Blood Trailing

[EatDeer]

Welcome to the forums, Charlie Qualls! Nice to meet you. Have you ever tried a red lense on your tracking light. Maybe that would make the blood appear darker brown in color? Probley won't help, but might be worth a try atleast. I saw some of the same spray that csi's use for finding blood, it was advertised in a hunting magazine. That might be of interest to you, I think it turns the blood bright blue under a black light. Spraying Peroxide might at least make the blood bubble when you are in question. My father is color blind as well, so I know how hard it is for you to find "wet" spots on leaves. He is lucky he has a professional deer tracker (me) to do all his tracking for him! [;)]

[JPH]

My father-in-law is an optometrist. I'll ask him and get back to you in a day or two.

[JPH]

I spoke with my father-in-law. He said that they make a bright red contact lense that is worn in one eye and will assist in color vision. He said very few people wear them b/c they look very strange. But if you were to only put it in when you're going to follow a blood trail, no big deal.
 
If you already wear contacts, you have already been sized. If not, you need to see an optometrist and get fitted.

[EatDeer]

ORIGINAL: JPH

I spoke with my father-in-law. He said that they make a bright red contact lense that is worn in one eye and will assist in color vision. He said very few people wear them b/c they look very strange. But if you were to only put it in when you're going to follow a blood trail, no big deal.

If you already wear contacts, you have already been sized. If not, you need to see an optometrist and get fitted.

My father used to use a red contact, they get cashy if you drop them out while looking down all the time for blood.  Might also be kinda hard for a color blind hunter to find a red lense on the forest floor, when they can't even see a speck of deer blood in the first place. I was just kinda wondering if a red lense on a flash light would obtain the same results as the contact? Maybe you could ask your father-in-law what he thinks? I'm guessing the red light would't work the same way a contact does. I guess the best way to track a wounded deer if your color blind, would be to invest in a blood hound, if that's legal there. 

[bowhuntr15]

About two weeks ago, I released an arrow on a 130 class deer from my ground blind.  It was (what it looked like a perfect double lung shot).  I watched the deer run for 30-40 yrds. with the arrow thru his cavity.  I immediately called my wife to let her know "we'd" finally tagged out on this fine, tough-hunting, highly pressured, piece of IL public land.  The winds were 15-20 mph, and windshiled factor was abt 5 degrees.  I recovered the last 4" of arrow first with good blood, and recovered broadhead side later, awesome blood!    I followed the blood and found the remainder of my arrowshaft and broadhead.  Unfortunately, where I recovered the second piece of the arrow, that was the last blood I saw.  I used my exit route to pull back, but I strongly believe I bumped that deer +/- 50 yrds. from where I found last blood.  I came back 3 hours later with two more hunting buddies, and simply could not find ANYTHING, ZERO sign of blood, nothing!!!  Could it have been a marginal shot that just looked great?  I've been bow hunting 6 years, the last three having great success in harvesting bucks and does, but never have I recovered a well placed arrow (or it seemed like it), and it be the last DROP I'd see!!!!   Tough animal, and it was even tougher to lose a beautiful animal after it being hit.  Just watched a program last night (Barta), where he was filmed hitting an elk, trailing it, searchng for it with help from others, and never finding it.  He described the same feelings I had, but at the end, it's part of hunting,  we don't like it, even after an ethical shot. 

[SHKYBoonie]

Nothing makes your heart sink faster or lower than not finding a wounded animal. I have been in this same situation a few times. Almost lost the biggest deer I have ever shot with a bow this way. It was at the first of the season, so I kept going back until I spotted the buzzards.
 
What I have been told is that a wound higher up on the body may bleed really good at first. Then the wound may get clogged with flesh. If that happens the deers chest cavity has to fill up before it will push it clean and start bleeding again. Seems to me that it would have fallen dead before this happens but who knows? They are tough animals and have an amazing will to survive.
 
Sorry you didn't recover your buck. Better luck from here on out!

[hunt4fun]

bowhuntr15- A couple of questions...  First how far away was it and what kind of angle was the deer at?  Also, what did the blood look like?  Is there snow on the ground? 

[bowhuntr15]

Thank you. 

[bowhuntr15]

Hunt4fun,
 
The buck was 30 yrds out - still in my comfort zone.  I was on the ground and he presented me with a perfect broadside shot.  Blood was bright red and frozen.  Just shot a doe this past Saturday and the blood looked identical (but this time I did recover the animanl).  Thank you for your questions!

[buckhunter21]

I can feel your pain in this, and I'm sure a lot of us can relate.  My guess is that you may have bumped the deer, and when you did this, the deer took off and could be quite a ways away.  Hard to say...Or he ran into some really thick cover.  Bumping a deer that you just hit is never good...IMO anyways.  I do hear of guys that get on the trail right away though, so that they can cause as much bleeding/damage as possible, but that's usually gun hunting.  Also, something to note, when you are following a trail and all of a sudden you hit a dead end, sometimes that deer is still bleeding just as much but you aren't seeing anything since the hole(s) could get blocked by fat, organs, etc.  Getting on all fours and searching at the last spot is your next step, and then after that, a grid search of your area. 
 
Best of luck!