The blood was from a deer he had run down and killed in the snow.
—“Red-Headed Windego”, Edward William Thomson, 1895
There were many saplings in this part of the forest, and I noticed that many of them in the deer's track were besmeared with blood about two feet and a half from the ground. The tracks in the sandy soil were uneven--one of the fore-feet showed a deep impression, while the other was very faint, showing that he was wounded in the leg, as his whole weight was thrown upon one foot. Slowly and cautiously I stalked along the track, occasionally lying down to look under the bushes. For about an hour I continued this slow and silent chase; the tracks became fainter, and the bleeding appeared to have almost ceased; so few and far between were the red drops upon the ground, that I was constantly obliged to leave the gun-bearer upon the last trace, while I made a cast to discover the next track.
—The Rifle and Hound in Ceylon by Samuel White Baker, 1854
While most of the deer that I have harvested have fallen very close to where they were shot, there have been a few that made a mad dash out of sight. This is often the case in bow hunting, and when it happens you will need to track the deer.
A deer shot through both lungs or the heart will usually drop where it stands but may go 30-50 yards before the adrenalin that carries it runs out. However, a deer shot too far forward and at an angle may only have a single lung shot. A high shot may penetrate both lungs but takes more time for the deer to succumb to its injury. And a shot that is slightly far back may end up being a liver shot or the dreaded gut shoti.
Gut shots are not good. Therefore, practice using your weapon often throughout the year to insure proper shot placement. Don’t take risky shots through brush. There is no such thing as a brush gun. So don’t take a shot thinking that the brush won’t affect your slow-moving bullet. It just doesn’t work that way. Don’t take a bow shot at a deer who is alerted to your general position. They can and will jump the stringii. Use only secure broad headsiii. Broad heads that require a wrench to tighten and spin independently of the arrow shaft can plane completely off course and cause gut shots.
Whether a deer goes 30 yards or a mile, tracking skills will be required. The first part of tracking is what you take with you. I take basic survival items on every track:
• Fire starting implements (magnesium sticks are great for this due their ability to start a fire even if wet)
• Sharp knife (multi-tool is great for obvious reasons)
• Compass and GPS (compass is a must even if you have a GPS; if the batteries on the GPS go dead, you will need the compass to find your way back)
• Flashlight (with extra batteries)
• Canteen of water (metal ones are best because they can be easily put on the fire to boil)
• Waterproof coat if you will not be wearing one while tracking
• Side arm and ammo if legal (check your local laws)
• Medications that you need on a daily basis.
• Basic first aid kit
• Cell phone if you get service where you hunt
• Beef jerky and/or peanut butter and crackers
In addition to survival gear I take things that I need for tracking the deer:
• Toilet paper (while tracking, small pieces can be placed at intervals to mark your path)
• Deer drag
• Rope or twine (this is to tie your tagiv to the deer, however it is very nice to have plenty, as it can be used for many purposes in survival situations)
The second part of tracking is general preparedness. Always tell someone where you will be hunting and where you will park your truck. And when you track, expect to track a mile, and be pleasantly surprised when the distance is shorter.
Accuracy is extremely important. Most hunters know this and practice throughout the year long to keep up their skills. However, after months without seeing a deer, a hunter will be justifiably nervous when one finally makes an appearance. Some things to keep in mind when preparing and taking a shot are:
• Don’t stare at the horns too long, but instead focus on the task at hand.
• Make slow moves preparing for the shot. Try to move only when the deer is looking away from you or moving. Moving at approximately the same speed and direction as the deer will completely disguise your movements to the deer. This is because a deer’s eyes are on the side of its head. As it moves, its surroundings seem to move too.
• Use a steady rest for shots where possible. Consider this before the shot.
• Follow through on all shots. In other words, hold your aim until the animal moves.
When it comes to tracking, my rules are these:
First, watch the deer to see where it goes after it is shot. Make a note of the last place that you saw it before it ducked out of sight.
Second, listen closely in the direction of the deer’s flight. Pay attention to crashing sounds followed by relative silence. This often indicates a downed deer.
