[mysticguido]

OK... How do you track deer? I know everyone might say .... Look for Blood , Ture that is the best way to track deer, But what if there was no Blood . Do you know how to track deer then?

I have found,
tracks in soft dirt, You can us your hand to push down the dirt and see how old the track is. That is used mainly when you Spot & stalk .

Leaves turned over, check the leaves they should be just a couple. In a small area, Big area, most likely tree rats.

Brush, This is the most widely used tracking methed out there. It help so much in, that it tells you which way the game is moving .

Dropings, Those Great little black babies, God I love them. Why you ask.... They tell you, What the deer is eating, which way he/she is moving, how far away they maybe ( steamy beebee's no more the 5 minutes in front of you )

The best way to track deer is to be able to see the deer move in front of you.

Lets go back to Blood trails . If you start out with a nice trail, and then is starts to fade out. Mark it with a arrow or branch. Then start doing sweeps. ( side to side ) keep in mind to look under the leaves on the branches, deer are around waist higth. Check the leaves on the ground too, any that looks like it was moved. It could have flipped over.


I have seen there is some young hunters on here that might need to some help or ideas, tricks, hints, and most of all Understanding of wild game. Please anyone feel free to ask anything. Like the post on " Scouting"

 

[Matty]

Great idea for a thread MG. This is one of the most over-looked aspects of hunting, yet it is one of the most important.

Last year my tracking skills and perseverance were tested when I shot a large buck. As the shot set forth, the buck turned causing the arrow to lodge in the near shoulder. At first there was little amounts of blood, and then it became a lot for a short ways.

Using techniques you described about turned over leaves, and small ruffled leaves we were able to track them and mere specks (pindrops) of blood that spanned out for over 300 yards. On the third day, blood was too dry to discern by eye, so we resorted to a trick, many might not know about. Hydrogen Peroxide, when sprayed on blood, causes it to bubble and foam up white. This helped us track his movements through a thicket we could only crawl through. We found where he had entered and then exited and then reentered this tangle of thorns and branches. Unfortunately on the fourth day, after tedious grid searching through this impenetrable thicket, and surrounding hardwoods, I called the search off. Knowing what type of hit you had helps you to figure on when and how to track a deer as well.

Its something all hunters should know. A great book about it is by ??? Trout Jr. I will have to find out the name of the author and book later, but it is a great read, and really covers all aspects of game recovery.

Good job Mystic![up]
By the way, if any of you on here ever have trouble finding a deer this season, or any season, let us know on here. There are many on here with YEARS of experience, and there is no shame in asking for help from a good woodsman. Afterall, it could save the loss of an animal![up] I know Ive recruited the help of people who know more than I more than once over the years!

 

[mysticguido]

Well said Matty

Hunters Helping Hunters What A Wonderful Thing

 

[bloodtrails]

Sometimes I take my dog for a walk....

 

[nightstalker911]

Keep toilet tissue or paper towels with you. If it's not a large blood trail, hang a piece of tissue on a limb above the blood spots. Then if you lose the trail you can look back over your shoulder and see the line of tissue. This may give you a general direction to look in. This works especially good after dark, when everything looks the same.It can also get you back to your stand. ( a poor man's GPS ) I've also gotten down on all fours and patted the leaves with a paper towel on my hand. The smallest spot of blood will show up on a white paper towel. The best way to track though, is to shoot straight ! Double lung or heart shots, usually don't go to far and bleed out well.
For those REALLY hard to find deer, do what I do, I call my wife, she's a more patient tracker than I'll ever be
Remember to retrieve the paper you used marking the trail.

 

[Geneo]

Have the state to p [no swearing please] the bill so you can use tracking dogs to finded the deer. They work real well no lost DEER ,they were trying to p [no swearing please] or get the bill going last year.

 

[mysticguido]

Good point Geneo, Dog's are Hunters Best Friend. Dog's are also a great hunting tool, From small game to tracking Bear & Mountian Lion.

 

[conan]

Matty,
The book is Finding Wounded Deer: by John Trout Jr. It's excellent as is Finding Wounded Deer: by Richard P. Smith. About dogs. My brother arrowed a doe a few years back on a Saturday, so we went back the next day. The darn dog took off and 150yds later we caught up with him biting the heck out of the carcas.
Here's a story regarding peroxide. Many years ago (20 or so) I was going to go hunting, and the night before, as I was shaving, I cut myself. I didn't have a styptic pencil, so I used peroxide to clean up. Now in my hunting career, I had lost 2 Deer up until that point. (only 1 since) One deer went into a swamp, and the other up in Flatbrook Roy a bear got. Anyway, a light bulb went off inside my head, about using peroxide to BLOODTRAIL a deer. We all know that in the fall, leaves have small red flecks on them that look like blood. Well I started using it, and it has served me well ever since (as has toilet tissue). A few years later, I'm, at the Whitetail Jamboree, and I see a couple of"young guys" at this booth, and they're asking this guy about this new "trailing spray". He's selling it for at that time $6.99 for a 7oz bottle. Looking to help, I grab the one kid and tell him that the spray is only hydrogen peroxide with food coloring added to it. Needless to say, I convinced the kid to go to the store and buy a bottle of peroxide for .99 cents.
Then I thought about it. I should have thought about asdding food coloring to the peroxide, then marketing it.

 

[nightstalker911]

Yep, peroixide does work, but I've gotten cheaper in my old age. I bought several large bottles of peroxide to whiten deer skulls for European mounts ( see below )

after whitening the skulls, I poured the peroxide back into the bottles, and used it in a spray bottle for tracking future European Mounts

 

[mysticguido]

Thats a nice tip nightstalker911

 

[Kevo]

Thanks again guys for the info, great thread. As a new hunter and old fisherman, everyone on this site makes it very easy to ask questions whithout feeling the shame. Hats off to all for making this web site so great [up]

 

[Geneo]

Great Tip [up][up][up]