Seeking tracking advice
Okay, so ya just hit a big elk and you've agonized for an hour and are ready to start following a blood trail. Let's presume the trail is not a gusher...what do I need to know? Any helpful tips on tracking appreciated.
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
The U.S. city with the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, Washington, D.C., has the highest murder rate at 24 per 100,000. The state with the most unrestrictive gun regulations, Vermont, has the lowest murder rate at 0.48 per 100,000.
First questions to ask, as I'm sure you know: Where did you hit him and was it a pass thru? If you know it was a good shot, take it slow with lots of glassing ahead but don't worry too much. I've arrowed two elk and been on one more. Only one of the three was a gusher, but none went more than 80 yards. If you make a higher shot and hit lungs, blood may not pump out like a lower shot around the heart. It will more likely drain out and possibly by soaked up by the hide before it reaches the ground. Look for lung sign in the blood on the ground. Sometimes they just walk away after a hit also, which will lessen the pumping of blood. When they run it usually shoots out pretty good. It's tough to say what to do in a theoretical situation, but if you still aren't finding a lot of blood after say 100-150 yards and you aren't positive it was a good shot... sit down and wait a while longer and just listen carefully. An hour really isn't that long in the first place. A lot of times you can hear them moaning. One time I had a double lung pass thru on a blacktail and he went about 60 yards, laid down, and took over an hour to expire. If I hadn't been watching him, I would have begun trailing after an hour or so and probably would have ended up bumping him. Just be real careful and if you get ansy, remind yourself that it's not worth it to be aggressive. Once you find him you have the rest of your life to look at it... so what's another hour? Where will you be hunting this year?
Avoid trailing it too fast because you may cover up the blood and not see it. Stand on the last drop of blood and look around to locate the next drop, then move on to the next drop and look around for the next drop, and so on. Also keep an eye on its tracks if it's not too mixed up with other tracks. Sometime the next drop of blood may be 20 yards away and you won't see it from standing on the last drop. So the tracks will lead you to the next blood drop. Take it slow.
bring friends. good friends help each other find downed game.
look at that arrow carefully. it is the main reason people like some white on their arrows. i have white wraps. look at the color of the blood, look for foam, fecal matter, etc..what and how your arrow looks can provide some HUGE clues as to how you want to track and when..
even from a tree stand, i may stay put, but i have the binos out to look for that arrow.
and make every effort to watch where the shot animal is heading. head up? does it even look mortally wounded?
Last edited by sancho; 04-12-2012 at 12:45 PM.
I use toilet paper to track. I put a piece on each drop off blood, then a piece higher up in bush or grass. That way I can back track without stepping on the blood drops and if I lose the track, I know where to start again.
After awhile there will be a line of TP in the bushes that gives a general direction.
When it rains, the TP disappears.
Life's short . . . Hunt hard
Why tip-toe quietly through life, only to arrive safely at death ?
I use the TP myself. If you can find the arrow and it smells like doody sit down and give yourself even more time to wait.I try and make a mark in the dirt with my boot pointing to where the animal was when I shot. If anything it makes it easier to find your arrow. What has been said on hits on the animl as far as how high is a good one. There may not be any blood for the first 100 yds even. For that reason I try not and walk in track left by the animal. Especially once you find blood. Go slow and easy. Be prepared to crawl on your hands and knees.
Once you lose the trail. Back up to the last spot and start in a tight circle heading outward. That line of TP ltdann mentions(or flagging tape) should indeed give you a general direction of travel. I have lost and then found a single pencil eraser dot of blood on the underside of a sagebrush leaf when it had seemed to dry up. I hate gravel and slate on scree slopes or any rock with lots of iron. I have taken to carrying a small squirt bottle with hydrogen peroxide. My dad is red green color blind and that really helps him.
Get all CSI an look at how the drops are spattering. They really can tell you what direction the animal went.
We like to trail in pairs if we can. One guy looks down for blood and the other keeps looking ahead for the animal.
If you hunt some popular areas keep an eye out for spoor the day or two after the opener. We have found a couple deer over the years people gave up on or lost. Not much left after the yotes got em, but the blood trail was good practice. My last trip for the A20 I found a good trail that I followed for over a mile with no other boot prints anywhere near the line of travel. There was no rain or heavy winds and hoof marks where still there. I eventually lost it and I hope to heck whoever hit it saw it drop because a lot of its travel was not in view from where I first crossed it's blood I know they never followed it.
Judge Gideon J. Tucker, wrote in a 1866 ruling that "No man's life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session."
Go super slow and quiet, always assume you are looking for a live animal, even if it wasn't a real good shot you might be able to find them beded up and get another shot.
Oh another thing... after you shoot, stay completely quiet and listen because they are WAY loud when they hit the ground... even from a long way off. When my 350 bull fell it sounded like a car wreck.
I'll be alone, solo DIY bull elk hunt in NW Oregon on private property. I've already decided I won't stretch my comfort zone of 30 yards and I am giving myself ten full days to get the deed done. But have not ever had to track an animal before, everything I ever shot died within 30 yards and I watched em drop. But I know that's not gonna be the case on an elk. I've heard that an elk will stop running when it hits the next county and recognize that placement is vital (no pun intended). I figure I stand a better chance of getting close during the rut.
Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.
The U.S. city with the most restrictive gun laws in the nation, Washington, D.C., has the highest murder rate at 24 per 100,000. The state with the most unrestrictive gun regulations, Vermont, has the lowest murder rate at 0.48 per 100,000.
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