Do you push a single lung hit deer?

[Uncle Lou]

I forget with all the talk on Dan's recent buck, and past topics. Just had a friend call, he's a few miles north on public and just hit a deer high. Put the 40 yd pin on a 30 something yd deer.

Anyway, in talking we think he has one lung. As I was typing he called just found arrow and pink on flethching.

We still think It is a single lung. I am planning to head out to help in a bit.

Do we push this deer or give it time?

[dan]

Push it if there is no danger of it leaving the property...

[Uncle Lou]

There is always that danger, but it is a pretty big piece of public several hundred acres +

Thanks Dan

[dan]

Here is some jumbled nots from a book I have been working on:

BLOOD TRACKING
I believe blood trailing is one of the most misunderstood things in hunting today.
Anything other than guts or liver I track immediately if there is no danger of pushing it over a border where I can't go. As a 1st responder, I can tell you this, the 1st thing you want to do with a wounded person is calm them down so the adrenalin ( a natural blood thinner ) quits affecting the blood, and slow the heart rate so it does not pump all the blood out of the wounds... With a flesh, heart, or lung hit deer, you want them to keep the wound open and keep it from clotting by pushing him ( if you have enough land to do so without pushing to somewhere you can't recover from.) You want to keep his heart pumping, and the adrenalin blood thinner pumping into the blood stream.
Old school beliefs like smoke a cigarette, or wait 30 minutes make absolutely no sense from any standpoint.
Why would anyone wait 30 minutes? Thats just enough time for the deer to lay down, calm down, and clot up. and if its a liver wound it could take 4 to 8 hours to die, so waiting a 1/2 hour means letting him stop bleeding then chasing him to where you won't find him. Gut hit deer can take 12 hours, even longer if its intestine rather than stomach, but still a dead deer.
So my answer would be if you suspect liver or guts is at all possible wait over night... If not, track immediately if you have tracking room without kicking off the property.

Of the 1 lung shot deer I have tracked, I have recovered about 50% of the ones I pushed and about 15% of the ones I waited on... I recovered a friends Boone and crockett deer after he shot it in the lower front leg. We took turns chasing it for a couple days never letting it rest or clot up till it ran out of blood... I hit one simalar and had simalar results but in less than a day of chasing.
I am sure there are some cases where you could loose a flesh or lung hit deer by tracking to soon, but my experiances have shown that pushing those types of hits ensures a constant blood trail leading to the animal. Sure I loose the occasional animal, but thats because of the poor hit, and a deer that would not of been found had I waited.
The point is that there is no legitamate or scientific reason for waiting a 1/2 hour or hour. Shot through both lungs or heart, dead within minutes... Shot thru liver could take up to 12 hours ( so why wait an hour? ) Guts, could take 12 hours.
Flesh wounds will stop bleeding and clot up when the deer lies down. Same with one lungers. Waiting an hour often means having a good blood trail that leads to the bucks 1st bed, when you get there he either gets up and leaves not leaving much of a blood trail or he is lying there dead, in which case he would of been found anyway.

I am basing this on tracking litterly hundreds of deer over the years... Its hard to abandon what Dad's, grandfathers, and mentors have passed down over the years. But lots of old school logic don't fly.
Luckily 90% of the deer I have tracked have been lying at the end of the blood trauil no matter how fast I track. Of the remaining 10% about 6% is gut or liver and needs to be backed off on. Easy to determine by looking at the blood and arrow for residue. Of the remaining 4%, pushing in my opinion will definatly kill the deer quicker, and in some cases kill a deer that would not of even died.
you have to consider your land borders as well as you hit, before deciding to push or wait.

My personal experiance has shown the most dramatic increase on recovery being with one lung hit deer. I used to loose a lot, and still do when the hunter has let the deer sit for a while. Often after the first bed the only blood is the stuff coming out of the nose and mouth. But when pushed they bleed out pretty good. In a lot of cases I have had to dispatch a live deer that just can't get the energy to get away anymore at the end of the trail. However, with the deer that have gotten away after letting them sit, I have seen some, not many, but a few, deer survive one lung hits. I shot a buck a few seasons ago that only had one lung from a wound the year before... But most die of pnumonia blood loss, or infection.

My suggestion would be to look closely at the blood on the arrow and ground. Liver blood is dark red... I will see if I hany pictures. Gut hits generally have either tiny pieces of food stuck to the arrow in the blood and a slight stench to the arrow, or a green slime on the arrow depending on which stomach chamber you hit. Low exit stomach hits often have white belly hair near the arrow blow out. Both stomach and liver hits are always fatal, but if tracked to soon the deer might not be recovered.

gut shot I've done the deer will hunch when walking or running away. It's a for sure sign. The sound of the arrow hitting Is different too then that of a lung hit. Your arrow will stink like poop If you catch the Intestines. Like Dan said It will have a stink to It and have a greenish or brownish color to It as well. Gut shots are easy recoveries If treated correctly.

