Early season deer recovery

[Scott M]

While I'm pondering things, has anyone had any trouble recovering deer during the early opening archery hunt? I guess I'm a little worried about what a deer would do if I shot it. I guess I'll have to place a deadly kill shot or something, because if my deer cuts north, he's in 8 foot tall corn, south he's in 6-7 foot tall cattails, west and he's in a field of 8 foot giant ragweed, and east and he's into more corn. I'm confident that if he leaves a good blood trail I'll get him, but this is different than what I'm used to (boreal forests and easy findings).

It's not gonna stop me from hunting, but it gets my mind racing a little. Anyone have any good stories from past hunts?

[harvey lee]

I think the biggest thing one can do for a easier recovery is to make sure you dont push the deer to soon. Make sure you wait a good amount of time and then trail him very slow as to not jump him and push him futher into the thicker cover.

Just remember with a bow kill, the deer is going to run some distance before it stops. One can probably plan on the deer going at least 50 yards after shot. If the distance to the heavy cover is very close, maybe there is another spot where you will have a little more open cover so you dont risk losing the deer.

[gonefishin11]

Call some friends and have them help you search. If I can't find one right away that I know I have hit I give my buddies a call and we send out the search party.

[BLACKJACK]

Also pay attention to where you hit the deer, if its hit too far back, like a gut shot, you need to give it more time, 6 hours is not to long to wait on a gut shot. Once you jump a deer out of its (death) bed, they're hard to find because they don't leave much of a blood trail. I wait a minimum of one hour for any deer I've shot, unless I see it fall. Have lights, friends, marking tape ready to go beforehand. Lastly, take only good shots if the cover is that thick. Good luck!

[WaitForIt]

I'm sure its been said already, but be patient. I've had it happen where I could have tried to 'sneak' a shot in, but decided it wasn't quite right and had to watch them walk. On the other hand, the deer have also given me a second chance by browsing their way under the tree and setting up a perfect shot.

Seems to me that a shot on an alert deer tends to make them run farther, too. Not sure if there is any science behind that, just my observations.