You see the hunting shows and they'll shoot something and leave them till the next morning. I use a bow or crossbow to kill pigs and have wondered how long is too long to wait to go track them? In the 50's, 60s or even 70s? I have never waited that long but have thought about it recently. Any advice?

I would say about 15 -20 mins depending on your shot placement , if it is in the lower 50's you could wait for a few hours but leaving it over night it would have to be below 40 for me to.

If I waited until overnight there wouldn't be anything left...dang coyotes are thick in my neck of the woods.

1st year opened OSBWMA ta public, twas doing solo hunt, bout hours walk back in then slowed down. had seen plenty hogs in area. got in an old stand, it fell down few years latter, sat, gave high advantage, & was thick area were tracks were every were. sat for while, whin woke up from me nap, climbed down ta stretch, 3 hogs busted out from brush in tall grass, twards thick area. fired a round. walked ta were they went in found blood. hmm, wounded hog, thick stuff. don't advise doing it, the T.V. pro's will second it, solo hunt, wounded hog, thick area bout hour walk back, & no cell phone . taking all inta consideration, only had few hours left before had ta leave, & not sure if able ta return next day, hunt was for en & chillen. again don't advise it, then felt safer in de woods than at place worked, people get hurt on job all the time. got down low & figured if keep pressure, the hog will keep moving, luck was with me. it layed in wallow ta stop bleeding, sound of me going threw thicket gut it up & moving. unfortunatly after trailing it out of thicket, ran out of time, should have slowed down & let it bed up. again time was limited. each hunt is different the weather plays factor, time, shot place ment. its good thread

oh, that was before started wearing fannypack for me camera, thread is cool sorry no pics ta go with the prevous post, did find blood on small tree, didn't have tape measure, used the britches method, stood next ta it an it was up ta me keys in pocket, 26 inches, give or take. again don't recomend it, two outa three will agree. stay safe

back in 50's, 60's & 70's hunting twas more for en & chillen instead of trouphy hunten least how i was raised. feel a culd front headen dis way on thread

With a bow, I watch closely to see where my shot placement is, and to see where the animal went. I try to use reference points (like trees, logs, bushes, etc) as the animal runs away, so I can pick up tracking at or near these spots if needed. If I were to make a questionable shot, then I'll wait for a little while, maybe 30 minutes to an hour. If I wait til next morning, the yotes will find whatever I shot. So, I will track with lanterns or flash lights til I find it that night night.

I track immediately with a rifle, if I know I made a good shot. Most times I can see where they fall or hear them fall if I lose sight of the animal. If the shot was questionable, I track with a rifle at ready. I've tracked many deer/hogs for other hunters on my place that they can not find the animla. Most hunters jump ahead way too fast. I track one blood drop at a time. It may take me 10 minutes to go 10 feet. I've seen hunters tell me the buck went this way, why are you looking over there. B/c I'm tracking his blood trail! Then they wonder how he went this way when they saw him over there. If I'm getting deep red blood, I'll keep tracking. If I get a soft pink blood, where a gut shot might have happened, I'll wait a little longer to track, and track while looking ahead in case we jump the animal. This happened with my brother years ago.

I waited over night once when it was in the 30's. Found it the next morning and something had gotten to it already. Not fun. Track as long as you possibly can. I wouldn't leave anything over night unless it was 30-40 degrees or lower.