Find Your Deer

You’re up in your treestand and you’ve just made a shot with your bow on a deer at twenty yards. In your mind you’re confident it was a good, clean shot and you fully expect that the deer will die quickly and humanely.

You watched the deer run off and you know the area in which it ran. So, you wait the standard twenty minutes to a half hour, you get down from the treestand and you go to look for your deer. But, you can’t find it.

You’ve already made your first mistake: You went to look for your deer before you looked for a blood trail or other sign of your deer. So, before you disturb the area where your deer likely ran, stop and go back to the place of impact. Basically, you need to start over, find a blood trail, even a few drops of blood.

You must determine what type of blood you are looking at. If it’s pinkish in colour and a little frothy with tiny air bubbles in it, then you’ve hit at least one lung. If the blood is a solid red, you may have hit the heart. If it’s very dark, you may have hit the liver. If it’s a lung hit, you should be able to find your deer. But, realize that a deer can go a long way on one lung. If you’re in luck, you got both lungs.

If you’re unsure of the hit, wait another hour. Give the animal time to expire. If you push it, it’ll likely get up and run from you. Remember, most times, when a deer is hit by an arrow, it has NO idea what it was or who was responsible for the sudden pain. They likely didn’t know you were up in the tree in the first place. The deer was just walking along and then all of the sudden, they feel the arrow. So, leave the deer alone for a while.

If you can’t find any blood, get on your hands and knees and look. Then, slowly follow it. Watch for blood on branches and leaves as high as four feet. Take your time and if you stop seeing blood, go back to where you last saw it. If you’re still having a tough time, call some friends if you can. The more eyes, the better.