Okay, let me start off saying that I won't use the word "despise" in this post in respect to those who might otherwise take offense.

Not having a dad who hunted, I was fortunate to have a "mentor" come along much later in life who taught me many of the things I know today about deer hunting. And one of the things that would anger him the most was to find a deer the morning after some hunter had shot it. While I never missed a deer during all those years, I'm sure it's what drives me to value those trips to the range during the off season even today. (But please, let's not get into that again.) If there was a blood trail, you could expect him to demand a long, and exhaustive search for the deer. And ANY, I repeat ANY shot demanded that you spend some time looking for the deer. There were no excuses, unless you wanted a foot "broke off" in your butt.

So then, how much effort do you normally put into finding a deer that's been shot at? I've known some that, if they don't see any blood, turn immediately around and start heading back to camp. Personally, I suspect many deer are not retreived for reasons that some would never admit, such as the fear of getting lost, or perhaps even being afraid of the dark. And to a few others, it could be just pure laziness.

One thing was certain for him, "it happens" wasn't a justifiable excuse. You either didn't make the shot, or shouldn't have taken it.

Every reasonable effort and then some unreasonable stuff, too. Seriously, I will search hard, for a long time. I have never lost an animal myself, yet, but have hunted long and hard for a buddies deer. 10 of us spent about 5 hours looking for a wounded nilgai, one blistering hot March day in deep south TX. Never saw it again tho.

Feel free to share tracking tips as well.

I've heard it said many times that a wounded deer will seek water. Last season I helped a friend look for one that he shot late that evening. Sure enough, I found him laying near the edge of stock tank.

Still, I'm not sold there's truth to it.

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I've heard it said many times that a wounded deer will seek water

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I believe they will if they can. Most of the dead deer found here are in the pond areas, these are just sick deer or those suffering from injuries, since we allow no hunting on the big ranch. 3 times in my life I’ve tracked wounded bucks directly to the closest waterhole. I would even suggest a person having exhausted all efforts to find a wounded deer check the closest waterhole even if it’s not in the direction you thought the deer went. It make take them several hours to get there so don’t give up after one check.

I have never had to look really hard luckily!! I have shot a couple that ran a short distance and I could find no blood trail at all. I just walked in the direction they ran and found them both within about 30 yards. My son shot asnother one right at dark a couple years ago that we had a little trouble finding, and I didn't feel good about the shot, so we backed out and came in at daylight the next morning and found it within about 20 minutes. It was cold that night so everything was ok. I stay with it until I find them, I know there is always the chance of losing one, but I think A LOT of effort should be put into recovering it before just giving up.

I have had to look hard for deer plenty of times.

As far as the excuses go, well to each his own on that.
If you haven't ever made a bad shot you haven't been hunting long enough yet. It happens to everyone. And you will learn things life just happen and nobody is perfect. Well...at least not all the time.

It's not the excuse that is the problem. It's what you do afterwards. I can say I made a bad shot and admit and learn from the mistake but I must also continue on and find that deer.

What comes in with hunting experience is the fact that you will learn when it is too early to go in to look for a deer. Many get out way too early and don't give it time to die. Bow hunters especially.

This past weekend we had an axis buck shot on a quartering angle that was hit to far forward. Should have not not taken the shot? No. It was a good angle. Shot placement was the only problem We watched it run from and I saw it lay on the edge of the field. Watched it for 15 minutes. Under cover of the darkness we got closer and got within 50 yards of it. The wind was in our face and we could see the buck still. With it being a clear night its silhoette was clear and we could tell it was still alive. It got up and we could tell it was just wounded in the shoulder. Too far forward! It managed to get just into the edge of the brush and we quickly made our way forward. The only reason we could not take a shot from where we were at is that we were facing east and there is a house in that direction. We walked over to where the deer had made it into the woods and he lay still with his head down tucked in tight by some dead mesquites and big limbs. We were able to make another shot on him and put him down.

In this case we didn't move out too early. In the situation we had I had seen the deer run and fall and we moved with wind in our face while the deer is looking away from us. He never knew we were there and I had clear sight of the deer. If we had not moved in as we had, and got closer we would have lost him in the darkness of the creek to the north.

I have lost two deer, both with the same gun and the same round. And we (a group of 5 men) looked for one and tracked a blood trail for several hours over about a mile. I have my reasons on why that happened, and I no longer have that gun because of it. But if I pull the trigger, i am committed to that deer, and I will look for him as long as I can if he doesnt DRT.

I do know my dad shot a good buck two years ago, and there wasnt hardly any blood, even at the impact point. My grandfather was able to follow the land, and he found the buck about 200 yards away on a ridgeline. I went to the closest water source, and no luck. So I dont know what makes a hit deer go where they go, but my grandfather has that feel that he gets off the land, and I dont think he's ever lost a deer that anyone shot, if it did in fact die.

