You’ve made the shot—now what?

You’ve spent more dollars than you’d like to calculate on gear, countless hours of your time and energy, and many restless nights waiting for your opportunity to shoot the deer you want, and then it FINALLY happens. 

Before you crack the beers and start calling buddies, let’s go over what happens immediately after the shot. Understanding exactly what to do after shooting a deer will help ensure your hunt ends on a high note with a successful recovery (but we’ll also discuss what to do if you can’t find your deer—read on for more).

Immediately After the Shot

As soon as the arrow or bullet hits the deer, ask yourself the three “w’s”: 

1. Where did I hit the deer?
2. What did the deer do?
3. Where did the deer go? 

Answering these questions immediately after the shot gives you clues that up your odds of a straightforward recovery. Let’s review.

Where Did I Hit the Deer? 

It can be hard to push aside the adrenaline and focus on details, but I immediately try to see where the deer shot placement was. I focus on the deer’s body as it takes off, looking for clues like blood spots on the body, a hole from the bullet or broadhead, or possibly the arrow sticking out of the deer. 

Beyond visual cues, pay close attention to the sound you hear on impact, especially if archery hunting. If you hear a distinct pop, you likely have a lethal hit in the chest cavity, and that deer will expire quickly. If you hear more of a deflated thump sound, you likely hit the liver, guts, intestines, or in more general hunting lingo: you hit the deer “back.” These are still lethal shots but you should give that deer ample time to expire. 

Having a good idea of where I hit the deer helps me decide how long to wait before tracking the deer and what I should expect during the track job. Things like lighted nocks on the arrow, using your binoculars to look at the animal immediately after the shot, or filming your shot (with a simple tool like this) can make understanding where you hit the deer easier.

What Did the Deer Do? 

What I mean by this is how the deer reacted to the shot. Did it fall down? Trot off? Hunch its back? Kick? Tuck its tail? The way a deer moves after the shot offers telltale signs of certain hits on the body and can help confirm where you hit the deer.

Directly after the shot, control your excitement and listen closely for at least two to three minutes. Especially in hardwoods with leaf litter, you can gain great understanding by listening to a hit deer’s gait—did it bulldoze off trail through thick cover? Did you hear it slow to walk after getting out of sight? Sometimes, you can even hear them stop, tip over, and trash about. Picking up these details will save you a lot of post-shot uncertainty and inform how you handle picking up the blood trail. 

Where Did the Deer Go?

Unless your deer dropped immediately, this is the most important question to answer as it gives you a starting point for your track job. Adrenaline is going to be pumping, so take a moment to mark two locations using Waypoints so you don’t forget the details: 

1. Where the deer was standing when you shot it.
2. Where you last saw the deer (and the direction it was headed).

Look for landmarks to help mark the deer’s direction after it takes off. In the excitement, it’s easy for things to blur later on. Make note of specifics, like a big tree nearby, or that the deer crossed a logging road, or it went through a fenceline opening. Your Waypoints and notes will be your starting points to go look for blood, hair, and other deer sign. 

How Long To Wait After Shooting a Deer?

How long you wait to track a deer after the shot depends on where you shot it:

• Heart shot: The deer may expire in as little as five to 10 seconds. It may have even dropped on the spot, or you never lost sight of it. If you do need to track it, you can follow the blood trail within 10 to 15 minutes.

• Lung shot: If it was a double-lung shot, the deer may expire in as little as 30 seconds and you can start tracking in 10 to 15 minutes. However, if it was a single-lung shot, the deer could live for hours. Wait at least eight to 10 hours before tracking. 

• Liver shot: Liver shots are lethal but high variable in the time it takes for a deer to die, error on the side of caution with these hits when weather permits. . Wait six to eight hours before taking up the trail.

• Gut shot: The deer may live for five or more hours. Wait 10 to 12 hours to be safe. A gut shot might not have any blood trail, and jumping the deer could spell disaster. If you made a gut shot, look for water as these hits make a deer extremely sick and thirsty. 

• Intestines shot: If you hit way far back, waiting 12 to 24 hours is common. I’d wait at least 14+ hours. Jumping this deer before it’s dead will likely lead to disaster as there is no blood trail. Again, search out nearby water.

How Far Will a Shot Deer Run?

How far a deer runs after being shot is also dependent on shot placement. 

• Heart shot: We mentioned earlier that the way a deer reacts to the shot can help you understand where you hit it and what to expect next: With a heart shot, you may see the deer “mule kick” upon impact. Then, if the deer doesn’t immediately drop, it will typically run at full speed until it falls over. On its death run, the deer may cover two to 300 yards. 

• Lung shot: A double-lung shot is also likely to result in a death run of about two to 300 yards. If the deer runs and you lose sight of it, you can help confirm it was a lung shot if you see bright red blood with foamy bubbles. Though, remember, a single lung hit deer could live for hours or even days, and sometimes, survive the hit entirely. Most of the time this is a result of a high-lung hit. 

• Liver shot: The deer could travel for miles after being shot, especially if pursued or pushed. When blood trailing, you can help confirm it was a liver shot if you see dark red, almost black, blood. 

• Gut shot: The deer will likely run a short way immediately after the shot and be hunched up (you might say it appears “sick.”). The deer can travel an impressive distance despite injury. A gut shot will come with an awful smell and you may see liquid with a greenish tint and bits of blood. 

• Intestine shot: The deer can live for a day or two and may be able to travel great distances. If there’s any blood trail at all, it’s likely to be somewhat bright red, but watered down. 

