Tracking deer, opinions.

[44man]

A thread was started on another site about one gun to another. Then the subject came up about blood trails left with each gun and bullet.
Another popped in and said he can track a deer no matter where it goes without blood.
I said "not here." We have so many deer there is not a square foot without a track and trails can have 50 to 100 tracks. Trails are 3 steps apart and split into all directions. I said you will scratch your head. You MUST have blood to the deer. Even in snow you are fine until the deer enters a trail with hundreds of tracks. The gun used and bullet must provide a blood trail.
The "expert" insisted he could track the deer.
What do all of you say to this?

[clodhopper]

Maybe he can track a deer there, with all the criss crossing trails, but not likley at a speed fast enough to to ever catch up to the deer.
There are some incredibly talented folks out there, and some whose best talent is typing.

[bearcove]

Very doubtfull. You have to be able to tell tracks apart. A blood trail is distinct. Even a drop every 10 ft or so is pretty easy to follow once you get an idea of the direction its headed. Tracking a person or a shod horse is much easier than a deer cause the tracks have more unique features. The ground is a big factor too. Thick leaf litter or pine needles make it harder.

[44man]

Deer are in my yard every day. I can not follow their tracks even on my knees with a glass. I see them and go look where they walked. Just grass.
Down in the woods are all kinds of stuff from tall grass to leaves to dry ground and rock.
I have tracked hundreds and hundreds of deer but I need blood.
The marks a deer leaves on the ground is so slight, it is like tracking a squirrel.

[Blacksmith]

Maybe if his mother was a Bloodhound!

[41 mag fan]

Or he's using some type of infared heat sensor that'll pick up a deers heat from the hoof prints.

I myself need a blood trail too

[btroj]

Is he an African tribesman?

I call BS. I find it hard enough sometimes with a blood trail. Put leaves on the round and it is almost impossible to k ow where they went.

A great example of why I don't beleive most of what I read online.

[Lloyd Smale]

then theyve never seen a upper michigan swamp or even the edge on a farm field around here. About the only chance you have without blood is if theres snow and even then around camp theres so many tracks criss crossing that it would be about impossible. Id like to know how many deer a guy who claims to be able to do it has actually done. You might get lucky once or twice but NOBODY is capable of doing it without blood even close to every time. Sounds more like an internet bragger then an actual hunter.

[x101airborne]

My mother shot and lost sight of a buck on our place. I was on my hands and knees with a roll of orange flagging ribbon marking every drop of blood. I lost the trail when the blood drops were more than about 25 feet apart. We never did find that deer. I can read tracks and can nearly size an animal by hoof print. I can tell how many and approximately when they came and went. And I cannot stalk a single animal without blood. Too many variables. I think that guy was just a mall ninja and a keyboard assassin. I wouldn't put much stock in it. I may even mark him for the ignore list. It would probably serve you well in the future.

[shooter93]

Wether or not he can do it I'd have no idea but when I was hunting Zimbabwe our tracker was simply amazing. He'd pick our animals tracks out no matter how many went through and followed a track that was virtually undetectable to us. He was a great fellow too and showed us a number of the ways or tricks he used to do it but I think he could also think in Buffalo. Simply amazing people.

[Harter66]

Blood is a huge asset. Out here everything in the early seasons are on what amounts to huge sand or really small gravel of decomposed granite . I personally know a fellow that in fact tracked and closed close enough to determine that a lost deer was in fact just bullet burned enough to loose hair and make a blood splat at the shot,3 mi from where he was found sunning. He was and is exceptional individual that more or less lived mountain man from the 1st of September through through mid December.

[gbrown]

I have read articles about Native Americans, African and Australian bushmen who could track a particular (one specific) animal in a stalking situation. (no blood) They were able to successfully follow the animal in the middle of other tracks. Don't know if it was true or not, wasn't there. I do know that some of the people above can do things beyond the average person's ability. To do something like this, you have to practically live with your prey and spend thousands of hours studying them. The guy you talk about may be able to do it, but I seriously doubt it.

[waksupi]

I agree if there are a lot of tracks to get mixed up in, it is pretty much of a hopeless tracking job. Once that happens, all you can do is guess how a wounded animal will move, and possibly cut it's trail further ahead in the direction of travel. Sometimes you can, sometimes not.
I was on a tracking job, hunting down a lost kid a few years ago. There had been hundreds of people through the area on the search grid, so it was a mess to try and sort any tracks out. I went outside of the search perimeter and made a circle of several miles. When I was done, all I could report to the deputies that the kid had not left that area on foot. He was found dead later on the home property, in an area I hadn't been permitted into, to search. Had they did that, I could have easily told them where to find the body. I showed them later on the recovery photos if anyone would have used their eyes, and some common sense they could have found him the first night. The whole mess has bothered me ever since.

