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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundations podcast, your guide

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Speaker 1: to the fundamentals of better deer hunting, presented by first Light,

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Speaker 1: creating proven versatile hunting apparel for the stand, saddle or blind.

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Speaker 1: First Light, Go Farther, Stay Longer, and now your host

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Speaker 1: Tony Peterson.

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Speaker 2: Hey, everyone, welcome to the Wired to Hunt Foundation's podcast,

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Speaker 2: which is brought to you by first Light. I'm your host,

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Speaker 2: Tony Peterson, and today's episode is all about blood trailing

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Speaker 2: deer and what it can teach us, not only about

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Speaker 2: how to find you know, mortally hit, wounded deer, but

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Speaker 2: just dear behavior in general. When it comes down to it,

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Speaker 2: there's so much about deer that we just don't understand.

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Speaker 2: We fill in the blanks a lot to compensate for this,

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Speaker 2: but it's just simply true that for the most part,

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Speaker 2: their world is.

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Speaker 3: Kind of a mystery.

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Speaker 2: This hits me upside the head like a bag of

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Speaker 2: wet cement a couple of times each season, and it's

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Speaker 2: always a good reminder to check what I think I

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Speaker 2: know over is what the deer actually tell me in

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Speaker 2: the moment, which is kind of what this episode is

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Speaker 2: all about. It's the heartbeat in my ears that I

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Speaker 2: love the most. If that sounds like I suffer from schizophrenia,

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Speaker 2: well maybe I guess. But what I'm referring to there

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Speaker 2: is what happens to me when I see a deer

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Speaker 2: that I know I'm going to try to shoot. I

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Speaker 2: love that feeling so much, and I bet you do too.

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Speaker 2: The cool thing about my life right now is that

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Speaker 2: not only do I get to experience that for myself

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Speaker 2: a handful of times each season, I get to watch

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Speaker 2: it vicariously play.

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Speaker 3: Out with my daughters.

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Speaker 2: The only time I felt it for sure this year

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Speaker 2: was when I had just gotten winded by a doe

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Speaker 2: in Minnesota and then got half winded by a little

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Speaker 2: six pointer who was about one hundred and eighty degrees

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Speaker 2: away from that dough. He just walked off when I

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Speaker 2: turned around in my stand and saw an eight pointer

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Speaker 2: walking along a trail near the pond I was hunting.

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Speaker 3: Now, I have a few rules on.

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Speaker 2: That particular property that I try to stick to, and

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Speaker 2: one of them is that holding out for a giant

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Speaker 2: is just not a good idea.

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Speaker 3: That property is tiny, and.

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Speaker 2: I share it, and in a lot of time hunting there,

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Speaker 2: I have yet to see any deer that I would

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Speaker 2: confidently say was over two and a half years old.

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Speaker 3: The other rule I.

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Speaker 2: Have there is to take really high odd shots, because

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Speaker 2: even a liver hit deer could put a dying buck

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Speaker 2: in some soccer mom's backyard pretty quickly, and I would

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Speaker 2: rather avoid that at all costs. While this buck checked

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Speaker 2: all the boxes and I heard that familiar sound inside

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Speaker 2: my head as I stopped him and drew. It was

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Speaker 2: one of those no doubt smoked him type of hits,

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Speaker 2: and I felt so confident he wouldn't go far that

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Speaker 2: I texted my daughters and told them it was time

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Speaker 2: for them to track him for me. They showed up

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Speaker 2: and we set out and found the arrow quickly. We

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Speaker 2: then picked up blood and made it seventy five yards

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Speaker 2: without too much trouble. The downside was that the deer

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Speaker 2: wasn't there, and I got that not so great feeling

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Speaker 2: in the pit of my stomach. I don't know a

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Speaker 2: whole lot of people who hunt pressure deer who aren't

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Speaker 2: totally wrecked with self doubt, and you can count me

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Speaker 2: into that camp.

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Speaker 3: I can get there real quickly.

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Speaker 2: The buck made it on a mode trail, peeled off

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Speaker 2: slightly once, and then peeled off again twenty yards or

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Speaker 2: so farther on.

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Speaker 3: That's where he was stone.

