Bloodtrailing

...experience.

^Agree with Jager. Experience is the only way. That is part of the beauty of hunting. What did everyone do before we had the internet. You can plan a hunt down the last detail and in the first 5 minutes that plan can and will go to shit. Don't take my answer the wrong way. Its good people are concerned and trying to figure it out before they get out there.

Experience is correct....To add to that tho ( I dunno about elk BC I've never been or killed one)

I have hunted whitetails for years in thick woods and river bottoms, I have always been pretty good at tracking as it just came second nature. A lot of my friends figured it out and would call me which led to more experience.....You have to look at the whole picture, some animals just don't bleed or much sometimes so you have to learn to look for the other little obscure clues.

First thing is mental recording of where the animal was standing, direction it was facing. Record the reaction and direction of travel, remember the last tree, rock, boulder where you last lost sight of it....Then when you get to that spot take a step back and form an impression. You are going to have to look for scuffed dirt, broken twigs, grass that is bent over for no other apparent reason....limbs that look freshly broken and laying out of place, deeper impressions from hooves than you would expect. Also be sure to look for blood on sides of trees, rocks, limbs, grass.

Hope this helps some.

It's tough when it rains hard. You then have to rely on terrain and the normal behavior of hurt animals. If it's not hurt bad enough to kill it quickly you will be looking for scavengers because you won't have anything to work with. If it's hit hard though you have a real chance. A hard hit animal is going to go mostly in a straight line along a path of least resistance. Watch carefully where you first hit the animal and the direction it takes. Look for game trails along that path and follow them all out a long way looking for your elk to each side. If they are going down fast they will take a familiar trail and then dive off as they fade out. They will also run a few hundred yards and then cut to a side and back in the direction they came from and hide where they can see their trail. If they are strong enough to try to catch up with the herd then you are probably not going to find that animal. He's going to put a lot of distance in random directions and die someplace unpredictable. Hard rain is just tough to track in. If it is raining then don't wait to track as you would normally.
Btw , all my experience is with deer , pigs and bear. Haven't had the opportunity to track elk yet. I hope all my future kills are drt tv shots but probably not going to happen.

Where's Bruce, try not to think too deeply into your hunt, you will only place undue pressures on yourself.

Remember, first and foremost, you are out there too enjoy yourself.

Getting prepared like you are is very commendable, but as in everything, real time experience is the kicker.

Tracking really is an art form, and without the aid of dogs, tracking in the rain is very difficult. In the advent of not being able to find a good, or any blood trail, you need to start looking at things like spoor pattern where your animals gait has more than likely changed due to the wound, flattened grass or shrub where your animal may have lain down.

Successfully tracking an injured animals spoor takes experience, you need to be able to differentiate between prints of an uninjured animal and an injured one. Stones continually kicked over is a decent indicator of a wounded animals spoor, whereas a healthy one would simply be stepping over them.

Use your ears, a wounded animal will not move as stealthily as a healthy one, look for small trees moving about, a healthy animal will generally move through very smoothly.

These are the types of things you need to think about.

Jäger is spot on once again. There are some things in hunting that simply come from experience just like many things in life. Do what you can to prepare and have fun.

Great advice given so far. Want to add the maybe obvious

Blood might not always be on the ground but also on brush and trees the animal has brushed against.


And also I carry mostly used up rolls of surveyors tape from work and hang a small piece wherever I find some evidence of a wounded animals path. Might seem silly but when you get to that point where the sign just " quits" you can check the back trail visually with the ribbon and get a good idea of the animals direction of travel and the best place to keep looking/ or get into a more detailed ( hands and knees ) search for more sign.

Jager is right through and through. One thing I have used even after rainstorms tracking a hit animal is hydrogen peroxiide in a spray bottle. its suprising the reisidue of the blood will leave on whatever it encounters even after the color has warn off. Also learn the certain track of a certain animal, you can usually tell which animal in a herd is wounded, it takes a lil experience to determine but tracking tracks can pay off better in the long run when little blood is to be found

brettb said:

Jager is right through and through. One thing I have used even after rainstorms tracking a hit animal is hydrogen peroxiide in a spray bottle. its suprising the reisidue of the blood will leave on whatever it encounters even after the color has warn off. Also learn the certain track of a certain animal, you can usually tell which animal in a herd is wounded, it takes a lil experience to determine but tracking tracks can pay off better in the long run when little blood is to be found

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Forgot all about peroxide , good one

Just to add to some good advise already given by others, but use your nose. Remember, elk stink (especially during rut conditions, and even after rain. I found one of my bulls, and one of my father-in-laws, mainly by smell. Both were good shots, so I knew they shouldn't be far. My nose led me to both of them faster than trailing sign. Just one more trick to add to the arsenal.

