After leaving the track in the last picture, I distributed my 750th business card of the season yesterday. I stuck it underneath the windshield wiper of a hunter�s truck who was hunting on the same dirt road as the folks I had tracked for that morning. It just so happened that the hunter had actually shot a deer that morning that he couldn�t find, so when he got back to his truck and found my card, he called me up. I hadn�t been back home 30 minutes when he called. After talking to the hunter it sounded very likely that it was a low gut shot and that he was pushing the deer. I�m going to skip the story about Otis on this one because I want to get up on my soapbox again. Long story short though, we tracked the buck later that afternoon without missing a beat. But because it had been pushed�.it went over onto the neighbor�s land and I had to call Otis off a track he was working great. It was sad for both of us but even worse for the hunter to have to walk away from. Neither of us wanted to but didn�t have any other choice since he didn�t know the neighbors. We both just stood there for a few moments looking over the property line like Tom Hanks watching Wilson float away.

Here�s what I want to get up on my soapbox about again. This is not meant toward the hunter in this story or any one hunter in particular�..it�s a general observation that I see playing out over and over again. After the shot, the majority of hunters are giving it anywhere between 5 minutes to 30 minutes before getting down to begin looking for the deer no matter the situation. If the deer runs off after the shot�.unless you see the deer nose plowing as he goes out of sight, don�t assume that you�ve smoked him. Many of these deer will run a very short distance and just stop after being marginally hit. As hard as it may be to do�.if the deer runs out of your site after the shot without you being 100% sure it went down�.I�d give it a minimum of 30 minutes before moving. If it�s a really good buck that you truly don�t want to lose, then it sure won�t hurt to sit 45 minutes to an hour.

After giving the deer plenty of time to either bed down or move on slowly out of the area��get out of your stand and quietly slip to the hit site. Use the hit site and the first 20-40 yards of the track to make an initial assessment of your hit. Use the sign you find to decide whether to proceed further or back out to give the deer more time. On the track yesterday the initial assessment showed a very large amount of white hair with no blood to be found at the hit site nor on the trail the deer left out on. The initial assessment should have been a red flag to the hunter that the shot was likely a low gut shot. This means immediately backing out and giving the deer another 5-6 hrs minimum. The hunter proceeded to start tracking the deer farther though and caused a deer that would have likely been bedded up dead within 300 yards�.to die on the neighbor�s land. This situation is very common and not just isolated events.

If the initial assessment looks bad, then back out fellas. If you track the deer for over 150-200 yards and haven�t found it�.also back out. What I hear and see commonly happening though is that folks get down and just start tracking regardless of what the sign says or how far the track leads them. If you smoked the deer then he won�t go far. If you didn�t smoke him though then he ain�t gonna likely die in 30 minutes or maybe not even in 3 or 4 hrs. Don�t just keep going and going behind the track thinking that he�s just going to be dead somewhere up in front of you. These critters are tough and can tote a marginal shot off into the sunset if you keep after them. If you don�t push them though, they will very likely bed up close by. Take time to calm yourself down after the shot and make wise decisions on how you proceed. Good luck out there!