Colorblind/ tracking suggestions?

[huntineveryday]

My oldest son is 12 and he loves to hunt everything. He is pretty colorblind, however. I have been anticipating ways that might affect his hunting, so after he shot his deer yesterday I had him practice trying to find the blood trail and follow it, despite the fact that it was only 20 yards. My suspicions were confirmed, he could see some red initially, but after even a few minutes the blood that was drying was hard for him to see due to it being just another shade of brown. I am trying to prepare him to be able to go out and hunt successfully on his own, and I can see this being a barrier we need to overcome.

Anyone with colorblindness have some tips or tricks to help visility when tracking? We focused on looking at more than just blood, the tracks, grass, etc to find the trail. We also have a wirehair pup, so some training for dog tracking is possible as well.

 

[Wellsdw]

Dog 100%. I track with a a dog and enjoy it as much as hunting. Without a doubt read a book on tracking before starting to train. Real easy to set a dog back. The tracking book does not necessarily need to be in deer tracking either.

 

[Scoot]

Depending upon the kind of colorblindness he has, he may benefit a lot or a little from the glasses they make. I have a buddy who has a light who claims it helps too.

I am 100% worthless when tracking an animal- red/green are bad and most other colors aren't too good for me either! I have something that works really well though- I have two kids who LOVE to track deer. My son is 18 and besides my dad and a buddy, he's the best tracker I know. Importantly, he understands the processes of tracking very well and he knows some of the does and don'ts quite well. He found a friend's buck last weekend when the friend had lost hope. It was amazing- the friend has hunted for over half-a-century and very obviously had no idea how to track. My son intentionally didn't tell him when he re-found the blood trail because he didn't want him to step on the sign (again). A couple hundred yards later, he walked right up to the dead deer.

So... besides a dog, glasses, maybe the fancy light that's supposed to help, I recommend training your kid's kids (hopefully no time soon for that!) and/or getting friends who are good at it. Good luck!

One other relevant bit of info- because I'm so bad at tracking, I'm especially picky about the shots I take. For me to recover an animal by myself, I either need snow, a massive blood trail, or to watch the animal drop.

 

[BBob]

One other relevant bit of info- because I'm so bad at tracking, I'm especially picky about the shots I take. For me to recover an animal by myself, I either need snow, a massive blood trail, or to watch the animal drop.

^^^ Same. I'm super picky about my shots and it's paid off. Probably part of the reason why I've also shot so much in my life is so I can pull off good killing shots. I fear losing something I can't track.

For me blood turns a generic brown once it dries. Once the blood dries I am lost and can't tell it apart from all the other brown stuff out there. My best resource has been to go get a buddy to track. Fortunately I've only needed that a few times in my life and have been able to recover for the most part on my own.

 

[Yoder]

I always thought some peroxide in a spray bottle might help. Not to spray everything but to check suspect drops if you can't tell.

 

[rcb2000]

I always thought some peroxide in a spray bottle might help. Not to spray everything but to check suspect drops if you can't tell.

I use this a lot,, foams up a little bit, which you can see regardless of color

 

[kfili]

Super tough, I'm in the same boat I keep my friends on the ready, go real slow and use a bright light- once it's dry it's super tough.

 

[Rich M]

Hydrogen peroxide will make blood foam... I saw it earlier but was my first response.

What about some of those black light kind of deals, supposed to make blood stand out?

I hate the red leaves and partially red leaves that seem to be everywhere during deer season.

 

[JVS]

I have the same issue. Red/green color blindness. Most of the time I do my best to really take mental notes after the shot. How the animal reacts, landmarks of where I last saw the animal. 9/10 times the animal doesn’t go far beyond that point when hit right. However if is a questionable shot I have a tracker I use. His dog is amazing. I really enjoy watching him work the dog. I used him on a big 8 last year and we were standing over my deer in 5 min flat. Pretty wild

 

[Gwchem]

I'm red-green colorblind. It's tough, but gets easier with practice. The first couple of times, I was focused on color, but really it's easier to learn the shapes blood tends to form. The glasses and UV lights are useless.

For nighttime, get the absolutely brightest light you can. Think daylight bright. And get some numbers of good buddies to help. I've had to spend hours crawling through tall grass when I'm out of state.

 

[browning2480]

Good buddies for me in the beginning and now my sons. I can’t track nothing but like above, I only take good shots and have never lost an animal.

 

[Carr5vols]

Infrared drone...cuts tracking down to nothing.