Third, wait at least a half-hour to crawl out of your stand to track the deer. The exception to this rule is if it is raining or snowing. Blood trails will disappear very quickly in either of these situations so get down and track them immediately.
Lastly, when you get out of your stand, be as quiet as you were coming in so you don’t kick up or scare the deer which may be bedding down nearby.
After you get to the last area where you saw the deer, look at the evidence that is there. Look for obvious blood and hair. If you don’t find any blood sign look at the ground for tracks or disturbances. If you find some, follow them a short way. Do you see any blood? Pay close attention to leaves, branches and grasses that are about three feet high. Many times there will be a lack of consistent blood on the ground—especially if the deer is running. But if a deer is wounded, it will likely brush against foliage as it runs through the woods.
If, after careful inspection, you don’t find any blood or tracks, place some toilet paper or other marker where the deer was standing when you shot it and then walk in the direction that you believe the deer went. If, after walking 20 or 30 yards, you still don’t see any sign, turn left and walk in a circle with the center of the circle being the last place you saw the deer. Then return to the center (the area marked off with toilet paper) and increase the size of the circle until you get to about 100 yards. If no sign is found, it is probable that you completely missed the deer.
Most often, a deer is shot just before dark. Therefore, if you don’t find it soon, back out and get some help; extra eyes will only shorten your work.
Having returned, place toilet paper on tree limbs and the ground as you go. This will make it easier to backtrack if the trail goes cold. As you go through the woods following sign, remember that deer often circle their trails when afraid. Also, if undisturbed, a deer will often bed down at its first opportunity. So if you find an area that looks like a big puddle of blood and the deer is not there, back out immediately. This is an indication that the deer is responding to your tracking efforts. Go back at first light. If you choose to track the deer further, you risk losing it completely.
When you return the next day, you should go to where your last blood sign was. Follow the blood trail as before. As you move along, pay attention to areas where the deer has bedded down. If the blood starts to look fresh and the deer is bedding down frequently along the trail, it may be gut shot. Be sure that you have your weapon with you in case you get an opportunity to take a finishing shot. Often, a deer that beds frequently knows that you are on its trail but lacks the strength to go very far. You will likely catch up to it and be able to finish what you started.
When you find your deer, immediately tag and dress it. Place your deer drag around its neck and follow your toilet paper trail to your truck. Get help to put the deer into the truck bed if necessary.
Hunting deer is one of my greatest passions. I take the entire experience, including the responsibility to make a clean kill, very seriously. Still, as careful as I am, I occasionally need to track an animal that I have shot. The skills listed above have helped me find every deer that I have ever shot except two. Those two deer haunt me from time to time. If I would have known the advice that I have given here, I would have recovered the deer.
[The author has appended an episode of deer-tracking, which follows:]
It was about ten minutes before dark in the late December, Northwoods of Wisconsin. The deer were coming in along a well-used path in the snow to eat the corn that I was using for bait. I remember how cold I was as I waited silently in my blind on a ten degree evening. My hunt was geared toward putting needed meat in my family’s freezer and thinning an overabundance of does on a private property.
As they came in from all directions, I watched the largest for an opportunity to take her broadside with my Renegade Tominator II bowv; an opportunity that seemed to be fading with the light of the overcast sky.
I was using a new expandable broad head that was designed to open from any angle of shot. I was a bit leery of taking a quartering away shot (the side of deer exposed, the head farther than the tail) with an expandable because most such broad heads will not open at an angle. But this kind was supposed to be different.
As the doe moved past the other deer that had been blocking my shot for eight minutes, it occurred to me that the legal shooting light was fading fast. She finally stopped 20 yards away at a slightly quartering away angle. I drew the bow, settled the 20-yard pin on her chest and squeezed the trigger.vi The arrow went exactly where I aimed but penetrated only eight or ten inches. I was puzzled to see the arrow shaft hanging out of the lifeless deer and watched it for several minutes in amazement. I have never, ever seen a deer drop while using a bow unless they were spine shot, which this deer clearly wasn’t. I decided to go into town to get some help putting this 200-pound deer in my truck bed.