I like to carry a roll of toilet paper for tracking wounded deer, bear, or other game... I use the cheap unperfumed plain white stuff.
Every few feet you drop a sheet when blood is heavy. When its scarce you mark every few feet and "last blood"...
You can look back and see the white sheets for quite a distance and really see a direction of travel or get a feel for what the deer is doing, or where its headed... You can leave the last blood and search ahead a little and still come right back to last blood if need be.
Wounded game can also run you in circles and get your sense of direction screwy with your mind on finding the deer rather than staying un-lost.
You can always follow the toilet paper right back out.
If you radio or cell phone for help tracking or dragging, the guys can go right to you by following your paper trail...

why they head for water, when wounded ?
I don't think its thirst. I think the wound burns and they want to sooth it or stop the burning by laying the wound in water... I really have not seen this much withy "gut" hit deer. Liver hits seem to be the ones that head for water. However, before you claim im wrong, keep in mind a lot of the time when you got guts, you also have liver.

[kenn1320]

I respectfully disagree with Dan on this one. If you have doubts, leave that deer till morning. If its one lung, you will find him in the first bed, or close to it. If you push him, they can and will go a long way. Every step that animal takes is another foot you have to try to find sign of the direction he went. Get that deer up bounding and good luck staying on his track. If its a lethal shot, would you rather chase him for miles/hours, or grid search and find where he bedded within 200yds of the shot?

Dan lets say the shot is going to take 1hr for that deer to die. What are you gaining by chasing it around and constantly jumping it? Are you hoping to get another shot into it? Even if pushing it caused it to die in 30 minutes, thats a lot of distance and chance to loose sign on where the animal went. If not pushed that deer will likely hide and you will find it, even if grid searching is needed due to lack of sign. Much easier to grid a small area, then a large area.

[BCam]

I respectfully disagree with Dan on this one. If you have doubts, leave that deer till morning. If its one lung, you will find him in the first bed, or close to it. If you push him, they can and will go a long way. Every step that animal takes is another foot you have to try to find sign of the direction he went. Get that deer up bounding and good luck staying on his track. If its a lethal shot, would you rather chase him for miles/hours, or grid search and find where he bedded within 200yds of the shot?

Dan lets say the shot is going to take 1hr for that deer to die. What are you gaining by chasing it around and constantly jumping it? Are you hoping to get another shot into it? Even if pushing it caused it to die in 30 minutes, thats a lot of distance and chance to loose sign on where the animal went. If not pushed that deer will likely hide and you will find it, even if grid searching is needed due to lack of sign. Much easier to grid a small area, then a large area.

I think he is saying that if you give it time that is actually allowing it to survive by allowing it calm it's heart rate down and clotting up, allowing the deer to survive days, weeks or until he gets shot again. By pushing it, it keeps the blood pumping and exhausts the deer to near death from loss of blood and choking on it.
Thats just my take on it. I used to think opposite but that does make sense to me.

[Stanley]

I have been on many one lung tracking encounters over the years. A one lung hit deer is a tough one to recover. If you push the buck they can travel for miles and get out of searching range in a hurry. A one lung hit buck can live for days and longer. If you don't push them they can bed down, but usually keep moving. It's a crap shoot on what to do. I think to push a fresh buck arrowed only a few hrs ago is counter productive. I think to push a deer that has laid overnight and is weaker is more productive. Either way I don't like your chances. Good luck on finding him.

[dan]

Dan lets say the shot is going to take 1hr for that deer to die. What are you gaining by chasing it around and constantly jumping it? Are you hoping to get another shot into it? Even if pushing it caused it to die in 30 minutes, thats a lot of distance and chance to loose sign on where the animal went. If not pushed that deer will likely hide and you will find it, even if grid searching is needed due to lack of sign. Much easier to grid a small area, then a large area.

I think any arrowed buck taking "1 hour" to die is very rare... Most 1 lung bucks actually die either from blood loss rather quickly, or they die between several days or weeks from infection or pnemoinia.
Once they lay down its usually game over because they have stopped bleeding.... As Stanly put it, its tough to recover a one lunger... I used to have the same beliefs as you. Mainly because I litened to others rather than looking at the facts...
Really, the percentage of found deer has gone up greatly for me by pushing one lungers...
The biggest draw back is that they cover a lot of ground and in a lot of cases will leave the area you have permission to track them on...
Looking at the one lunger I hit last week and trying to pick apart the tracking job ( something I always do to dicipher whether or not there are things that could of been done differently )
Pushing him that night pushed him out of the property I could hunt him on... It took me to long to find his 1st bed ( 800 yards from where he was shot ) I kicked him off the property... Where his bed was located would not have been searched in the morning due to rain washing out blood and I would of never expected that spot as a bedding spot.
Also, in the morning the buck woulf of still been alive, and absolutly not been bleeding...
The only big downfall is that by kicking him off that property he will likely die where I cannot retrieve the rack... But in my opinion, I probably don't deserve it anyway.

