Hopefully, this thread will not result in conflict. However, the discussion ongoing in an unrelated thread interests me. I personally have tried to track wounded game (without a blood trail) without success. I have personal knowledge of four animals hit within the past 3 or 4 years that were not recovered (or were found the next day by looking for the buzzards).

Some here have the skills to track these animals. I would like to read a detailed discussion of how these skills are employed. I am willing to learn from you.

I might add that I do not hunt "small tracts" of moist ground. Rather my hunting is on large tracts of dry rocky ground. About the only place that I hunt regularly is more than 40,000 acres and is populated with large numbers of deer sized animals. Thus many tracks show in the areas where tracks can be seen.

Again, I hope to learn from you.

Well, ya beat me to the new thread, and I'll be glad to PM ya. I'm not about to be called a liar again. But I will tell ya that anyone using only blood to track a wounded animal is leaving a LOT of useful information on the table. I learned a LOT of tracking skills by running a trap line for several years, and by practicing falconry where you have to SEARCH for critters in their hiding spots.

It damn well sure can be done.

Raptortrapper, would you be kind enough to duplicate the info, and PM it my way as well? Id like to learn a little bit about it myself.

Sure. I will do it tonight. I'm doing these short messages off my Droid phone and its a pain in the ass!!! :-)

I hear ya on the pain!!!! The kids crashed our desktop AGAIN, and I'm limited to my phone to surf and post here as well.

Sometimes you can and sometimes you can't. I don't clam to be able to track a mouse over bare rock but I've learned a few things over the years.

1. If you have a pretty good blood trail and follow it for some distance and it just peters out it can often be the case that the animal has just run dry. I've often found animals within 75 yards or so after losing blood.

2. The tactic of flagging a blood trail and knowing your hunting area can help immensely in finding wounded game. After being shot and they settle in to a particular direction it's really helpful to use a little TP to mark the trial so you can see it back along the blood trail. Animals will usually continue along the same general route until they come to some obstacle or something that makes them veer off one way or another. I have not found that animals wander around aimlessly after being shot. The worst scenario is when they double back over the same blood trail. Yes I've seen deer do that.

3. Don't expect to encounter spoor continuously unless they are hit very hard with a heavily bleeding wound. You may only encounter blood every 50-60 yards.

4. Every once in a while raise your head up off of the ground and look around. Use your binos to scan the woods ahead as far out as you can see. If you spot the animal with it's head up, you're going to have to shoot again. Don't advance on it until you've determined it's level of alertness.

5. If blood starts getting thin mark the last place you had it with something or have someone stand at the last place you had blood.

I would say #4 in Gary's post is my biggest tip. STOP, stand up straight, and LOOK at things. Not like your taking in a scenic background, but LOOK for a REASON to take another step in ANY direction.

Me too, me too. Seriously, I would much appreciate this info also. Thanks in advance.

Jeff

A LOOOOT of my tracking has been done at night after waiting at least an hour to go and look for game. The best suggestion I can make is take ½ dozen flash lights in this scenario.
1. I start with looking where my game animal goes when I shoot it. I also listen to see when and where it crashes.

2. I usually hunt in think woods so I start at the point I shot the game animal and point a light in the direction it went. (Usually it starts at the feeder and I place a large mag light there on top of said feeder.)

3. Every time I find “a” sigh, or I think the animal turned, I put another light up. Or in the day time I will put an article of clothing up as a marker.

4. As has already been stated. Think like your game. When I see what trail my game started out on it is a big help to me. Also, game trails can look different when you are standing and when you are on the games eye level… if I get stuck, I have found getting on my hands and knees helps. I have found that when they are hurt they generally like taking routes that are heavily traveled.

