An Attack on Deer Hunting | How Long to Wait After the Shot | Dove Hunting | Bumping Deer While Scouting
Attacks on hunting continue, as researcher says deer hunting leads to more violent shootings
This Researcher Says Deer Hunting Leads to Violent Shootings
The attacks on the hunting community happen every year.
Recently, an article published in Forbes said that is a direct correlation to an increase in gun violence and the opening of deer season in rural areas.
According to the story, the researcher examined and compared statistics collected between 2014–2021 on gun shootings occurring in 854 rural U.S. counties spread across 44 states.
They found that the rate of firearm shootings that occurred in the first week following each county’s opening date for the annual deer hunting season jumped by an average of 49% compared to shootings the week before.
But it’s the solution that poses the biggest threat to deer hunting.
Professor Patrick Sharkey believes “enhanced firearm regulations that govern firearm storage, carrying and purchasing, particularly in states where deer hunting is popular, may serve to reduce the number of shootings that occur at the onset of the hunting season.”
So there you have it. It’s another non-hunter who wants to increase gun laws, and this time in states “where deer hunting is popular.”
Wait Time for Deer Recovery Based on Shot Placement
On one of the first cool mornings during the fall 2021 deer season I got nestled into my stand on the edge of a corn field well before daylight.
It was my first time hunting with a crossbow. I had been shooting it quite a bit leading up to the start of the season, so I felt comfortable with the new equipment. At around 8am a couple of big does jumped the fence and came out into the field. I picked the biggest deer, took aim and squeezed the trigger. Thwack!
The arrow hit the deer and went through so fast I didn’t even see exactly what happened. I was sure I’d hit the deer behind the shoulder, if it was off at all it was on the high side. The deer took off at first, and then she stopped about 80 yards from my stand. After standing there for what seemed like several minutes, she walked off.
I replayed the shot in my mind 1,000 times as I sat in the stand. I felt good about the shot, but the reaction bothered me. I waited for about an hour to get down. I immediately started looking for blood, it didn’t take long to start finding some. I followed the trail to where the deer stopped and stood at 80 yards. There was really good blood. I began to feel positive about the shot and figured I’d find her down the hill in the woods. I was wrong. I followed blood for four hours, over several hundred yards. She made her way onto property that I couldn’t get permission to be on.
I ended up having to leave with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s one of the worst feelings a hunter can have. If you’ve been hunting long enough, you understand that highs and lows are part of the game. When you hit a low moment, it’s brutal. It still bothers me to this day that I don’t really know what happened. I can tell you, I’ve learned from the experience.
A lot goes on after you release an arrow, and it happens fast. Deer take steps, they dip, duck, dive and dodge, and sometimes we just plain screw up. It’s important to understand shot placement, the science behind hitting certain organs on a deer and reactions of the deer when being hit. This information gets pieced together to help us answer the million dollar question. How long do I wait to track the deer?
Heart and Lung Shots
When you hit a deer in the heart, the deer is going to expire due to hemorrhagic shock. Blood loss on an acute basis. With a heart shot, you might see a deer react by kicking like a mule and running frantically immediately after being hit. You’ll likely see the deer fall within your view. You also might observe the deer running low to the ground.
If you think you have a heart shot, you should not have to wait to find the deer. If the deer runs out of your sight, you might give it 30 minutes to be on the safe side, but that deer is going to be down.
Bilateral lung collapse occurs on a double-lung shot. It’s 100 percent lethal and recovery should be fairly easy. It’s common to hit the heart and lungs. This causes hemorrhagic shock and lung collapse.
With double-lung shots, you might experience a few different reactions. Deer might bolt as soon as it gets hit with the arrow. If it takes off frantically, watch the deer closely, you could see it fall within view of your stand. If it runs out of sight, listen for a crash in the woods or brush.
Sometimes your arrow can slip in between the ribs, the deer might react as if it had no clue what happened in this situation. You might see the deer just walk away. Look for staggering or wobbly legs, the deer will probably go down shortly after seeing that behavior. Go find your arrow, if it passed through the deer you’ll find bright red blood with bubbles on the fletching. This would be a solid indicator of a lung hit.
The One-Lung Conundrum
A deer hit in one lung is often very difficult to recover. The deer might run at first, it could stop, and then just walk away. If you see this reaction, give the deer plenty of time to expire. Potentially several hours if you believe it is a one-lung hit. Recovery will take extreme patience. Going in too early will cause you to bump the deer, which significantly decreases the chance of recovery.
One-lung hits are not always lethal. The wound is more apt to clot and the deer can sometimes survive the shot. When bow hunting, it’s not ideal to take a shot at a deer that is quartering to you because the lung on the other side can be hidden. A deer wouldn’t succumb to ventilatory deficiency, it would only die of circulatory if blood loss is good enough.
In the anecdotal lead above, I shared that I lost a deer last fall. I believe that deer was one-lunged and my mistake was tracking too soon. I’ve learned from that mistake and will be more knowledgeable on how to handle the situation should it ever happen again.
