How long after the Shot do you leave Big Game before Tracking

Deerdr

Deerdr

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How long after the shot do you wait to trail Big Game, Archery or Rifle? My Grampa and Dad said 1/2 to 1 hour depending......

I recently talked to a Heart Surgeon who is a very successful Archery deer Hunter. He suggests you go after the animal immediately as fast as you can trail it and keep on it, if you jump it, keep tracking, don't just curse me. He says keep the heart pumping and it will bleed out quicker and blood won't congeal. Yes you don't get them all but a lung or heart shot you will and anything else you probably wouldn't anyway.He asked me what we suggest with a severe bleeding case in humans. R.E.D. , REST , ELEVATION , DIRECT PRESSURE . He summarized put the projectile in the right place and GET ON THEM. If they rest they often bleed little or not at all. JUST SAYIN'. Respectfully Jim
 
I typically start right away, only ever got into one dicey situation with a deer I shot in the ass by mistake(it was quartering away). Letting it lie down longer wouldn't have changed anything, I am inclined to believe the Doc.
 
Depends on the situation, weather, time of year etc. I would only give an animal a half hour if I thought it was a questionable hit. Otherwise I take up the trail within a few minutes. One of the nice thing about hunting the prairies is that more often then not you see your game go down.
 
I give it a few minutes, but most times I will see it or hear it drop a few seconds after shooting.It also depends if I'm running out of daylight. Ive had blood trails Ive followed for a couple hundred yards just stop once, so I get on it pretty soon.
 
I'm inclined to wait a bit (half hour to one hour). Reason being most deer will stop a few hundred yards ( if not mortally wounded) after being hit and will wait and watch to see if they are being followed. They will bleed out a bit there and then if hit hard they will move on into the dirtiest place they can find (or water) where they will lie down and that is where you will find them. If not hit so hard they will generally move straight out and chances are you will not find them whether you wait or not.
 
Depending on the shot and blood trail I would disagree with the Doc.

For instance, in the case of a liver or gut shot animal even pushed it could easily take 45 minutes for the animal to lose consciousness and they can cover a lot of ground with very little blood trail in that time.

I would rather follow the conventional wisdom of letting the animal lay down and find it 200 yards away after a 4 hour wait.

For less than perfect shots, I would say your chances of success are better if you wait.
 
I have found waiting about half an hour to be best. Whenever i would hop right up and chase after, i find they keep getting up and running farther and farther away. Letting them wait they will lie down, try to rest, see if anything is chasing them and bleed out close by wherever they stop
 
This is 100% situation dependent.

I sure am seeing the sense in the facts stated by the doctor.Get on it right away bleed it out sooner less distance to drag after.

If you drop an animal right where it stands do you wait an hour before getting near it, of course not.You can also tell by blood left behind and most times can tell where you hit it.

Takes a minute or two to typically die from a heart/lung shot so, tracking within that time I feel is acceptable.Gut or muscle wound, wait a half hour or hour, well you could be walking a very long time when an animal gets that kind of head start.
 
stuckon308 said:
.375 H&H doesn't require tracking.

Very profound from a guy who is stuck on .308 ;)
I still remember the CORE Instructor saying that a game animal should be given 30 minutes to an hour before being pursued.
There are huge variables involved, such as did the animal go down (drt) immediately or did it run off on shaky legs was the shot a good shot or marginal?
Then there was the you tube clip last month of a Moose being shot in the neck or shoulder area where it went down and within 10 seconds it was back on its feet and running off, seemingly none the worse for wear.
So, I will leave the OP with this... You decide after making the best possible shot and retrieve when you have determined it time to go looking.
There is no easy answer is there?
Tight Groups,
Rob
Click to expand...
 
I've always waited 20-30 minutes (archery whitetails), but only because that's what I've been told to do by my mentors. Seems to work. But... what your doc says makes sense to me, physiologically speaking. Maybe I'll try it this year! On the other hand, if it ain't broke...
 
I've waited a bit and also just gone after them. To a degree this is also situational depending on terrain and time of day.

However, as a general practice I wait about the time it takes me to drink a scalding hot cup of coffee and then go in to usually find the animal dead within 100 feet of where I hit it.
 
Most of the time I would, personally, go right after and find my animal. If you know you've put a good hit on them (heart/lung) they are not going far. I also live on the 'wet' coast where during hunting season there are 3 types of days we hunt: rainy, torrential and monsoon. If you don't get on the blood trail quickly it will be gone.
 
To answer your question as a rifleman, I'd start recovery ASAP. The best guess I can make after shooting a deer is, that 90% either dropped instantly or I witnessed them run and drop. I'm trying to think as far back as I can to remember the last blood tracking I did, but I can't. I know that I would not wait to track if I did see the animal run into the timber or elsewhere out of sight.
 
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I thought the point of NOT getting on them right away was to keep the adrenaline out of the system as much as possible.
 
It never hurts to wait, dead is dead, but rushing in after when you're not 100% sure of the shot can lead to long tracking and no recovery, depending on the conditions. You also have to pay attention where the blood is and the color. If you don't find the animal within 150 yards or so of the shot, it's best to leave them for a few hours.

Also follow very quietly, in other words don't bring all your buddies with their moonboots to "help" in tracking. Pushing a freshly gut shot animal is rarely a good idea, best to let them bed down and stiffen up.
At least that's the way I've always done it, still lost a fair share over the years. No method is foolproof if the initial shot is complete crap.
 
I was taught to wait so they bed down and stiffen up before tracking. Ten minutes was the magic number. It is interesting to see what the consensus is. Lots of different approaches here.
 
Normally as long as it takes for my heart rate to drop and safely get out of my stand. (so about a half hour on average)
This is different if I can clearly see the downed animal.
 
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