Tracking deer might seem easy but it’s a unique skill that requires time, patience, and practice. It’s a helpful skill to have whether you’re an experienced hunter or a beginner in the field.
Being able to track deer enables you to monitor where animals are and successfully capture and kill them. Below, we have covered some top tips for deer tracking success. You can learn more about tracking deer by reading this article.
Learn More About the Way Deer Behave
Successfully tracking deer requires you to understand how deer behave. You will need to learn when they are most active, which tends to be early in the mornings and late in the evenings when they feel safest to feed without predation.
It’s also helpful to know where deer like to rest. Generally, deer sleep and relax in areas with thick coverage to stay safe from predators. They will then follow trails to find water sources and will continue to go back and forth between their sleeping and feeding areas.
Follow Fresh Tracks
Fresh tracks are one of the key signs of nearby deer. Knowing how to identify deer tracks is, therefore, essential for successfully hunting them.
A fresh deer track is a well-defined track with clear edges. Over time, these tracks will become less clear with blurrier edges. The size of the tracks will correlate to the size of the deer, so aim to find large tracks if you want to capture a heavier deer with plenty of meat on its bones.
Deer tracks are usually smooth and straight. However, if you notice only track lines, it could indicate that the deer were started by a potential predator or other hunters.
Cover Your Scent Wherever Possible
Deers use their scent to detect predators so they can seek safety and survive in the wild. Leaving your human scent in your trail will alert nearby deer and cause them to flee the area.
It’s essential that you cover your scent whenever possible to keep the deer you’re trying to hunt unaware of your presence. Use scent blockers to cover your trail, and avoid wearing scented perfumes, body sprays, or deodorants when you’re out hunting in the wild.
Follow Blood Trails
When you take a shot at a deer and hit it successfully, it will leave a trail of blood behind it. It’s important to pay attention to this trail of blood to determine where you have managed to hit the animals.
Bright red blood indicates that you have managed to hit the deer in a vital organ, such as the lungs. Blood in a darker shade indicates that you’ve struck a muscle.
Depending on where you have hit the deer, they may continue running for a short period of time. Following the trail of blood that they leave until they collapse enables you to act quickly and field dress the animals immediately.