Lets go to blood trailing school shall we?

[Jim Jackson]

Let's see if we can teach and learn to better ourselves during the off season.  Tips and tactics and lessons learned.

I do know that even liver shot pass through shots that squirt pretty good are hard to trail across a TX pasture when they are running 90 to nothing.

I have more, but want to see what the gang comes up with.

 

[woodchucker]

OK, I'm an old guy.... I've been doing this a long time.

Learn to TRACK!!! I've been doing this since I could walk, so it just seems "easy" to me.
Every animal that walks, leaves tracks. Follow the TRAIL. The blood, just confirms you're on the right one.

1) Watch
Where was it standing? Pay close attention to the things around the animal when you took the shot.
This tree, rock, bush, etc. You should be able to find EXACTLY where it was standing when you shot it, and then find evidence of a hit.
What did it do? Squatt? Jump? Kick? "Hunch up"? It's reaction to the shot, will usually tell you where you hit it. Not THINK you hit it...
Where did it go? It ran down hill, past that that rock, past that tree, crossed that brook, into that brush, etc.
This should help you find EXACTLY the last place you saw it. Put the pieces of the puzzle together, and you have the start of your trail....

[TIM B]

Slow down…..and us old guys need to wear our glasses when trailing
Tim B

[woodchucker]

2) Follow the sign....
So, you have waited about an hour, and put the pieces of the puzzle together...

Everyone loves a blood trail that Ray Charles could follow!! But, this one's gonna be tougher....
You found EXACTLY where it was standing, and confirm a hit. Brown and white hair tells you that your arrow entered high, and exited low. At the shot, it hunched up and trotted off down hill. Now, look for the "landmarks" that you remember from after the shot.
Things look different at ground level but it's important that you find them BEFORE you start following the trail!!
The tree, the rock, the brook, the brush it disappeard into... Walk SLOWLY in the same direction it traveled after the shot. So, you do this, and find a few drops of dark red blood. Then, you find the front half of your arrow. The arrow is covered in dark red blood, has green mush on it, and it stinks!! This tells you, your arrow probly hit the liver/stomach area. It is going to die. But, it's gonna take a while!! So, wait a few hours more...
You get back on the trail, but find very little blood. You slowly work your way to where it entered the brush, and you lost sight of it....  Now what??

[Terry Green]

I'll throw one out.....

In very fine dirt eviroments, i.e., Craine TX for example, a trotting animals blood can hit the ground and roll up into blood filled dust balls.... so pay attention. 

[Wudstix]

In Texas, if you're not sure that speck is blood, the fire ants will let you know it is.
 

[woodchucker]

3) Low & Slow
Now you have no idea where it went?? Everything that walks, leaves a trail. The trick is finding it!
Blood can be anywhere. Blood soaks the hair, long before it hits the ground. Squat or kneel (sit? Hey, I'm old)
and look 2-3 feet off the ground in every direction. Many times, you will find more blood on trees and leaves, than you will on the ground. Once an animal gets into heavy cover, they brush against all kinds of things. Blood gets transferd to trees, sticks, logs, leaves, etc.
 
4) Not just blood!
Remember, you are following a trail. Any animal walking through the woods, will leave sign that it has been through there. The easiest to find and see is overturned leaves. Get your head a foot or so off the ground, and you can easily see a trail of overturned leaves, going in a certain direction. I have actually laid on the ground, and picked up a trail of overturned leaves! Also, The sign has told you, that this animal is hit hard... A hard hit, hurting animal will stumble!! This will be easy to see once you know what you're looking at. ALWAYS remember!! Look around, left & right, you should be scanning a half circle in front of you the entire time...

5) Mark the trail
I have never carried TP or surveyors tape, to mark trails. IT IS a good idea, should you choose to do so!!
I have always marked my sign, buy simply breaking a small branch. The important thing, is to make a mark, and that YOU know what it is and what it means!!
If you loose the trail? If you loose the trail, go back to your last mark, and make widening half circles in the general direction the animal was traveling. Another thing to remember is, ALWAYS look behind you!! By lineing up your marks, you will be able tell the direction of possible travel.

6) When in doubt, Down Hill
In my 40+ years of doing this... I have NEVER seen a fatally hit animal, go up hill for a long distance.
I have seen them go up hill to get to thick cover, and up hill because they were pushed that way.

7) WATER
A hard hit, fatally wounded animal, always heads for water!
When all else fails... Check every spring, brook, creek, pond, etc. you can think of!!

This is just one old woodchuckers experience.... OMMV 

[Appalachian Hillbilly]

I shot my first trad buck this year. My stand is about 60 yards from a thicket hell on the uphill side. I had patterned the deer through my trail cams to know they came from down below where bedded and went into the thicket. This was consistent.

This is all on the side of a mountain.  I shot the deer and watched the nock disappear right  behind the heart area. Arrow was laying in the weeds covered in bright bubbly blood from point to the soaked feathers.

The deer took off straight  up hill. Thought for sure he would make it to the thicket and that would be tough.

NO BLOOD! Period! Crawled on my hands and knees and NO BLOOD!  I went to the fence line and started a cross search back and forth.

