How far have you tracked a buck?

[Founder]

I would imagine that almost all of us have wounded a buck and then tracked the blood trail. And, I'm sure many of us have tracked healthy, unwounded bucks in the snow or sand. So, the questions are....

How far is the furthest you've ever tracked a perfectly healthy buck?
AND
How far is the furthest you've ever tracked a wounded buck?

Select 2 choices in the poll above.

Feel free to share your story on whether you actually caught up to the healthy buck and got him, and if you found the wounded buck. Let's hear the stories!

 

[Founder]

I tracked this buck probably about 2 miles in the snow while archery hunting. He took me through some of the thickest oak brush. I was within 15 yards of him multiple times in such thick brush I could barely see him. I bumped him from one spot and he took me on a huge circle and went right back to that same spot! It was real cool. He ended shaking me when he dropped lower later in the day and with too many tracks around, I lost his. Another member here on the site shot him a day or two later down low.

 

[Sallaberry]

This tuff bastard went a mile on one lung took 6 arrows to kill him 70 pound bow. I messed my buddy up thought he missed so we pushed to buck unnecessarily. Gave him an hour after the first hit.

 

[elkassassin]

Put A Coke Can Size Hole Through A Buck through The Neck/below The Bone Line Where The Neck Meets The Shoulder & This SOB Didn't Wanna Die!

I Kept Pushing Him & Bumping Him,Getting Him In To The Scope Several Times But Just Not Quite Enough Time To Squeeze The Trigger Again!

He Dropped Off In To Some STEEP,THICK,Nasty BS & I Finished Him Off At 11:30 PM With My 357!

6-1/2 Miles Later & about 6 Hours I Finally Got Him!

 

[HIcountryman]

Was tracking healthy buck in fresh snow in 4th season one year, I think it was 2008? For a couple hours and he was going in a big circle. Heard a rifle shot so close I jumped up the air. An old guy from WV had shot the old buck. About 24" 4 pt. Nice mass and some twisted tines. The guy, Arthur B., said he could see the buck circling around me frome his vantage point above. It would have been biggest buck for me at the time. I was bummed but cool to be close and get to see him at least. I scavenged some neck and rib meat for my dinner after he was gone!

 

[Castnshoot]

Hunting in the “real” desert ,, tracking was a go to method for my Dad.

He hunted both the California and Arizona side of the Colorado river down near the Mexican border.

Desert deer can be very nocturnal and do not prefer to hang around the river, rather they like to spend there day light hours out in the open Desert.

In the evening we would make a big drag out of mesquite branches, drag long stretches of the road running along the river between the river and the open desert.

Next morning we would drive slowly down the road until we found a single large track headed into the desert after it had gotten a drink during the night.

Not hard to do when they stay in a wash, but can be pretty tricky when the get out of of the wash and out on the malipie.

Here are a few of those bucks.

View attachment 104752

 

[BrowningRage]

Longest track of a "healthy buck" for me wasn't even my buck. 2007, Archery hunting Utah. It was my young cousin's first year archery hunting anything and we were hunting with my dad. Saw a group of deer with a tall 2 point from the road. Cousin got out, snuck in and shot at the buck. The herd ran off together after the shot. We drove down the dirt road a ways to give the buck some time. While sitting down the road, we see a group of deer high-tailin in away from the area, tall two-point in tow. We decided to hike out to the last spot we saw them and try to relocate them. Arriving at the spot, we found their prints in the dirt, along with drops of blood... So, we started tracking them. Half a mile at least and the blood had given out. Never saw em again. We figured, it was just a flesh wound...

Hiked back, and drove back up the dirt road. Parked and went into the Quakies to look for my cousins arrow. Got to where he shot, and we see a blood bath on all the Quakies and grass... followed it 15 yards to his dead deer. He had severed the heart perfectly across the top... I've never seen such a blood trail. 🤣🤣 Being young, he didn't know where he'd hit, and we jumped to conclusions on the other deer. It's a great memory now... I think one of the other deer was drenched in blood, hence the other blood trail. 😁

Also, we got all the meat on ice and it was still good.!

 

[BLooDTRaCKeR]

Heart shot in Utah. Tracked it 157 miles. Had to get permission to recover in New Mexico. That’s where I got my name.

 

[Pinlard]

11 miles on an unwounded whitetail buck in the snow. I finally caught up to him and killed him.
Have tracked and recovered 2 archery hit deer that went over a mile. One gut shot and the other hit one lung.

