I've only shot one doe that ran off. I shot her through the heart and she ran for about 50yrds into a thicket. I waited for about 10 minutes and started trailing the blood. It was very heavy at first and started to taper off to droplets by the time I got to her. She was still alive so I shot her through the neck and finished her off. When I started gutting her I was amazing that she could live that long with a .223 right through the heart. She was a big doe though. Must have been all adrenaline.
After thinking about the dicussion in another thread on losing a deer, it got me to wondering how long does the average hunter wait before going to retrieve their game.
I know that there can be many variables and therefore no one answer will be correct, So for this dicussion lets set these situations.
1: Perfect Broadside Double-Lung Shot. Deer falls within your sight.
2: Perfect Broadside Double-Lung Shot. Deer runs out of your sight, but you hear it fall.
3: Good Looking Broadside Shot. Deer runs out of your sight and you do not hear it fall.
4: Angled shot (either forward or rearward) and you hit what seems to be to far back. Deer runs out of sight and you do not hear it fall.
5: Questionable Shot. Not Sure of Exact Location of Hit. Deer runs out of sight and you do not hear it fall.
1: If you see the animal fall watch for movement a few minutes then go retrieve.
2: It runs out of sight? You hear it fall? Really or was it just hitting a cabbage fan, I always give it 30 minutes if I don’t see it.
3: Give it 30 minutes and start the trail.
4: If it runs out of sight I’ll give it 10 minutes and get down and retrieve my arrow and look for the start of the blood trail this will tell me how well of a shot it might have been and if it look good give it 30 minutes.
5: The same as 4
:saluting
when the fall in sight its great for me that generally within 20 yards(thick). I wait 30 minutes because there may be another. I watched deer just pay no attention to the dead one lying there????????????
hog i wait longer 1 -2 hours.
Hmmm, I just realized this was in the Bow Hunting Forum... :eek
I usually wait ten minutes or so before I climb down to inspect my arrow. If its early I just keep on hunting. When I shot that big 8 last yr I came down quick,found massive blood right where he stood. Gave him 30 mins and tracked slow. A bad hit you need to wait but everything depends on situations.
