Blood trailing

[robert carter]

I do some stuff right after the shot that has helped me find critters. If I`m on the ground hunting say for pigs maybe...Right at the shot I naturally as most hunters do watch and listen where the critter went. I REALLY pay attention to the very last place I heard or saw it. Without taking a step I pull my compass from around my neck and get an exact compass bearing. I then pull out a piece of tissue and drop it where I`m standing. I walk to where the critter was standing at the shot and drop a piece there. I start looking for blood. If I get on good blood and know its ok to follow after a short wait I take up the trail. If not I go back to my starting spot and run the bearing changing a few yards every time I run it. I found a lot of deer like this I did not get exit wounds on and therefore little blood.
I do about the same thing from a tree .When trailing once you get a line started if you get low you can almost "feel" which way it went by choosing the most likely direction. When I get a bit stumped for some reason I check the probably not directions first then bare down on what I think is the for sure direction.Kinda like anything you get better with practice. Like one Feller said above. Trail the ones you saw fall for the practice.Good hunting,RC

 

[robert carter]

Big broadheads also help..RC

 

[RLTW27]

Patience by far is your best friend. My last buck def was found with the help of 2 buddies. 8 hours we tracked this 6 pointer. (Take a guess where I shot him). First off - learn the subtle signs (hair color, density, blood types) at the point of impact. Look for fresh turned leaves and dirt. Remember how it reacted when shot (heart shot vs low gut - both make dear react differently).

Dont let your eyes stay fixed to the ground - look at the surrounding brush for smear and or splash marks from ground level to about 2-3 feet high. Look for dead critters (twice Ive come across smashed frogs and small turtle that the deer stepped on as he ran!). Use toilet paper to mark trails and EVERY SPOT of blood you find. Often times you'll see a straight line pattern pointing the direction.

Know how deer react on hills vs flat terrain when wounded (hint - they like to side slope). Also expect blood to taper off as he goes up or down hill as his muscles tense up and strain.

LOOK AT THE CRITTERS AGAIN! Ants and woodsman spiders have helped me more times than I can count - even when there was a light frost on the ground. They both came out seeking the fresh blood on the ground.

Hope these helped a bit bro. Every track Ive ever done (finding and not) I learned so much from.

 

[Rich M]

I pulled a shot on a doe last season. She floundered a second and went scooting uphill and towards the right.

went to where she was and no blood, no hair, no nothing.

Followed the path she took - looking for something.nothing.

Walked up and down every row of pine trees for 150 yards, maybe 200 yards - walked up and down the same row then moved to the next - maybe 30 or 40 rows to a road. Nothing.

Walked a dirt road that she would have crossed - nothing. Too many deer tracks to worry about. No obvious blood drops (I can see color).

Started walking every major trail off the dirt road into the hardwoods from the pines. First one nothing, second one, nothing. Third one 30 feet in - Blood! 2 drops of watery blood about the size of the "o" in this sentence, on one leaf. BINGO!

Start circling, find a red smear on some tall weeds, then a stick, then a semblance of a blood trail - drop, drop, smear. Then a little puddle where she stood, a little more blood, drip, drop, splatter, red on branches she rubbed on...She went maybe 60 yards thru the woods slowly as indicated by the blood, then it hit the road and went right, another 30 or so yards.

Dead 100 pound doe laying in the road about 50 yards further than I walked, just around a corner. She went 250 yards. Hit straight thru the stomach. With a 150 gr 30-06 from 125 yards +/-.

90 minutes to find her. Over 60 minutes to find first blood.

Blood trailing isn't just an archery thing.

 

[j_seph]

I'm the same way. I have color deficiency and a lot of time red and green look like the same color to me. Take this test.
http://www.archimedes-lab.org/colorblindnesstest.html#testcolor
You have to move your cursor over the test letter to the right and the image will change, then put your answers down below.
The only one I can see is the first one.
On some of them I can see part of numbers.
On most of them I can't make out any numbers and it just looks like a bunch of dots.

Got 10 for 10

 

[bnew17]

One trick i learned is when im trailing a deer and i have lost the trail. I start looking for grand daddy long legs. I was tracking one year before last and the trail went cold. I remembered reading on here that Grand daddy long legs would come to blood. Sure enough i started looking for them and they were right there. I was able to follow them 10-20 feet until i picked the trail back up and ended up finding the deer not too far away. The drops of blood these grand daddy long legs were on was about the size of a pen dot and on pine straw. It would have been very hard to see.