As a continuation of last month’s deer tracking advice article, I felt it necessary to add the detective science needed to finish the job. The last piece of that puzzle is tracking the blood itself!
Reiterating what I wrote last month, keeping an eye on the arrow and the shot placement will save you a lot of headaches when it comes time to locate your deer. Of course, watching which way the deer travels after the hit is a vital clue not to be forgotten either. As simple as that may sound, it’s not always that easy when the area you hunt is filled with brush and your heart is still pumping at twice its normal rate! Nevertheless, it’s the beginning of what could, or could not be, a long road to recovery of the animal.
As mentioned last month, knowing where you hit the deer should give you an idea on how long to wait until your tracking efforts should be initiated. If every hunt were executed perfectly, a person wouldn’ t need to worry about tracking as the deer would simply lie where it was hit! A perfect shot in the perfect place at the perfect time! Life’s not that simple. Hunting wild animals requires a lot of quick thinking and solid decision making. Sometimes we just do the best we can and hope for the best outcome. In those cases, we track!
After the hit, and after the decision to track has been made, the REAL hunt begins! Picking up on the blood trail is the first clue needed to proceed. Once that blood trail is located, one should stop and analyze the blood itself! Once the arrow is found, the blood is easy to examine. Even if the arrow is lost, the blood on the ground will tell much of the story. Blood with air bubbles in it is a good sign of a lung hit.
Lung hits are good injuries that usually find the deer dead less than 100 yards. Green paste mixed with blood is a sign of a gut-shot deer and waiting 10-12 hours is usually recommended. Blood with tiny specks in it will most likely be a stomach shot. Without recapping the entire article from last month, I think you get the point here. Identify the blood you have to confirm the type of shot!
Now the blood itself tells another story once it hits the ground. A huge pool of blood in one location indicates a stationary deer. As the deer runs from being hit, notice the length between drops. As the drops become closer to each other, it’s evident the deer is slowing down. Confused about which direction the deer ran once the trail is found? Look closely at the drops. A solid drop of blood with specks of blood coming from one direction of the drop reveal the direction of travel! In other words, the deer is traveling in the direction of the splatter. If the blood has equal spray around the drop, it definitely stopped and could be laying down close by OR, you could be pushing it! Examine both possibilities. If the blood trail suddenly becomes weak or lost, several things could be happening. The deer could be laying down dead or the wound could have been a flesh hit which began to close up. If it’s the latter, you may never find it.
In the many decades I have tracked deer, the most trying types of blood trails I have found are the trails that dry up leaving you questioning which way to go. Those are also the most challenging for me. Sometimes I enjoy the tracking process as much as the hunt itself! To me, it’s like a whole new hunt. There definitely is an art to it, that’s for sure. When I do come across that scenario, I’ve learned one very important rule: Go back! I would say about 50% of the times I’ve back-tracked, I have found my (or a friends) deer. When deer run hard after they’ve been injured, they run out of steam and realize they can’t make it to their destination, so they turn to the nearest gully or creek bed. When your blood trail runs out, go backward and look 90 degrees in both directions from the main blood trail. Chances are you’ll a faint blood trail heading to one of these areas or you’ll find the deer itself! Never give up on a blood trail that goes light or you could be missing the opportunity of bringing home the bacon!
One note worthy of mentioning is to mark the trail of blood once you started trailing it. Many times you’ll go back and forth over the trail itself, damaging evidence along the way. If you need to come back and the light is different, those markers will be a welcome sign to you and the people that are with you to help. So when you shoot your deer, don’t drop the ball in relief! Take the necessary time needed before the tracking process and get your Sherlock Holmes hat, gloves and glasses on because the last phase of the hunt is just beginning!
Marc's Ghillie store
Roostem Game Calls
Nicely explained Marc -Clear and concise. When you get some time would you write up a white paper on wearing a ghillie suit. Most hunters have a layering method for different temperature ranges as well as different clothing for bow hunting early and late season and gun season as well. Any insight on what you do and how you go about it would be extremely helpful to those making the transition to wearing a ghille. Thx.
I certainly will tte. I’ll put that on my list to do for this site soon!
I’ve tracked my share of deer for myself and friends, and what Marc says is dead on. I would only again stress the importance of WAITING if you have even the slightest doubt about the shot.
When I hunted from a treestand, it was a bit easier, because the area you can see is far greater than on the ground. Most of the double lung shot deer I killed from a tree I could see fall, or at the least observe longer before they went out of sight, thereby confirming what I could see as far as how long to wait. The double lung “death run” is unmistakeble after you’ve seen it enough. Hunting on the ground is a different story.
Last year I shot an 8 pointer at 15 yards while stillhunting in semi-heavy cover. The hit LOOKED good, but it didn’t pass through, and as soon as the deer made his first bound, I could no longer see him. Hmmmm………
As much as I wanted to go right after him, I backed off, went to town and had lunch (not a very enjoyable one either). 3 hours later I started on the trail. I went the direction the deer appeared to go, and after 75 yards I picked up blood. The trail got heavier as my heart lightened. 40 yards later here was the deer, stone dead. The Razorcap did pass through, as most of the arrow, but it hit the leg bone on the far side (his near side front leg was forward when I shot…that’s how I like them…)and his far side leg was back. Point is, this deer was dead on his feet when I shot, but because I couldn’t see him, I wasn’t sure, so I waited. Good ending.
Marc…I do have one question for you. Many times when I’ve lost a blood trail, or was having trouble finding the first blood, I’ve actually gotten down at deer eye level, and tried to put myself in the deer’s place…which is impossible, but as best I could. After spending a minute or so this way, thinking of nothing, but just taking it all in, I then go where I felt the deer would have gone, and the majority of the time I’m correct. Do you ever do anything like this? I guess this would fit into the “art” part!
Absolutely! Even when I’m scouting I always try to put myself in the deer’s shoes (hooves) and try to figure where they would go. I think the more time you spend hunting, the more of that “sixth sense” you acquire. Thinking like a deer in every situation can only help with understanding how they react to getting shot, eating or just general survival needs.