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Speaker 2: Dead, and quite a bit farther than I expected, but

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Speaker 2: not far enough to really matter much at all. The

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Speaker 2: girls did a good job with the trail, even with

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Speaker 2: me breathing down their necks, because taking third place in

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Speaker 2: line on a blood trail is not my natural state.

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Speaker 2: When that buck peeled off the trail the first time,

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Speaker 2: I told them he was just looking for a place

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Speaker 2: to die. I was right, kind of. He just didn't

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Speaker 2: follow through at that moment. Sometimes they are predictable, sometimes

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Speaker 2: they aren't. I think mostly they kind of aren't. But

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Speaker 2: we see what we want to see now. That wasn't

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Speaker 2: the last blood trail I was on, however. In the

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Speaker 2: end of September, I took my daughters to northern Wisconsin

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Speaker 2: to hunt sporks and does, and on the first day

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Speaker 2: we had a dough flirt with death a lot. She

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Speaker 2: made it through unscathed, but man, it was close. The

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Speaker 2: following day we blanked in the morning, so we headed

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Speaker 2: out for the afternoon sit with hopes in our hearts,

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Speaker 2: me for a deer and them for a deer that

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Speaker 2: would keep them from having to go to school. The

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Speaker 2: next morning, Well, we finally heard something, and soon enough

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Speaker 2: we had a spike buck standing really, really close to

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Speaker 2: our blind. He didn't like the vibe of the scene

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Speaker 2: a whole lot. But the beauty of young bucks is

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Speaker 2: that they aren't very smart, and sometimes some of us

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Speaker 2: just need a not very smart one to offer himself

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Speaker 2: up to us. Well that's what this one did. And

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Speaker 2: he was so close to the blind that I was nervous.

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Speaker 2: And I got really nervous when I looked down and

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Speaker 2: saw that my daughter's crossbow bolt was not going to

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Speaker 2: clear the bottom of the blind or the bottom of

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Speaker 2: the window, I should say, so, I whispered to her twice.

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Speaker 2: I literally said, you're not going to clear the window.

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Speaker 2: Don't shoot. I said that twice. And you know what

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Speaker 2: she did. She didn't shoot, Just kidding, she did, and

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Speaker 2: that bolt smacked into the buck like a freight train.

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Speaker 2: He went down on his chest and bulldozed his way

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Speaker 2: out of our lives. But he didn't go very far. Now,

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Speaker 2: if you're wondering how far that might throw off a

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Speaker 2: bolt in the distance of maybe twenty five feet, I'll

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Speaker 2: say this a lot more than you'd want to.

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Speaker 3: Risk it for.

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Speaker 2: And we got very lucky because she caught a whole

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Speaker 2: lot of vital stuff in that deer's neck before it

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Speaker 2: broke his off side shoulder. The blood trail looked like

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Speaker 2: a scene from a horror movie, and he did that

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Speaker 2: straightaway sprint of a deer in real trouble, no surprise there,

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Speaker 2: which was nice. It was also nice to get lucky

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Speaker 2: in the right way with a bad shot, because that

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Speaker 2: doesn't happen that often. Even though I don't want to

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Speaker 2: encourage her or anyone else to risk it for the

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Speaker 2: old deer biscuit, if you know what I mean. Blood

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Speaker 2: trailing is an interesting endeavor because it brings to mind

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Speaker 2: the general behavior of deer that we all believe, or

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Speaker 2: at least most of us anyway, things like wounded deer

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Speaker 2: go to water, or wounded deer won't go uphill, or

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Speaker 2: a heart or double lung hit will result in a

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Speaker 2: deer that's dead within a certain amount of distance or

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Speaker 2: a high entrance and no exit won't bleed externally very much.

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Speaker 3: You know all about it.

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Speaker 2: But for most of us, if we go on more

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Speaker 2: than a handful of blood trails in any game in season,

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Speaker 2: that's a lot most of us might get to do

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Speaker 2: this a few times every fall, and that's not enough

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Speaker 2: time to get really good at anything, let alone learn

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Speaker 2: a whole lot about dear behavior, especially wounded deer behavior.

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Speaker 2: Oftentimes we were just left to fill in the blanks.

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Speaker 2: That's dangerous stuff because we just end up, you know,

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Speaker 2: talking ourselves into believing something that we usually want to believe.

