One of the smartest tips that you can take with you when going deer hunting is that you should absolutely know where a deer is hit once you’ve shot it before you begin to track it. If you’re wrong about where the deer was hit, you may be in for a not so nice surprise when you stalk after a deer that isn’t injured in the way that you thought it was. What you can do for this is to note the body language of the deer when it is hit in order to help you determine where the deer was hit.
The ultimate hit when it comes to any animal is the hit that puts the animal down right away, as this way you do not have to make any estimations of where the deer was hurt or whether you should track it now or once it’s had some time to calm down. If the deer that you shoot does not drop and die within sight, then you are going to need to make a guess about where the deer was shot so that you can determine what to do next. A deer that is poorly hit can easily run for miles if you push it too hard while tracking it, and you may lose it if you are not careful.
A deer that is shot in the gut will typically arch its back, trotting with stiff legs. In this case, the deer will not last long, but you may need to shoot him a second time because gut shots are not often immediately fatal.
A deer that is hit in the legs will often kick out as if it were a mule. While a deer like this will not be able to run as far or as fast, a deer bent on recovering can give you quite a chase if you are not careful. It might be best to drop back and give him some time to slow or stop before you pursue him.
A deer that is shot in the lung will not always kick out its leg, but it will probably flag up or try to run away before it dies. They do not usually travel very far at all because a lung shot deer is one that will die quickly, so this is a deer that you should not be afraid to pursue immediately.
When a hit deer runs without any bucking or jumping, it will likely run in whatever direction was being faced when you shot it, even if that means running in a counterintuitive direction such as up hill. While this is not always the case, it is a rule of thumb that you can rely on in many situations.
The ideal way to land a deer is to shoot it in the heart, but the heart is small and it is a relatively low target to hit. If you do hit a deer in the heart, it will drop relatively quickly, so tracking is not typically necessary.
Photo Credits: Emery_Way
Originally posted 2009-08-06 05:03:11. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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