[Stanley]

Dan lets say the shot is going to take 1hr for that deer to die. What are you gaining by chasing it around and constantly jumping it? Are you hoping to get another shot into it? Even if pushing it caused it to die in 30 minutes, thats a lot of distance and chance to loose sign on where the animal went. If not pushed that deer will likely hide and you will find it, even if grid searching is needed due to lack of sign. Much easier to grid a small area, then a large area.

I think any arrowed buck taking "1 hour" to die is very rare... Most 1 lung bucks actually die either from blood loss rather quickly, or they die between several days or weeks from infection or pnemoinia.
Once they lay down its usually game over because they have stopped bleeding.... As Stanly put it, its tough to recover a one lunger... I used to have the same beliefs as you. Mainly because I litened to others rather than looking at the facts...
Really, the percentage of found deer has gone up greatly for me by pushing one lungers...
The biggest draw back is that they cover a lot of ground and in a lot of cases will leave the area you have permission to track them on...
Looking at the one lunger I hit last week and trying to pick apart the tracking job ( something I always do to dicipher whether or not there are things that could of been done differently )
Pushing him that night pushed him out of the property I could hunt him on... It took me to long to find his 1st bed ( 800 yards from where he was shot ) I kicked him off the property... Where his bed was located would not have been searched in the morning due to rain washing out blood and I would of never expected that spot as a bedding spot.
Also, in the morning the buck woulf of still been alive, and absolutly not been bleeding...
The only big downfall is that by kicking him off that property he will likely die where I cannot retrieve the rack... But in my opinion, I probably don't deserve it anyway.

Pushing in the dark and pushing in daylight are two different things for sure. Single lung is just a tough find. A muscle hit is a push only situation if any recovery is to happen. Like I said though in the dark you have a hard time pushing hard enough because the tacking process is so slow. I think bucks hit early morning and then pushed hard are recovered more often than PM hit bucks and pushed hard. If you hunt with archery equipment there is a very fine line between success and failure.

[dan]

Pushing in the dark and pushing in daylight are two different things for sure. Single lung is just a tough find. A muscle hit is a push only situation if any recovery is to happen. Like I said though in the dark you have a hard time pushing hard enough because the tacking process is so slow. I think bucks hit early morning and then pushed hard are recovered more often than PM hit bucks and pushed hard. If you hunt with archery equipment there is a very fine line between success and failure.

That is a very good point Stan, and one I had never considered... Thinking back, most of my one lung recoverys were shot in the morning. Deer might also have a tendancy to move farther in the dark..

[Schultzy]

I've been on a bunch of one lung hit animals through out the years Including my own and everyone that was one lung hit we have gotten. Only one survived for longer then 2 hours, that was a 70lb doe fawn (go figure). He hit her that morning and we chased her around all day till the evening. Went back the next morning and found her dead 100 yards away from where we last stopped. It's a proven fact that a one lung hit animal can survive and make It at times but I think the term gets used all too often. I'd bet 70% of supposed one lung hit deer aren't even hit In the lungs but rather above them In the loins above the spine. So with my experiences I'll treat It no different until I get burned. I hate pushing deer but It's a very productive tactic with the right hit.

[Dor]

I've been on a bunch of one lung hit animals through out the years Including my own and everyone that was one lung hit we have gotten. Only one survived for longer then 2 hours, that was a 70lb doe fawn (go figure). He hit her that morning and we chased her around all day till the evening. Went back the next morning and found her dead 100 yards away from where we last stopped. It's a proven fact that a one lung hit animal can survive and make It at times but I think the term gets used all too often. I'd bet 70% of supposed one lung hit deer aren't even hit In the lungs but rather above them In the loins above the spine. So with my experiences I'll treat It no different until I get burned. I hate pushing deer but It's a very productive tactic with the right hit.

[ Post made via Android ]

[kenn1320]

The 1hr was a hypothetical Dan for talking purposes, not a specific number. The biggest property I have shot deer on in Michigan is 80 acres. Even a double lung shot can be off that property in 30 seconds of full tilt running. A liver hit if pushed, your loosing that deer to a property line. If you had big areas where you could chase a deer all day and have it circle around over and over, have fun if thats what you chose. I know the buck I shot in KS was not dead after 5min as I heard him cough. Luckily for me I was texting about my success and waiting 30min to track him. He was only yards from the property line and the farmer told me if that deer crosses to the neighbors, you do not go after it. I thought I made a text book double lung shot, and had I got down and pushed that deer, I would have lost him to a fence line. Every situation is different and every persons ability's are different. YOU can stay on a bloodless track for a long time apparently, where others(including myself) reading this cannot. They may take your push advice and loose the track after 150yds. I still say for "most" hunters, give them time the minute you realize its a poor hit or don't find the deer within 150yds. IF you jump that deer, back out.

[dan]

Bump

[xpauliber]

Bump

Thanks Dan. Great reading and certainly one of the most challenging hits to successfully recover.