As raptotrapper stated in a previous thread, if you are relying strictly on blood for tracking, you are leaving a lot on the table. I couldn't agree more. This is a very good thread.

I personally track or backtrack every animal I kill even when I see it fall. I always learn something new when I do this.I always try to mark the exact place it was standing at the shot.
My wife is very poor at doing this [adrenalin overload]and it can add a lot of time to the recovery as you have no definite starting point,and deer can get to very thick cover quickly.I shot one 2 years ago late muzzle loading in 4 in, of snow with no blood at all on the track till 10 yds before he fell.He ran about 100 yds and I saw him go down. I backtracked him and no blood in the snow at all.One of the boys shot one another time that didn;t bleed for 50 or 75 yds then started spraying blood in a foot wide pattern till he ran out.Had we only tracked for a short distance or assumed he missed because of no blood at the site this deer would not have been recoveredDogged persistance and attention to the small details go a long way when following tracks, and sometimes a big dose of luck don't hurt either.

cut a stick the mark the length & width of the track. helps id that track from others. a rail road type lantern will show blood at night better than a flashlight i have no idea why.

Very happy to provide this story because it ended in high fives instead of bourbon and tears...
Stuck a huge nine-pt in Pike Co., IL 10 years ago that dropped after about 20 yards of staggering but just wouldn't die. After about 2 hours of waiting for him to kick it, I decided to climb down and put another CE in his chest. When I get down I see him staggering up the hill--couldn't believe my eyes. Went back to the cabin and waited 4 hours until going back to retrieve him. We blood trailed him in 15 degree temps until midnight but lost blood when he hit a 100 acre alfalfa field(he was indeed traveling CLOCKWISE). We decided to bowhunt next morning until 10 a.m. and then look again--except coming in from the opposite side of the property toward which he was traveling. We get out of truck, split up to search each finger coming off of alfalfa field and 20 seconds later--BINGO--there he lays! 260 pounder that scored 140. Arrow clipped bottom of heart, but he had a will to live. We estimated by aerial map that he went 3/4 mile. I am looking at him on my wall as I type. I guess the moral of this story is if all else fails, go to where you think he might be going and backtrack to where you lost blood. By the way, he was 25 yards from a 3 acre lake on edge of alfalfa field. Wonder where he might have been going???

If i don't find blood I usually wait at least 4-5 hours before I track...Never leave one spot before i find reason to move, like a broken branch, turned rock, hair, track or whatever.

Well, I never have... LOL

I don't actually use "my" clothing, I use strips of hunters orange.


As for flash lights, I have always carried enough flash lights to track. They usually average about 20-25 yards apart. Carrying about 10 for a hunt in the truck, I can go a ways... If I needed to stretch them out I could take them out to 300 yards.


Duane

Well personaly why i use very big bullets so i make a very large hole that bleeds like a stuck pig if possibe and i try and make sure the animal is within range of my blackhawk that with the magnum level 300 xtp i hit it with goes through the heart and both lungs if possible.Shot placement is critical in handgun hunting to me, but i have lost a few not many.I agree mark the blood trail and look for torn up soil and vegetation if i do not hear it crash i wait a few hours to go in most times they will just lie down , but whitetails in ohio tear heck out of the brush when running after hit i look for torn up soil and torn foilage they will appear like magic laying on their side with that gorgeous white belly = dead lol.Blood trails have petered out most times that means they have laid down to die back out quietly and come back in a few hours i say . it dont have that big crash it never fell down hard.And here in Ohio we can only use straight walled cartridges in handguns no bottle necks allowed.= game warden then jail here.