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Speaker 2: The guy that I'm sharing that small property with here

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Speaker 2: in the Cities hit a buck on opening weekend that

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Speaker 2: bled like a stuck hog in a few spots and

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Speaker 2: then stopped bleeding. At least according to the guy's story,

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Speaker 2: that's what happened, and I don't have much of a

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Speaker 2: reason to doubt it now.

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Speaker 3: My initial reaction was that it was.

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Speaker 2: A brisket hit where those big chest muscles bleed like

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Speaker 2: crazy for a while and then this bigot just turns

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Speaker 2: off his blood trailing progress and eventual conclusion kind of

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Speaker 2: sealed the deal for me. But you know what, I

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Speaker 2: don't actually know. I wasn't on the trail. There's no

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Speaker 2: dead buck to bear witness to what actually happened. It's

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Speaker 2: all just a big maybe. Even if that big maybe

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Speaker 2: exists with some high light likelihood of it being true,

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Speaker 2: what's worse, I assured him that the buck will probably survive.

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Speaker 2: I've seen deer hit like that, and I've gotten them

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Speaker 2: on trail camera later in the season. But I have

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Speaker 2: also seen deer get hit like that and had zero

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Speaker 2: evidence that they survived. My default is to assume that

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Speaker 2: they did. But why well, I don't like the thought

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Speaker 2: of him, you know, dying a slow you know, ultimately

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Speaker 2: probably not a very fun death, and then getting gobbled

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Speaker 2: up by crows and coyotes. But that doesn't mean that

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Speaker 2: that didn't happen. I've been on more than a few

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Speaker 2: blood trails where bucks seemed to completely or mostly stop bleeding,

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Speaker 2: and then a grid search has turned them up tucked

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Speaker 2: into some dead fall or lane in four foot tall grass,

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Speaker 2: in a meadow somewhere.

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Speaker 3: You know. I killed a pretty good buck on public.

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Speaker 2: Land in Iowa in twenty twenty that died in a

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Speaker 2: river bottom and not in anything overly thick. But I

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Speaker 2: still walked right by him dozens of times before coming

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Speaker 2: back in the daylight and finding him within like two minutes.

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Speaker 2: I had another deer I shot with a muzzle or

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Speaker 2: die right next to me, and I had no idea

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Speaker 2: until I got frustrated looking for blood, and walked back

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Speaker 2: to right where I shot from, which was also like

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Speaker 2: five yards from where he piled up. I shot a

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Speaker 2: buck one time when I was in high school that

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Speaker 2: was bleeding like a stock hog, and when I lost

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Speaker 2: the trail, I nearly lost my mind. I knew he

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Speaker 2: wasn't gonna go uphill, because that's all I had ever

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Speaker 2: been told, and so it was a pretty big surprise

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Speaker 2: that he did in fact go uphill, and I did,

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Speaker 2: in fact not find him, but I did in fact

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Speaker 2: see that deer some weeks later off the same stand.

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Speaker 2: There are so many lessons tucked into those moments. Another time,

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Speaker 2: I shot a buck that ran away from me in

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Speaker 2: a very obvious direction, and after a lot of searching

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Speaker 2: and not finding, I went on a whim the opposite

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Speaker 2: way and found him two hundred yards down the ridge

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Speaker 2: in the wrong direction. I still don't know why he

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Speaker 2: did what he did. But I did shoot a dough

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Speaker 2: in the late season in northern Wisconsin quite a few

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Speaker 2: years ago that walked a long ways on a trail

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Speaker 2: before doubling back a long ways on the same trail.

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Speaker 2: And I don't know if she did it because I

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Speaker 2: was blood trailing her, or if she did it because

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Speaker 2: she just did. I know that both of those trails

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Speaker 2: led me to question a lot of what I know

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Speaker 2: about wounded deer, and I think about both of them

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Speaker 2: every time I start a trail, and it just gets,

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Speaker 2: you know, a little bit challenging. The rules we think

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Speaker 2: they follow they often don't. And something that might help

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Speaker 2: us understand that occurred to me when I was sitting

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Speaker 2: in that blind with my daughters waiting on a spike

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Speaker 2: to show up. You know how when you're bored or

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Speaker 2: you're hungry, you'll just think about where you're going to,

