When it comes to blood trails, I guess everyone would agree that location of the hit would be most important (with a sharp broadhead of course). What would you say would be the next most important? A complete pass thru? The size of the cut (number of blades, etc)? Single bevel instead of double bevel? Or do think that there are too many variables involved and location and sharpness are about all you can do? It's interesting to hear other bow hunters experiences but please let's keep this civil and respect each others opinion. Thank you.

If from an elevated position, a pass through is essential to a quick follow up, IMO. I've seen a lot of nice hits that didn't pass through, as a result no blood trail to follow as the body cavity just filled while they ran off 100 mph. That's tough work. Broad head brand or style never meant much to me.

Assuming that you hit the right stuff on the inside of the beast...

#1 - PRESENCE of exit wound

#2 - LOCATION of exit wound

#3 - Complete pass-through, as in your arrow is on the ground and in one piece.

Too many hunters with too much experience have attested to the fact that an animal with an arrow in it will run much harder, faster & longer than one that has just had an arrow zip right through it.

If the animal is bleeding droplets at the rate of 10/second, do you want the animal moving at 5 MPH or 40? Because that's the difference between 9" apart vs. almost 6 feet.

2 holes make for 2x the blood.

TMBB

Best blood trail I ever had was a mulie that I butt shot. Garden hose stuff.

No, I didn't try to do that, but he wheeled at the shot. It turned out ok though.

One thing I see overlooked by a lot of guys is the amount of shock an arrow causes when it hits. Let's take the extreme examples and compare a sharp 2 blade (Bear with no bleeder for ex passes through with very little energy) to a trocar tip 3 blade (Muzzy for ex that hits like a hammer). Now don't get me wrong. I've shot a truck load of deer with Muzzy, Thunderhead, Wasp.....with a compound and they did just fine. I've shot them from stick bows as well with no problems. Nice hole, good penetration...dead deer. The first time I shot a deer with a 2 blade (and yes it was with a compound) the deer made 3 jumps and stopped. It stood there looking around for a second and then fell over dead. Since then I've seen this happen more often than not when shooting a 2 blade. I don't think they feel it.

The angle of cut and length are very important. High broadside not good. Low and angling forward most excellent.

you have to be prepared for anything,, even if the animal is standing perfect, it may move and you may not get a pass through,, so work with what you have and dont get discouraged,, use a dog if possible,, I have hit deer with good killing shots with very little blood,, or none,,, example,,,,, quartering away, ,the deer moved enough that it went in at the guts and into the heart with no exit,,,,, I had some friends that were good trackers and no blood,, found the deer 100 yards away, and just a smear of blook on the entrance,, so sometimes there is no blood, that does not mean the deer is not dead,,,

To me it depends a lot on where the blood is falling. It's a lot easier to see blood in sandy soil than it is when trailing through pine straw. We have a lot of pine straw down here.

I like two holes but but collapse both lungs and very rarely do you need a blood trail. I shoot a VPA broadhead only 1" in diameter but that is all I need. I have been lucky the last 15 deer or so I have shot fell within sight or ear shot. Shawn

I grew up depending on knowing tracks to do my job of knowing where our cattle or horses were in the mountains. If I have to follow something I shot, I just follow it's tracks. Don't even think about blood. And, yes, I can easily follow one particular animal. Been doing that since I was 5-6 years old. That being said, double lung is the main thing in my mind when I shoot any animal.

I've always believed double lung was best but I shot a buck last fall quartering away that took the diaphragm and one lung and he sure piled up quick.

I honestly seldom look for blood first. Watch were they headed and where I heard them go down and just head that direction. If that doesn't work, then I go back to looking for blood

Two holes.. Deflated lungs. Usually leads to great bloodtrails amd short recoveries.

I do that too juspassin. I pay very close attention to the last place I saw them and what I hear after that. I still follow the blood, but sometimes there isn't much of anything to follow and it's faster to walk straight to where I saw and heard them last.

color blind- Have to cheat and use one of these- Blood trail dosn't matter- will find it

Total derail but that is a beautiful dog. I have asked for a Golden R for my birthday next month, so we'll see.

