# Qrtr away shot resulted in not tracking my 10-pointer



## rightkey (May 31, 2007)

I shot a beautiful 10-point buck this weekend. He presented a shot quartering to me @ 20 yards, but i read this is not a good shot. I waited for a broadside. It happened, but by the time I drew back and got a pin on him, he turned and was quartering away (may-be 30 degrees). I shot as I normally do: 1/3 up from the bottom of his chest, and right behind his shoulder (may-be 3 inches further back than usual). I thought it was a perfect shot. I thoguht he'd be down in 50 yards. I waited over an hour. Blood was deep red and had bubbles, so I thought I hit at least one lung. I tracked the blood for .4 miles and the blood fadded. I looked for 3 hours that night, then resumed the following day. No luck. Any ideas what happened?


----------



## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

When you take a quartering away shot line up with the far foreleg that will seem too far back but its actaully not and will kill them everytime, catching both lungs and maybe the heart or liver depending on the angle.

Right behind the shoulder on that shot will only hit one lung.

Hes dead I would go back with a dog maybe you could salvage the rack.

Go downhill from where you lost the track and head toward water if its near, then walk agrid with the dog.


----------



## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

picture?


----------



## USSapper (Sep 26, 2005)

R y a n said:


> picture?


Thems are fightin words.......Thats cold Ryan


----------



## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Get an army and grid walk those woods, a mile in every direction.


----------



## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

USSapper said:


> R y a n said:
> 
> 
> > picture?
> ...


My bad... didn't mean it like that... thought he had found it after a while and had a pic of the deer.

I was hoping he also had a pic of the blood trail or something similar...


----------



## Chuck Smith (Feb 22, 2005)

Did the arrow pass through?

What is sounds like is you hit one lung and then caught the opposite shoulder. The deer is dead. Like mentioned....Do down hill from where you last saw blood. Get a couple of people to help you track. Good luck and I hope you find it.


----------



## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

Like stated shoot for the far shoulder. You have to shoot the deer back at an angle like that. You will mangle alot of guts on your way to the heart, lungs, but its what you have to do in that situation.

I say get an army as stated.


----------



## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

one good dog will find it quicker than a 100 guys


----------



## hunt4P&amp;Y (Sep 23, 2004)

Many states that is ILLEGAL!


----------



## Danimal (Sep 9, 2005)

Sorry to hear that.

I think that is a dead deer, but he hid well before dieing. I agree, a grid pattern, down hill and towards water are all good suggestions.

I would add the following: Put some kind of a marker, at the last sign of blood. (At night we use glow sticks and during the day, we use flor. orange tape.) It makes it easier to keep the grid/circles even.

As a habit, I put tape by the blood as I'm tracking. There have been a couple times where I did not find blood where I thought it should be. Two years ago, I shot a doe a little high (it clipped the top of the onside lung and went through the top 1/3 of the far side lung). Because the hit was high, she bled a lot internally. I kept the tape in a line and walked ahead and checked that I was inline with the tape and found the next drop 10-15 feet from the last drop. It was a lung track, but the tape helped to find her.

Good luck!


----------



## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

hunt4P&Y said:


> Many states that is ILLEGAL!


most states it is legal, you just have to do it correctly


----------



## budalcorn45 (Nov 2, 2007)

Bob, 
How would you go about doing that correctly? A buddy of mine lost a deer in the woods after making a good shot on it, but we were having a hard time finding it. Not many signs of blood on the ground that we could find, and we looked for 3 hours. We debated going to get the dogs, but were not sure about the legality of doing so. What advice would you give about the use of a dog to track a dead deer and doing so legally and effectively? I just don't want to break any kind of rules/laws if this happens again. Thanks man.


----------



## magnum44270 (Jul 20, 2007)

using a dog to track a shot/wounded deer is usually legal as long as you *do not carry a wepon*.......................now using dogs to hunt/chase deer is illegal


----------



## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

thats right dont take a gun read the regs most game depts want you to recover game.

If you are asking how to train to track thats another issue.

Basically when you gut or hang a deer try to recover blood from it and freeze it, if you have some buddies that will help get them to recover as much blood as possible everytime you or they kill a deer.

Now freeze it, film canisters or small tupperware type containers work well.

Now for the training, 
Put a harness on the dog this will teach the dog to associate the harness with the tracking job at hand. Use this harness for tracking and nothing else.
Now the rest is simple take the frozen containers of blood and mix them with a gallon of well water ( dont use chlorinated water) then lay a trail with a gallon milk jug with holes punched in it so the water/blood mixture drips steadily on the trail. one film canister or small cantainer of this size per gallon will work well. wear rubber boots to conceal your scent you want the dog to track the deer blood not you.

First trails should be straight and maybe 25 feet get the dog to track them, and have a reward on the end, hot dogs or any dog treat the dog likes will work. do this once each day for a few days so the dog learns that there is something real good for him at the end of the short track.

Next gradually make them a little harder first longer in a straight line the start to make right angle turns so the dog learns to backtrack and pick the trail back up.

Dogs pick this up real quick, little dogs like dachounds and small mutts work well because they are close to the ground and naturally ground trail, but labs and shorthairs learn it quick also. The nice thing about little dogs is they wont jerk your arm out of the socket trailing, a big dog in a harness can pull like you cannot believe.

*DO NOT DRAG A DEER HIDE!! *

The reason you are going to the trouble of collecting the blood is to teach the dog to track blood trails not deer, anywhere you kill a deer there will be lots more of them, you want the dog to track blood trails only. When you do this wear orange have some assistants that hang back if possible wearing orange also. have one of them bring a 22 pistol if legal, in case you need to dispatch one( check regs).

You can place deer road kills at the end of trails when you get to the advanced part of the training, then really praise the dog when he finds it and give him his treat.

thats about it.

Key points
1)no deer hide drags just blood
2)dog on lead with tracking harness , never use this harness for anything else but tracking
3) you take the week or two it takes to train this and you will never lose another deer
4) let other deer hunters in your area know you can do this to give the dog ample practice each season
5) love your dog :wink:


----------



## rightkey (May 31, 2007)

Well, I'm the guy who originally wrote this note. I don't have a dog trained to track, but I like the previous suggestion of training, and belive me, I will train my dog. Unfortunately, I hunt alone--and track alone. This property is 350 miles from my house. I searched for about 4 hours the afternoon/evening I shot him, and my wife wanted to go home and couldn't stay the next day to search. I drove all the way home that night, turned around and went back. Searched all day to no avail. I used a GPS, tracked the blood as far as it went, and then started going back and forth through the woods about 25 feet apart. I went back up this weekend for 2 1/2 days tracking back and forth. I went down hill and toward a river. I think I covered well over 100 acres. I was convinced I'd find him...nothing. What a heartbreak. I don't recall a greater disappointment. I will definately get my dog trained. As you guys mentioned he's down somewhere. I appreciate the comment about aiming toward the opposite leg/shoulder. That makes sense. Only wish I knew that last weekend.


----------



## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

Dont beat yourself up about it, nothing in nature is wasted, if you dont eat him... rest assured a wolf or some coyotes did.

Stuff happens. I lost the first of roughly 150 bow kills two years ago when the guys that lease the land I tracked up to would not let me trespass to search on there. Real jerks, they were hunting that day and didn't want me to chase the deer off their land looking for my buck.

I was using a very well trained shorthair on a lead and would of found the deer.


----------