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Speaker 2: you know, go or do, or find someplace to just

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Speaker 2: sit down and eat. I wonder if that happens with

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Speaker 2: deer like I wonder if they think, man, I can't

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Speaker 2: wait to get out of this bed and get over

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Speaker 2: to some clover, although they wouldn't call it clover because

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Speaker 2: they probably don't have names for their food anyway. I

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Speaker 2: also wonder if they hear some acorns falling and think

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Speaker 2: I better just go over there and check that out

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Speaker 2: because that sounds tasty. Does that seem crazy? It probably is,

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Speaker 2: But deer get the zuomies. Deer seem to get angry,

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Speaker 2: they sometimes run to a food source, so I don't

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Speaker 2: know what thoughts they have or what emotions they feel.

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Speaker 2: I wonder what they are thinking when they are hit,

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Speaker 2: you know, by an arrow or a bullet, and if

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Speaker 2: there is enough going on between their ears to constitute

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Speaker 2: real panic or real contemplation. I'm not sure it's for

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Speaker 2: us to say. I've seen dogs do some pretty cunning things,

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Speaker 2: and I'm not too sure the difference in intelligence between

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Speaker 2: your average Labrador Retriever and your average wild white tail

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Speaker 2: is all that different. I've also seen some do lots

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Speaker 2: of things that seem to require no mental resources whatsoever,

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Speaker 2: So who knows. What I do know is that the

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Speaker 2: more blood trails I go on, the more I rely

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Speaker 2: less on the rules for the deer and more on

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Speaker 2: the rules for me and anyone else who is blood

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Speaker 2: trailing with me. Some of these are pretty standard. I

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Speaker 2: like really good lights, no surprise there. But I also

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Speaker 2: like not much noise on my blood trails. Someone who

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Speaker 2: tries to blood trail with their phone flashlight is not

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Speaker 2: likely to get invited on too many blood trails with me,

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Speaker 2: just like anyone who makes too much noise. I don't

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Speaker 2: know why, but I just generally prefer to be quiet

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Speaker 2: in the woods as much as possible. This is one

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Speaker 2: of the reasons it drives me nuts when people comment

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Speaker 2: on hunting films by saying you don't need to whisper

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Speaker 2: after you shoot your deer. Sometimes you can't help but

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Speaker 2: let out a war cry or seven, But mostly I

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Speaker 2: try to stay quiet because I'm always hunting where other

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Speaker 2: people can hunt, so even if my hunt might be over,

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Speaker 2: I'm not a huge fan of upsetting the balance in

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Speaker 2: the woods any more than necessary, because I wouldn't want

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Speaker 2: people to do that to me if I still had

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Speaker 2: a tag and was hunting out there anyway. On the

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Speaker 2: blood trail front, I think being quiet just makes sense.

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Speaker 2: I'm also pretty diligent about marking the blood really well.

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Speaker 2: Sometimes that's with on X, but usually I just keep

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Speaker 2: my tracker on now so I can use it to

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Speaker 2: guide me when the going gets tough, or tell me

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Speaker 2: if I've already gone two hundred and fifty yards and

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Speaker 2: it's time to back out and wait for daylight. Flagging

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Speaker 2: tape works well, but then you have to retrace your

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Speaker 2: steps to pick it up. Paper does too, but that

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Speaker 2: can be a little harder to see. Either way, if

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Speaker 2: you're paying attention, a good light, quiet tractors, and diligence

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Speaker 2: on marking the spore are huge. Instead of totally guessing

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Speaker 2: what the buck did, if you stick to those three things,

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Speaker 2: you can make a pretty good decision on what he

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Speaker 2: probably did.

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Speaker 3: And those are great.

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Speaker 2: But the theme that keeps popping up for me and hunting,

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Speaker 2: and I mean all aspects of hunting, which does include

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Speaker 2: blood trailing, is patience. I honestly think that if you

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Speaker 2: want to kill more deer and definitely more big bucks,

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Speaker 2: you need to learn the real value of patients. Most

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Speaker 2: hunters are impatient and they want to make something happen.