As you were............

Like the OP said "or do you think too many variables involved" presented my variable (colorblind) also said "respect each others openion"

Exit wound with a decent arrow placenent.

A pass through either broad side or quartering away. I hunt from the ground so I would add that I want the hit to be in the lower quarter of the body cavity. The heart sits a lot lower then in the chest then one might think. The lower the holes the sooner blood spills as the body cavity fills.

I don't worry about it. My dog finds it .

I have always hunted bear from the 10 to 12 foot mark because I want both lungs. It only took me 15 years to figure out that it was also the best height for deer. Next time you're in the woods take a look at a potential stand tree at about the right shooting distance a deer would be and see how well the back cover is. Than look higher in the tree and see how exposed or skylined you would be.

Andy Man- I was talking about ME derailing the thread, not you. I just re-read my post, I can see where you'd think that. my apologies. I can certainly see how colorblindness could put a kink in a trailing job. (Still hopin' to get a Golden for my B-day)

Second in importance following shot placement is that he runs towards the truck. When I achieve proper placement they typically go down within sight. All that other stuff comes in with marginal shot placement.

No biggie- I don't take things seriously , espically on the web

Gonna love your B-day present , I'm sure

Big holes=Lots of blood. I like pass throughs.

Pass threw lungs or heart shot usually don't go far enough to have to track. Although, I did have one hit high that made some ground without much blood. It helps to know the terrain I guess.

Number of blades haven't seemed to matter for me.

Spine shoot them and they will be laying right where you shot them. Make sure you have 2 arrows with you will need a 2nd shot. Most likly they'll cry and if you can't take it don't ever shoot there.

2 holes they leak faster if it's not high and a pass through in lungs you should see sprayed blood all over vegetation or tree sides the animals pass's. Blood trails Stevie Wonder can see.

When you arrowed enough animals it gives you a real education.

Pass through both lungs - that is the shot I am trying for, and it can be the difference in tracking something 80 yards or less as opposed to hundreds of yards.

PATIENCE.

Followed by MORE PATIENCE.

Now if you're talking creating a blood trail versus following, it then yeah, two holes.

An un-obstructed pass thru would be 2nd best for me. Good blood flow coming out of the exit hole.

I also never go after an animal before a two hour wait unless I see it fall. That gives the animal time to die with a good hit of course.

Exit hole and snow on the ground works best for me. :)

Tom, ever had snow FAIL?

I have. The snow was deep enough the blood melted right through to the ground. We couldn't see anything. (it was at night) We followed tracks. At one point we got stumped and turned around. Our footprints were solid red. We had no clue, but it got easier once we learned that.

Snow on ground could be a bad thing if your trailing between houses. Sometimes the wounded animals pass in front of anti hunters windows and they look out and see the blood trail and freek out.

I had a lady once who gave us so much grief finally I said mis I'm not trying to be rude but you could help us trail the poor animals hurt. I'm calling police. Ok go ahead maybe they will help us we are in pursuit and going to get this big doe. And we did TG it wasn't my arrow was my buddy's we were driving deer couple of us and this deer went into housing development after it was hit.

Lady freaked out and police told lady that we had every right to be there and said its a good thing the deer didn't die at your door. She watched the whole thing and was screaming at us the whole time too. It was a pain others were screaming back at her. I tried to calm her down and she wouldn't until she wore herself out the little live wire she was. Was funny and sad all at same time but we got the deer. Was liver shot finally laid down when we caught up with the doe. Was a tuff deer.

Way to go Ryman! There is right & wrong always. Prepare yourself mentally, physically, & spiritually complete & proceed as a good example. Had a recent ridiculous encounter with an "animal lover" who was a KIA elitist! Finally wished her God Bless & left her babbling.

Imo, definitely have to get completely through the vitals AND especially deer for a short obvious bloodtrail. Yes i want my arrow buried deep in dirt on opposite side. Complete passthroughs do not always happen.

