In my opinion, there is not many things more fun in the entire hunt experience than blood trailing. Whether it is a very short track, or one that takes hours, I really enjoy this part. To have 50 people in camp, have them all stick an animal, and for me to be in on every recovery would be an ultimate season.
My first experience with a serious blood trail effort came after I had shot my biggest bull with an arrow. I learned a lot in the next TWO days……….
My son and I were hunting a deep, deep hole in Eastern Oregon. We called in the bull after working him for several hours. He circled my son, trying to get our wind and find the bull that had been pestering him. He started to get nervous, and was headed back to his cows when I knew my son would not get a shot. I pulled back and shot at 45 yards. The bull took off. I was so excited, I didn’t watch him until he was out of sight. We assumed he headed back to his harem of girls.
We waited 30 minutes, and then went to look for the arrow and/or blood. After an hour, we found a short chunk of arrow 50 yards away. We had also found just a couple of small spots of blood. But, after hours of circling the area, following the many fresh elk tracks, and finding nothing else, we were dejected and gave up. We arrived back in camp late in the day only to have our two friends IMMEDIATELY offer to hike into the hole to help find the bull the next morning. They were more experienced in trialing, and I was thankful for the offer and encouragement.
We headed in, and hoped to salvage some of the meat if we were able to find the bull.
Right away, the two identified the bull’s track by size of the hoof and length of stride. They then followed the tracks out further and in a direction my son and I had not taken. It became evident that the bull was leaving blood in every front right track. So, we would measure to the distance where the track should be, locate it, and then get down on our elbows looking for the verification of blood somewhere in that track. It was very time consuming, but it worked for about 250 yards………again, in a direction my son and I had not even checked………..180 degrees from his harem and uphill!
The trail lead to a very dry and hard meadow on the side of the mountain. The guys then got down on their hands and knees feeling for the indents of the hooves across the field. I was skeptical, but they followed these indents, and once we reached the other side of the field, blood was once again found. And then a lot of blood. And then the animal!
In the end, the bull had gone uphill shot in the heart and both lungs. He bled a total of about a cup of blood, and had died quickly after going a total of about 350 yards. All the meat was bad (we kept hoping as we cut into each quarter…….). I did keep the horns, and other than the great experience I shared with my son, there was a hollow feeling to tagging this bull.
Since then, I have been on a lot of blood trails. I have blood trialed three times over eight hours, and the latest great one was a cow shot the last half hour of the season right when it started to rain. Two of us tracked that cow for four hours before finding it in a thicket a half a mile away………..again uphill.
Here are some of the points I want to share over the normal tricks one uses to track an animal:
- First, as I learned with my bull, try to watch/listen for the direction of the animal right after the shot. It will be very beneficial to be able to go to that exact spot the animal was last seen to get a jump on the trail. Quite often blood won’t be pouring or dripping off an arrow shot animal for quite a distance after the shot was taken.
- Second, a lot of eyes (and a lot of bright lights if at night) will really help. I have been on several tracks where the sign seemed be quit. Then others show up to help, and the trail is picked up again. I can’t urge one enough to have as many eyes as possible help during the search.
- Knowing the color of the blood can help as well. Bright red blood is from the artery side of the pumping system. This is always a good sign, coming from the heart, lungs, or an artery that is pumping out a lot of blood. Dark blood is from blood returning to the heart. It can be from the liver (which is good as well). And, of course, there is the dark blood that has green in it or smells. We all know what that means. Make sure to give the animal a lot of time to stove up in its bed before trying to locate it.
- Toilet paper is a great marker to use when blood trailing. It can be dropped at each blood and/or track, and can help one to see the general path the animal is taking. TP will also degrade quickly, not requiring one to pick up the pieces after the tracking is over.
- As I mentioned above, noting the size of the hoof and the length of stride of the shot animal can be very helpful in long blood trails. Use a stick or an arrow to mark and know these measurements.
- When possible, try to keep off the animal’s trail to keep the evidence there in good shape until someone notices it.
- In looking for blood, keep an eye out at the normal places: Large leaves, downed trees/branches, high grass, the back side of live branches.
- A lot of places we hunt these days have a lot of roads. Roads are a great place to re-establish the trail when the trail has stalled (we had this occur two times this past year). Roads are hard, often have a lot of flat surfaces/rocks that will show drops of blood quite easily. It is also a narrow patch to search perpendicular to the trail quickly a long way in two directions. Think of these, even if one is several hundred yards away. Get a general direction from the TP trail, and have one of the searchers go ahead to the road to look for sign.
- GPS can also help one to see the topography and landmarks ahead.
And, finally, I wanted to say something about elk. They are very hardy and amazing animals. As I mentioned, there have been several animals we have found that went uphill after being mortally wounded. We also tracked a cow for three miles that was dropping blood every two to three feet. We later learned that elk regenerate blood very quickly, and her production of blood was probably keeping up with the amount she was losing. God’s creation is amazing.
Animals are lost, and some are often not mortally wounded, but all hunters are to be ethical and above reproach in their efforts to recover any animal they have shot. So, keep at it. Don’t give up quickly, and encourage one another during the search.
The last story I will share is my son’s first bull this past year (13 years after the story above). He chased a bull he had seen in a meadow. The bull was headed for his bed, and my son got in front of him. The bull came by at 55 yards above him on a ridge. My son shot, and the bull disappeared instantly. My son thought he heard a crash, but also thought he may have hit the bull back a little far. We waited for two hours, and then three of us started looking. We found the arrow right away, and some blood drops. After 75 yards, the tracks were lost in all the other fresh track, and the blood seemed to have stopped. Two of us circled and circled with the smell of elk all around us. My son took a big (2-300 yard) circle thinking the crashing may have happened out further. He finally came back to us. When he got close, he asked what we were doing………….. because his bull was dead not ten yards from us in a thicket we had been milling around…….
One thing several of us say during our trailing is “Lord, lead us to the animal, or to the blood, or to the sign that will help us to continue. You have provided the opportunity for the shot, now help us with the recovery.” The one cow we found in the rain was like that. It seemed like every time we were worried about blood in an opening, watery blood always seemed to be holding in a cupped leaf or on some flat laying grass.
We need to lean on the Lord in all situations (even blood trailing). He is always there. He is hedged around us on all sides. I love reading Psalms 91 where in Verse 7 He will take care of the 1000 foes on our left side and 10,000 on our right. I marvel at the great security I can have in Him when ALL things are coming down all around me and EVERYONE seems to be against me. Then, in Verse 12 He even cares for me by removing the chance for me to smash my foot on a rock. What an amazing God we have to attend to our life threading issues down to the menial. Thank you Lord!