood. If snow is on the ground, tracking should be much easier than in dry or rainy conditions. Finally, good hunters and trackers know that they owe it to the deer to put it out of its misery after it has been shot. Do yourself and your deer a favor by following these simple tracking tips!