Every time I read one of Larry's posts on a thread like this, it makes me want to go to the nearest park and find some tracks to follow.

I'm a lot better at it in the mountains than I am here in the northeast, but I'm probably not as good (nor ever have been) as Larry was by the age of 8 or 9.....

Larry must be part Indian then. How he can track an animal by itself when its with a number of other foot prints must be hard do think that must be brutal. I've tried it and tried to watch the animal tracks deeper on hit side but thankfully not wounded to the point it traveled further.

Singal animal and see the way it left ok but when they leave with several others and leave little evidence is hard.

Whats harder for me is when an animal goes off my lease and goes onto adjacent property s that we don't have any agreement witch gets sticky. Thankfully I been shooting animals where they been going down in 75 yards because I have been more selective and shooting closer to get right shot or not shooting. Plus I been having trouble seeing only with one eye that got real bad past year. Now I have 2 eyes back and will have to fight myself not to get to cocky shooting further now that I can see again.

Larry may have that unique feature that many trackers have in Africa. They can indeed pick out an individual animal by it's print. I have never been that good, but I did have to track a few just by prints and an occasional drop of blood. Don't like that at all but sometimes crap happens.

I'm kinda surprised by the number of guys who say they will just head off in the direction they seen it go, or think they heard it go down. They must be hunting a lot more open terrain than I do.

My routine hunting grounds around home are thick, and steep. To see a deer drop from my stand it usually would have to fall within 15-30 yards. Its also steep mountainous terrain and a deer is over a ridge top in seconds if you're hunting near the ridgeline, and out of sight. To just take off in the direction the deer went, or where I "thought" I heard a crash, would likely dilute and disturb any blood trail left if it was sparse to begin with. I've found deer by tracking from a speck of blood here, a speck there, for quite some distance, until it either started bleeding better or laid down. Not following the actual trail left and walking in the general direction could make precious evidence disappear. Leaves/sticks, etc walked on or kicked over is potential blood trail gone. Of course if your terrain is different maybe you can get by with it, but here I cant. If a deer goes down within sight, well, that's a no-brainer. I had a buddy swear he heard a deer he shot crash in a thicket 50 or so yards away. He started in after it just walking towards where he heard the "crash", but I cautioned him to stop and lets actually track it just to be sure. Long story shorter, where he thought he heard a crash actually wasn't any deer going down. The doe travelled 200 plus yards past that point and when we found her by tracking the actual trail, she was weak and laying down but still alive. A one lung shot deer can live awhile and travel some distance too! He had to put another arrow in her to finish her off. I'm convinced if he had just taken off in the direction her heard the "crash", we might have never found that deer, because it was tracking specks of blood here and there, often some distance apart, and a long tracking job.

Two holes are always better. Although the best blood trail I've ever seen was a hit right below the anus of a bull elk. He started to swing his head away as I released, by the time the arrow got there he had turned from perfect broadside to going away. Arrow penetrated to the fletching. Looked like a garden hose had hosed the furns.

Agree that location of hit is tops. Like most here I'm also more confident if there is an exit wound.

If I was sure I'd get an exit with a 3-blade I'd rather use that to have better chances of hitting more vessels. I shoot 2-blade single bevel to have a better chance of exit out of my 44-48# bows. Last six with recurve saw five pass throughs and one hanging out the other side. The pass throughs were laying on the ground though, or just weakly stuck in the ground.

It is so difficult to replicate shots on wild game, so I'm not sure if I'd get better penetration with 3-blades or 2-blades or not because making everything "equal" is tough.

I've always said I want a drain and a vent!

I want my arrow through and out the other side, and on the ground if possible.

But what you do after the shot is very important. Unless you actually see the animal go down..knock on wood, I've been lucky haven't had to really track one for 5 or 6 yrs now.

I'm not going to write a book here but I'd wager that the number one reason people don't find a mortally wounded deer is a direct result of what they do after the shot, and not what bow or broadhead they used.

Trust me... Usually the last thing a deer wants to do is head for the next county when its hit hard. If it goes far, almost always, regardless of what you think, it's because the deer was aware of your presence, and it was trying to escape.

