The "Tracking" Thread

[THO Game Calls]

I wrote some articles years ago on tracking game, and was asked recently to post some of them here.

I have a better idea.   Perhaps, with all the talent on this board, we can come up with a good "Tracking Thread".   Please post your techniques, ideas and thoughts on following game that has been shot.  I think this will help us all recover more animals.

These are some of the things I have learned over the years, but the biggest is that everyone loses an animal now and then.  When you have done all you can do, it is all you can do.   Rest assured that nothing goes to waste in nature.   The birds, the rodents, other animals, even the trees and earth will reap the benefits of an animal not recovered, and from everyone not recovered, we learn, and that makes us better hunters and trackers.  I was once told by a good friend, when we lost a deer, that "Perhaps the Great Spirit wanted us to feed another family today.  We have done our part, and the deer has done it's.  Perhaps it is as it was intended to be."

They say that most deer hunters walk by 10 deer for everyone they see.  I have walked within 20 feet of bedded moose and never seen them, even though these animals were well over 800 or 900 pounds.   If you think jumping a deer will startle you, try jumping a moose.   

While we all know that animals have natural camo, it is still good to remember that we walk by more live animals than we see, when we are trying to find one that is either badly injured or dead.  It makes us look harder.

With that in mind, this is what I do when I have to blood tail an animal.

The very first thing I do after the shot is note where the animal was standing when I shot him, and then the direction he went, and finally, I pick something out that is close to the very last place I saw him.

This takes a few seconds, and that time is well spent.  When we shoot, we trigger the fight or flight response in an animal, and if they are a prey animal, they run.  Even predatory animals will run if they feel threatened and don't feel they can win the fight.  If we get up and chase them immediately, they will continue to be in he fight or flight mode until they feel safe. We have all either experienced or heard about heart shot deer that have run a long long ways while being "dead on their feet". I like to give them a few minutes to calm back down.  If they are hurt badly, there is a good chance they will either pile up from a loss of blood in a short distance or they may bed down close by.   Unlike humans, animals only have three main concerns.   Safety, Food, and Reproduction.   They don't worry about getting home to write the mortgage check on time, or what mom is going to say when she finds out they got shot, or anything else.   They focus on Food, Safety, and Reproducing.   That is their whole life, and for the most part, they are very very good at what they do.  Once we make the shot, we need to let thousands of years of evolution take its natural course.  The animal is going to try to get to safety, or what it perceives as someplace safe. 

This brings up what I feel is the most important aspect of tracking any wounded game.  And that is simply, how much do you know about the game you are hunting, which is closely followed by, how much do you know about the land you are hunting on.

If we believe that animals are focused on Food Safety and Reproduction, then it stands to reason, that when an animal is hurt, it will try to find safety.   If it is gut shot, it may need to find water too.  By observing where the animal was hit, and by knowing what the animal will PROBABLY do, and where it will PROBABLY head, we make the job of tracking it much easier.

Now when I say "where the animal will probably head" I am not talking about a specific place in the woods that you can mark on your GPS and walk to and find the animal every time.  I am referring to the type of cover the animal uses if is concerned with being safe. 

If you know the woods your are hunting, you stand a better chance of finding your animal because you know the lay of the land and where the types of cover the animal might head to will be. 

So we've shot the animal, we've marked in our mind where he was standing when we shot him, and we have marked he last place we saw him as he was running off (as well as the initial direction he was heading).   So what do we do now?

I carry a roll of toilet paper in a freezer bag in my pack.  (in the winter I carry orange flagging tape – more on that later)

The very first thing I do, is take that toilet paper out and mark where I was sitting when I shot the animal.  I then walk to where the animal was standing and mark that location also. 

What we do next can often determine weather we are going to find the animal so it pays to be very observant at the place where the animal was shot.

Look for blood, fur, bone or anything else that came from the animal from the shot.   These are clues and with them we can make some educated guesses on what the animal is going to do. 

Pink frothy blood – lung shot, and the animal might not go far if we got both lungs.  Single lung shots, which happen a lot from tree stand hunters will allow the deer or other game to travel a lot farther.

Deep red blood drops, might mean that we have a muscle hit, and maybe not a good one.  Blood with food or green matter in it will tell us it is probably a gut shot.

Now, if you can see tracks o the ground, find a long stick, and with your hunting knife, mark the distance from one set of tracks to another with your knife.  You don't have to be exact, but try to be close.   You will be able to use your tracking stick to determine later if the animal is slowing down, stopped running and is now walking or is still in full flight mode. 

Now, starting from where the animal was last seen, start looking for blood.  DO NOT WALK ON THE SAME TRAIL YOU THINK THE ANIMAL TOOK.  Here is where you get to play CSI.   Don't contaminate the crime scene.  Every place you find blood. Mark it with your toilet paper.   This does a couple of things.  First, it slows you down.  You are excited and anxious.  You need to take your time.  Second, by marking your blood trail, you can turn around and get a general idea of the direction the animal is heading in.  This will be a huge help if you loose the blood trail, and it will allow you to go back to the last place you found blood to start over if need be.  It will also help you find your way back out of the woods when you do find your game!

