blood tracking lights

[epapineau]

Has anyone had much luck with, or use for the blood tracking lights? I was tracking one this week, and, yeah, it makes the blood shine a bit more, but if I could see it with the blood light, I could see it just as well with the regular light. But with the regular light, I had a wider field of view. I think from now on, I will just use the normal lights.

[Goose]

I read an article by a crime scene technician, and he stated that the lights are more or less a scam. He recommended a product called Bloodglow. Its 2 tablets that you put in 8 oz of water and then spray it where you think blood may possibly be. It will light up the hemoglobins in the blood a blue color.
I ordered some for last year but did not get to try it out due to good blood trails. This year we had a trail that was very hard to follow and we tried it out for the first time.
It worked, but it gave false positives as well. I felt that it was best for those times when you lose blood and need a direction to go. As an example: We lost blood completely and the deer could have gone in any direction--we sprayed this stuff and all the branches lit up on some pines. Upon closer inspection we did find a very small amount of blood, so we now knew which direction the deer was headed. We ended up backing out and finding the deer the next a.m.
It can only be used at night and the darker it is the better.
You cant just walk along spraying away expecting it will lead you right to the deer, but it can be the difference maker when trailing a tough blood trail.
For $20 you get enough tablets to make several bottles, and I thought that was reasonable if it helped me find only one deer.

[PrairieShadow]

I have a primos bloodlight and i used it this year for the first time, I thought it worked pretty well. It also will give false psoitives but once you know what you are looking for it works pretty well.

Nothing is going to be fool proof but it certainly works better than a white light.

[Wanderer]

I have a Gerber bloodlight. It also has an all white beam and you can switch back and forth. I used it as a flashlight one night coming back from one of those hunts where the deer won't go away and you end up staying in the stand way later than normal. As I walked out, I switched it between white light and bloodlight a few times. It made some of the brown dried leaves on the forest floor appear bright red. Switch back to white light and the leaves look brown again. I did use it last monday when I went out into the swamp to recover the buck that I arrowed. I had seen the buck fall while I was still in my tree stand, so I pretty much knew exactly where I was going and when I got close, I could see my tracer nock blinking, so I really didn't get to give the light a very good test. I did use it on the drag out and I can say that the blood trail really stood out well with the light set to the blue/red "blood light" setting.

[Squirrelhawker]

I have a blood light setting built in to my headlamp. I wouldn't call it a scam. The forensic dude may be commenting from his own practical perspective. Meaning he may not do a lot of deer tracking. What I find is that the blue light can change the contrast just enough to help pick up sign against a particular background. I usually switch back and forth.

[huntinut]

I bought the primos light last year after tracking a nice buck that i had arrowed. started out as a massive blood trail bubbles and everything only to just vanish after a hundred yards or so. I purchased the light and returned at dusk hoping the the blood trail would "GLOW" in the dark like the tv shows. I was very disappionted. The light did NOT make the blood stand out in any way. and at times made it MORE difficult to see due to the red/green color combo. Kinda felt like I was cross eyed. Sure, I could tell there was blood if i was already looking at it with white light. But trying to determine a drop of blood from a drop of water or a red leaf is all but impossible. not to mention the LEDs were always flickering and I was constantly tapping on the thing to keep it lit. DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY!