Make your shot count

If you’ve been hunting for more than a few years, you have probably attempted a shot that resulted in a lost animal. The critter may have traveled further than you expected, and you lost the trail, or it gave no sign it was hit. You probably experienced a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realized the animal was lost.

There is no guarantee you will recover every animal even if you use the utmost care in selecting your shots and your tracking skills rival those of Daniel Boone. Sometimes the animal moves just as you shoot, or an unseen twig deflects the projectile enough to cause a poor hit.

I have lost one big-game animal in my lifetime, and it was my fault. I was hunting on Afognak Island and made a poor hit on a Sitka Blacktail buck as it was walking out of sight.

After the shot, the deer ran off through the thick underbrush. I immediately started to follow, looking for indications of a solid hit as I went. I followed a slight blood trail for maybe 50 yards when the sign quit. Deer trails ran everywhere, and the leaves were still on, limiting my vision to a few feet. I began searching in ever-larger circles, hoping to cut some fresh sign or even find the dead deer. I found neither.

I searched the area for several hours that day and for half of the next day. I didn’t sleep very well that night – remember that sick feeling I mentioned earlier?

I have also lost a few ducks over the years. I hunted both resident birds and transients, mostly Golden Eyes, Old Squaws, and Harlequins as they moved through the Afognak coastal area. All three of these duck species are divers and, after the shot, if they were not dead when they hit the water, they were prone to dive. Sometimes when they submerged, they would grasp seaweed in their bills and drown rather than return to the surface.

On one occasion, I shot a drake harlequin who immediately dove after hitting the water. I searched for about fifteen minutes with no sign the duck had resurfaced. I left, but came back an hour or two later, hoping to see if the duck had reappeared. Sure enough, it had died underwater and had lost its hold on the submerged seaweed. I recovered it floating within the same area where it had disappeared after the shot.

I’m not proud of these losses. I mention them to illustrate some general things I have learned about how to minimize wounding loss of game animals and birds while hunting.

Make sure your rifle is sighted in with the ammunition you plan to use and at the ranges you anticipate your shots to occur. Take only shots where you can be sure of hitting the heart-lung area and try to make sure you hit both lungs with the shot. Animals will run with a double lung hit but rarely go very far and die very quickly. They also tend to leave a heavy blood trail, making follow-up tracking much easier.

After shooting an animal, if you cannot actually see it fall, wait an hour or so before following it. Oftentimes, a wounded animal, if not pushed, will lie down after its initial run and bleed out and die in its bed. However, if the hunter immediately starts pursuing the animal, it may run a lot farther with the ensuing adrenaline rush.

When hunting ducks, watch the bird where it falls after the shot. If its head comes up after hitting the water or ground, shoot it again, being mindful, of course, where your dog might be. Keep shooting until the bird can no longer hold up its head. If possible, hunt with a trained retriever. A good dog can make all the difference in recovering crippled birds.

Grouse can also be difficult to find without a dog if they fall in vegetation. I have spent hours looking for birds I have shot which fell in even short brush.

A couple of valuable skills, in addition, are patience and persistence. Replay the shot scenario in your mind, noting where the animal was hit when shot, where it was standing, and the direction it ran. Then search accordingly, using all the patience and tracking knowledge you can bring to the trail. A prayer or two wouldn’t hurt either.

Under normal circumstances, you should find the animal fairly quickly and within a short distance.