I am also seeking tracking training to assist me in scouting and since i have weeks of time to kill, I just wanna spend time with instructors but these courses are often found in places on the east coast, not out west. There's a lot I don't know and have only read about but never applied in the field. Nobody knows of any training facilities huh?

Most important thing in tracking. Immediately mark exactly where you were standing when you shot. Don't move until you've done this. Then go mark where the animal was. Mark every blood spot found. I Like use Tp as it is biodegradable. I just string some over a bush or branch.

Watch the bugs. When its hard to find blood watch for bugs like flies or ants and often they'll draw your attention to the right spot, in early season at least.

Best thing I can suggest is if the blood trail is light on blood get down on your hands and knees. You will be surprised at what you see. Look on rocks and wood. If your in grass or brush that is shin or knee hight, don't just look on the top or the leaves. Look at the stock from where a bloody leg rubbed up against it.

If the blood trail starts to dry up, I hope you have been using your flagging tap and can try and get a general direction he was going.

Stay on the bloodtrail. Don't get in a hurry and just go in a direction because you saw a few drops of blood. If you loose the trail have someone sit on it and direct you in the path the animal was going. I can't stress this one the most. STAY ON BLOOD. We have all seen the "TV Pro's" just walk around like a blind man look for a light switch trying to find an animal.

Stay on the downhill side. Nothing worse than having a bloodtrail dry up, and having someone on the up hill side walking around and kick dirt down into the one clue you needed.

When the trail starts drying up, get a feel for the distance between the drops and use that distance to help you look in a more specific spot. I will use my arrow as a gauge.

When you have exhausted all possibilities of blood, start doing half circles. Start small and get bigger as you go further away. But always keep in mind the general direct the animal was going. Try and stay low to the ground. You will probably be looking for small drops of blood.

As stayed above, look for trails, or the path of least resistance.

If you have really lost blood and want to try following tracks. Make sure the tracks you are trying to follow are the same as the ones that were on the bloodtrail. A animal that is hit will be running hard and will leave deep digs in the dirt. Keep that in mind, especially downhill.

A bloodtrail that is getting smaller and going uphill, no bueno.

High lung shots may take a little bit for blood to work its way out of the hole, and or start to come out the mouth. Low lung , well we all know what happens with this hit. Liver/gut shot blood will be there and then start to lighten up after a while. The "Dead Zone" between the lungs and spine may never leave a drop of blood and ya might not ever find that one.

Really rember this, elk will run for a LONG LONG LONG WAY, with one lung shot.

Be patient, slow down, and get low to the ground.

Hope this helps

If you have the time and money, a spring pass at Tejon. Hunting for pigs now is tough, but the only way to practice blood trailing is to make some blood trails.

agree with what others say and i guess one added thing to mention is hittm where youre suppose to and they shouldnt go far. ie making trailing easier

Concentrate on where the hit is if the hit is back or marginal in any way I would rather pull out and give the animal time. Even a poorly hit animal usually won't go far if they are not pushed. I have found several animals by pulling off of a bad trail and letting them sit overnight or 4-6 hours.

Craig4791 said:

Concentrate on where the hit is if the hit is back or marginal in any way I would rather pull out and give the animal time. Even a poorly hit animal usually won't go far if they are not pushed. I have found several animals by pulling off of a bad trail and letting them sit overnight or 4-6 hours.

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Doesn't work out well here in the warmer western states if the temps are typical for Sep...the next day your elk is bloated and smelly...and maybe half eaten.

It rained for months before my AZ hunt last year. Dirt was plenty soft and tracks were 3" deep when my bull took off. Wet or dry, don't get in a hurry, take your time and look ahead and the tracks will show up. Put the arrow in the pocket and it will be a rare occurrence if it goes more than 100 yards. Sometimes shot placements don't bleed well till the chest fills up and that could be out to about 75 yards, then they bleed but he's laying dead right there.
You'll be fine. Have fun and don't dwell on what might go wrong. It's an AZ Elk tag.....