Advice on locating game after the kill

[Will Gray]

Maybe a drone could be adapted to locate and provide a GPS fix for the search. I hunt in areas where it is easy to locate the target area but we still have to deal with an animal that runs (some do not bleed). Lost one last week: the buzzards (Louisiana Eagle) found the doe the next morning. A blood dog is best but lots of people don't want dogs around.

 

[Technologist]

In some countries you're legally obliged to be able to get a dog to the site of the shot within a couple of hours...

 

[flylo]

How did we ever hunt with only a compass? We made sure we had the gun-bullet-skill to kill & find the animal. I've never loast an animal in 50 years of hunting but I didn't take 1000 yard shots at Elk with a 6.5 creedmoor, I learned to hunt & shoot, not spray & pray. IMHO taking a shot that causes a wounded or lost animal is a just plain wrong.

 

[TheLongRanger83702]

So hunting season is almost here (for me at least) and I'm hoping to get some advice on an issue that's plague me since I started hunting big game. When the time comes for the shot, I get so focused on the reticle and the animal in front of me that from the time I pull the trigger to when I pull the rifle down then animal has disappeared. Last year I searched two hours for the buck I dropped dead to rights in a patch I was certain I dropped him on only to find him 60 yards further away. I am so focused at the time of the shot on doing everything else right that my brain refuses to remember just exactly where the animal is (and I range and dial/holdover for all my shots too and this somehow keeps happening). Going into my 6th year of whitetail and this has happened on 3 of the 4 deer I've shot. Hoping to find a tip to have this not happen again. I always seem to misjudge about 50 yards to where the deer was standing. Any help would be appreciated.

Sounds like you need to choose a better bullet. Proper expansion expends ALL/MOST of it's energy INSIDE your game. Sounds like your present bullet choice are "pass throughs".

 

[tdot]

Ranges are anywhere from 150 yards to the 600 yards I shot my buck at last year. I've seen deer further out but unless it's an absolute monster I don't plan to shoot further than 800 yards. I hunt with a 2.5-15 power scope but I don't think I've ever turned it past 10. My 150 yard shot I was at something like 4 or 5 power if I remember correctly.

Well it doesnt sound like you're over magnified. Though lower would help to increase your field of view.

When I read your first post, it sounds to me like you are very focused on the rifle, it isnt automatic. Do you practice often? do you have proper follow through after the trigger break? Possibly a milder cartridge with less kick? Possibly something with more stopping power?

What cartridge/bullet/placement are you working with?

Agreed with the above post, there's lots of good ideas on locating the site where the deer was standing. But there maybe something else going on too.

 

[PNWdude67]

So hunting season is almost here (for me at least) and I'm hoping to get some advice on an issue that's plague me since I started hunting big game. When the time comes for the shot, I get so focused on the reticle and the animal in front of me that from the time I pull the trigger to when I pull the rifle down then animal has disappeared. Last year I searched two hours for the buck I dropped dead to rights in a patch I was certain I dropped him on only to find him 60 yards further away. I am so focused at the time of the shot on doing everything else right that my brain refuses to remember just exactly where the animal is (and I range and dial/holdover for all my shots too and this somehow keeps happening). Going into my 6th year of whitetail and this has happened on 3 of the 4 deer I've shot. Hoping to find a tip to have this not happen again. I always seem to misjudge about 50 yards to where the deer was standing. Any help would be appreciated.

If you hunt in areas where you can use your phone, (and this app works with the GPS offline as well).... get the geo ballistic ARC app... it has a satellite map page which shows your position and you can measure the yardage to your target and save the position where you engaged it. It is very accurate to within a yard or two.

Also follow these best practices...Mark your position from where you engaged your target with something you can look back and see from your target when you get there. As you search for the deer you can range back to that position and see if you are where you need to be or to far. When you find evidence of where the deer was positioned at time of engagement mark this spot as well. Surveyor tape works well. At this point, follow step by step the track and mark clear evidence as you go. This season even if you see your deer go down in plain sight. STOP.... and practice the process of marking everything and tracking your game to the point where you believe you saw it crash. Tracking is a skill and like anything else we want to improve at it takes practice. Even if you don't shoot, and see a deer and you pass, practice by moving from your position to where you last saw the deer and look for track.

 

[PNWdude67]

Well it doesnt sound like you're over magnified. Though lower would help to increase your field of view.

When I read your first post, it sounds to me like you are very focused on the rifle, it isnt automatic. Do you practice often? do you have proper follow through after the trigger break? Possibly a milder cartridge with less kick? Possibly something with more stopping power?

What cartridge/bullet/placement are you working with?

Agreed with the above post, there's lots of good ideas on locating the site where the deer was standing. But there maybe something else going on too.

Agreed! The mechanics of the shot should allow the shooter to see clearly the impact/miss and what happens after and all of the things you mention should be addressed and considered by the OP

 

[CNY Yote Hunter]

I always keep a stick with me, may sound dumb but when I see the game I lay the stick on the ground pointing at the animal. Then I shoot, leave my back with a marker and look at the stick, use a compass and follow it for the estimated yardage. Hasn't failed me yet

 

[Prairie]

There aren't any land marks. It's all open grassland with small, 5 foot high hills (bumps) every couple hundred to thousand yards...I wish I had some landmarks to help located deer.

I wonder if using a drone would help alleviate this problem???

 

[WY02K]

I lost a great public land buck the same way my first year."

That's rough. I lost a 180" mule deer that way. Watched 3 bucks for a few hours, finally got a shot through thick brush at the biggest. After the shot 3 deer ran off. We looked until 1am, back out there at daylight. Finally found him at 2pm, he died instantly and went straight down. There were our tracks all around him. You had to be within 5' to see him in the tall sage. Apparently I shot the 4th deer that we didn't know was there. Watched a 200" buck run off that night (the one I was after) and lost all the meat on the antlers that we did recover. Never thought I would kill a 180" deer and be dissapointed by everything.

 

[rugers]

1st thing I do before I evan put the rifle to shoulder is make a mark where animal is, i do this very quickly. ie. lump of grass, small Bush, in between two distant objects. When you shoot you have a known distance to animal. After shot shoot a azmeth to tgt with your compass. If you shoot long range you should know your distance between steps, simply follow azmeth from your shooting point and count off your paces, this should put you within a few yds of your tgt, ( if your range was correct). If no sign of blood or any thing else, start circling outward looking for sign, try not to trample the area to pieces, if no luck it's best to wait till dark get a old Coleman lantern gas type go back to area at dark and continue circle search for some reason the old Coleman lanterns sort of illuminate the blood evan very small drops. Hope this helps, but I will state nothing works better than a spotter who knows what there doing.

 

[SavageHunter11]

Make a better clean shot placement and a better bullet

I don't think I was clear enough in my original post. The animals aren't running and I lose them, they are dropping where they stand and in a featureless geography and 4 foot high grass I'm having issues finding them after the kill.

 

[WY02K]

We've never had any trouble finding deer that move after the shot, it's always the ones that drop in their tracks. Elk are easy to find.

 

[TheLongRanger83702]

I don't think I was clear enough in my original post. The animals aren't running and I lose them, they are dropping where they stand and in a featureless geography and 4 foot high grass I'm having issues finding them after the kill.

Then a compass and rangefinder working together are the best you can expect.