5. If you get stuck, it is ok to go back and look at your trail. I have climbed in my stand and looked at my row of lights to confirm or plot a route. I have also hung a light there in the direction I last saw my game from my stand… Also, looking at your lights as a reference while tracking helps. It is very easy to get turned around at night IMHO… (I only got turned around on the Navy base once, that is all it took. The air field told me which way South was and I went from there back to the truck and got all the flash lights I had… LOL)

6. This one is really important to me. Let’s just say it was a hard lesson learned. I found my pig one night and thought to my self, OK… Good to go! I ended up starting from scratch and having to find him again. When I find game in the dark, I hang a flash light over it. During daylight hours, I hang a bright orange “something” to find it as well.


These are not gospel, and Lord knows there are exceptions to the rules, but they help me… Just find what works for you!!!

Duane

LOL… also, I found a doe one time because she crossed the creek I was hunting next to. I had no idea where she crossed and it was pitch black. I walked the creek and found where she crossed, the water splash on the other side of the bank. I parked the truck on the side I shot here and turned on the high beams as a reverence. The water gave me 8 feet of track that was still visible and gave me the trail she was on. That was all it took. She was hit hard and I got lucky. If the intersection split she leaned hard to the side she was going to and you could see it in the vegetation. No blood until she laid down, but she thrashed a 6ft+ area clean and it looked like it had been sprayed with blood…

Again, I have found what works for me… LOL

My easiest tracking job, besides the DRT’ers… LOL, was my coyote I shot with my bow and cut its throat. (it jumped the string) It never stopped leaving a blood trail until she finally laid down…

You are a better man than me TCTex!!

I wouldn't even THINK of tracking at night! I ALWAYS pull out and wait till daylight if it gets dark. I feel pressured and hurried if the darkness is approaching. When I feel rushed, that's when I miss signs.

Next time I need to find one after dark, I'm gonna give your method a shot though.

Toilet tissue is remarkably bright when shined upon by a high-LUMEN light in the dark, and you don't get as cold by taking off half your clothes.(G)
Wounded deer tend to travel in a large clockwise direction, attempt to make it to water and absolutely hate going up hills.
Read the blood--if it is bright read and shines in the high-LUMEN light and is on the bushes opposite of the side that was hit depending on travel direction, take it easy because your deer will be found soon. If you are find drops here and drops there--directly in the trail--you probably have a non-lung hit and should consider backing out a while. If you find chunks of flesh,little piles of poop or dark red blood that doesn't shine so bright in the high-LUMEN light--back out for the night or for 3+ hours in daytime depending on temperature.
If bloodtrailing at night, a white high LUMEN light with biodegradable toilet paper will be your best aide.
If the above doesn't work, I highly recommend Mountain Cur dogs.

Good info KingFisher! When in doubt, I would always take the trail that went down hill... LOL

The first thing my Dad taught me about tracking was the wait… It is still the hardest part...


RT, Pigs would come out on the Navy base around evening colors like clockwork, (that would be sunset.) A lot of my hunting was during warm temperatures and if I didn’t find my quarry they wouldn’t be any good the next day. So I adapted and overcame and figured out “something” that worked for me. I was so crazy I had a headlamp and a 4 D Mag Light with the high dollar bulbs I used in unison. KingsFisher is right and they do make a difference.

Ps, never used dogs, but I can’t say I wouldn’t have accepted the help on a couple of occasions…

Alot of the time the biggest favor you can do your self is giving the animal plenty of time after the hit before tracking,since most of my hunting up untill the last few years has been done with a bow their has been a decent blood trail but if not waiting an extra hour can shorten the trail considerable.

I have observed this trend as well.

I look for anything out of place if I don't have any blood, and I also look high for blood. I've had situations with no blood on the ground but I'll find it on the tops of grass or on the side of trees. I look for tracks if the ground permits but if not I look for broken twigs, pushed over grass, or even a kicked over rock. I've also found that in alot, but not all cases bears and elk can be the worst for not leaving alot of blood.

one other thing, if an animal is hit in guts it will head for water. I've seen this several times over many years.

