Your heart is still pounding uncontrollably as the overdose of adrenaline rushes through your veins. Only seconds have passed since you squeezed the trigger on the biggest buck you’ve ever seen. Everything happened so fast that it almost seemed like a dream.
But what you do now may determine whether you recover your trophy.
The initial impulse of most hunters is to bail out of their stand and immediately look for the deer they just shot. Depending upon where the animal is hit, this could be a terrible mistake. Attempting to blood trail a deer prematurely will more often than not result in a spooked deer and make recovery of the animal much more difficult, if not impossible.
Blood trailing is a skill that combines two characteristics possessed by all successful deer hunters — woodsmanship and stewardship. We owe it to the game we hunt, as well as to the sport we love, to master the skill of blood trailing. Being good stewards of the resource means following up as best we can on the shots we take. Anything less reveals a lack of respect for the game.
Although blood trailing a wounded deer is more an art than a science, anyone can become proficient at it. It simply takes a little careful planning before, during and after the shot. Establishing a basic routine can make the task of tracking and trailing whitetails much easier.
Successful blood trailing doesn’t call for complicated strategies; however, it does require that the hunter pay close attention to the smallest details. Think of yourself as the “CSI” of the whitetail woods.
Finding a wounded deer can be a simple walk in the woods or a real chore, depending not only on how well-placed your shot was, but on how you approach the task of focusing on specks and splatters of blood on leaves, grass and brush. Taking this job seriously can mean the difference in finding that buck of a lifetime and going home frustrated and empty-handed.
According to two Magnolia State outfitters, the first step in blood trailing a mortally wounded deer is a giant one, and should be taken before you ever climb down from your stand.
Robert Clay of Edwards, who manages Messinger Creek Lodge along the banks of the Big Black River in Hinds County, instructs his hunters to stay put and take careful inventory of the events that unfold following the shot.
“The first thing we tell our hunters is to remain in the stand immediately after the shot,” said Clay. “It is important that they pinpoint the exact spot the deer left the field and pay close attention to what it did. After making these mental notes, they can then get down and go mark the spot with flagging ribbon so we know exactly where to start.”
Jimmy Riley, manager and head guide for Giles Island Hunting Club in Natchez, has blood trailed more than his fair share of whitetails. He wants his clients to pay close attention to how the deer reacts to the shot. Does it hump up in the back? Does it kick out its hind legs? Does it leap into the air or drop down on all fours before leaving?
“The first thing I do is debrief my hunters,” Riley said. “I want to know everything that happened. I will question them about where the deer was standing, what angle the deer’s body was in relation to the stand, how the deer reacted to the shot, and anything else that might give me a clue about the best way to go about recovering the animal.
Click here to read the rest of this story, which first appeared in the December 2008 issue of Mississippi Sportsman, and see additional photos and graphics. To ensure you don’t miss a single information-packed issue, don’t forget to subscribe.
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