Tips and Tricks.....

[CTBowMan]

I don't know if this belongs in this forum or not, but here goes...just something that I've done, that works that I'd like to share with the rest of you.

Instead of buying TreeTacks to mark your trail to your stand, what I've done is this...Bought a package of wooden clothespins, and wrapped reflective tape around the ends you squeeze together, coated them with polyeurathane (sp)...and I use them to mark my way in and out to my spots, by attaching them to branches along the way to your hunting location. The good thing is that you can then take them down after each use and no one will know where your secret honey hole is by being able to follow tree tacks to YOUR spot, what I like to refer as (stealth mode)...ha ha ha.

The good thing is you can also use them to mark blood trails after you've made a shot while tracking your trophy, by attaching them to limbs along the way, and when you've found it you can take them down and re-use them over and over again un-like the tree tacks that would require you to pull them out of the tree, or "TP" that could blow away, or dissolve if tracking in the rain. Granted they probably won't work as well as "TP" if you have an emergency, but at least now you won't need to bring a full "roll"...ha ha ha.

Another bonus is that they are small, and lightweight so you don't need to worry about getting weighted down carrying a bunch of them.

Hope this helps, Good Luck, and Happy Hunting!

Van

[PotashRLS]

Did you figure out a rough cost per dozen or 25? Bright eye tacks are still only a few dollars for 50. The "stealth" part of it sound great though, especially for those on public ground. Great thinking. It would also be worth making up a bunch just for tracking deer. You could even attach surveyors ribbon to them so they are easily seen in the day while tracking. I may just have to do that. Good Hunting!

[BearClaw]

Hunter Safety System makes the same kind of clothespin style clips and you attach reflective tape to them (supplies). It would be cheaper just to buy them that way I would think.

[Guest adrenaline_junky]

Thanks for the tip i'll give it a try. That will work great cause the amish are always followin me around tryin to find out where im hunting and now they willn't be able to find me.

[MCH]

Great idea. Think I'll use it on a few of my honey holes.

Since I hunt a lease, though, I like leaving something up to let my fellow members know I hunt that area.

[wtnhunt]

Good tip. After losing a deer several years ago, went out and bought 10 rolls of surveyors marking tape at lowes packaged together for like $4. Have used a little of the tape here and there, dont think we will ever run out of marking tape.

[TreeWalker]

Field dressing tips......

http://www.realtree.com/forums/showt...820#post763820

[TreeWalker]

Tracking wounded deer......

TRACKING WOUNDED DEER[/size]

by Woody Williams

Less than a minute has elapsed since you've shot one of the biggest bucks you have ever seen. It happened so fast it's hard to believe. What you do now may determine whether or not you'll recover your buck.

Your first impulse is to bail out of your treestand and take off after him. Depending upon your arrow placement, this could be a big mistake. If a deer is not hit well you could spook him and make recovery next to impossible.

Knowing where the animal is hit makes a difference in how you track him. For this reason, a bowhunter should use brightly colored fletching, such as orange or red.

The chest of the deer contains the lungs and the heart which, when hit, produce the quickest kill. The lungs are easily reached by an arrow, protected only by vulnerable rib bones. The heart is low in the body and somewhat protected by the deer's leg bone.

The following describes types of hits and how you should track for each.

* A lung-shot deer will run hard 50 to 65 yards. After that he will

usually walk until he falls. The blood will sometimes have tiny bubbles in it. This blood trail usually gets better as you track the deer. However, if the deer is hit high in the lungs, the blood trail may sometimes become light and even disappear completely. The deer could be "filling up" inside with blood, showing very little external bleeding. The hair from the lung area is coarse and brown with black tips. The deer will usually go down in less than 125 yards. Give the deer 30 minutes before tracking.

* A heart-shot deer will sometimes jump wildly when hit. The blood trail may be sparse for the first 20 yards or so. A heart shot deer may track as much as a quarter of a mile, depending on what part of the heart is damaged. The usual is less than 125 yards. The hair from this shot will be long brown or grayish guard hairs. Again, a 30 minute wait is advised. But, if while trailing you find where he has bedded back off and wait an hour before taking up the trail again.

* A liver-shot deer. The liver lies against the diaphragm in the

approximate center of the deer. It is a definite killing shot. The blood trail will be decent to follow and the deer should bed down and die within 200 yards, if not pushed. A one-hour wait is best. The hair from the liver area is brownish gray and much shorter than the hair from the lung area. If you push the deer out of his bed, back off and wait another hour.

* A gut-shot deer is probably the most difficult to recover because of the poor blood trail and the hunter's impatience to wait him out. A lot of bowhunters want to hurry up and find the deer. Since the liver and stomach are close together, it is possible that the deer will go down and die quickly if the shot also penetrates the liver. If the deer is dead in an hour, he will still be dead in 4 hours. Have patience, he will not go anywhere. Wait him out for at least 4 hours. Wait overnight if the deer is

shot in the evening.

