The bad thing about learning to track and trail a wounded animal is that people don't get really get enough experience at it to develop the skills necessary when it's crunch time and they really need them.
An easy way to learn how to trail an animal is to lay out fake blood trails. To make the "blood" get a bottle of some kind of clear dishwashing liquid, some red food coloring, and some smaller squeeze bottles for the blood. Empty contact solution bottles work great for the containers. Mix the red food coloring in with the dish soap until you get the desired color. To simulate a lung hit, add just enough red food coloring to get a pinkish color and then add a little water and shake up. This will make bubbles in the "blood". You can also mix up some to simulate a gut hit. Get some green food coloring and mix with the dish soap. You can also take some fine grass clippings and add this to the bottle (you'll probably need to widen the dropper hole on the container a little).
You can lay out a blood trail, using as much or as little blood as you like. This is really good for kids that are learning. The kids will really take an interest in it and will be some of the first on the trail. Lay out several trails and have your buddies follow them, complete with the "animal" doubling back, jumping, making right angle turns, going a little ways without bleeding, etc. Have them do the same for you. You can make it as easy or as hard as you would like. When dealing with kids though, make it easy enough that they can follow it.
Big58cal
We'll continue on from where we left off. We've covered the different blood colors, hit types, and hair colors.
Now, after you're at the hit site and you've determined where you hit the animal, mark the hit site with something. Toilet paper is good to use for this. You should already have some in your pack somewhere, so it's available, and the toilet paper is biodegradable. Orange surveyors tape will also work, but you'll need to take it down when you're done. Start moving in the direction that you last saw the animal, staying to the side of the blood trail as to not disturb it. You may have to come back to that spot if you loose the trail. The first few places you find blood, hang up one of your markers. You'll eventually start to see a flight line. This is a general line of course that the animal took out of there. This is important because it gives you a direction to look ahead in case you loose the trail. Stand at the last blood/sign and look ahead to find the next spot. This is where it's helpful to have 2 people tracking. One can stay at the last blood while the other goes ahead and looks for more. Autumn leaves can be somewhat deceiving at times with red spots on them. There are several products on the market to make the blood glow, show up better, etc. The cheapest and easiest thing to use is hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle. When the peroxide contacts blood, it bubbles. For less than $1 you get 16 oz. to use blood trailing. Also, don't just look on the ground. Look on the sides of trees, on the sides of tall grass, etc. If the animal rubs against these things, blood will get transfered to them.
When trailing, make note of which side of the trail the animal is bleeding on. The reason for this is if the animal doubles back on the trail on you. I've had it happen, and the first time it took me a little while to figure out what happened. Also, if you're hunting out of a tree stand and are shooting down on the animal, you'll have a high entry hole and a low exit hole. If your shot doesn't pass through, you may only have the high entry hole. If this is the case, it may take a little while for blood to start coming out and onto the ground.
Keep tracking/trailing the animal, staying to the side of the trail and marking the blood spots as you find them. This is important if you loose the trail. If you do loose the trail, follow your flight line and check out in front a little ways. If there's nothing there, go to the last spot of blood and start walking in ever-widening circles around the blood. Doing this, you should find the trail. For some reason, right before a deer goes down, they will make a right angle turn to one side or the other. I've had several deer do this. If you do loose the trail and can't find it again, go get some help if you're by yourself. If possible, get a woman to help you. Women can see different "shades" of colors, whereas men see the color itself........red, black, blue, etc. I've had people tell me that they followed a trail as far as they could and lost it. They returned with a woman to help them trail and the woman immediately picked up the trail and followed it to the animal. Also, if you're in a state that allows the use of trailing dogs to find animals, utilize this. Some states do not allow the use of dogs for trailing, so check the regualations in the state you are hunting. There are organizations made up of people who have trained tracking dogs and will voluntarily come out and help you recover the animal.
That's pretty much it. Trailing an animal like that isn't difficult, but it does take some time to learn to do right. If necessary, get down on your hands and knees and look for sign. I've had times when, by doing this, this was the way that I found the animal. Check out Part 3 of this for a way to get some "practice" during the off season.
Big58cal
One of the hardest things to do while hunting is to learn to follow a blood trail. You may be thinking, "How hard can it be to look for blood?" Speaking from experience, it's harder than you may think, or at least following one to the end.
Most deer, elk, moose, caribou, etc will not drop within sight of where you are, and most definitely won't drop in their tracks. This is where the blood trailing comes in. Bowhunters especially rely on following a blood trail because an arrow kills by hemmoraging, with very little shock. A rifle bullet/slug kills by shock. Shock is the busting of blood vessels in and around the wound channel.
After the shot, mentally mark where the animal was standing and where the last place was that you saw the animal before it went out of sight. Also, listen for the animal after it is out of sight. This may give you clues as to where it might have gone if you loose the trail. If you're in a tree stand, specifically mark these two area with some type of landmark that you will be able to find once on the ground. Things look quite different when you're on the ground than they do when up in a tree stand.
One of the first things to do is to determine whether or not you hit the animal if you're unsure. Start at the area where the animal was standing when you shot. There will probably be some hair there on the ground. There may or may not be blood present also. This is where a lot of people give up because they think if there isn't any blood there, they either didn't hit the animal or they only grazed it. From my experience, about half the time there will be blood visible at the hit site. The animal may be mortally wounded, but that doesn't necessarily mean there will blood there.
For different hits, you'll want to wait different amounts of time before trailing. This is a general guideline and should not be followed to the letter and is only if you are certain that you got this type of hit.
If you know you got a gut hit, wait at least 4 hours, weather permitting. If it looks like it's going to rain or snow, wait as long as possible, but take up the track, going very slowly and quietly. You'll probably see the animal still alive and need to administer another shot. The 4 hour wait is to allow the animal time to bed down and die. With a leg hit, you want to start tracking immediately to keep the wound open and the blood flowing. If you allow the animal to bed down, the wound will probably close up and you'll loose the trail. If you're unsure of the exact type of hit you got, go to the hit site and look around for evidence to tell you what kind you got.
If there isn't any blood/liquid at the hit site, start looking for hair. The different hair colors/types will also tell you where you hit. This hair color is for a white-tail deer.
We'll continue on with Part 2 tomorrow, and pick up the trail.
Big58cal
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