http://www.LouisianaSportsman.com April 2015 | Louisiana Sportsman 211
6 inches when viewed from
the front, but with the liver
anatomically tucked in right
behind the diaphragm, it sits
somewhat vertically, which
presents a very thin target
when viewed from the side.
Liver hits, I believe, prove to
be fatal almost all the time,
with the wounded quarry suc-
cumbing within one to four
hours, depending on just how
severely damaged the liver is.
By the time my son and I
arrived it had been a good
three hours since the deer
was hit, so we were confident
that if we were patient and
used the proper techniques,
the buck would be recovered.
A good rule-of-thumb when
trailing a liver-shot whitetail
is to wait at least two hours,
which would usually allow
plenty of time for a deer to
bed down.
The blood trail from a liver-
shot deer is usually fair, but it
can become difficult to follow.
As was the case here, the trail
starts with periodic drops of
blood and increases with time
and travel distance.
A solid liver hit produces
much more internal blood
loss than that seen externally.
Quite often, before the deer
beds down or expires, exter-
nal blood loss will subside and
become very hard to follow.
At this point a liver-shot
deer will have almost bled
out internally, and death will
be imminent.
This is almost exactly how our
blood trail was playing out.
The blood sign became more
profuse as we entered the
before-mentioned thicket; the
line of travel became more
sinuous and meandering,
with occasional small pools
of dark blood where the deer
had most likely stood for a
few moments.
The trail then culminated>>>Copperhead Mfg.
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