Bow hunting Questions

[Mr. B]

Since I am new to bow hunting I have a couple of questions.

First when you do hit a deer how long should you wait before you go and track it? I have not shot one yet so I am not sure about this. I have read some people wait a half hour, some and hour and others three hours.

Second if you miss is there anything that you can do? Since it seems that the bow does not make the same noise that a gun makes does the deer know it has been shot at?

I am pretty sure the deer I missed last year knew it had been shot at. I hit an Oak tree (so focused on the deer never saw the tree) 2 feet from the deer. I just sat there replaying the miss and hoping it would return. Anything I could have done differantly?

Thanks for any information.

[bigbucks]

I would say how long you should wait determines on the kind of hit. If you know you smoked it in the heart or lungs, saw blood pouring out, & hear or obviously see it pile up, a half hour's plenty. If you can see it's clearly dead you don't have to wait at all. If you're not sure of the hit, then wait. If you think it's a marginal to poor hit 3 hours is a very good idea, more probably won't hurt if it's not too warm & will work with your schedule. If it's a marginal hit sneak on the deer quietly as you follow the trail & continually be looking for that deer, you may get a chance to stick it again & finish the deal. I did that on a nice 8 pointer last year. We jumped him about 2 hours after the initial shot & could see he was bad off, I knew it was a pretty good hit to start with. We slowly followed him & I eventually stuck him again in his bed. He still took off again, but then piled up.

As far as if you miss a deer & all it does is hears the arrow & doesn't really know what happened a grunt call's a good thing to try. I once pulled a doe I missed back in & nailed her, that's probably only going to work with younger deer though.

[Fatty07]

He is right on with the time you should wait. When you finaly stick your first deer, it will be the longest hour of you life.

On missing deer I am also new to the sport so I don't know much. I missed a nice 8 two weeks ago (still can't forgive myself). He had no idea what happend and just walked of after a 15yrd trot. 2 nights later he came down the same trail (alot more aware), he did not give me a shot though..then on Saturday A guy shot it 30 from my stand with a slug.

So I would say if you miss just stay calm and hope he'll give you another try.

[I'llTakeWhatiCanGet]

Ten four on the half hour. In almost any case you should wait that long, but if you're not sure of the hit, its not a bad idea to wait overnight even. If you leave the area alone for a while, a marginally hit deer will probably bed down and eventually die if its not pursued. Cold weather will help you there because they'll start to stiffen up faster, and they won't want to get up. As far as missing goes, it all depends on how alert and/or occupied the deer is. If the deer doesn't know you're there and you have a relatively quiet bow they're usually more concerned with the noise made by the arrow hitting the ground (or brush, or tree...). A lot of times they don't get real spooky though, sometimes even when you hit them. If the arrow doesn't hit a bone or anything, sometimes they have no idea they're hit. I had a doe I shot stand and bleed profusely for 20-30 seconds after I shot her. She eventually realized something was wrong and tried to make a break for it, but she didn't get too far. In any case you're probably best off to just hold still and see what happens. Its usually pretty easy to tell by the body language if its spooked or not.

[96trigger]

Just wanted to add one thing, after I shoot a deer, I usually don't move from the stand for at least a half hour. Getting down from that stand can kick a shot deer up that maybe bedded close by. If you wait, you have a better chance at keeping that deer bedded. Usually no matter the hit, I wait a half hour, then leave the stand for another hour or two, then I'll go back and find the deer. Be sure you are sneaky and quiet when you leave the woods, if possible, I'll often leave from the opposite direction the deer ran.