WOW this is awesome! I logged on here at 5:03 to PM those that have asked, but now I don't have to!!! I can't add anything to what has already been said by the gentlemen above! They have covered everything I would have put in a PM and then some!! I am NOT a professional tracker and I don't claim to be one, but I have done enough tracking to know what works for me, and to know ya don't always have to have blood. Its always nice to gain more ideas from other people. I will CERTAINLY be trying TCTex's idea with the flashlights!

Reading blood is a HUGE help in knowing exactly what kind of hit you got. Anything that doesn't have bubbles in it, or isn't bright red usually isn't a good sign. ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS mark the beginning of the trail. Doesn't matter if it is with toilet paper, flashlight, clothes, another human... Just be sure it is marked. And time-- make sure to give enough time for the animal to expire. By looking at the first sign of blood, you will be able to tell if 30 minutes is long enough, or if ya need to wait for tomorrow morning (See Kingfisher's post).

The only thing I would add, is what I was talking about from "point number 4" from Gary towards the beginning of this thread. If you run out of blood, JUST...STOP. Stand up. Now LOOK for a reason to take another step. Maybe its a "skid mark" or a slip on damp decaying matter, or broken branches, or any of a multitude of things. But JUST STOP and stand up. More times than not, I have done this, and don't take another step until I see a "reason" to move, and it could be in ANY direction.

Oh, one other thing I wanted to make sure to mention. You can tell a lot by how an animal reacts when it is hit. If its gut shot, they hunch up almost like we do when we have a bad stomach ache, which is essentially what they have when gut shot, although their condition is much more serious than ours! HA! But they will hunch up for a split second, then take off. If it is a good shot in the heart/lung area, they will kick out their back feet, or even jump forward sometimes. This isn't really a hard and fast "rule" though, as I have seen animals with solid lung hits bunch up like a belly ache, and gut shot animals lunge forward. So this, like any other "rule", has exceptions.

Now this next statement goes out to one person who will remain un-named, but it is one I say with my head held high, and I am NOT ashamed to say it if one will look at the posts in this thread, and look at all the information in them:

I TOLD YOU there was a wealth of information left on the table if you only track by blood!!!

WOOOHOOOO that felt good!!!!!

I appreciate your responses and you have included some things for me to consider. However, as I reread your posts, I continually find that most of your comments hinge on finding and following a "blood trail" --- however slight. In addition, a relatively "good" hit is presumed or hoped for.

While hunting at the Y O Ranch in Texas over the years, I have had the opportunity to participate in several "searches" for wounded animals. I will give a couple of examples:

#1. A Sika buck was shot by another hunter using a 6.5 JDJ. The deer was standing in an oak mott but moved just as the gun fired. He was knocked down (or fell down), but jumped up & ran off. We saw him leave the cover, cross an open area & hit the brush on the other side. The guide, other hunter & I searched from the place that he fell, across the open area, to the brush where he went, and beyond. Trails were everywhere and plenty of tracks on all trails. Not one drop of blood was found, including the spot where he originally fell. After a 2 1/2 hr search, it was abandoned.

#2. An Axis buck was hit (too far back) by a hunter shooting a 35 Rem. The deer fell but regained his feet & ran off. He was followed (blood trail) until the blood disappeared. A dog was brought in. The dog jumped him once but lost him (not the best dog). He was found the next day (by the buzzards) more than 1 1/2 miles from where he was shot.

#3. A Sika buck was double lunged with a 41 mag revolver at about 80 yds. He showed to be hit, but immediately ran west. Four of us went to the place where he hit the brush and started looking for blood. No blood. We searched various ways. I started following various trails which headed in the general direction that he was headed (west). The shooter started walking circles. The shooter finally found him about 150 yds east of where he was shot. The only blood that was found was within 25 yds of where he died.

I could relate more stories, but I think you see my point. I appreciate your info, but without "some" blood, tracking is very difficult if not impossible -- at least for me.