Liver Shot
Deer hit in the liver might react similarly to a lung-shot deer. If you see that your shot is further back than desired and you are unsure if you’ve hit the lungs, give that deer time. You’ll find dark red blood on your fletching and your arrow.
Deer can travel a few hundred yards on a liver shot. Wait at least three hours before you start tracking. Take a picture of the spot where the deer left your sight while you’re still in your treestand so that you have a visual of where to start looking when time has passed.
Gut Shot
Gut shots are 100 percent lethal due to infectious septic shock. Abdominal hits are an archers nightmare. A deer hit in the abdominal area might react by running a few yards with its back arched awkwardly. It might have its tail tucked while walking away.
You might see the deer bed within sight. Make sure you take note of where you last see the deer. Leave the area and wait at least four to five hours before returning to take up the trail. Depending on where the deer is hit, it could even take up to 10 hours. Remember, a deer hit in the guts will not go far because they are uncomfortable, do not push the deer. Most of the time, they’ll bed down within 100 yards and succumb to the injury.
If you find your arrow, you will see green and brown matter on the fletching. It will likely have a distinct, gross smell coming from it. This evidence along with the deer’s reaction is going to indicate to you that you have hit the guts.
If you hit the deer in the stomach or small intestines, your wait time to retrieve will be extended. It will take longer for bacteria to reach the bloodstream, which causes the septic shock. A large intestine hit might result in a shorter wait. Abdominal hits are big time tricky, it’s best to back out and give the deer plenty of time no matter what.
Conclusion
The ideal archery shot is when you have a deer standing broadside, you pick a hair behind the shoulder blade and you release the arrow. We don’t always get the ideal shot, and even then, things happen in the moment. Take ethical shots, know your limitations. Understand what happens when you hit deer in certain organs and use the evidence to help you make good decisions. When in doubt, give the animal time.
Fun, Fellowship and Dove Hunting
Dove season opens the first week of September for hunters across the eastern U.S. Families and friends will gather around sunflower fields in pursuit of fun, fellowship and filled dove limits.
Hunters should look to be adequately prepared before going hunting. Lack of efficiency getting to shells, poor seating arrangements, and shooting at doves that are too far away can cause you to fall short of your limit. If you’re headed out to the dove fields make sure you avoid these common mistakes.
Leave the white grocery bags at home. Don’t put your shells in a grocery bag. Doves will see the grocery bag and fly away from your setup. Make sure you’re blending in with your surroundings. Camouflage is important, especially if you have several hunters in your group. Grabbing shells out of a grocery bag isn’t very efficient when you’ve got to move quick. You need shells to be accessible.
Don’t leave home without a shell belt. Shell belt can help increase your efficiency afield. You can put a box of shells on each of the side pockets on the belt, making them easier to grab when you’re reloading quick. When you pick up doves in the field, you can drop them in the pouch on the back of the belt and keep hunting. Both hands get back on the gun and you’ll be ready for the next dove that flies by.
Make sure you have a comfortable seat. Another reason why a shell belt comes in handy. If your shells are sitting on the ground and you have to bend over to grab more, doves are flying right on by why you’re digging bullets out of the box.
One of the most common mistakes that hunters make is shooting at doves that are too far away. Stay disciplined. When you shoot at doves too far away, you can wound them and not be able to retrieve them. Don’t be irresponsible, don’t be wasteful. Shooting at doves too far away will also put unnecessary pressure on your hunting area. You might be hunting near others, it’ll ruin your hunt and theirs.
When you shoot a dove, keep your eye on the dove and watch where it falls. Don’t get distracted and start shooting at other doves before picking up the other one. You’ll lose track of it in all the commotion. Ideally, you might have a dog helping with retrieval, but if you don’t, just go get each bird that you knock down.
Use a modified or improved cylinder choke to widen your pattern for dove hunting. Tighter patterns make dove hunting more difficult and increase the chance of destroying the meat on a direct hit. Modified chokes and improved cylinders will do less damage to the meat. Consider using six shot over commonly used seven or eight shots. Six shot has larger pellets and will provide a little more knock-down power.
Remember, doves are crazy fast. When you are about to shoot, make sure you’re leading the bird by four to six feet. Leading the bird means aim the barrel out in front of the dove as you take the shot. As action unfolds, keep this in mind. Always be sure of your surroundings.
Dove hunting is a long-standing tradition, especially on opening day. It’s an awesome way to kick off the fall hunting season, and if you’re fortunate enough to bag a limit, you can run home and fire up the grill. Throw some dove breasts wrapped in bacon on the grill, add in some sweet heat jalapeños and call it a party. That’s what I’m talking about. Stay safe and good luck!
Bump Scouting Deer
The dog days of summer are here and it’s an important time for deer hunters to scout aggressively if they want to pattern a mature velvet buck for opening day of bow season.
Bump scouting can be an effective way to scout for big bucks. Bump scouting is an invasive, high risk, high reward tactic where you want to learn as much as you can in a single trip to an area. Your scouting trip will focus on potential bedding and staging areas, escape routes, and trails that lead from the bedding areas to food and water. You are going on the scouting trip with the intention of disturbing the area and you’re going to have to be willing to accept the possibility that you might jump the biggest buck you’ve ever seen.
