How often do find a blood trail

coloradoelkhunter · Oct 1, 2007

I was wondering how often you guys get a blood trail when you shoot an animal with a bow? I thought I had a solid shot right behind the shoulder on a buck this year. I found the arrow, which surprisingly only had blood on the fletchings. The rest of the arrow was dry. How does that happen? I couldn't find any blood trail. The only thing I could figure was that I didn't hit him like I thought I did. But how do you get blood on the the fletchings and not on the rest of the arrow? Would have been my first animal with a bow so I was wondering if this happens very often.

Bowtecher · Oct 1, 2007

A couple years ago I did something similiar
but I know I missed saw the arrow go low under the bucks
chest.
But when I found the arrow and looked at it,it had blood and hair
on the fleching but not the shaft similiar to your's.
I searched for about an hour for the blood trail but only found one
drop of blood.
I made the decision to to give up and figured it was just a flesh wound.
Four day's later I saw the same buck and he was doing just fine.
So my guess is you just had a flesh wound even though the shot looked good.
Sometimes the arch of the arrow can throw a guy off.
Usually you can hear the arrow hit it kinda sounds like you have shot a pumpkin or you can hear a rib break.

deserteagle500 · Oct 2, 2007

this might be wrong, but i have found that really fast bows at close ranges produce little light blood, but at a longer distance they have just been pasted in blood. i think it has alot to do wth the speed of the arrow at certain distances.

beat this

BOHNTR · Oct 2, 2007

The mystical flight of the arrow can definitely trick you on where you THINK your arrow hit and where it actually entered the animal. I try and follow the arrow flight and confirm my suspicion with what I find on my arrow. When I have conflicting thoughts, I trust the physical evidence I have (arrow) over what my eyes told me I saw.

Having a good blood trail and blood left on the arrow is a direct result of where you've hit the animal. If you hit the animal in the chest area (heart/lungs/liver) or any arterial locations (juggler/femoral) there WILL be sufficient blood on the arrow and ground. It doesn't matter how close you are or how fast/slow the arrow is. Very little blood and/or clear transparent tissue like material on the arrow....muscle tissue only.

My "guess" would be you hit the animal in muscle tissue only above the spine, which sits much lower on the back than most folks think. Very little blood and a wound that generally will not kill the animal. Maybe you'll see him again and get another chance. Hope it helps.

BOHNTR )))---------->

Bow6x6 · Oct 5, 2007

I've experienced exactly what BOHNTR has described. I thought I hit a buck perfect and turns out it was above the lungs. The arrow was almost completely dry. A few small meat chunks and almost no blood. When I saw the arrow I realized it was just a muscle hit which meant a poor blood trail. Quite an emotional swing in a couple seconds time. My Uncle was hunting several hundred yards below me and saw the buck run by. It had some blood on the exit side but not much. With no blood trail we tracked him for a long ways and eventually lost his tracks. I hunted that area for several more days and ended up seeing him again and he was fine. I learned a lot from that experience though. 1. The buck was slightly downhill and I did not compensate for that, explaining the high hit. 2. There is a dead zone (in this case a "not dead" zone) those critters have where an arrow can pass through high and not hit anything vital. 3. What an arrow looks like from a muscle hit. These are unfortunate scenarios but as long as we learn from them , it's not a total loss.

Brad