Length of blood trail

[BFR]

Archery hunted for many years, no rhyme or reason for how far they go. Now I mostly rifle hunt and what I learned from archery is still used, first, before the shot I pick out 3-4 landmarks, whether the animal is 50 yds or 500 yds. I mark where I last saw it after the shot and before I move I lay out a projected travel corridor with landmarks. I’ve shot deer and elk out to 500 yds and have used this method to locate within a few yards of where they were when I shot, I then pinpoint where last seen can then pretty much find their trail. I’ve had blood trails start immediately and had others that had nothing to go on but tracks for 30-40 yds before finding blood. Learning the art of tracking to me is essential and something a lot of rifle hunters can’t do, no offense intended, but I think archery is where you really learn to track properly. I’m teaching my grandson that art with every hunt we go on, his eyes are better than mine and he can get down on his knees and crawl easier too. Gettin old ain’t for sissies.

 

[Skerhunter]

With a rifle 99% of the deer I have shot didn't require a tracking job. The only deer that have run a considerable distance were already alert/spooked. Probably only had one go more than 50 yards on me. Not a lot of blood trailing involved.

With a muzzle loader most haven't went more than 50 yards, sometimes tracking is required, but most shots are in an open area where I see them fall. I had one mature buck run a good 300-400 yards, but ended up dying about 50 yards from where I shot him. This is one of the few blood trails I have had to follow with the smoke pole.

With a bow it's a wild ride. The best blood trail I ever had, the buck ran a good 300+ yards on me, you could follow the blood trail in the truck through the open field he ran though. Shortest trails have been probably 30-50 yards (arteries/heart/lungs), most are probably in that 50-150 yard range (lungs). I have had some not leave hardly any blood, some good trails dry up only to find them within another 50 yards, some get better with every step. I've only lost one deer that I am confident I hit in the lungs (very low only one lung), that trail went from amazing pools of bubbly blood to only drops to nothing after a few hundred yards and no deer. When I started bow hunting I was really good at shooting low and hitting legs/brisket, those muscle blood trails usually dried up within 100-150 yards and the last 50 yards if very hard to follow. Been pretty fortunate and have only gut shot one buck, never found any blood or the deer, just a stinky arrow. Worst blood trails are all the deer I miss with my bow (even came down with a bad case of doe fever last year and shot over two of them).

One interesting things I have noticed is most of the dead deer I have found (that other people haven't recovered), have been quartering away shots, where there was no exit wound (good hit but no blood).

 

[Titan_Bow]

I’ve been hunting since 1987. I’ve shot whitetail and mule deer, elk, antelopes and hogs in NC, SC, GA, NY, TX, MT, CO, WY and NE.
Most of my kills over the years have been with a longbow and really heavy arrows, but I’ve shot many with compound the last 4 years, and I’ve taken my fair share with a rifle and muzzleloader. I guess I’ve been lucky because anything I’ve ever actually ran an arrow through both lungs has died within 100 -150 yards max, usually a lot less. I will say, anyone who’s hunted long is going to make a marginal shot or have something go wrong. I’ve had shots where I thought they were money, but at 200 yards into a bloodtrail, it’s time to re-assess . On animals I’ve recovered on those long bloodtrails, I’ve discovered that what I thought was a great shot, actually only got one lung, or got a lung/liver, or just snipped the top of a lung.
I’m not saying this explains every long bloodtrail that other people experience, just my personal experience.


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[BuckHunter24]

Someone above mentioned a good shot with no blood. Had this happen 3 years ago, my dad maded a good shot, both lungs. Blood at the impact, a few drips on his trail then nothing. There was patchy snow so we could pick up his tracks at times. He went more or less straight downhill into a deep brushy draw. After ~100 yards there was a big spray of blood, then a solid trail to where he had expired another 100 yards down the draw. It was a relief to find that big spray if blood and then find the deer.

There were times in some rock and frozen bare ground it got difficult to follow tracks, doing concentric circles around the last known point worked well, just like matching up a set of sheds! A gps track is really helpful as well to see where youve covered. Just last year I sent one straight through the heart, he went 40 yards and wedged into a deadfall. Even knowing where he went down it took a while to actually see him in the brush wedged into that downed log.