A hard hit deer wants to lay down unless you spook it.

I guess there are always exceptions, but think about it...would you feel like going for a hike when your mortally wounded?

I have often heard people comment they quietly headed out and gave it some time, but the deer traveled far and was never recovered.

Then I find out they called their buddies on their cell before climbing down, looked around for their arrow, followed the blood trail a little way ect...My guess is even though they think not, the deer was close by and headed out of dodge, or they came back later with lights and all their buddies.. and the deer heard the parade coming and headed out of dodge under the cover of darkness.

razor sharp broadhead...double lung....and stand perfectly still, and watch and listen...Don't get your cell out...stand still and pay attention, take note of where you saw the deer last and mentally mark the spot. Use bino's to look for your arrow from your stand if your sure of a pass through. But sit tight for a while, let the deer lie down and die, chances are it will not go far.

If you unsure of a good hit wait a while then slip down and out quietly, take a route less likely to spook your deer, wait till you get out to use your phone if you have to, come back with a good light a couple hrs later or wait till morning and quietly track your deer.

and above all don't blunder around and ruin the sign, often you can track a wounded deer without blood. A hard hit deer is rather clumsy and leaves a trail, so do you if you blunder around and end up messing up any sign your deer left.

A liver hit deer will often bleed good for a spell and fizzle out....and they can live for quite a while sometimes...don't push a liver hit, its yours but give it time.

A gut shot deer will often run off then stand kind of hunched up, don't push them either..its yours as well, and trust me a gut shot deer is mighty sick, it wants to lay down, so be quite let it lay down..and it will.

"razor sharp broadhead...double lung....and stand perfectly still, and watch and listen...Don't get your cell out...stand still and pay attention, take note of where you saw the deer last and mentally mark the spot. Use bino's to look for your arrow from your stand if your sure of a pass through. But sit tight for a while, let the deer lie down and die, chances are it will not go far."

I've found that I can usually pick out the blood trail (using binocs) before I even leave the tree. Works from the ground, too....

Best of both worlds - you get to feel like you're getting on the trail right away, when in fact you're sitting very quietly, allowing the woods to settle and NOT mucking things up.

"Larry must be part Indian then. "

Only about half ;)

I'm not a gifted reader of animal sign, but I do know for a fact that if you spend enough time looking at very similar things.... they begin to look very different.

It's really just a matter of time and effort; Tiger Woods is Tiger Woods because he started when he was 5. Larry is Larry.... because he started when he was about 5...

Here Rymancat is talking about shooting deer in the city and chasing them past houses, and he gets on my case for checking roadsides for easy pickings.

Anyway, I like a super sharp head through the lungs. There are hits that kill faster and leave more blood on the ground, but the lungs are the biggest target.

Joe

When I'm riding for cattle and see a bear or deer that looks like it would be good eating, I ride over and look at it's tracks. Then all summer whenever I cut that track I learn how that animal is using it's country and all the places it uses to bed at different times. When it's legal, I just ride a circle until I cut the track, figure out where it is and if it's bedded and go kill it. I can follow one cows track from horseback at a hard trot until I jump her. Saves a lot of work when my cattle are mixed in with other brands.

Being a good tracker takes time and practice...If you look into it you'll find that there are people especially in the more primitive tribes ect..that still rely on hunting for food. They have trackers. These guys can track a healthy animal.

I would wager the vast majority of modern hunters have spent very little time tracking animals.

By the way, trapping,and tracking and the ability to recognize sign and having that sixth sense about what an animal is doing or will do go hand in hand.

A deer that runs off and those turned up leaves, broken sticks ect..all point the direction he's going.

couple years ago my son in law shot a buck, called me from the mt, said he had no blood but thought he hit it good.

I told him sit tight,don't walk around trying to look for it, don't move just sit tight...I took my good old time getting there.

