Tracking Secrets of the Blood Trail

Tucked away on my bookshelf is a great book titled Back Then, a pictorial volume of long-ago hunters afield. One 1903 photo shows a proud deer hunter pointing to a bullet hole dead center in the boiler room. He, like most hunters today, seemed to pride himself in knowing where to aim in order to obtain a quick, clean kill.

Nevertheless, hunters have to face reality. Regardless of whether you use a gun or bow, inevitably your projectile will at some time fly less than perfectly. The task that lies ahead could become a difficult tracking situation, and a blood trail might be all that connects you to your kill. Reading this trail--much like reading a road map--becomes a less intimidating and more successful endeavor the more knowledge and patience you have.

Provided a deer doesn't drop in its tracks, the first thing you must discover after the shot is whether the deer is hit and whether or not a blood trail exists.

Consider a buck I shot last year. When I settled the sights just behind his shoulder, I had no doubts the projectile would hit its mark. Yet the walking buck did no more than increase its tempo when leaving the scene. Upon inspecting the buck 100 yards away, I found the bullet had passed through both lungs.

This is a good example of how you can't always tell for sure whether a deer has been hit simply by its reaction to the shot. We know that the tail of a whitetail typically drops and oftentimes stays tucked when it runs away. Most deer jump or lunge forward when hit. Some run hard, but some deer show little or no response--even when mortally wounded.

Since there are times when the only proof of a deer being wounded is blood on the ground, it pays to be aware of the precise location of the deer when it was shot. Always pick a landmark when shooting, and watch for other landmarks along the buck's path if it leaves the area. This is critical when you consider that most wounded deer do not leave blood at the exact spot where they were shot. The lung-shot buck I just mentioned traveled 25 yards before the first drop of blood hit the ground.

Many factors contribute to how soon the blood gets to the ground. For instance, the angle of the deer when it was shot and whether or not it was moving could both cause the hide to shift over the entry or exit hole. Complete penetration--along with the height of the entry and exit holes--also plays a key role in the amount of blood flow. Never assume you missed a deer if you don't find blood immediately. It's common for blood to get to the ground only after the animal travels a short distance.

I was once following a blood trail with a fellow hunter who said, "This deer isn't hurt bad." He had come to this conclusion by judging the volume of blood we found on the ground. We saw just a drop every few yards, and because of this the guy assumed the chances of recovering the deer were poor.