[shotman]

WHY track if you shoot them in the head no need. I have tracked one deer that was last. now when gun cracks its on the ground or I miss. and in last 25 years only one walked off

[gbrown]

+1 with shotman In 50 years of hunting, I have lost 3 deer. 2 I missed, cleanly, and one I think I gutshot and then spooked it. I tracked the one I gutshot over a mile before the blood trail ran out. I still feel bad about it. I go for a clean kill, and in harvesting 1,000 + animals of various kinds, have only lost that one. Sucks. Any time you don't shoot and harvest an animal, it's a waste and a sin IMHO. I'm not talking about a clean miss, but a shot that wounds the animal.

[357maximum]

+1 with shotman In 50 years of hunting, I have lost 3 deer. 2 I missed, cleanly, and one I think I gutshot and then spooked it. I tracked the one I gutshot over a mile before the blood trail ran out. I still feel bad about it. I go for a clean kill, and in harvesting 1,000 + animals of various kinds, have only lost that one. Sucks. Any time you don't shoot and harvest an animal, it's a waste and a sin IMHO. I'm not talking about a clean miss, but a shot that wounds the animal.

g....I have been there too. With about 108+ deer kills under my belt using shotguns/rifles/frontstuffers/bows I have not recovered exactly 3 that I hit. One I know made it after my wood arrowed broadhead failed to penetrate his shoulder as i saw him running does a few hours later. One I found 1 day later after I left it for night to persue in the morning and it rained later that night. The coyotes ate him up pretty good by the next day but I did find him, I still count him as a loss though. The other one I am sure died somewhere in a big cedar swamp but my less than ideal hit allowed him to evade my best efforts and likely rot and feed the foodchain.

I do not count clean misses..they are harmless except for ones feelings. There have been several of them too using traditional/primitive archery tackle you are going to have that on occassion.


Anyone that tells you that they have killed alot of deer and never lost one is simply really lucky, a God or a liar. Do not let it get you down too much.....think of all the deer that rot along the road if you need to. It helped me to think like that on the big one the yotes ate. I know it did not go to waste. I did not get to eat it myself but it was not wasted as MA Nature wastes nothing.

[375RUGER]

Maybe he is one of those rare individuals who has hollywood backing him. Those guys can track desert jackrabbits in a blinding sandstorm.:rolleyes:

[375RUGER]

in an area I hadn't been permitted into, to search. Had they did that, I could have easily told them where to find the body. I showed them later on the recovery photos if anyone would have used their eyes, and some common sense they could have found him the first night. The whole mess has bothered me ever since.

I can see how that would bother a guy. But to bring in someone "help us find our lost kid, but don't look over there" --that's just wrong.:sad:

[MBTcustom]

See, your problem is that you keep associating with these so called "other gun forums". Here at cast boolits, we are in the business of sniffing out BS and screaming hi-ho from the rooftops when we find truth or falsehood in any shape or form. That's why I like it here. I have never seen a place where the BS is policed with such voracious regularity.
Call BS on this cowboy and don't sweat it. His keyboard isn't going to be there for you when you are on the trail.
To the original question. Pick a boolit that has trouble being stabilized by your barrel. You want it to fly like a dying duck. I have a boolit combo for my 358Winchester that behaves just like this. I can only get about a 4" group at 100 yards out of this boolit (Lyman 358318). It has this amazingly consistent way of tumbling when it impacts a deer though. It goes in semi-strait, but it always exits sideways. Voila! awesome blood trail, and not much need of it as the deer flops over usually before he is out of sight. I hated this boolit for years, until last year it was all I had loaded up to hunt with. I shot the first deer, and was shocked at how quickly he went down. The deer I shot with the 300winmag at 30yards went further than this joker did. Wow, I says to myself. The second deer did just like the first one. I saw it at 50 yards, took a knee, and blew bloody fluff out the other side of him. (pretty cool to see the red spray actually) anyway, he cam out from behind the trees I shot through, hobbling. He ran strait towards me and piled up 15 yards from me. I was speechless. It was over when i pulled the trigger. That boolit is the touch of death to whatever I point it at, and I am so glad I decided to hunt with it. Now its my go-to boolit.

[bowfin]

The Benoit family (Larry, Lanny, Shane, and Lane) are probably some of the best trackers in the United States. They will cut tracks in the deeper woods of Maine, New York, and Canada, figure out if it is a buck, and then track it until they get a shot. Deer populations in these areas are somewhat sparser than most of the United States.

