Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: HighNTree on October 30, 2012, 05:10:00 PM
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What does your average blood trail look like? Do you see a spec of blood every few yards or a steady stream. When a deer is arrowed and it runs away full tilt, I wonder how much blood actually makes it to the ground even with a perfect heart/lung hit. What do you see on your average shot?
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No such thing as average in my experience. They all vary so much depending on so many different factors.
I've had some great hits with minimal blood. And others that might gave just been muscle hits start out looking great and then peter out to nothing.
Arrows that stay in sometimes help blood flow freely even on a poor hit. Great hits that penetrate through to the opposite shoulder sometimes hit bone before they get a chance to make an exit hole. Often times fat can clog up a hole that should be leaking like a broken faucet.
Best rule of thumb us keep following every blood trail no matter how good or poor it may be. When you lose blood, get down on your hands and knees and look for more. When that runs out, set up a grid search pattern and look in every conceivable spot. I've found a number of deer with absolutely no blood to lead me to their final bed.
We all love a nice easy blood trail, but not all killing shots produce one.
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What Whip said!!!!!
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My average one would include waiting till the next day and following a sparse trail with bits of gut here and there for about 200-300 yards. As the beds get closer together I know I'm close. The process generally takes about a 1/2 hour.
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I've had heart shot deer run a hundred yards that left a blood trail that looked like it was poured out of a bucket. I've also had heart shot deer that left a drop here and there until you got closer to where they died before it started pouring blood. I've had fatally shot hogs that didn't make it 40 yards and left very little blood.
I'm with Joe on this one...there is no average.
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I agree with Whip. They are all different. Not all hits are lethal! On high hits there normally is not alot of blood early until the deer starts filling up with blood. On gut shots, there is hardly any blood and the deer should be left alone for 10 to 12 hours if at all possible.
"We all love a nice easy blood trail, but not all killing shots produce one." Well stated Whip!!!!
I have been on 3 blood trails this year. All ended in finding the deer. None of the blood trails were what I consider very good. On two of them we used a deer trailing dog which are worth their weight in gold.
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What Whip says is true but if you trail with me 80% will be 50 yards on average full of steady blood sign all the way to the deer. The other 20% all different manner of sign and due diligence and good woodsmanship is required. We are 100% recovery since at least as far back as 2000 ? talking multiples of big game animals annually - all stickbows
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My most typical are a steady drip, drip, splash, drip, drip, splash, drip for < 100 yards, but I've had trails that where long and Ray Charles could have followed. Short trails with out a drop on the ground. And everything in between.
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Most of my lung/heart shot deer over the past 40+ years have gone down in sight...less than 70 yards. All four of my recurve deer over the past three years have gone less than 40 yards and I saw 3 of the 4 fall.
I have to admit some time I don't even look for blood I just go get the deer. When I do check usually I begin getting good blood within 20 yards, depending upon how rapidly the deer departs. Once the blood starts it is usually very obvious every few steps or so.
There have been a couple times, many years ago when a longer blood trail, 100-150 yards actually stopped and then I found the deer dead 20 yards or so away, almost like bled out?
By the way, I've had MUCH better blood trails with bow-shot deer than a few rifle shot beasts.
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Interesting responses...seems like we all have had similar experiences Somewhere along the way, I got the notion that if I used shaving sharp broadheads and made good hits, that the blood trails would be ample and easy to see. I guess this may not be the case in the real world?
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Most of my animals go down in sight.....or within ear shot...meaning I hear them crash.
Other than that...being I hunt this cover a lot....and shoot 3 and 4 blades...I get a really good trail and an exit wound causing blood leaking from both sides that normally leads to the animal within 75 yards.....liver hits within 125 yards....most of the time.
Don't have time to go into detail on two animals I liver shot out of the same stand...but one went 125 to the cedar thicket it bedded in....and the other went 400 yard to the thicket he bedded in...blood all the way on both.
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When a deer is arrowed and it runs away full tilt, I wonder how much blood actually makes it to the ground even with a perfect heart/lung hit.
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/orebloodtrail1.jpg)
Full tilt, perfect heart lung hit with complete penetration.
What Joe said is more normal on average.
Cory... remember when PBS' by line was "Big broadheads and heavy bows"?
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Mine typically is "Non-Existent".
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Oh how I long to hunt in the snow. My trail on my first trad deer was dry to 20 yards, then all over the place. Shot was at ground level with a 3 blade Woodsman original. Clean pass through on the right lung, liver and front left of stomach. I wonder if there might have been more blood sooner from an elevated position, such as a tree stand...
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Originally posted by Charlie Lamb:
When a deer is arrowed and it runs away full tilt, I wonder how much blood actually makes it to the ground even with a perfect heart/lung hit.
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/orebloodtrail1.jpg)
Full tilt, perfect heart lung hit with complete penetration.
What Joe said is more normal on average.
Cory... remember when PBS' by line was "Big broadheads and heavy bows"? [/b]
Excellent picture. The snow makes it easy to illustate and see what a good bloodtrail can be. I have seen more and I have seen a lot less.
A lot depends on what type of surface you are tracking across. Even when the blood is there it can be hard to find on some surfaces. I have to hunt in snow some day!
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I agree with Whip.....no two are ever really alike.....best blood that I ever had was a angle through liver and into and out of right lung......easy to follow.......
