Tips for marking a shot location in heavy woodland cover that all looks the same…

[slider]

Got you now about marking the shot site rather than the shot deer. Generally I know where I am.

The pacing out is the issue as I’m not really prepared to go through 10meters of meter high brambles.

If you could range the deer before the shot can you not range back to a marker at the shot site. At least that gets you on the General radius.

EDIt, just read the response to a similar comment

 

[Polar Lynx]

I use flashing dog collars i.e. 2. One where the shot is taken and the other where deer/boar is belived to be i.e. next to certain tree or so. Very useful if there is need to bring a dog.

 

[hoodwink]

I don’t mean to be rude but….. I can’t believe you’re asking this with exactly the best tool for the job sitting in the truck….

 

[paulbshooting]

Mark the shot site with tape, I know your distance that you took the shot at, then pace your way too it, it’s a simple as that really.

Exactly ^^^. I use orange tape on spring clips that I bought for blood trail tracking so clip them to something where I shot from and range to where deer was stood. 9/10 i know the range as now have a LRF on thermal spotter and binos

 

[Bowland blades]

There is nothing as good as a dog woodland stalking. They learn by doing , i don't know how but all of mine have hit crazy cover even at speed and i have never had any serios eye injuries in my dogs neither have i had any when i need to pull the deer out of such spots.

 

[Mungo]

So, shot a young doe this morning at 80 yards in heavy cover - shot was clear. Took me about 15 minutes to find as it was deep in cover.

Marked a tree, but due to the high brambles, going in a straight line was not possible. Meandering down some deer paths and over some lower vegetation in the general direction I actually lost the marked tree - it was slightly further than I thought but I eventually stumbled onto her in tiny clearing pocket.

Thermal showed nothing until literally on top of her - had the dog in the truck, but don’t take him out in this wood as the brambles are evil.

Anyhoo - just wondered how others mark shot deer in cover when the surroundings all pretty much look the same and you can’t get a straight line to it.

Any tricks that I am missing?


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Do you mean mark where you think the carcass is before walking into it?

Or marking where you took the shot from?

 

[opticron1]

So, shot a young doe this morning at 80 yards in heavy cover - shot was clear. Took me about 15 minutes to find as it was deep in cover.

Marked a tree, but due to the high brambles, going in a straight line was not possible. Meandering down some deer paths and over some lower vegetation in the general direction I actually lost the marked tree - it was slightly further than I thought but I eventually stumbled onto her in tiny clearing pocket.

Thermal showed nothing until literally on top of her - had the dog in the truck, but don’t take him out in this wood as the brambles are evil.

Anyhoo - just wondered how others mark shot deer in cover when the surroundings all pretty much look the same and you can’t get a straight line to it.

Any tricks that I am missing?


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Can sympathise with you.....When you take a shot and it's a clean strike you can look at a particular tree/bush/landmark and mentally use that as your starting point and look for blood spatter/trail. However as you say, it's not always easy to go straight to the shot site and if you take a circuitous route suddenly all the clear markers you'd used to pinpoint the kill spot look different. Easy to say use a dog, but also need to have a good idea where to start looking. It can be similar on the open hill when an animal has been cleanly hit, but runs for a few yards - then you realise all peat hags look very similar! No easy answer, but the good news is you found the deer and is now in the larder.

 

[FISH BOY]

I don’t mean to be rude but….. I can’t believe you’re asking this with exactly the best tool for the job sitting in the truck….

Totally get that - I have no doubt my dog would have found it - he was half a mile away tho.

For context, we had already been out for 3 hours on the other side of the estate - I don’t take him in this little wood due to the bramble density and that its surrounded by barbed wire making it a faff to get him in and out.

Cheers all for the input - while I mentally have good awareness of the shot site, marking it visually with some hi viz tape to reference it sounds like a plan.

 

[FISH BOY]

Do you mean mark where you think the carcass is before walking into it?

Or marking where you took the shot from?

Where the carcass is or might be.

Thread title could have been clearer on my part.

 

[Jackal8]

GPS and maps on the phone? Unless you’re close to a military installation it’s very reliable.

 

[DeerDucksFishin]

I've got a laser on a retractable tool picker that spikes in the ground and points to shot location works surprising well, it was a tenner off amazon

 

[Bear]

What works for me is I range where the animal was shot so I know the distance, I then leave some forestry tape on my sticks which I leave in place and then walk round to where I think the deer is and use the sticks as a reference to help my search area. You can take a bearing using your phone and then walk out to the distance and then use a reverse bearing to get your line. Now I use the dog in all honesty as it’s a partnership

 

[secondtry]

Another vote for pink forestry/surveyor's tape.

Definitely mark where you were standing when you fired. Most important if you need to start again.

Try to pick and remember a tree bush etc. as a reference before you leave that spot. Also helpful to mark the line/tracks that you are following from where the deer was when shot- looking at these marks will often show you the line being followed by the deer, and following that line is often fruitful.