The Benoit family was first mentioned in a Sports Afield article many moons ago asking the rhetorical question if Larry Benoit, the father, was the best deer tracker ever. These guys were pretty set in their ways (no scopes, Remington pumps, wool shirts, and only judged deer by weight, not antlers), but they brought big deer out of the woods. They weren't afraid to hunt all day or even stay out overnight if they thought the end result was going to be worth it.

I would think if anyone could single out a single deer, it would be them. I don't claim to know the answer, but if you ever get a chance to read one of their books or see a video about them, I urge you to do so.

As far as shooting deer in the head for a "clean kill or clean miss", they can go awry just like any other shot. I helped track down a "head shot deer" that lost part of its jaw.

I won't say that head shooting is better or worse than any other shot, as I can't say how I am going to shoot a particular deer until I am ready to pull the trigger. Sometimes, if boundaries and borders come into play, one has to have the deer go down within a few dozen yards of where it is shot. That might influence me to take a neck shot over a heart lung shot. I never could reconcile myself with a front shoulder shot. I like my venison too much.

[Harter66]

I should quantify that mulies don't run in big herds generally. More often than not the herds will scatter rather than run in line . Its big open country out here. In this case the buck in question was a rougue. Mulies above the tree line are a whole different gig than whitetails in the bottoms, my guy probably had it easier 1 deer in pea gravel,off and on for miles. The guy tracking did in fact spend 3 months a year on the mountain,probably knew every buck by smell.

[44man]

Waksupi, sad to hear about the child. You did your best and it is hard for me to figure why you were prevented from going anywhere to search.
There are a lot of hunters here and now and then a wounded deer will go into my woods or the woods only I am allowed to hunt. I get phone calls and guys at my door. I ask why they bother, go find the deer. The understanding here is if an animal goes on other property, go find it. I go and help too.
We had one place that you were not allowed on and a few hunters were turned away so at the association meeting I ranted on him. He died from smoking and I don't know how the rest of the family feels about tracking a deer.

[44man]

I consider myself a decent tracker and my friend is amazing but even he will call me to help him.
A big problem is the amount of deer. After the wounded one travels a trail, there might be 10 go behind it.
I went up into the cedars one year in snow. I swear there were 1000 deer up there.
Nothing to jump a bunch while tracking and they go every which way.
If you are just hunting, here's a tip, after bumping them, sit down and wait. They lose each other and many will come back to find where the rest went.
Another tip, if you are tracking in snow and get to a little clearing, stop and wait. Don't cross the clearing. Deer will run into other hunters and double back to you. They feel safe coming back on their trail.
Snow tracking is fun but always walk in the fresh tracks, deer circle so step in the tracks. One day I tracked deer past my truck 7 times and was able to stay in fresh tracks until I shot one.

[waksupi]

Myself and all others were kept out of the immediate area of the buildings, as it was contained as a crime scene.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

i do my best tracking when it is snowing an inch an hour it don't take long to know whats an old track

other times it is much more difficult

but i much prefer a big blood trail on white snow

i don't do much tracking however , as i try and shoot them so they just fall over.

most of the time a neck shot with a 12 ga does just that, but a chest shot does it well also , and so do spine shots

never had a deer go far with a 72 cal hole thru both lungs

but i haven't always made perfect shots , i once had a shot that fell low got the meat of both legs but no bone just barely missed bone in both legs , we tracked it a little drip hear then there ever 10-15 feet, and when i caught up to it i put it down when it tried to get up
it had clean 50cal holes from the 50 cal conical i was shooting in both legs.

you definitely want an exit wound that bleeds well , tracked a deer shot with a bow once , it only bled going up hill we found it about 500 yards away but thought we had lost it several times when the blood just stopped we would find blood again as it when up the next rise

i had another that i shot and hit in the shoulder bone with a arrow i tracked it 300 yards then found where it had laid down and pulled the arrow , had bite marks in the arrow then left not bleeding , never found that one but i still have the arrow with the bite marks some place

i want a big blood trail , or shot that drops them in a few steps or less, i am smart enough to know that every terrain is different , how on earth would you track a deer that wasn't bleeding and walked down a paved road for a few hundred yards , and i have watched them do just that they came out to cross the road and went 2 hundred yards down the paved road before going in the next section of woods

we have another area we hunt where the deer go out to the lake front and walk back around you on the rock shore big flat wet limestone shore rock. if we have enough drivers we put one right on the waters edge