Forever and into the next day if that is what it takes until a determination can be made that the animal survived.

If you shoot a deer and it immediately falls down and starts kicking... keep your gun on it... if it gets up and runs off you will never find it.

that is good advice. happened to me once. shot,deer dropped and started kicking. i put my gun down in my blind. and he hopped back up and took off before i could get my gun on him for another shot. went and looked for blood,there wasnt much there,just a little,and a little muscle. i quit hunting and looked for him the rest of the day. never found him or anymore sign. luckily it was only a long spike,but i still hated that it happened. i looked for him the next morning till i had to go home. from then on,when i shoot a deer i keep the cross hairs on him and rack another round in chamber and watch thru scope to make sure they stay down and dont need a follow-up shot.

he lived... it is almost always a top of the back/ neck shot

I put out a lot of effort to make sure I recover all deer that are hit, or thought to have been hit.

So far I've only had 1 get away that was hit (bow) and fortunately I found the deer the day after our deer season ended. He got the memo that is was safe again and came to the feeder.

I'll be the first to tell you, if I missed, I know it. I will still walk out and do a 5 minute look in a 60 yard radius for blood spot. I'm not going to worry about getting a foot "broke off" in my butt though.

I've lost two deer. Both were failed neck shots. Both only spotted blood when she stopped to look around. Thats a hard trail to follow. Both required an "until dark" search, in which we called it off.

I'll ask this (reluctantly), what the point of returning the following day to search for a doe or spike? The meat is no longer edible, the coyotes or foxes with have had their way with it, why waste the time? If its a trophy, I can understand.

I think part of this conversation goes back to the most argued topic on this board, caliber selection. I read that the .243 wounds more deer than any other round made. When my 30-06 or 300 win mag are "a little off", that deer falls over.

I tend to notice the sound of the hit more than I notice signs that I can accredit to an actual hit. Other than it falling or stumbling around. I don't really depend a lot on what I see from the impact as much as I do on what I hear. We heard that bullet hit on that axis on Friday night and it was loud and unmistakable. Not saying your way is bad or anything, its just not what I feel comfortable with the most when I guide for any animal is all I'm saying. I have seen whitetail flag that tail up on gut shots and on heart/lung shots and when its too far forward as well. I watch the deer as its running away and look for signs then more than I do for signs right at the actuall time of impact. JMHO.

ive never had to look for any deer that i have shot, but i have looked for several people, i get about 4 or 5 calls a yr from my noob buddies "hey dude, i shot a deer and i cant find it...." so i drive oover and help, ive only failed once..... never even found a blood trail and looked all night.... but i stick with em till i find em, once u find some blood ur on it. ive learned that a wounded animal will usually run down hill and towards water. ive found several deer at a tank or in a creek. of course one time i found a deer 30 yrds from where my buddy shot it..... lets just say he bought the beer for me drivin an hour to come find a deer for him lol. for deer i put in all the effort i can and dont like to fail, if nothin else, i get a dog. in all honesty, most dogs can do it, hog dog, cow dog, i found a deer with my lab one time.... now for pigs, i dont really try unless i wanna follow up and kill the hog for sure.

I shot one last yr with a 257wby that was in full stride gttin' it across a hayfield about 250yds away. Tail was up before I pulled the trigger, tail was up afterwards as he disappeared in the woods. High lung shot but that deer didn't bleed but maybe 2 drops and was found about 300yds away. Only reason I knew I hit him was after searching the spot where I believed he was at when I shot, I moved some grass back and found a cpl pieces of meat and a piece of bone.
Another time I shot a deer high like that I watched it run 150yds and go out of sight out in the middle of a grow up clearcut. I got on his trail and run out of blood. I walked circles, I searched the creek bed for fresh activity (is well past dark:30 @ this point) and went back to the last blood I found. To the right of there was a big wall of thick briars w/ what looked to be rabbit trail going in them. I got down on my belly and shined the light up in there and there was the deer. How that buck got up in there through that little hole w/o some kind of sign on the briars I will never know. I had to take a knife out and cut my way to him. Ended up being a pretty little 19" wide 9pt that last weekend of season.

yall need to get tracking dogs to find them for you

The only deer 3 I have ever lost was last year and it was the biggest buck I have ever seen. I shot him at 1 pm and followed blood until it and the light ran out. I went back the next morning and probably three times during the season to at least try to find the horns. I even had a day off from work in April and went back and aimlessly wandered around for three hours trying to stumble on him. I did not ever find him and it still bothers me. I have had dreams of finding that deer. I just hope it survived at this point. We never heard coyotes the night I shot him and never saw buzzards down there either. I hope I see him this year.