Let's go back a bit to the fight or flight response we triggered in the animal when we shot it.  The animal went for safety.  But it is still on high alert.  When tracking, think stalking.   Go slow, look twice as much as you walk.   For every step you take, take 10 seconds to look.  Get down on your knees – even lay down on the ground and look.  Animals are not as tall as humans.  Blood may spurt from a wound and hit the UNDER side of leaves that you would never see when looking down.   Animals in full flight also turn up rocks and leaves as they run.   You might not notice this looking down.  But bending down, getting on your knees, you might be able to see an entire trail of over turned leaves or rocks for a great distance.  It's all a matter of changing your perspective. 

When you are looking, don't look for a deer or a coyote.  Look for a horizontal line, an ear, an eye, look for parts of the animal.   Use a pair of binoculars to look at things close by.  It will help you pick out details better than you will be able to with your unaided eyes.

Another thing to keep in mind is that humans are horrible at picking up movement when looking right at something.   Turn your body and your head and look with your periffial vision.   Look out of the corner of you eyes.   You will be able to see the slightest movement this way. 

Never walk by a patch of anything without looking at it closely.  You will be surprised at how little cover it takes to hide a full grown deer or other animal. 

If you lose your blood trail, go back to where you last found blood.   Look back on your trail to get an idea of the direction your animal was traveling.  Now, from there, look in that same direction.  Is there anything in the way that would have made the animal change course?  Would it have to run around a dead pile, or a blow down?  Big rock, log or what ever. 

If there is, go directly to that object and start making sweeps back towards your last known blood marker.  If you don't find any blood, do the get down on the ground and look at the trail technique.   Look hard for the slightest clue.  If you find nothing, there is a good chance your animal changed direction.   Start sweeps to the right and left at 90 degrees of where you last found blood.  If nothing, go back again to your last known blood marker.  Now break out the bottle of peroxide.   I carry a bottle of peroxide with a spray nozzle on it in my pack.  Look back on your trail and get a feel for how much distance between each blood marker there is.  Are the blood spots getting longer or shorter between?  Try to go about that distance and start moving slowly in an ark spraying the vegetation with your peroxide.  Even the smallest blood drop that you might never see will cause the peroxide to foam.  Keep in mind that not finding blood is not a bad thing.  Animal's blood coagulates much faster than ours.  If you find nothing, go a few steps further out, and keep expanding your search.  Always go slow and always look hard. 

Finally, if you are in an open area, and you can't find anything, there is one last trick to use.

Sit down, take out your crow call, and do a few come here calls.   Try to stay hidden and keep calling until you bring in a bird or two.  Crows have remarkable eyesight, and they are opportunist.  Often they will spot a dead animal in a field and circle or even land near it. 

Night tracking is a whole nother ball game.  You do the same things, but you have to go a lot slower.  A Coleman lantern will make blood shine much better than a flashlight, though there are new flash lights out that reflect blood now.   

A good tracking dog can be a help if all else fails too. 

The last thing to keep in mind is that an animal can travel a great distance in a short amount of time.  Don't get discouraged.   As long as you have marked your blood trail, you always have a place to go back to and start over. 

I use toilet paper because it will dissolve on the first good rain.  Flagging tape, which we have to use here in the winter because of the snow, will not.  You need to remove every bit of it when you are done tracking your game.  In some states, it is illegal to leave it up as it is considered littering.


Al

[Hawks Feather]

Al,

Great write up.  Now I just need to shoot the deer so I can follow it.

Jerry

[studabaka]

Yerry, That means two rolls of bun wad. We don't want to hear about you retracing your blood trail with your drawers down 

Thanks for starting this Al. Hope others join in. I for one am interested in learning all the tips, tricks, and methods I can.

[securpro]

EXCELLENT !!!!! Very informative and a must read for all , Thanks for sharing your wisdom that we can all use.

   P.S.  You neglected to share the best choice of toilet tissue for this ?      is Anglesoft Ok ?   


  securpro

[FinsnFur]

Good idea....Lynn needs to get in on this 

[THO Game Calls]

The type of toilet paper is not important as long as it is unscented,

Where you get it from, however, is VERY important.

Whatever you do, don't run back in the house and take the roll off the bathroom dispenser becaue you forgot you used the stuff in your pack last time you were out.   If you do, and you are married, you will probably have a very upset spouse when you get home  :)  Especially if it was the last roll in the house.

Don't ask how I know this.

Al

[Hawks Feather]

Don't ask how I know this.

Al

Seems someone was in the "out house" for his actions.