These tips appeared in Dan Schmidt's book Whitetail Wisdom. Click here to purchase the book for 32% off the cover price.

If you hunt for long, you’re bound to shoot a deer you won’t recover. It’s frustrating, but it happens. However, there are certain things you can do to prevent it.

Get Serious

Treat every wounded deer with the respect it deserves. Blood trailing is not the time for fooling around and lighting the woods up with laughter and barroom conversations. Talk should be limited to soft whispers and reserved for sharing observations and strategies.
 
Appoint a Team Leader

Whatever he says goes – no ifs, ands or buts. The lead trailer should be the one with the most experience and the most patience. On two-person teams, the leader picks his position, which
is usually “tracker.”
 
Take Control of the Situation

When it comes to blood trailing, three’s a crowd. Only allow a third person to enter the picture when a trail requires a roamer. This tracker carefully circles ahead of a lost trail in hopes of relocating blood sign. This person must be willing to take detailed instructions from the team leader, because they can easily disturb previously unseen blood, scuff marks, overturned leaves, etc.
 
Never Assume

Wounded whitetails can exhibit predictable behavior, but they can also do bizarre things you would never imagine.
 
Keep Coyotes in Mind

If the property you hunt holds a sizable coyote population, consider trailing every deer (except gut-shots) immediately. The risk of pushing a mortally wounded deer is often
outweighed by the risk of losing it to scavengers.

Click here for more tips from Whitetail Wisdom.