Finally gave up and called for a dog. Then I walked straight towards the stand.

I found the deer 40 yards facing the stand! No blood on the hide Period. He had ran aways and turned to look back. Fell right there.

When I field dressed him, his abdomen was full of blood!

The shot went in between the diaphragm and back of one lung on the bottom and exit through the other lung.

He bled out running up hill, all internally into his abdomen.

I started the search to wide .

Entry and exit pics

[LookMomNoSights]

A particular piece of state land in south western NY that’s loaded with deer,  is also loaded with small maples that have leaves that turn bright yellow,  with bright red spots all over them.  They can cover the forrest floor for hundreds of yards in any direction.  It is a blood trailers nightmare.  If you don’t have a blood bath on the ground,  we’ve many times resorted to peroxide in a spray bottle.  Foams up like mad instantly when it hits the blood.  Allows you to differentiate between your blood trail and them dreaded red spotted leaves.  Also makes even a tiny spot of blood blow up with foam pretty good.  Also,  have chem lights (glow sticks) handy if you know it’s gonna get dark on ya. Cyalume are the best.   Priceless piece of gear for trailing in the dark. 

[GCook]

I'll throw one out.....

In very fine dirt eviroments, i.e., Craine TX for example, a trotting animals blood can hit the ground and roll up into blood filled dust balls.... so pay attention. 

This is the same on our place north of Abilene TX.  Also, if the animal is just piling through the brush, or staying on trails tells you a lot about it's condition.  Also look higher on the grass and brush for blood if you aren't seeing much on the ground.

[Wudstix]

Hard hit deer will generally take an easy path, until you're banking on that.  Then they won't.
 

[woodchucker]

Eric makes 2 good points!!

Peroxide works GREAT!!! 

Those dang yellow leaves!!! 
I love yellow fletching!! But I won't use it on my hunting arrows...

[Ryan Rothhaar]

The guy in the orange collar has given me a post graduate course in blood trailing.

One thing I learned is a wounded deer will go...exactly where he wants to. It's about safety. Hills, terrain, thickets, creeks/rivers....we had them cross them all.  Tracking for other hunters on "cold calls"....we have seen it all.

The #1.... absolutely #1, thing you can do to increase your odds of recovery is to give the deer time to die. Our average track on unpressured gut shot deer is under 300 yards. Jump them one time and the average is closer to 900.  If I don't see my deer fall I give it 4 hours. If I doubt my shot it's 8, or overnight.

Now after 13 years and 80 some recoveries, Oskar is bringing up the next generation 😀

This is our new girl Budi (rhymes with "booty"). She just turned 1 yr and is a tracking machine.

The greatest lesson I've learned is that I'll never be without a Teckel. Takes the stress out of blood trailing!

R

[cacciatore]

Believe it or not but if you put your nose on the ground many times you can smell the animal tracks. It is something I discovered tracking boars and I was ready surprised that I was able to sniff the scent. But a dog goes often with its nose on the ground and also if we can’t compare ourselves with dog’s noses we still can feel something

[Terry Green]

Ryan is dead on..... #1 ....SAFETY.... that's what they are looking for.

Here's back up for Ryan from years ago... one of the 1st stories ever entered on Tradgang from March 18th 2003.  Luckily I had seen this before as a young man and was paying attention....

Know Your Terrain, by Terry Green
Thanksgiving Blessing.

https://www.tradgang.com/tgsmf/index.php?topic=108974.0

[LookMomNoSights]

Think you'd be crazy to not see it as Ryan stated,  regarding the time.   And of course,  that's the hardest thing ever, especially if it's a dandy you just slammed and you want that closure.  Minutes seem like days and you're gonna have to wait a whole lot of them.  Sitting in agony,  trying to replay that flash moment in your mind.  Was the shot not what you thought it was? Second guessing yourself?  A true test of patience if there ever was one ........ but you gotta do it.   And just hope the coyotes don't get there before you do.
The dog is the coolest for sure!  Never seen one in action myself on a deer for me or anyone else I've helped recover for but think that's just the coolest thing.  Nothing like watching hounds work, especially when they are really good at it.    Only ever seen that with coon hounds and coyote hounds.

[Terry Green]

Oh, and BTW Ryan, that Buck in the story was my first kill with a Snuffer.   

[supernaut]

Some excellent tips and tactics, thanks to ALLL for sharing! 

Keep them coming please. 

I like to practice my tracking skills year round. I'm always in the woods and if I jump bedded deer, I'll go and track them. It has taught me a lot about reading sign. It's not the same as tracking a wounded deer but I think too many hunters only practice their tracking after a shot, good or bad. Just my 2 cents.

[Terry Green]

Also, if you look at that pic in the story you can see the light in the background of the thicket.  However you can see I'm in the darkness of the 'thicket inside the thicket' and the honeysuckle vines as spoken of.... that's where he wanted to be.

[Wudstix]

Patience, persistence pay off.  Also, shooting a big 3 blade head can make iffy shots much better.  Had a 6 yard shot were a small buck swapped ends, a perfect behind the shoulder hit turned into a Snuffer to the ham resulted in a short blood trail.