Bleeding & Tracking

[Alaspan]

As a followup to my post in the 50yd broadside shot discussion, many of you have taken deer, and I was wondering if it is the 'norm' to find blood right away at the site of the hit? My first sign of blood was several hundred yards later... would this be due to the shot placement, or is this normal? Any tricks/gear that makes finding the blood trail easier once you lose it?

I'm looking into a blue filter for my flashlight, it apparently (so they say) lights up blood like crazy. I've heard the coleman lantern trick, but wouldn't mind some ideas for something smaller.

Thanks..

[R.J.]

Shot placement is everything when it comes to blood trails !

Double lung shots usually produce lots of blood out both sides ....

As a rule you should see some cut hair and blood at the site of the shot .



Part the grass and find your arrow .... check for blood , type of blood , bright red , dull red , bubbles in the blood etc .



Check the path the deer ran .... blood on the ground and sprayed on the grass or small tree branches etc.





As for lights ..... you can't have enough light for night searching .... I have heard lots about the use of blood trailing aids and different color lights but I still use the standard large beam light ..... make sure you have lots of battery back up .... Coleman laterns do work great , they put out lots of light !!

Here is a link to some good bloodtrailing tips ..... it covers almost everything !

http://www.bowsite.com/bowsite/features ... dtrailing/

Many sites take quotes from " Trailing Whitetails " written by John Trout Jr.

Woody posts a thread on the topic every season ..... check out ..
http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/phpBB2 ... t=trailing

[Furor]

I have shot 2 deer so far, one didnt run and the other ran into a sunflower field. I couldnt find any blood but she didnt run far so finding her was easy. I was hoping for a good blood trail so I could practice tracking but no such luck.

[ecoaster]

I'm no expert on archery yet, but I would say if your shot placement is good and you get an exit wound (complete or partial pass through) you will most likely have blood at the shot site.

[Alaspan]

Those are some excellent references! I will be printing those out (the pics too) and keeping them for future reference. Again, I can't believe the knowledge to be gained from sharing in this forum. Fantastic!
It certainly answers alot of the questions I had. Thanks!!