Following Up After The Shot by Shawn Carlock

[ADMIN]

This is the thread for discussion of the article: Following Up After The Shot by Shawn Carlock

Here you can ask questions or make comments about the article. The author will have this thread automatically notify him of posts so he can join the discussion.

[Buffalobob]

I bowhunt the same small area year after year and I can pretty well tell you where each animal beds down even though I don't actually kill very many of them.

About 10 years ago I shot a small buck and he ran off all hunched over. I waited about a half an hour and went over to where he had been and sure enough there was my arrow covered in green slime. I went back to my car and waited for about 6 hours and then came back and picked up his trail. There was no blood so it was just tracking. There are about 6-10 deer that use that hillside so I quickly got confused as to which tracks were his. Believing that a wounded animal would not go uphill, I searched the low hillside for several hours. Finally, I was just tired and sat down on a log and pondered where could he be. The thicket up the near the top of the hill kept coming into my mind as the place where the bucks are always found bedded down and never killed because you can''t get up on them. I decided even though I had never seen a deer hurt that badly climb very much maybe he had decided to go "home". I climbed up the hill and there he lay already dead.

That is the only badly wounded animal I have ever seen go uphill, but he definitely wanted to go "home". That was what he was thinking about and that is what he did.

[Shawn Carlock]

Just about the time you thik you have them figured out they throw you a curve.

[Down Under Hunter]

Nice piece Shawn ! I know only too well you get one chance on a fresh trail !

DUH

[rocky_lange]

Great article Shawn.
Another trick I found helpful was to use my GPS, rangefinder and compass in concert.
My treestand overlooked several hundred acres of old clear cut and was now so choked up with sapplings, walking on the ground presented a problem. Dropping an animal in the thicket would pose a problem as everything at ground level looked the same. I did some thinking before commiting to hunt this location and this is what worked for me.
I shot my buck at 378 yards from the stand. From my vantage point, I could see where he expired, so I took a compass bearing from tree to deer. I then made sure my treestand was logged into my GPS. I didn't want to drag the deer all the way through the thicket to where I was, so I drove the truck to the closest logging trail to the deer. From there, I simply used my GPS to show me distance and reverse compass heading from where I was to my treestand and started in making corrections to my travel to make the numbers match and viola, there he was. Only a 65 yard drag and by using my GPS to the flagged position where I left the truck, it was pretty much in a straight line.
I don't see why it wouldn't work over a longer distance as long as your GPS gets a good signal.

Just my $.02
Rocky

[Shawn Carlock]

I don't use a GPS much but that is a good technique you used.

[the gman]

Excellent article indeed! Having tracked the blood trails of a few deer, elk & one memorable bear, I would only add that I have found it helpful to have some surveyors tape or similar to mark the blood trail as you follow it.

Mark it every 10 to 20 feet or if following a faint trail, every time the trail thins out. In this way, you can turn round & easily see the general direction the animal has taken to that point & you may get a better idea of where it's heading.

It also makes it real easy to come back to the last place you had sign when casting around looking for more blood or hair on a faint trail.

Like the idea of the GPS as well.