I'm old school and don't bother with all the electronic gimcrackery for this purpose, but don't doubt that it can be useful.

And hopefully doesn't need to be said, but collect all the tape when you have finished.

 

[Londoner]

If you have a range finder take a reading. Then try to find the shot site (approximate position) and range back to where you were standing where you took the shot. It is simple but it works.

 

[John Gryphon]

but don’t take him out in this wood as the brambles are evil.

I fail to understand that logic,its what the dog is for and good keen dogs shrug rough ground off.
Most good keen Victorian sambar hunters simply follow the blood trail (no dog) which at times can be difficult,many overlook the blood at wound height being brushed or sprayed onto the track foliage while looking for spots on the ground only. Some can read the 'marks' very very well.

My take has always been to take a yard or so of schitt paper out of pack/pocket at the shot sight and tie to a hanging branch in the breeze,there is always a breeze lol. Tie as high as possible. That bleached white 3 -4 inches wide at yard long works a treat. There is no need to retrieve it as it is biodegradable unless you fear some one else will cotton on to it. Use more paper pieces and lay a paper trail to the best ID tree thats say for instance half way. Once there you have only to do the same and with a paper trail you can reference your shot sight and if losing it go back to the LAST piece of paper. You may want to hang a few other strips. My Tassie mate and I followed a hind for two kilometres via the blood trail and at that point we knew that there was no dead deer but we tried hard.
Me use dog, dog find deer,owner very happy,dog get liver lol. (or caulfat)

As a post note it pi$$es me off seeing pink survey tape left in the bush. Lots of it is never retrieved.Its there forever and I suspect that there are those that use it so they don't get lost.
Climb those Tahr mountains in NZ and you will see the Kiwi boys break a branch every yard or two at head or chest height.

The hind in this video clip is only 80 yards off but there is a deep gutter with head high ferns to negotiate by dropping downhill then back uphill. This is where it is of vital importance to mark a tree,branch,knot hole ,nest etc. Fire your shot and under recoil we lose the sight picture and if she doesn't drop on the spot well you have some work to do ha ha.

 

[John Gryphon]

A couple more follow ups.



This video the deer was shot in bush on the down side and jumped the track into neverland. Found it anyway.

 

[Siggy]

Do you use a rangefinder, thermal or binos? You said 80 yard shot.
As said above, mark a tree with visible tape from where you have taken the shot, work your way out and range back to the marked tree.

the only thing I would add to this is taking a bearing with a silva compass and then when you range back you can also take a back bearing to make sure you are in line....its not easy - I lost a fallow carcass the other day when I went back to get the sled. Luckily I had a google pin to navigate too. Then lost the track dragging it out in the dark - was walking in the wrong direction and only realised when I clocked the moon had shifted!!!

 

[Tim.243]

the only thing I would add to this is taking a bearing with a silva compass and then when you range back you can also take a back bearing to make sure you are in line....its not easy - I lost a fallow carcass the other day when I went back to get the sled. Luckily I had a google pin to navigate too. Then lost the track dragging it out in the dark - was walking in the wrong direction and only realised when I clocked the moon had shifted!!!

90% of the time shooting at last light then it is dark by the time I get to it and start the bleeding process, so like yourself I go back and grab the cart/sled. 3 farms have taken up the SFI scheme's with the crop getting quite tall. I fell foul of this at the start of the season (Fallow) dropping a buck as he stood up while I was heading to a second one, so over he went.
Took a bit of finding as I had to cross a ditch so lost my line but found him 30 yds off my line, then back to the truck for the cart about 300 yds away.
put my 5th stick in the ground with my cap and hi-viz knife as a marker (all I had) but found it.
I now have wrapped the dog rose stick with reflective tape on one end which even the torch off the phone can pick up as it is much taller than the sfi cover. Big deer laying down soon disappear in tall cover so you need to work out a way of getting back, as my old dive instructor used to say
"going is easy, getting back is what counts"
This was an easy find but had it ran in the middle then having a marker to use would be an advantage.

 

[DavyG]

So, shot a young doe this morning at 80 yards in heavy cover - shot was clear. Took me about 15 minutes to find as it was deep in cover.

Marked a tree, but due to the high brambles, going in a straight line was not possible. Meandering down some deer paths and over some lower vegetation in the general direction I actually lost the marked tree - it was slightly further than I thought but I eventually stumbled onto her in tiny clearing pocket.

Thermal showed nothing until literally on top of her - had the dog in the truck, but don’t take him out in this wood as the brambles are evil.

Anyhoo - just wondered how others mark shot deer in cover when the surroundings all pretty much look the same and you can’t get a straight line to it.

Any tricks that I am missing?


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[DavyG]

Take your dog with you. Not much good leaving it 1/2 mile away.
DG