50 Nebraskaland • November 2022
I
can vividly recall the two animals
I've shot and didn't recover. The
memories still give me a gut-
wrenching feeling of loss and remorse.
The fi rst loss was a Montana mule
deer I tracked with a friend for several
hours before falling snow made it
impossible to continue. The second
was a Nebraska white-tailed buck. I
searched for him for three days, but
never found him. He's still the biggest
buck I've ever seen.
There are many hunting skills that
are necessary for a successful hunt,
but we usually focus on the ones that
are needed before the trigger is pulled
or an arrow is released. Whether you're
hunting elk, antelope, mule deer or
whitetail, what you do after the shot
can greatly aff ect your chances of
recovering the animal.
Analyze the Shot
The fi rst thing to do after a shot is to
mark your location. That's easy if you
are hunting from a tree stand, but not
so much if you are stalking antelope
or mule deer. Stick an arrow in the
ground, use fl agging tape, create a pile
of rocks or mark the location on your
GPS. This marker will provide you with
a reference. Next, make a mental note
of where the animal was standing. If
you have your phone, take a picture
of where the animal was from your
shooting position.
Next, replay the shot in your mind.
Ideally, you should know where you
hit the animal, but with how fast
modern bows are or feeling the recoil
of a rifl e while looking through the
scope, sometimes it can be hard to tell.
Additionally, shots often occur in low-
light situations.
If you can't tell where you hit the
animal, think about how it reacted to
the shot. If the animal hunched up, it
might indicate you hit too far back,
perhaps in the liver or intestines. If the
animal favors a side, it could indicate
you hit a leg or broke a shoulder. Usually
on a perfect shot — lungs and heart —
an animal runs away at full speed, not
much diff erent than if you had missed.
However, a heart-shot animal will often
"mule-kick," but that isn't always a
sign of a good shot. Knowing how to
read an animal's body language could
provide clues to where your bullet or
After the Shot
By Ryan Sparks
Reading a blood trail can tell a hunter a lot about where they hit the animal,
making the tracking eff ort more successful. JEFF KURRUS, NEBRASKALAND
