elk yinzer wrote:I'm not real long in the tooth but I've been tracking deer with my family just about since I could walk. And I have some family who can't shoot for chit. I kinda consider tracking one of my fortes. I'm just going to address a few things
I've never seen a a muscle hit deer recovered by pushing it or not pushing it. Muscle hits go one of two ways. One, you get a big artery and a short trail to a dead deer. Two, you have good blood for about 100 yards that peters out then nothing and the deer survives. There is no way you are catching up to a deer that merely has a sore shoulder or rump. Muscle hits, your decision is irrelevant. It's luck whether you caught enough artery or not.
Gut shot deer (including liver) you absolutely, positively, 100% do not want to push. A gut shot deer will be dead in a bed within 200 yards if you don't push it. Usually 100. Once pushed out of that first bed? There's no telling. Bumping gut shot deer too soon I would venture accounts for 90% plus of the wounding loss, bow or rifle. Time with a gut shot deer? 2 -24 hours. Depends what guts you hit. 8 hours is usually safe in that the deer isn't going to go real far if you do bump it. If it's really hot, go a little sooner. I hear a lot of self-proclaimed experts say 4 hours. That is bare naked minimum. They'll be getting sick but can still have a lot of vigor after 4 hours. Rain? Forget the excuse that you have to track before it rains, that's baloney. I'll grid search a deer that I know is within 200 yards all day. Once you start bumping them, a grid search is a wing and a prayer.
Single lung I think you have to bifurcate into the two categories. Category one is bad horizontal angle where you're generally going to quarter into guts. Treat that like a gut shot. Category two is bad vertical angle where really all you hit is one lung. Category 2 is the one shot where I can buy the theory that you push them, the only scenario I believe that is the right play. But that's a rare scenario. I've tracked hundreds of deer and I can think of one instance where that was the suspected case. We didn't find that deer. But you have to know confidently that was your shot to call that play.
Double lung/heart shot? Dead, congrats, go track right away if you saw or heard the crash. If not, better just to wait an hour in case you saw wrong. Give you some time to get off the adrenaline high so you can make decisions with a clear mind.
Where the game theory comes in is when you don't know for certain where you hit. Or you think you hit good but come to find evidence that maybe not. A lot of tracking is just that, knowing how to gather the clues to arrive at an educated guess where the deer is hit thereby determining the proper play to call (time to wait). It's way too situational for always/never rules, but waiting is usually the correct play.
I agree and your observations are spot on with mine. We may even be related with the family comment.
It has been a long long time since I have been on a track job where we didn't get the animal and I feel that it was mortally wounded. One thing that hurts me now is that my eyesight isn't as good as it once was and I sometimes can't pick up the blood as well. My 2 youngest kids are very good trackers though and will pick up the tiniest flecks of blood that I simply can't see.
Something that factors in to my decision of when to track is the weather conditions and if it is a large buck or not. I am not going to let a doe sit overnight when the temps are hot. I will take my chances after a few hours.
Another random thought. I much prefer when trailing with blood to do so at night. I can stay focused on the blood trail at hand and don't try to look ahead as much. It is even easier for me to see the blood. Now when it gets to grid searching then daylight is obviously better.