Echo Blood Tracking

1472 Views 13 Replies 6 Participants Last post by trailblazer75, Oct 3, 2019

trailblazer75

Discussion Starter · Oct 2, 2019

Last night I shot a doe at 7:08 and tracked blood til around 10:30. She ran about 50-60 yards from where I shot her and bedded down. Had great blood and both lungs were punched. Like a big dummy I busted her off that bed, thinking she was already dead.

I started having a lot of trouble establishing direction of travel and my overall track kinda sucked. I must've poked through the diaphragm on the exit wound side because when we found her, she had some intact intestines on that side, plugging the wound, and thus not leaving much blood, because I was at 22 feet when I shot her, on the entry side.

Which leads me to the topic of this post!

A guy named Andrew Mullins runs echo blood tracking, and he's awesome. Awesome dog, nice guy. This fella even stuck around to help me quarter and pack out meat. And we had to pack it out because this doe died in a deep valley where that was really the only viable option. His dog echo is a beagle mix and the dog is a go getter! He found the bed and got on the trail within minutes and had the deer found within about 25-30 minutes of showing up. I got lucky and called the right guy and thought I'd share some resources, Andrews number is ‭(302) 438-3694‬. He lives in Springfield, doesn't hunt and takes the entire deer season off work. His rates are reasonable! He charged me $50 and all four hooves to come help me in the middle of the night.

Here's where I found Andrew and hopefully there are other trackers on this list near you, in the off chance you need them.

https://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org/find-a-tracker/trackers-by-state/?state=mo

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Satch

· #2 · Oct 3, 2019

Glad you found her and thanks for the info.

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rat

· #3 · Oct 3, 2019

Very cool

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20'

· #4 · Oct 3, 2019

how long after the shot did you bump her off the bed?

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trailblazer75

Discussion Starter · #5 · Oct 3, 2019

45-50 minutes. I took down my saddle and platform, packed up my climbing sticks and started tracking. I'd say it took me that long to find the blood and work my way down to her. She was pretty much done when I got to her, because I crawled down into her bed thinking she was dead. She only revived when I touched her,, and she didn't go but 23-30 yards after that.

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20'

· #6 · Oct 3, 2019

that's a long time for a double lunged deer to survive, but they are crazy tough and the lungs hit could have been high or coupled with the way she bedded. Good job!

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Maddux

· #7 · Oct 3, 2019

Great resource to know about. Not all tracking dogs are the same. I dont really know how a double lung deer could last more than a minute or so. Sounds a lot like 1 lung or liver. Either way thanks for sharing.

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trailblazer75

Discussion Starter · #8 · Oct 3, 2019

20' said:
that's a long time for a double lunged deer to survive, but they are crazy tough and the lungs hit could have been high or coupled with the way she bedded. Good job!

Thanks! And yeah, I could be over a little bit on my estimate. That's just my best guess. The shot was just a hair quarted toward me, so I don't think that helped.

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trailblazer75

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 3, 2019

Maddux said:
Great resource to know about. Not all tracking dogs are the same. I dont really know how a double lung deer could last more than a minute or so. Sounds a lot like 1 lung or liver. Either way thanks for sharing.

I wouldn't rule that out, since it was just a hair of a quartered to shot. But not much of one. I honestly felt like it was spot on in terms of placement. It did come out before the last rib on the exit side. And there was a little gut hanging out of the exit side, but they seemed totally intact, so I figured the head had cut the diaphragm on its exit.

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Maddux

· #10 · Oct 3, 2019

Pretty sure you would have to have a pretty sharp angle to get gut and 2 lungs. Not trying to hijack your thread. If you jump a deer almost an hour after shooting him he is not double lunged or heart shot.

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Wings Fan 19

· #11 · Oct 3, 2019

I'd say it was one lung and liver by the sounds of it, not sure I've ever seen gut in the exit of a double lung shot. I always do a postmortem inspection to see exactly what happened. The buck I shot this year was very close and slightly 1/4'ed at me, I crushed the entry side lung and liver on the exit... and same as your deer, had a little gut plugging the exit. He didn't go far but didn't bleed much with the high entry and plugged exit. I didn't cut the intestines but cutting the diaphragm allowed it to push out. Arrow had some bubbles and the typical dark red jello blood from the liver. We gave him a smidge over three hours and he'd been dead for quite awhile as he was very stiff upon recovery. Liver shots are fatal but take some time, add one lung to that and they bleed out internally pretty quickly but better safe than sorry. Your arrow should have shown liver blood pretty well, it's darker and 'thicker' than lung or muscle blood.

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trailblazer75

Discussion Starter · #12 · Oct 3, 2019

Wings Fan 19 said:
I'd say it was one lung and liver by the sounds of it, not sure I've ever seen gut in the exit of a double lung shot. I always do a postmortem inspection to see exactly what happened. The buck I shot this year was very close and slightly 1/4'ed at me, I crushed the entry side lung and liver on the exit... and same as your deer, had a little gut plugging the exit. He didn't go far but didn't bleed much with the high entry and plugged exit. I didn't cut the intestines but cutting the diaphragm allowed it to push out. Arrow had some bubbles and the typical dark red jello blood from the liver. We gave him a smidge over three hours and he'd been dead for quite awhile as he was very stiff upon recovery. Liver shots are fatal but take some time, add one lung to that and they bleed out internally pretty quickly but better safe than sorry. Your arrow should have shown liver blood pretty well, it's darker and 'thicker' than lung or muscle blood.

It sounds like you're exactly right. In my situation I did a gutless method in hopes to get the meat out as quickly as possible so I wouldn't lose any of it, since it took so darn long to find her.

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Wings Fan 19

· #13 · Oct 3, 2019

It was 93 degrees when I shot my deer on opening day and I get guys worrying about the heat and spoilage.... but IMO unless you really gut punch one or it lays around for 8-12 or more hours at those temps, I'm not worried as long as you cool it down after unzipping it. The deer is basically just staying at body temperature for a few hours.

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trailblazer75

Discussion Starter · #14 · Oct 3, 2019

Wings Fan 19 said:
It was 93 degrees when I shot my deer on opening day and I get guys worrying about the heat and spoilage.... but IMO unless you really gut punch one or it lays around for 8-12 or more hours at those temps, I'm not worried as long as you cool it down after unzipping it. The deer is basically just staying at body temperature for a few hours.

I used that logic in a way, but I still wanted to hurry. Lol. I think the difference is that fresh blood isn't circulating. Or at least in my mind, that's why I hurried! Plus, I knew it was gonna be a long darn night so, I got after it.

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