Analyzing Blood Trails: Know What Your Blood Trail Means

Analyzing Blood Trails: Know What Your Blood Trail Means

By Ryan Graden

Just after dark, there was a knock at our door. When I answered, it was one of my hunting mentors standing there in full camo ready to give a report of his evening hunt. “I hit it, but it’s still going,” is what was reported. We talked a bit more and decided to meet again in the morning and pursue the buck he had shot with his bow just before sundown.

The next morning came and he led me to the scene. There was blood and there were tracks, so we slowly began to follow hopeful of finding the deer just a short way down the trail. But that’s not what happened. The blood became sparse, and the tracks were confused with others and we soon found ourselves in a position where we were going to have to do some serious tracking.

As the blood trail turned from plentiful to sparse, I took the lead and we slowly and carefully continued to follow this deer down into the thick ravine timber of our property. I had to analyze all I knew about the amount of blood I was seeing, the direction the drops of blood was hitting the ground, the lay of the land where he was traveling, and so much more. It was truly like being an investigator at a crime scene. I was determined to find this deer for my friend.

After an hour or so of tracking, we came around the corner of a hillside only to see the buck standing in front of us at about 50 yards! He was bleeding, staggering, and exhausted but still alive. As ethical hunters, we were a bit disappointed to see him still alive knowing that he’s suffered for an entire night. However, we were glad to find him and have an opportunity to put him out of his misery.

My friend was able to move into a position that spooked the deer up the hillside to the top of the ravine. We were amazed that he would have the energy to try to escape knowing the shape he was in. My friend went up the hill to continue his pursuit only to find the deer at the top of the flat. In the deer’s last effort, he expired and my friend had his tag filled for the season.

The truth is, as hunters, not every shot we take will end like we want it to. I believe that every hunter should do his/her best to make every effort to find the animal they attempted to harvest. You owe it to the animal to do so.

Color Matters!
When it comes to tracking, the color of the blood you are seeing plays a very important role in understanding the lethality of the situation. The color and condition of the blood will tell you a lot about the situation you are in.

Let’s start with bright and bubbly/frothy. This sign is the best that you can hope for! A great shot would travel through the chest of the deer thus going through the lungs and maybe the heart. As a result, when the animal runs off after the shot, the blood that it will leave will be bright red and slightly pinkish in color. Within the blood, you will also see bubbles almost looking foamy in texture. This signifies that your shot was true and, to be honest, your animal will most likely be found in the next 100 yards.

Another color that you might see is a dark red color. Almost purple in color. This color of blood would tell you that your shot was a bit “back” in position. It has missed the chest cavity and most likely gone through the lower intestine and liver. This dark color is often hard to see unless it’s a bright day. It’s a bit harder to track, but not impossible. However, here’s the kicker, don’t track it just yet! A wound that has gone through the liver is not a quick death. This animal, unfortunately, will need at least four-eight hours to expire. If you pursue it too early, all you will do is cause the animal to run even further. At this point, it’s best to “back out” of the woods, give it plenty of time, and cautiously pursue it later in the day or even in the morning of the next. This wound is lethal and the animal will die. It just needs time to do so.

A third color you might see is more of a yellow-pinkish color indicating a wound that has gone through the stomach or guts of the deer. This color is easier to see on snow, but VERY hard to see on a forest floor of leaves. However, what this color has that others don’t is a very distinct smell. It’s not pleasant, but it will be there. Like a liver hit, most likely the deer will die. However, it needs time! And in this situation, maybe even more time than a liver wound would need.

How’s Your Splatter?
We’ve just finished talking about the colors of a blood trail that could tell you quite a bit about your shot placement and the extent of the animal’s wound. However, there is another very important element to a blood trail. That is how the blood falls on the ground.

If you begin your tracking job and you notice that the blood on the ground seems to be “spraying” everywhere in large amounts, you’ve made a great shot! Especially if the blood trail looks like that on both the left and right of the trail the deer took. That signals a complete pass-through of your shot. The deer is a “dead deer walking” at this point. You can expect to find the deer not too far down a trail like this.

You also might see a blood trail that looks as if somebody just began pouring a jar in a very steady stream. Almost creating a “line” of blood going in a certain direction. This too is a great sign to find while tracking your deer. A constant line signals a constant bleed and a mortal shot. Your deer, again, should not be too far ahead.

Another possible blood trail is the “drip”. The drip is not the best trail to find if I’m being honest. It does not mean that you won’t find your deer. It just means that the shot you made may not have been the best-placed shot and the deer might take some time to expire, or perhaps you did not get a clean pass-through
However, the drip can still tell you some valuable information. Every drip will have a “tail”. What I mean by that is as the drip falls from the animal as it’s moving, the heavy part of the drop will hit the ground first and the tail of the drip will land in the direction the deer is traveling. Pointing to where you might eventually find a deer.

I can’t tell you how many deer I’ve tracked and eventually found because of a consistent drip showing me where the deer traveled as it was mortally wounded. Again, the tracking job is a little longer than the other situations, but if you give it time, you might certainly find your deer.

Look at Your Land
We’ve talked about color and splatter. But there is a third element to your tracking job. It’s the terrain. Knowing how the area of land is laid out and where things are is pretty important to finding your deer.

Rarely, will a deer that is seriously wounded, travel up in elevation. A wounded deer, unfortunately, feels a great amount of pain. Using its muscles to run up a ravine is something that it will not desire to do when seriously wounded. Now, it does happen from time to time. However, the majority will continue on a downhill path because that is less painful. So, if you are having a hard time finding a lot of blood to track, you might keep in mind the terrain and where a deer would naturally want to go when wounded. You might pick up more blood a distance away by knowing this.

A second terrain tip is to know your trails. A wounded deer will most likely take the path of least resistance. A trail will show them where the ‘easiest route” is for travel. When wounded, it’s even more important to a deer to follow a trail. Again, if you wound a deer close by a major trail and blood is sparse, I would highly encourage you to walk along that trail.

You might find more blood as you follow it.

A third terrain tip is to know where your water is! A wounded deer, because it’s losing its blood, will often find itself in a state of thirst. It’s a physical reaction to the loss of blood. Deer will gradually, if they can, find a source of water to quench their thirst. If wounded severely, they might even bed down near the water. During my years of experience, I’ve had that happen a couple of times with less-than-perfect shots. Usually, I’ve let them lay overnight and picked up the sparse trails in the morning. At the end of those trails, the deer usually lay right by a stream.

A wound is going to leave a blood trail. I hope, in most cases, that is properly placed by a great shot that is ethically taken by a good hunter. However, sometimes as hard as we try, shots go bad and we are left with a track job that we didn’t expect. In all cases, we owe it to our quarry to do our best to make a recovery. Whether that takes a few minutes or 24 hours of searching. Stick to these tidbits of information and hopefully, your next track job will tell you more information than you knew before. Good luck!