When a deer is shot in the stomach area, he will usually take several short jumps and commence walking or running. His back will usually hunch up and his legs will be spread wide. The hair from this wound is brownish gray and short. The lower the shot is on the animal, the lighter colored the hair will be. The blood trail is usually poor with small pieces of ingested material (stomach contents). If the intestines are punctured there will be green slimy material or feces Take your bow with you because a second shot might be required.

* A spine-shot deer will usually drop in his tracks or hobble off. Either way, a second shot will probably be required to finish off the deer. If a spine-shot deer hobbles off, wait a half-hour and track slowly and quietly. Look for the deer bedded down.

* A neck-shot deer will either die in 100 yards or he will recover from the wound. The lower portion of the neck contains the windpipe, neck bone (spine), and carotid (jugular) arteries. If the arteries are hit, the deer will run hard and drop in less than 100 yards. The blood trail will be easy to follow. A shot above the neck bone will give you a good blood trail for about 150 to 200 yards before quitting. The deer will more than likely recover to be hunted again.

* A hip-shot deer. A large artery (femoral) runs down the inside of each deer leg. This artery is protected from the side by the leg bones. The femoral artery is most often severed from the rear or at an angle. If this artery is cut, the bleeding will be profuse and the deer will usually be found in less than 100 yards. The ham of a deer is also rich in veins with a lot of blood. A hip-shot deer should be tracked immediately. Track him slowly and quietly to keep him moving (walking). If you jump him and he runs, back off for a few minutes then continue trailing. You want him to walk, not run. A walking deer is easier to trail.

* An artery-shot deer will almost always go down in less than 100 yards. The aortic artery runs just under the backbone from heart to hips, where it branches to become the femoral arteries. The heart also pumps blood to the brain through the carotid (jugular) arteries.

Sever any of these arteries and you've got yourself a deer. There is one catch, these arteries are tough. It takes a sharp broadhead to cut through them. A dull broadhead will just push them aside. Keep your broadheads sharp! Give the deer half an hour before tracking.

GENERAL TRACKING TIPS

* After shooting the deer, stay in your stand and be quiet for the

recommended time. A noise might push your deer away. He could be bedded down less than 100 yards away.

* I have found it very helpful to tie a piece of pink surveyor ribbon around my stand tree at eye level from where I shot. After noting several terrain features near where the deer was standing and where it ran too, I tie on the ribbon before coming down. From the ground looking back up to the ribbon, I can get a better visual for locating exactly where the deer was and went.

* Before beginning the tracking, mark where you shot the deer with a piece of white toilet paper hung on a branch.

* Mark the trail periodically with more toilet paper as you track. This will give you a line on the deer's travel.

* When you find the arrow, check for hair, tallow, blood, etc. This will give you a good clue on how to track. Example: Tallow and slime means you should wait 4 hours.

* Check for blood carefully, walking off to the side of the run.

* Look for blood on trees, saplings, and leaves that are about the same height as the wound. Blood will sometimes rub off the body.

* If tracking as a group, spread out a little. Keep noise to a minimum. In tracking, sometimes "too many cooks can spoil the stew." It would be better if only 2 or 3 people tracked the deer. If the blood trail runs out, you can always get more help to search for the deer

* While tracking a deer that you have shot and you jump a deer and it flags its tail, it's probably not your deer. A wounded deer will very seldom "flag." BUT - check it out anyway.

* Gut-shot deer have a habit of going to water. If you lose a gut-shot deer's trail, check out the water holes in the area. He could be down by one.

* Tracking at night presents special problems with visibility. The blood and the deer will both be hard to see. A Coleman gas lantern will help a lot in both cases. If the deer is not hit well, and no rain is forecast, wait until morning. If he is dead in 10 minutes or 4 hours, he will still be dead in the morning.

* Take a compass bearing to where you last saw the deer, and another one to where you last heard any noise from it's flight. It might prove very helpful.

* It helps to have someone who did not shoot the deer to help with the blood trial. Many an experienced hunter in his excitement misses things.

* Stay off of the blood trail, and use a small piece of tolled paper to mark each spot

* Get down on your hands and knees when a blood trail is hard to see it helps. From this angle while night tracking you can shine the light in the direction of travel and often see blood that does not show when standing over it.

* Look at the bottom of leaves on branches at deer body height. Sometimes as the branch slides along the body of a deer it is the under side of the leaf that picks up the blood.

* You will often find a gut shot deer or liver shot deer dead in the water not just beside it. so look for an ear or the side of the deer in deeper water too.

* Some shots that look good may be one lung or a poor liver hit because of the angle. These deer can take several hours to die. Be careful about pushing them to soon, since they will rarely leave much blood sign if they are jumped when bedded.

* Look ahead as you blood trail for deer parts and movement. Your deer may still be alive and you might be able to get a second shot or back off with out spooking it.