Blood Trailing Deer

If you can’t see where the deer went down, or if it went down, you’ll need to rely on your tracking skills. In blood trailing, patience, perseverance, and time are your best tools. Though, a few Hunt App features and a handful of physical tools will help:

Helpful App Features

Before I even start to track a deer, I open the Hunt App and turn the “Tracker” on. This records every move I make in case I lose the blood trail or need to backtrack. It’s important to look at your maps while blood trailing and try to get an idea of what this animal is doing. You may realize, for example, that the deer is following a creek or consistently pushing downhill. 

I also make sure I know where public and private boundaries are. And, as I’m dropping Waypoints, I’ll add a valuable note to each so I can recall details if I have to backtrack (for reference, I’m creating Waypoints for things like “big spot of blood in bed” or “huge patch of blood” or “hair on leaves”—that kind of thing. There’s even a custom “blood” icon for Waypoints to keep things organized.).

Other Tools

Aside from the Hunt App, I bring the following tools:

• Orange flagging tape.
• My bow or rifle (during legal shooting hours).
• Binoculars. 

How Should a Downed Deer Be Approached?

For safety, a downed deer should always be approached carefully from above and behind the head. Immediately examine the eyes from a safe distance. A dead deer will have open, unmoving eyes. It is common practice to use the tip of your gun or bow to poke the open eyeball to confirm the deer has expired. Also, watch the deer’s chest for rising and falling. If you detect zero movement, you can proceed.

Tagging the Deer

Once the deer is dead, follow all state regulations and guidelines on tagging the animal. Some states allow e-tagging (electronically) while others require a physical tag. It’s important to know all of these laws before entering the field. 

For a physical tag, you may need to write or fill out your tag and then attach it to the carcass. Or, you may have to punch or cut out your date and info on the tag. Again, all states are different so make sure you know the ins and outs of tagging your downed deer. 

Can’t Find a Deer After the Shot? Potential Options

Not being able to find a deer is the most gutting experience in hunting. But, unfortunately, this is sometimes the reality of deer hunting and I think it’s important to discuss it. 

It’s important to exhaust all options to recover the deer and then some. We owe this effort to the deer. We also owe it to ourselves. After putting so much time, money, and energy into the hunt before the shot, we need to do the same after the shot, especially for our own mental well-being. 

If we make every effort possible in trying to recover the deer, we can hang our hat on putting in every ounce of effort that we had. This will not solve the problem of not finding the deer, but I can assure you that it will help heal the wound a little bit, knowing that you’ve done all that you could do to find this deer. 

If your blood trailing and tracking efforts have left you high and dry, there are a couple of external support options you may be able to take advantage of to help recover your deer. 

Deer Tracking With Dogs

Make sure you check your state’s hunting regulations on the ability to use tracking dogs. Some allow it. Some don’t. Some allow it on public lands, some don’t. If allowed, many state agencies maintain lists of reputable dog handlers to use in tracking your deer.

Get in touch with the dog tracker as soon as possible (I’ve even done it while still in the tree). Often these are night and weekend jobs for folks so giving them as much advance notice as possible is your best bet at getting a dog on your deer’s trail. Additionally, the sooner you realize you want to bring in dogs, the better. If you spend hours disturbing tracks and leaving your scent everywhere, the dog(s) will have a harder job. 

So, if you know it was a gut or intestinal shot, and you know you have the option of dog tracking at your disposal, you should consider backing out after the shot so that you don’t push the deer or interfere with scent trails. In these scenarios, the tracker should start working the dogs about 12 hours after the shot.

Also, if private land is nearby, be sure you contact landowners (use the Hunt App’s Private Lands Map Layer for their contact info). 

Pros: 

• An effective recovery option if scent is present. 
• Great learning opportunity for future scenarios.
• Significantly improved odds of recovery on single-lung, gut, or intestines-shot deer.

Cons:

• High impact on the ground or land.
• Can be expensive. 
• Precipitation can be detrimental to the scent trail.
• The elapsed time between the deer being hit and getting the dog in there can be a factor in success.

Deer Recovery Drones

The first question here is can I legally use a drone? State game laws and regulations will tell you the game laws for drone usage. Be careful with the literature on the use of drones and if and where they can be used for recovery. Where legal, most state agencies will have web pages dedicated to drone deer operators who can assist you. 

Pros:

• Can locate deer carcasses up to 400 feet away using thermal imaging or just plain sight view from above. 
• Doesn’t disturb the local wildlife or people around. 
• High success rates of finding your deer, dead or alive. 
• Doesn’t rely on scent being present (which can fade).

Cons

• Location-dependent: It might be illegal in the state you’re in.
• Can be expensive. 
• Runs off batteries/electronics which can fail from time to time. 
• Tree canopy in early season can make thermal usage almost impossible.

When To Call It: How Long Before Deer Meat Spoils?

Meat spoils when bacteria, molds, and yeasts have a chance to flourish. How fast meat spoils depends on a few things, mainly temperature. The magic number is temps below 40 degrees. With those conditions,  it’s safe to leave a deer overnight before tracking if need be.

If over 40 degrees, you need to consider tracking as fast as you can, within reason (with temps in the 60s or higher, you may have a problem with the meat in just a few hours). Also, keep in mind, a gut or intestinal shot will ramp up the base for bacteria growth and make recovering the deer and saving the meat much harder.

Learning From Experience

If you made the shot and recovered your deer successfully, congratulations on creating a memorable experience and filling the freezer. That’s what it’s all about.

If you had a harder time, you can learn from the experience. Anytime I’ve been in that scenario, I take a step back and look at where I went wrong and what I could have done to change this outcome. It’s a chance for growth as a deer hunter. In the end, we are all human, and if you hunt long enough, you will encounter a bad shot or scenario where the deer is unfortunately not recovered.

Trying to learn and remaining positive will make you better for the next time.