 

[gundog2]

I remember seeing some good fresh tracks on moist soil and residual snow from the night before, which disappeared over what seemed to be a cliff. I had previously never had any luck tracking deer, but I thought this was strange enough that I needed to take a look over the “cliff”. Approaching cautiously, I began to see it was not really a cliff, but it was a very steep little canyon of eroded shale and dirt maybe 200 feet deep, or so, with no vegetation. I could see the tracks angling down into the canyon, with evidence of many slippages. Amused that a deer would even try this, I tried to see how far I could follow the tracks with my binos. I curiously traced the tracks to a buck laying on a little ledge, which was still well above the bottom of the gully below. At first I thought it might have slipped and fell to its death, but it suddenly snapped its head up and starred right at me. I could not have been more surprised, but with a little mental processing I quickly determined he was in easy range of the .270 (I don’t even know if range finders were a thing back then). My first good chance at a muley buck, I nervously got the rifle on him, and sent it. Next thing I know he is tumbling end over end down until it settled on the rim of a nasty gully at the bottom. It was my first shot at a mule deer, so I watched in fear wondering if I would even be able to recover him. After convincing myself that there was probably a way out down through the gullied out canyon, I carefully followed the bucks tracks to the ledge and then slide right down to him on my butt. I was amazed and excited by what had just happened, but also still nervous about getting out. It was obvious that both the deer and I were going to have to drop all the way down into the gully, just to take him apart, and then get out from there.

 

[The_Coloradoboy]

Honestly never really tracked one down… I’ve always been a glass them up and kill them kinda guy, instead of following tracks and praying he’s big enough when I catch up to him..

Guiding the last decade I don’t even want to get into how long/far I’ve tracked wounded bucks…

 

[feddoc]

I shot a buck near dark about 25 years ago. He was quartering to me, maybe 100 yards. Crosshairs centered on his chest, boom. He was down. I went over to gut him and he got up, laid down with his head up, then he jumped up and ran. Grabbed my flashlight, waited about 20 minutes and inspected the spot where he fell. Lotsa blood. About 2-3 hours later I caught up to him and shot him in the neck with my .45.

The exit hole was a bit bigger than a golfball. No idea how he lasted that long.

 

[Downrange]

My buddies son hit this buck last year 1st day of archery season. We tracked it a little over a 1/2 mile. 186in 4 pt. He was pretty pumped.

 

[pburton]

When I was about 16 I went on my first archery deer hunt by myself. In those days, there were no rangefinders, so you had to get pretty good a judging distance. I was hunting blacktail and found this small buck in a grove of trees. I put a stock on him and got withing what I thought was about 30 yards. I took a shot and the arrow dropped right below his chest. I guess it was a little farther that I thought. The buck ran out into this open clearing. I judged the distance at 50 yards and took my shot. This arrow went exactly where I was aiming at the body, but about 10" to the right, basically hitting him in the back of the lungs or front of the guts. The buck took off running and went into some trees. I was so excited that I had hit this deer with my bow that I took off after him right away. As soon as I got into the trees, I bumped him and he took off again. This time he ran through the trees and into a neighbors property and bedded down in the middle of one of his fields. This was a neighbor that I was not very familiar with. So I walked around to his field and to his ranch to ask permission to go recover the buck. The neighbor was very nice and said "**** if you hit him with a bow, go get him. Just down shoot my cows". So I walked out to the middle of this field where I saw him bed down. The grass was just high enough that I could not see the deer. Before I knew it the buck was back on his feet and running again.

The buck ran out of the field and into another neighbors property. So again, back around to another neighbors house to ask permission to go recover my buck. This neighbor was a little less excited about me going on their property. But eventually let me go find him. This time, I let the buck sit for an hour before going after him. I crossed the fence and found him dead by a tree.

In the end, I am not really sure how far I tracked that buck. But I would guess that I walked for over 5 miles. I learned a lot that day and have not made the same mistake since.

 

[Rie bread]

my first deer I shot terribly and my grandad and I tracked him. this was in the B zones of california and the buck dove straight down into those deep eastern side canyons. not sure the mileage but it was my first unplanned night out. once we found the deer and cut him we got a fire going. over the fire i could see the grim look on his face. “ let’s not tell mama or your mom about this”. good story a decade later.

 

[S-3 Ranch]

I had a guided hunter hit a pronghorn buck in the back leg , we couldn’t get within 1200-1500 yards of him, he went about 4 miles before he bedded down, and I got my head guide to call my shots with a. Spotting scope , after about 10 tries I anchored him, then finished the deal @ 200 , worst case scenario I could ever imagine, a horrible experience

 

[Pinlard]

Follow up to my 11 mile whitetail by request. Large block of public land with low whitetail density. Perfect morning with 3 inches of snow that just stopped. I found a huge track that I knew was a whitetail and I started trailing it. I found where the buck walked between some trees that were 18 inches apart and all the snow was knocked off the trees. I knew right then he had a big rack to go with those feet. I covered about 2 miles before I saw him. He had been cruising cross country looking for love. I caught a glimpse of him 1/2 mile out. He never saw me but dropped into a creek bottom and kept moving. When I saw his rack/mass I knew I would chase him until one of us was dead. I picked up the pace and covered more ground. He was obviously determined to find love cause he was not slowing down. He moved up along a lake that was 5 miles from where I picked up his track ( that’s how I know the rough distance). I closed the distance and almost got a shot when he took off over a butte made a semi circle and started heading back the way we came. I caught another glimpse two miles later and then more tracking. I get another mile down his trail and he cut a doe track and they started to meander around a bit. I knew they must be close so I had my gun ready and began a slow sneak. 200 yards later they both stood up in front of me in a little wash not 50 yards. One shot and I actually felt a little bad. It was six hours and change from the time I took up his trail. He died not a quarter mile from where we started our chase that morning. Truly a magical day.

