Would depend on the situation for me. I tracked a doe earlier this year - prob took hour to find blood - but once i did - track/blood was great - prob ran 50-70 yards. When my boy shot his first good buck and he had some misses before - we waited 20
Minutes then checked for blood at shot sight - there was a blood drop right where he stood. But a deer ran off when we were at shot site. I felt bad - thought it was his deer. Backed out - art powers is awesome - called him and his dog. 10 minute track. There was enough blood stevie wonder could hav tracked it. Prob a diff deer that ran off! For me - i hav tracked enough i hav nothing to prove amd i lov watching dogs work. I called the dog no regret. This year - thought i had a clean miss or bad shot - thought it was my best ever deer - it was not. No hesitation - called the dog! Buck only ran 50 yards! On a buck of a lifetime - i rather not screw it up. Who the heck am i trying to impress with a blood track?? 😀 to me - its really more out of respect for the deer than me having to feel manly.
My best track was last year - no blood at shot sight - deer hit a thicket - dog guy too busy. So me - a good friend and my boy found him together - was a great hit and short track - took forever to find the blood. Good memories both ways and to me learn more doing both ways

When I was growing up hunting Sumter County in the '70s, it was not uncommon to spend 3-4 hours trying to unravel a trail. I remember one of our party stripping down and swimming the Noxubee to continue to follow a trail on the other side. The ethos back then was if you knew you'd hit the deer, you worked until you found it or it got dark. Now, it seems like "Meh, let's go hunt another one." Lot more deer in the world now.
I think back then we followed a trail too quickly. I'm a lot more likely to go back and get a big breakfast or lunch, and let the deer bleed out, rather than push him too soon. I pushed a nice cull 6 that my son shot as a youngster, off a bed a couple hundred yards from the shot, that we should have let alone for a while.

Kills me when people say “I shot at one, walked out there but I didn’t see any blood”.

Around here if you shoot and it doesn’t drop, the next part of the hunt begins. No matter how long it takes to figure out it ain’t gonna die..

Amen to that. I have spent hours and hours tracking deer and loved every minute of it. Never needed to call a dog and probably never will. Had two that was beginning to wonder about but put in the time and found em.

I didn’t see the edit……I’d say this happens less than 10% of the time…..The perception that hunters are calling trackers due to laziness is just not the case…..More often they do everything possible first before calling……even to the point of going further than they should before backing out……

In another light of a “dog needed” situation, some(not all) people spend so much money on hunting when they shoot one and can’t find blood I’m sure they want to reap some reward for the expense and labor they put into trying to kill one…

Shoot one don’t find no blood or anything, chalk it up to a miss and wait on the next one to walk out. There so many deer in Alabama it don’t matter if you find them or not. Just shoot another one.

I called a dog the first time on a buck that stopped bleeding. Looked for an hour after lost blood and called dog. Found him about 500 yards from last blood bedded gut shot. I would have never found him without dog.

^^
Guy in here - not here any longer - it was 257 - said call the dang dog. I did - deer was good old 6 point in wilcox county. I gave deer over night! Deer probably went 350-400 yards - had crossed a creek - i would hav never found that deer and deer was still very much alive - just could not get up

And i would hav never considered a dog! Glad i listened to 257 and was kind of awesome to watch. They tracked that dang deer - it was less than 15 min time - think it may hav been less than 10 min time. It was fast - i was blown away! Glad i added it to my arsenal - i like winning 🤣🤣😀