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Speaker 2: This is the Western hunting standard and their playing field

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Speaker 2: sort of allows for it. But the world of white

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Speaker 2: tail isn't as conducive to impatience because a lot of

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Speaker 2: us are on small parcels with an animal that is

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Speaker 2: really good at not showing itself if it doesn't want

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Speaker 2: to be seen. This idea has led me to volume

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Speaker 2: hunt spots with good sign A lot in recent years

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Speaker 2: often need to give a location a few days before

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Speaker 2: DearS show up, but they usually show up now. On

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Speaker 2: the blood trail front, going slow with deliberation is huge.

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Speaker 2: Anyone who is impatient on a blood trail isn't welcome

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Speaker 2: on my blood trails because it drives me absolutely nuts.

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Speaker 2: The whole idea is to sort the puzzle out piece

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Speaker 2: by piece, and a deer can go anywhere he damn

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Speaker 2: well pleases. Finding that next speck of blood is what's

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Speaker 2: most important, that's what matters the most. But this is

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Speaker 2: where the Venn diagram of impatience and beliefs about wounded

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Speaker 2: deer behavior become almost a complete circle. As soon as

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Speaker 2: it gets tough, the impatient blood trailer will say, well,

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Speaker 2: he probably went down to the creek since they need water,

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Speaker 2: and then the wild goose chases on. The farther you

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Speaker 2: start branching out from the last blood, the more ground

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Speaker 2: you have to work with. Now, sometimes this is necessary,

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Speaker 2: but it's often not necessary. As soon as most blood

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Speaker 2: trailers would like to believe. Patience here is a real virtue,

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Speaker 2: and if you pair that with a well marked blood trail,

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Speaker 2: you can really sort of tease out likely travel routes

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Speaker 2: and start checking them off the list. You go through

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Speaker 2: the obvious ones, and if the sign isn't there, you

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Speaker 2: go on to the ones that are less obvious. Now,

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Speaker 2: if the sign still isn't there, then you go for

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Speaker 2: the ones that break the blood trailing rules, like checking

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Speaker 2: the trail that goes straight uphill or backtracking and looking

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Speaker 2: for a spot where he might have turned at some point.

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Speaker 2: The impatient blood trailers don't often work through the process

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Speaker 2: that way. And the moment you start freelancing on a

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Speaker 2: blood trail is the moment the clock starts ticking toward

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Speaker 2: giving up. There is just such a shift in the

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Speaker 2: vibe when that happens, and it rarely does us any favors.

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Speaker 2: I don't know how to say this any other way.

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Speaker 2: It's just really important. I think plenty of deer are

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Speaker 2: loss to impatience on blood trails, and I think that's

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Speaker 2: a shame because it's mostly avoidable. Now, I'm not saying

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Speaker 2: you don't have to color outside the lines on some trails,

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Speaker 2: because you do. We all end up grid searching at

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Speaker 2: some point, no matter how well we go through the

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Speaker 2: initial trailing phase.

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Speaker 3: It just happens.

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Speaker 2: But it should be a well planned last resort, especially

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Speaker 2: if you can't get tracking dogs into the mix, which

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Speaker 2: is a topic for another conversation. So anyway, think about

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Speaker 2: this stuff when you're killing time on stand and certainly

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Speaker 2: when you take a shot or you get that text

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Speaker 2: from your buddy that says grab your lights and head

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Speaker 2: on over. Do that and come back next week because

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Speaker 2: I'm going to talk about how to deal with change

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Speaker 2: in the deer woods and why the good old days

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Speaker 2: are just sort of a myth.

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Speaker 3: That's it for this week.

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Speaker 2: I'm Tony Peterson and this has been the Wirre to

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Speaker 2: Hunt Foundations podcast. As always, thank you so much for

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Speaker 2: listening and for all of your support. You guys showed

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Speaker 2: up big for white Tail Week last week. We really

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Speaker 2: appreciate that. Here at meat Eater. If you still need

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Speaker 2: to find some gear, you know where to find it.

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Speaker 2: If you just want to check out some new films,

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Speaker 2: maybe listen to some other podcasts, whatever, the medeater dot

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00:15:53,600 --> 00:15:57,040
Speaker 2: com has you covered, go check it out. Tons of

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00:15:57,080 --> 00:16:01,160
Speaker 2: content We drop new content literally every day they so

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Speaker 2: you can get your fill and thank you again. M