Once there we found the location of the hit by a few hairs on the ground and picked up the track...no blood at all, about a hundred yards out he turned, you could see were the leaves were pushed up a little indicating which way he turned, the trail was made up of leaves that showed track by compression, fresh broken sticks, moss scraped off a rock..ect....

we found him, maybe 200-300 yds at the most. laying right at the end of the trail he left....no blood.

he was hit back a little to far, I never looked when he gutted it, but it was a high hit, and I'll bet just a bit of one lung,

Well said Steve [shade mt], I don't comment of these threads much but have tracked hundreds of deer over the years for myself and friends and you pretty much nailed it, you can always tell when a guy speaks that has really done it in the real world. Nothing set in stone when it come to tracking deer but with experience some patterns evolve. Good info. As far as blood trails of course double lung, high in low out and pass through is best for a shot you intend to make, the femur artery is best but few are shooting for that on purpose. Pappy

Exit wound is important especially from a treestand.

Down in Florida hog hunting I try to bury that arrow in the far shoulder and sometimes there isn't an exit wound but the hog going thru the thick palmetos will have that arrow cutting them up and the blood is pouring out of the entrance wound. They usually don't go far with that shot though.

Thought I would bring this back up and see what bowhunters think now....

Still pretty much “What gets cut, not cut with what”, but I’m starting to think that more animals are lost due to premature follow-up than marginal hits. Too many lost deer threads where the hunters were able to track the animals to the first and (often) second beds before losing the animals for good. We were all taught to wait an hour for good reasons, but that advice seems to have fallen out of favor for no really good reason.

Depends..Depends..just depends.

No two circumstances are exactly the same.

sometimes they go down in sight, other times they don't....but i have come to a few general conclusions.

1. naturally arrow placement, lungs (both lungs)..or heart...dead deer fairly quick.

2.....entrance and exit holes are best

3...lower entrance and exit holes are best...high shots often the chest cavity just fills with blood instead of on the ground.

4....Complete pass through, no arrow in deer is best. I have shot many deer that run a little and stop, not realizing what just happened if the arrow goes the whole way through...I have never had a deer stop if the arrow was still in it....personally i feel that the arrow may cause more panic...just my thoughts.

5. mature big buck are simply harder to kill with marginal shots...they are simply a bigger tougher animal than young buck or doe.

and 6......none of those points are ALWAYS true....again...just depends.

Fact: A double lung will shorten a blood trail quicker than anything else but a spinal cord hit. Learn to be accurate and don't buy into the quartering away theory all the time. Double lung with exit hole and rarely will the search be very far and sometimes you will see or hear it go down. Broadhead don't matter but accuracy does.

Sure looks like almost everyone here agrees about two holes are better than one. I think this is a definite no brainer, but I want to add, and this is my opinion based off of my own experiences. The design of the broadhead can/will make a difference where all else has been done accordingly. Just two days ago a good friend of mine shot a pig at almost dark, 53# Black Widow KB, shot was 10 yards broadside and he hit both lungs, be it a tad high, but still great shot. He used the Valkyrie broadheads and that thing left a HOLE, not a slit in the pig. LOTS of blood and short work, she was down in about 20 yards. Early this season (opening weekend) I shot a nice 10 pt with the old Barrie Rocky Mountain Supremes. Very elevated shot, slightly quartering away. The going in side was higher than I wanted and no exit as the broadhead buried in the offside elbow , and stayed under the skin. Both lungs were hit and the buck basically did a dash and crash of maybe 75 yards. The Supreme made a sizable hole high in the ribs going in, which left enough to follow, but by the amount of blood in the cavity, had that one NOT hit the elbow it would have been a whole lot easier.

Point I am getting to is this. Design of some heads open a hole not just a cut. I have shot and found deer, pigs, turkey, and small game with two blade heads (Zwickey Eskimo and Bear Razorhead primarily), and they are always in my quiver but when it comes to opening a wound something with a sizable ferule and design seem to do a lot more for me. I like designs similar to the Thunderheads, and when poundage is sufficient the Magnus Black Eagle opens a channel also. I shot through a younger buck a couple seasons back and the Magnus went through the offside leg bone. Two hole and easy walk- up. If you have enough energy to get away with these designs (take into account game and energy of your arrow), I highly recommend it. Lots of good animals taken with single bevel two blades of various cut widths, but sure is hard to beat the ease of tracking with a bigger hole, not just a slice.