Lots of good stuff here. I would like to adress something that might be called a skill, but more likely experience.

When you shoot a critter, you suddenly will find yourself with a big emotional or intellectual or "somethinganal" attachment to finding that critter. As such, your gonna start having a million things running through your brain that were not there a few seconds before you pulled the trigger. For me, this is the harder part than following blood or sign. Getting my head calmed down, and my thoughts not so wrapped around the axle about the shot, or finding or not finding the animal.

This is many times why help can be good. Not so many folks that you have guys running in all directions, or your good buds who are ribbing you about a poor shot (just adding to the above junk in your head), but someone(s) who are methodical, perhaps with some skills, but more importantly someone who is not as emotionally wrapped around this particular axle. I remember my first archery hit. What a mess of a shot, and what I mess I was. My buddy who was 100 times the tracker I was then kept on the trail. He has taught me a ton about tracking since then, but the biggest thing I learned was to calm the heck down, and turn off the things in my brain other than the task at hand.

Hunting is a skillset, shooting is a skillset and so is tracking. As has been noted before, the act of shooting is more than hitting the critter in the right spot. Watch the reaction and really evaluate that first sign you have. Whether the shot was good or poor, time to turn the tracking switch on, and focus on that. If you are by yourself, you know what you need to do. With a bud, let him take the lead, or at least consider his thoughts.

Craig

Wtrooper, I will be the first to admit that all this comes back to having "some sort of blood trail" to use while tracking. But what we are all saying is that blood is only ONE sign available to use when tracking an animal. Think of blood as a sort of "confirmation" that you are on the right track, but don't rely on it and nothing else.

I certainly agree that it is a million times easier to track a heavy blood trail than it is to use other signs, but the original reason this all got started is because of a statement made in another thread that said, "Without blood, you cannot track an animal..." which I think has been proven without a shadow of a doubt to be completely BS.

I think experience is everything. My dad is the best tracker I have ever seen. He has many times been brought in to find a "lost" deer, and found it. I don't even get it. I try to do the same things, and my vision is just as good?? He just finds deer. I've seen him follow a trail for miles with only a tiny pin head of blood every couple hundred yards.

RT,

Agreed that "some sort of blood trail" is required if the animal moves very far from where it was hit. Your, Duanes and the others comments on finding a way to move from one blood spot to the next is very on point and helpful.

However, I feel that some may have read into some of the prior comments (on the other thread) that "no blood trail" is needed to find a wounded animal. It is my experience that if there is "no blood" then LUCK, prior experience looking for wounded animals and intimate knowledge of the hunting area are big factors in trying to find the wounded animal. "Tracking" is a smaller part for me, maybe because I am not that good of a tracker. For me, tracking gets me from the last spot of blood to the next. But with "no blood" and a lot of tracks, I cannot do it. I have tried.

Point well taken WTroper! I didn't even think of the "reading into" aspect of the previous conversations in that other thread. Thanks for the clarification!

LOL Like others here I have found that you can't just look for blood alone... Half the game I shoot doesn't leave a blood trail and makes you question/second guess your shot.

This post is awesome and thank you for starting it!!!!

Duane

What can we talk about to get this AWESOME THREAD to go off track???

I'M JUST KIDDING!!!! HAHA!!!!

This has been a great discussion. I have found that watching escape route and then listening carefully to the type and loudness of sounds is very helpful.Thanks to using ear protection while gun hunting, I can still hear well. I double lung hit a buck last year in bow season. Waited an hour after I lost sight. During that time I heard him crash thru branches with loud snapping sounds. About 100 yrds out he started to blow blood out of his lungs. I heard him fall. Followed a small blood trail to the blown down tree he crashed thru. Came to a 6 foot circle of blood splatter. Stepped back to look and almost stepped on him. He was at the base of a tree just down hill from the splatter. Wait ,Listen,Stop,and Look
really works

I think this is a good thread, for me I have been very lucky where all the animals I have shot have dropped within sight. Now granted I hunt with a bow more than firearms, Though I have had to help track more animals that are shot with bullets then arrows.

