Neighbor called me at 7pm to help him track a buck he’d shot. I grabbed a roll of TP and rode over on the Honda ATV. He wanted to know what the TP was for. He knows now. Unfortunately, after 2 hours and me using up a whole roll of TP, we had to give it up. Finally lost the trail. The blood just had smaller and smaller drops, and then no drops. Very frustrating. Sure hope it wasn’t that 9 point with the kicker that I passed up on opening day.

Dark red blood. No sign of lung blood or gut contents. Probably a high leg shot. At no time did the deer stop to lean on a tree, as a mortally wounded deer often will. And, I suspect that my neighbor didn’t wait long enough for the deer to bleed down, though maybe the wound wasn’t severe enough to cause major fatigue.

One thing worth mention is the light I used for tracking. It’s a Milwaukee M12 light with the big battery. Two hours of use and the light never dimmed. Nice even illumination with the LEDs. First rate tracking light.

My neighbor called my dad Tuesday morning, said he shot a big 6 and couldn’t find him. They looked two hours, no luck. Neighbor went to the same stand Tuesday evening, unharmed big 6 shows back up. Neighbor didn’t miss the second time.

Deer are tough animals. My daughter shot this 10 point last year. It went down like a sack of carp. After about a minute it started to kick. She wanted to shoot it again. I said no. Then it started to crawl. Next thing I know it is standing and walking off. It was in brush I had could not get scope on him quick enough to make shot. My brother saw it at another blind 9 days later. High neck shot. No blood and no hair.

Stumps sounds like my Colo Mule buck when I was very young. Only 15 yards away so I shot him in neck. First an last time I ever shoot for the neck. Yes, it can kill them quick but there’s a lot of that neck that makes em freak for a bit then gone like you just said boo. Mine had a single drop of blood every so often for about a mile but after a half day my wife said she had enough of that tracking.