-Bones

The best indicator of future performance is past performance. Most broadheads have a track record and all will work well, but still the archer has to be making the shot. Big heads will not make up for bad placement.

I use a two blade single bevel. Not a lot of blood but enough to follow. They don't go far anyway.

Pop both lungs, and deer die of hypoxia in seconds. Usually leaves a blood trail, but not always. That said you usually either see or hear the deer crash.

George with all do respect, and I do mean that. I never said large heads were for lousy shooters. Quite the opposite really. A bad shot with a big head can be even more trouble. Almost undoubtedly, a narrower cut path WILL penetrate better. That's not going to make up for a bad shot either. In both my cases I said we both were a little higher than perfect. Obviously both were lung shots, just not top of the heart and lung shots (my broadhead was stuck in the offside elbow at a steep downward angle, so I feel pretty good about that.. I have pictures from a really messy shoulder and elbow when I pulled the skin if it helps).

With a really well placed shot, and enough energy, I prefer the bigger holes, not just a rip. The two hole deal is a given. If you do not have, or feel like you may not have, enough to push a head clean through, please use a lesser diameter cut. BUT if you have some energy to spare, use a broadhead that punches a hole. They stay open better and put more on the ground. I have hunted places where 25 yards in any direction can be impossibly thick, which makes finding even well hit deer somewhat difficult, so I prefer to get as much on the ground as I can. As the OP asked, after two holes what is the next most important to us. My answer is, use as big of a broadhead as you can comfortably shoot through your intended target. I am shooting 60# at my 27" draw. I SHOULD be able to shoot through Whitetail deer with a wide three blade. Given shot placement and yardage is on par.

On some critters I will shoot the Bear Razorhead or Zwickey Eskimo, with the same bow. All about my intended game at that point.

-Bones

I think if I had my wish, I would opt for a 3 blade head and complete pass thru. But if I had my wish, I would also wish that I never miss my intended mark.

If I hook that shot a little and put the arrow too far forward into the shoulder, then I want something like a 2 blade 3 to 1 single bevel Grizzly or VPA or something. But If I hooked it the other way, and got a gut shot, I might wish for a big Simmons tree shark or something.

I think a low shot or at least a low exit, is best, or at least a good exit, no higher than halfway up, for sure. At any rate, if you get a solid double lung and or heart shot, they're not going to go far, normally. And even if you can follow a blood trail, simply working out the area, should result in a found deer.

A deer I shot this year, was a little different. I shot it from a tree at about 8 yards but pulled my shot into the shoulder, broadside shot. I hit a lot of bone and did not get an exit. It ran off with most of the arrow still sticking out. I was using a single bevel 3 to 1 ratio, Grizzly and heavy arrow. I eventually found a little blood, and used my compass about as much as anything else to find the next blood, and finally, there was no blood, but the deer had straightened out and I just followed my compass reading, and found the deer. It went in excess of a hundred yards or more.

When I found the deer, the arrow was still in the deer, and not even broken but when I pulled it out, the glued on broadhead came off of the arrow. When I skinned it, I recovered the arrowhead just inside the near shoulder. It was in the process of coming back out of the entrance hole. In this case, I don't know, but I think the arrowhead kept cutting the deer up as it ran, and probably shortened the trailing job, in the end, because there was a lot of lateral damage on the inside. At any rate, not a hit, I want to repeat, but I guess it could have been worse.

On the deer I actually hit correctly, I pretty much don't need a blood trail, generally speaking, because they don't go far, and I usually see or at least hear them pile up. Obviously, making a good shot, blood or not, solves a whole lot of problems, usually.

As mentioned by several above, shot placement is key. Complete pass through is best. Finally, the larger the holes the better.

With 4bl Zwickey Deltas and eskimos good hits have give good blood trails.

With the hundreds of BT’s Ive seen, pass thrus matter.

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