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Well, they are all different, but the past two years the average has looked like I threw a hatchet through them. The one I shot Sunday night I could have followed at a light trot. The buck back on opening week wasn't as profuse, but was far from sparse. Two last year were short and splashy. One year before that was long, spotty, disappearing, and finally recovered via inductive reasoning. Another that year was short and sweet. On average though, pretty clear.
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YES Charlie - I sometimes feel lost these days. Thanks for reminding me. :)
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Hmmm...I guess a lot of blood can hit that ground when a deer is running full tilt! Great picture Charlie. Guys have you personally noticed any real difference in blood trails from switching back and forth with different types of broadheads (2-Blades; 3-Blads; 4-Blades; Concave; Convex,and so on)?
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Each splatter is mentally recorded as if carefully collected in following a trail to the pot of gold.
Some spill more gold while others spill less.
Cannot phathom leaving these nuggets, even as small as dust not collected w/i my mind.
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Whip is right,
No two are alike. However all tracking should have a methodical approach. I find the following make tracking much easier.
TP - if blood is "sparse" put a small piece of TP on a stick and poke it into the ground. This sets a pattern. Obviously direction, but also an idea of where you might expect the next bit of blood to be found. Evey three feet or every ten?
A white gas coleman lantern for tracking at night. Something about the flame from the gas lanterns makes blood stand out where other colors of light do not. Plus it has the added advantage of keeping your hands warm when it's cold. I put a reflector on mine, seems to help quite a bit.
If I don't have a dead deer within 125 yards or a blood bath of a trail I'm inclined to wait 6-8 hours or untill morning or late afternoon. Solid hits GENERALLY produce deer tipping over in eyesight. Or, just past the point where you can't see them anymore and you start freaking out about what you think you saw vs what really happened! LOL...
A marginally hit deer can go a long way. Blood trails out of a bed are usually non-existant. Bleeding is primarily internal. IMHO, if they arn't pushed they will lie down and die in their bed or very close to it.
If you haven't been there yet you will be sooner or later, promise.
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Yep agreed they are all different no matter where the hit is. What I do know is if there isn't an increase in blood by 50-60 yards the recovery rate goes way down. When you are still finding drips only at 100 yards its time to head to the house and come back the next day.
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Originally posted by Charlie Lamb:
[QB] When a deer is arrowed and it runs away full tilt, I wonder how much blood actually makes it to the ground even with a perfect heart/lung hit.
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/orebloodtrail1.jpg)
out of all the deer I have got I never once got to follow blood over snow,, every single deer has been with no snow on the ground or snowing at the time with no snow accumilating.. seems so worry free with a white canvas.
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Things vary greatly, I had one I shot spraying out both side as it ran off but the trail was tough. Everything was dripping from rain and fog. Wet autumn leaves can make a good trail tough.
When the trail peters out a meticulous and well planned grid search with bulldog determination increases chances. Numerous animals had made it to the dinner table from refusal to give up. Only thugs and inexpierianced give up easy. We owe the critters that much respect if we choose to pursue them.
Chris
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My average bloodtrail is awesome.
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I would like to add a few things to this that I have observed.
First as many know a shot with no exit hole will not look so great as far as blood on the ground is concerned but this in NO WAY means you did not kill the animal. It just means the blood is filling up in the chest.
This next one is a big one in my opinion.
If you get a shot and can see a bunch of arrow hanging out of the side of the animal runs off, DO NOT DESPAIR! You may not have an exit hole, but if you hit the animal in the right spot the animal will die weather there is any blood on the ground or not.
Here is an example. The last buck I shot was quartering away at a steep angle. I hit him bit more forward than I would have liked but not much. As he ran off I could see over half of my arrow sticking out and realized I likely did not have an exit hole and that there would likely be little blood on the ground.
Most of the time I like to be right, but this was not one of those times! When I began tracking I found little blood at all. After 150 yards it just stopped. I began to panick and did the grid searching thing to no avail. This was the morning after I made the shot. Then I had to go to work. One thing that bothered me was that I recovered no part of the arrow. Knowing that they normally break it off while running away, I went back and started at the last blood. On my hands and knees I eventually found a little more. This took hours. I tracked that buck for a total of like 26 yes 26 hours over a three day period after work and eventually found the back half of the arrow. Not fifty yards after that I found the buck. Well I found what was left. Coyotes did a number on him but at least I had closure. If you track an animal and do not find the arrow then you need to keep looking. The animal will always break the arrow off or die or both. The animal may live and continue to run, but the arrow will not and will remain stationary. Find the arrow and go from there.
When you hit an animal be confident in your abilities and take the situation into consideration and see it through as best as you can. The rewards are big.
On another note, I am writting an article that I will send to TBM or PBS. It is an interview with a black tracker in Africa. One of the few that could understand enough english to do the interview. He also happend to be the absolute best tracker I have ever witnessed in my life. Trust me. The native black trackers over there would make the best trackers in the U.S. look like beginners. I never felt more useless in the outdoors than the first time I watched these guys unravel a difficult track in amazingly difficult conditions. Let me just say that I watched one track a springbok I had shot for over a mile over rock terrain with absolutely no blood.
There are things to learn from these guys, and I feel this interview will be very beneficial to those who have not actually hunted in Africa and learned from these masters.
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Bloody. Sorry couldn't help it.
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Jon,
I enjoyed your posts. I remember you from the days when I learned to shoot from Rick. I see that you learned your lessons well.
Garcia