It will be important to have a plan before entering the area you plan to scout. Have an idea where you want to look. What time of day are you going into the area? What direction is the wind blowing and how warm is it going to get? Deer chooses bedding areas based off some of these factors. Gain an understanding of where they might be when you’re headed out.
Understanding Bedding and Bedding Behavior
Bedding patterns by white-tailed deer vary from place to place as well as individual deer. Deer often bed in their core area at one end of their home range during the day and at night use beds near feeding areas on the other end of that range.
Deer in hillier terrain bed at higher elevations during the day and move into lower areas for feeding and bedding at night. When temperatures are moderate, beds might be found in the open with little or no shelter. Deer will avoid areas where temperatures are high and where insects are abundant. Keep this in mind when you’re scouting for potential bedding areas.
Whitetails normally bed for less than two hours at a time, according to studies. They spend much of that time grooming. A deer will occasionally rest its head flat on the ground or curl up by tucking its nose into its flanks with its eyes closed. This sleep-like state only lasts a few minutes, and the deer can still be easily alerted if danger is near.
When to Bump Scout
The best time of year to use the bump scout tactic is right after deer season ends. It is easier to find tracks, trails, scrapes and rubs during late winter months. Bumping deer is not as big of a concern because the season is over. When you bump into a deer you can look around to figure out why that deer was there. Mark the spot on your On-X app as a potential stand location for the next deer season.
You can bump scout during spring through the end of summer. If you use this tactic toward the end of summer, you might approach locations with caution. Look in areas where you expect deer to be, go into that area when the wind is in your favor. Move slow, don’t be clunky and make a bunch of noise. Your archery season might be a month or a few weeks from opening, you don’t want to badly scare a buck out of the area.
Bump scouting during the deer season is very risky. It can be done, if necessary, but you will need to make sure you are always downwind of areas you expect to bump deer. Spend as little time in the area as possible. You don’t want to leave scent in the area, get in and get back out.
You Spooked Deer, Now What?
If you’ve been in the field long enough, you’ve probably jumped a buck from his bed and watched his rack breech the top of the weeds as he bounds away. His white tail waived at you as he escaped into a thicket. It’s a gut-wrenching feeling. This type of encounter gives you information, but is the information worth spooking deer?
You can normally tell how bad a deer is spooked. A deer that is spooked bad will tear out of the area and will run low to the ground. A deer that is mildly spooked will bound away until it feels it is far enough away from the danger.
The most common ways hunters mildly spook deer are the routes they take to and from stands or blinds. Hunters leave scent behind whether it be on the ground or on objects in the woods. Deer picks up on that and they will bound away from the spot where the scent was picked up.
According to the National Deer Association (NDA), we can no longer claim that older bucks have larger home ranges. Studies show that home ranges can shrink with a buck’s age. Bucks are loyal to their core areas, especially their primary bedding areas. This data might suggest that spooking a deer one time will not spook it out of the area for good.
If you are scouting in a thicket or potential bedding area, when you jump a deer, observe its behavior. A deer that bounds away might have just gone far enough to get out of sight. You don’t want to push any further, mark the location and back out to check out another area. You have the information you need.
As mentioned above, lightly spooking a deer just one time might not mean they are gone for good. You can use these encounters to your advantage. Note the direction the deer went, use an app like On-X to review the area. You might identify significant details of the terrain that will help your decision with stand or saddle placement.
If done successfully, bump scouting can give you a ton of information and the use of an app can help prevent you from further disturbing the area.
Why You Shouldn’t Bump Scout
When a buck is spooked badly from an area, if he got a good look at you or if he got a good whiff of your scent, you may as well stop hunting in that area for a few weeks. It is hard to say how long it will take for that buck to return. He may never return. Bump scouting is a huge risk.
Bump scouting is going to require you to get passed a psychological hurdle. In the end you are intentionally spooking deer. Everything about that thought feels wrong. Seeing deer run off might make you whisper expletives, or it might give you a sick feeling in your gut. You are going to have to cope with the consequences of spooking deer too hard. There is a fine line, cross it and the spot will be ruined.
The bump scout tactic might not be the best tactic for new hunters to use just yet. New hunters must learn what they can get away with and what they can’t get away with. A new hunter might be a little louder walking in than an experienced hunter. They might not be aware of how important wind direction and approach can be. New hunters might find the bump scout tactic doing more harm than good until that experience is gained. If a new hunter wants to implement this scouting technique, it is recommended that they do so right after deer season ends.
Bump scouting on small private land is not recommended. You do not want to risk bumping bucks off your property. The risk is too great. Bump bucks too hard and they will just avoid crossing the small tract of land. Especially if just use the farm to get from one place to the other.
Bump scouting trips can be very beneficial to hunters when planned and executed carefully. You will gain the most recent information (MRI) on deer in your area. That intel will help you put some meat in the freezer this fall.