 

[HuntnProf]

Follow up to my 11 mile whitetail by request. Large block of public land with low whitetail density. Perfect morning with 3 inches of snow that just stopped. I found a huge track that I knew was a whitetail and I started trailing it. I found where the buck walked between some trees that were 18 inches apart and all the snow was knocked off the trees. I knew right then he had a big rack to go with those feet. I covered about 2 miles before I saw him. He had been cruising cross country looking for love. I caught a glimpse of him 1/2 mile out. He never saw me but dropped into a creek bottom and kept moving. When I saw his rack/mass I knew I would chase him until one of us was dead. I picked up the pace and covered more ground. He was obviously determined to find love cause he was not slowing down. He moved up along a lake that was 5 miles from where I picked up his track ( that’s how I know the rough distance). I closed the distance and almost got a shot when he took off over a butte made a semi circle and started heading back the way we came. I caught another glimpse two miles later and then more tracking. I get another mile down his trail and he cut a doe track and they started to meander around a bit. I knew they must be close so I had my gun ready and began a slow sneak. 200 yards later they both stood up in front of me in a little wash not 50 yards. One shot and I actually felt a little bad. It was six hours and change from the time I took up his trail. He died not a quarter mile from where we started our chase that morning. Truly a magical day.View attachment 105353

Wow!! Crazy hunt, way to stay the course

 

[Nebraskahunter]

Follow up to my 11 mile whitetail by request. Large block of public land with low whitetail density. Perfect morning with 3 inches of snow that just stopped. I found a huge track that I knew was a whitetail and I started trailing it. I found where the buck walked between some trees that were 18 inches apart and all the snow was knocked off the trees. I knew right then he had a big rack to go with those feet. I covered about 2 miles before I saw him. He had been cruising cross country looking for love. I caught a glimpse of him 1/2 mile out. He never saw me but dropped into a creek bottom and kept moving. When I saw his rack/mass I knew I would chase him until one of us was dead. I picked up the pace and covered more ground. He was obviously determined to find love cause he was not slowing down. He moved up along a lake that was 5 miles from where I picked up his track ( that’s how I know the rough distance). I closed the distance and almost got a shot when he took off over a butte made a semi circle and started heading back the way we came. I caught another glimpse two miles later and then more tracking. I get another mile down his trail and he cut a doe track and they started to meander around a bit. I knew they must be close so I had my gun ready and began a slow sneak. 200 yards later they both stood up in front of me in a little wash not 50 yards. One shot and I actually felt a little bad. It was six hours and change from the time I took up his trail. He died not a quarter mile from where we started our chase that morning. Truly a magical day.View attachment 105353

Great story, and an even better hunt.

 

[dillonhoyt]

I tracked an archery buck almost two mile in the willows on the edge of a dried up lakebed after shooting him in Wyoming. The shot looked good, but he took me through the nastiest mosquito and wasp infected jungle. It was 92 degrees when I finally caught up to him three hours later and put a second arrow in his neck that dropped him in his tracks.

As for healthy bucks, I'd say a mile in wet sand is my furthest. One time I tracked an old doe about 3 miles thinking she was a buck. It was okay though since she walked me past a hand full of shed antlers on our journey.

The buck I shot this year is one that I tracked for about 3/4 of a mile. He was on a rockslide side hill trail. When I caught up to him, he was bedded 40 yards up hill of the trail. It was the only track I saw that entire day.

 

[Dobeman289]

To keep a long walk a short story- I shot my second/third largest buck on Jan 2nd, 2022 with one of my muzzleloaders. Absolutely perfect January afternoon- bright and sunny, about 5 degrees, and about 6 inches of fresh snow on the ground. I saw him come over a hill about 200 yrds away, and it was like he was on a rope. I was positioned to cut off a deer headed to a food plot of corn and it worked out. I shot him at about 60 yrds, watched him run another 60 yrds, and "lay" down, with his head up. He kept laying there for about an hour-I watched over 30 more deer come in towards the food plot. He got up at some point and walked off. I figured he couldn't gone far. I had to wait until dark because two other guys were hunting the property with me. I then started tracking blood in the snow and all was well, until all of a sudden the blood just ended- I kept following tracks but wasn't seeing any blood. I decided to back out for the night and come back in the morning. In the morning I kept following tracks, finding little red specks here and there in the snow. I did this for probably 2 hours until I finally realized these red specks were simply little red seeds. I then went back to the last place I had seen good blood- I hadn't noticed in the dark that the buck had taken a 90 degree left turn. I found him about 15 yards away frozen into the creek. He was dead down there the whole time.