I had a thread on another forum about last rifle season where I helped track a deer for well over a mile, Had good lung blood, the deer appeared to be dragging his leg which I beilieve it was a shoulder shot, also only had blood from oneside of the deer. To keep this short we never found the deer and the deer was shot with a bullet that I view less then ideal for hunting.

Best advice to tracking, dont track, lol, shoot alot make your shots count, and use a well designed bullet, 2 holes are always better than one

But as other said, look and listen, if in doubt back out

Our everyday lives are so fast paced,I think for me the hardest thing is to just to slow down.As dumb as it may sound a lot of people look but never see or understand what they are seeing in the world around them.I think the seeing is in the details. Get a good marker on EXACTLY where it was standing at the shot not the general area but Exactly. This gets harder as range increases,brush intervenes, adrenalin kicks in. Where you last see it and direction of travel.You have to have a starting point. Mark every spot of sign,get down on there level, things look different from lower to the ground,raised leaves and scuff marks show up better. Look around, listen,slow down. A good shot of dogged determination helps.My grandson 15 or so at the time,once called me an ultimate predator in a school paper he wrote after a long difficult tracking job,and recovery,that nearly caused him to quit hunting.I explained to him that once you draw blood on a game animal it is your moral obligation to finish what you start as quickly and humanely as possible,if it's possible.He still deer hunts today. In his job now he hunts a more dangerous game ,he is a police officer. No you won't find them all[sadly]but it shouldn't be from lack of trying.

I wish this could be posted a thousand times, or turned into a sticky.

[quote
When you shoot a critter, you suddenly will find yourself with a big emotional or intellectual or "somethinganal" attachment to finding that critter. As such, your gonna start having a million things running through your brain that were not there a few seconds before you pulled the trigger. For me, this is the harder part than following blood or sign. Getting my head calmed down, and my thoughts not so wrapped around the axle about the shot, or finding or not finding the animal.

Craig[/quote]

I believe the 1/2 to 1 hour wait time after the shot is relative to the above statement. This self imposed wait time gives a hunter time to reflect, relax, slow the pulse, replay the shot sequence and plan what we are about to do next. If you have muffs on, get them off as soon as possible after the shot (unless of course a second shot is imminent) so you can "listen".
Unless I see a critter drop (even then I watch and wait at least a few minutes) I always wait at least a half hour whether using gun or bow.
One of the few (thankfully), deer that I've lost was the result of too much adrenalin, getting in a hurry, and a poor shot. this happened to me as an experienced bowhunter. The half of my arrow that I found rides in my quiver every time afield as a reminder not to be in a mistake generating hurry.

Don't over look the value of a GPS either with a track turned on. It's not as cheap as TP but will work in the dark. I too have observed that deer will sometimes run in a clockwise direction but more often I've seen them going to someplace they normally use as an escape route to an otherwise safe haven.

I am a pretty good tracker and theres alot of good info there ....but since i started blood tracking with my dog I am amased at how much i dont know about tracking.Just remember that there is no hard and fast rules and every animal does something different.I know its not much but I hope it helps.

Tracking is a skill that is as important as any aspect of hunting,you can read, watch videos, pick people"s brain about it BUT, to really be good at it, you cant beat on the job training.

Archr,

I was going to add if you want to learn to be a better tracker, hunt with a bow ;^) Seriously, with arrows, a bit of a wait I think is almost mandatory. I have seen enough archery hunting TV to know that some folks get to see their critter go down when they are hunting large open fields, but I think for the most part this is the exception. But the one reason I think this does work for archery is that many times the animal really does not know exactly what happened. As the bow shot is reasonably quiet, and the arrow cuts for trauma, most bow shots that I have been a part of or seen result in the animal running for a short distance then either laying down or just going back to walking slowly. I think pretty much every trail I have followed shows a spot, usually not far away where the critter either stands for a while (perhaps looking back) or lays down for a bit (hopefully to bleed out).