* Look for disturbed leaves and broken twigs as well as for the blood sign on hard to follow blood trails.

* It is often hard to follow a blood trail in grass. It seems that the blood can fall all the way to the ground without hitting a single blade of grass.

* Look for clusters of ants, flies and daddy longlegs. You can find small drops of blood because these bugs are feeding on it.

* Often times when the blood trail seems to end you will find the animal off to one side and not in the same direction of travel.

* Listen for birds like magpies, jays, and crows. Sometimes they make a ruckus where the animal lies dead.

* Be persistent!

* A dog can often prove very useful if legal. Even your house pet. They can see with their nose what we can not see with our eyes.

* Use your nose. sometimes you can smell a deer you can't see. A gut shot is even more likely to have a smell.

* When trailing at night use a couple of the Chem Lights that you can get at WalMart for less than a buck. You don't use these as lights to see blood, but they are hung on limbs at the last blood found. That way nobody has to stand on the last blood and everyone can easily see where the last blood found is at

Did I say be persistent!

[RangerClay]

Good tip. After losing a deer several years ago, went out and bought 10 rolls of surveyors marking tape at lowes packaged together for like $4. Have used a little of the tape here and there, dont think we will ever run out of marking tape.

That's good stuff but if any of you decide to use it, please clean it up. Some of it is not biodegradable. I use blaze orange tissues instead.

[Guest grunt0331]

I make my own scent wicks. I take the insides out of 550 cord and tie a 1ft piece to a cotton ball. Tie that to a tree limb, and apply your favorite scent. The 550 cord is still strong and useable and these are much cheaper than the store bought scent wicks.

[Michihunter]

I make my own scent wicks. I take the insides out of 550 cord and tie a 1ft piece to a cotton ball. Tie that to a tree limb, and apply your favorite scent. The 550 cord is still strong and useable and these are much cheaper than the store bought scent wicks.

I use old pill bottles and cotton balls. Tie a string around the bottle and hang from a tree branch. When you're donne for the day you can cap it up to save it for tomorrow.

[CampRAGS]

I did the same thing only i used old 35 mm canasters in place of the pill bottles,,,,,,,,

[the one]

You all have good ideals. That artical on tracking Deer was very good. I learned some thing.

[Guest Dallas]

clothes pens

Man I have heard of a lot of tricks but that is really cool. I will definately will try it. thanks Dallas.

[Guest firewalker]

thats all good, and I have used most of those ideas. But after years of fighting progress I finally baught an inexpensive gps, and man what a great tool. I only mark the trees now 50 yards around my stand, when I get close I shine the light and the reflectors get me to the stand. This keeps everyone from knowing where my hot spot is, and them spreading their scent. I only paid less than $100 dollars for it and its well worth it.

[Born4it]

Cool article! I learned a lot! I had already heard most of it, but some of it is common sense that I'd never put together :-)

Thanks!

Ryan

[Predator]

Adding to the shoot and tracking steps I have occasionally used a trick for finding where to start in the thick New Jersey woods and brush. Bring a few yellow tennis balls. Even better tape a short piece of blaze orange ribbon to the tennis balls with duct tape. After the shot visually mark an object where you last saw the deer. Then throw a tennis ball as best you can to that spot before getting out of your stand. You should also get a compass bearing. It will not be perfect but in areas where everything looks almost the same it is hard to tell where to start tracking once you are on the ground.

It works well for duck hunting thick marsh too if you don't have a lab with you.

[hunting4l1fe]

I like the idea sounds like it works mite have to try it tomarrow.

[hunting4l1fe]

:confused:i thought about this you think if u spray painted them with a bright orange it would still work and the deer would not smell it?

[Guest sHan]

about the 35mm film cans... i have used them for years, BUT what i do is super glue my string to the "bottom" of the can and put the cotton ball inside and push a straight pin through the can through the cotton ball and out the other side and bend it over.... the reason i do this is because if its raining the cotton ball wont get wet and loose all the sent, and when you leave just snap the cap on it and reuse it tomorrow

[Guest mik629]

hhee if your hiding your honey hole from the amish.... don't use wooden clothes pins.... they might collect them all and make a desk for you.

[oddhntr]

Scouting Tips

Big Game Scouting Tips using Google Earth

[bdboy53]

I bought a lesser expensive GPS myself a year ago and loved it last season. I used to find all sorts of good spots while still hunting ... and could never find half of them again...Not anymore. Best $100 I ever spent on hunting supplies other tah a good gun, and warm clothes.

[Big Bob]

The same type of clothespins that you are making are available, already made, from Hunter Safety Systems for $7.95.

These are a great idea !

[PAarcher]

I'm sure some of you do this, but if you haven't herd of it give it a try. I process my own game. When I am grinding up my venison for burger meat in either a hand or electric grinder I mix in some BACON! Gives it both the added fat so the burger isn't dry as well as adds that amazing bacon flavor.