STEPS FOR FINDING DOWNED WHITETAILS

Wait and Get a Bearing

Editor's Note: Often your hunt really begins once you've shot or arrowed a deer. Merely inflicting a mortal wound on a whitetail doesn't finish the hunt. Only after you've recovered the animal can you call your hunt a success. Let's look at the steps that will help you locate your downed whitetail.

• Wait
  If the deer has fallen, the animal won't go anywhere. If you've only wounded the deer and then wait, you'll give the deer a chance to succumb to the injury. If you don't wait, you may startle the wounded deer, causing it to jump up and run off. Like all other hunters, I don't enjoy waiting. But I have a friend who's solved the problem of waiting by carrying a novel in his hunting coat. Anytime he shoots a deer, even if he sees the deer fall, he takes the novel out and reads at least one chapter before coming out of his tree stand to recover the deer. Many hunting lodges and hunting camps require their hunters to return to the camp or the lodge and eat a meal before the search for the deer even takes place. Oftentimes, the longer you delay your search for the deer, the more your odds will increase for recovering that animal.
  
  
• Get a bearing
  Before you leave your tree stand, use your compass or your global positioning system (GPS) receiver to mark the direction of flight that the deer takes away from your tree stand to the last point where you've spotted the deer. Take another bearing to mark the place where you think you've heard the deer fall, because the terrain may look different once you're at ground level. Taking these bearings will help you stay-on-course as you travel from your tree stand to where you expect to recover your deer. Also note which direction you'll have to walk to return to your tree stand. If you have a GPS receiver, already have your tree stand marked as a waypoint.

  TOMORROW: CAREFULLY ANALYZE WHAT YOUR DEER HAS DONE