I tend to think that this is the time and spot that you want to make sure not to rush the animal by getting in a hurry. I think a walking leaking critter is easier to follow than a bounding leaker, but sometimes the bounding tracks are easier to locate. I know we often hear of folks who say that if they do not find their critter "right now", someone else will come along and tag it but I think even in those cases time should be given. Whether it is time for the animal to bleed out for the track, or bleed inside to die, waiting will in most cases reduce the distance. At least in cases of any kind of decent shot ;^)

Craig

Well, having hunted in my youth in the everglades I got pretty good at tracking. But tracking in water is very easy to do. I spent a great deal of time in college with a friend who was raised by his grand parents. They were native Americans who lived off the land and had been doing so since the turn of the century. My buddy Jay put himself through college by trapping and selling his furs. I use to coyote hunt with him 3 days a week. Jay use to trap for the state of Colorado. While in college he was hired by the state to trap a nuisance mountain lion that had killed a colt. I learned more from him then anyone in my life. Last year my son shot a nice buck with his rifle 2 minutes before legal light. I stayed out till 5 am tracking the buck. I found it 3/4's of a mile from where he shot it. The biggest thing I learned from my buddy was patience and taking your time. Blood trails are easy to follow, its the disturbed ground and brush that one needs to pay attention to. How many folks here actually take the time to look at the terrain they are walking on and look behind them to see how you are disturbing the area when you pass thru? I bet not many if any do. The first thing Jay taught me was to look at the land you are hunting and see how your own movement displaces the natural fall of leaves, vines branches rocks etc. Also paying close attention to how the natural lay of the land is laid out all the time you are moving through nature. If you pay attention then when things are out of place they are easy to spot.
The other big factor to traacking is knowing the game you are pursuing. All animals if able will go where they feel most comfortable. And most animals won't go far unless they are pushed. Something I learned is knowing the king of blood trail you are looking at. Is it blood from a vital organ a flesh wound or arterial.Knowing what kind of blood you are looking at will tell you to either backoff your tracking for a while or push the animal into heart failure. Heart failure is what kills every living animal. If it was a flesh wound what color hair is laying near where the animal was shot. If it has rained recently and there are puddles around is the water disturbed and if they passed through water are the leaves wet anywhere outside the puddle. In pine forests(the easiest place to track next to water) are the needles disturbed in any way. Constantly knowing your surroundings and natural areas where you are hunting is the greatest arrow in your tracking quiver. Practice in the off season by pusing a herd of deer and then go look where they went and how they disturbed the ground.
Practice practice practice! Like anything.

Oh and like others have suggested, if you don't know the area you are hunting in then have a way to mark your trail. GPS is a great tool as well.

Craig,

Agreed.
The previously mentioned lost deer was bleeding fairly well with the occasional puddle where he stopped. I think he even laid down at one point, but again, the unhappy ending resulted from my being in a hurry. I spent about 2 days over several properties looking.
I shoot a 70lb longbow and took my best buck with it from a tree stand at about 5 (five) yds shooting a 700+ gr arrow. This was my easiest archery tracking job ever. My deer ran all of 20 yds and crashed in full view. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was sure the critter was dead but I "still waited" about 20 minutes before I got down out of the stand. He never moved again.

Well said RT. I have tracked several animals for other folks where little or no blood trail was visible. Four years ago I tracked my cousins 10 point buck. We started with 1 drop of blood. He shot it through the brisket and it almost did bleed at all. Took 3 hours but I found that deer. All thru disturbed brush and pine needles. It was laid up in a thicket of vines and downed brush!

So Tex what do you do if you run out of clothing and flashlights.