When my friend and I returned to load the deer, we didn’t see her lying in the snow where she was shot. I gathered my tracking gear and side arm, and followed the clear blood trail in the snow, being careful not to obscure it as I went. Walking directly in or near the blood trail can cover the blood sign and ruin any chance of back tracking should this be necessary.
Because the trail was so clear, we didn’t put any toilet paper along the way. We simply followed the tracks which ran, almost in a straight line, 100 yards up a hill and into some tangle. It’s interesting that deer always seem to go to the thickest place. In fact, if you lose the blood trail and know where the thickest brush is near your position, look for the path of least resistance that goes in that direction. If no such trail exists, then head for the thick area and search the periphery. You will likely pick up the trail somewhere near the brushy or swampy areas.
I dragged the deer out of the brush and began to clean it. I retrieved an eight-inch piece of arrow from the deer’s right lung. I was surprised to see that the broad head hadn’t opened at all. The impact of a 65-pound draw flinging an arrow at around 285 ft/second must have knocked it unconscious.
Almost every tracking story begins in a similar way. New equipment, equipment malfunction, unseen tree limbs and so on. We must try to use our equipment during the hunt as we do in practice. It is tempting to take a shot when the conditions are almost right but not exactly. Resist this urge.
More of Sean Porter’s commentary on hunting and hunting equipment can be read at everythinghunting-sean.blogspot.com.
i Gut shot deer will often jump with an arched body into the air when hit. And will sometimes run hunched up as they make their escape. Lung shot deer sometimes do this also so it’s not written in stone. You can recognize a gut shot deer sometimes by finding blood with greenish, brown particles mixed in or sometimes larger bits of partially digested food. As often however you will find nothing. Not only do gut shot deer run farther then other wounded deer they also unfortunately have a tendency to not bleed much. The deer’s intestines often block up the entrance and exit holes, thereby minimizing bleeding. Gut shot deer will often run long distances before dying . . . and they usually don't die quickly either.
—“Recovering Wounded Deer” by Mike Guerin
www.thejump.net/Hunting_Articles/recover.htm
Often such animals hunch up at the shot. Then they walk away slowly with their head down. They often stop and stand for several minutes. Liver hit animals behave this way as well. Your job is to remain totally quiet, not revealing yourself to the animal. If darkness comes and the animal is still within range and standing, or bedded, you need to sneak out of there without making a sound.
—“How to Handle a Gut Shot” by Dr. Dave Samuel
www.bowsite.com/BOWSITE/features/articles/deer/gutshot/
ii String jumping is a reaction. The same as when someone lights a firecracker next to you while sleeping. That startled motion causes animals to react. Deer react with an instantaneous downward and rolling motion as a precursor to a "spring" escape. There is also no rhyme or reason as to how each deer jumps or how far. Some may spring dramatically while others simply 'dip a little.' It is always an unconscious reaction to a startling sound.
—“Jumping String” by Pat Lefemine
I have often heard that a deer can string jump a shot. I never really knew what that meant until this day. Like sonar that deer ducked and the arrow went flying over its back. It was about a 20 yard shot from a guy that could hit an 8 inch paper plate 30 for 30 at 35 yards.
—“Have You Ever Seen A Buck Jump Like This?” by Thomas Callahan
ezinearticles.com/?Have-You-Ever-Seen-A-Buck-Jump-Like-This?&id=822718
iii A broad head arrow point, such as this one: 
iv Harvested deer must be tagged.
v A compound bow made by Renegade Archery Company.
www.renegadebows.com/products/tominatorii.htm
vi [M]any people who shoot compound bows use a mechanical release device to hold and then release the string when it is time to let the arrow fly. The mechanical release device actually lets the string go on behalf of the archer, so one does not have to directly hold the string. . . . There are three kinds of trigger releases. These have a lever in one of three locations . . . thumb, index finger, pinkie.
—“Mechanical Release Devices and the Compound Bow” by Kleanthes Koniaris
koniaris.com/archery/mrd/
