One way you might know what I say is true is that I doubt you saw this on TV!
I used to guide for blackbear back in 1984. I know it was long ago but much is still the same today in bear baiting. I'm not going to give you a lesson on this but instead how to follow a blood trail in the dark. As I was a bow hunter then,I preferred to guide primitive weapons people, so they were usually bow hunters too.
Bears come in on the bait in the evening. They know man is placing the bait there and they don't trust us. They have poor vision and in this way likely make the odds more in their favor. So by the time my tourist shoots his bear, gets me and I start tracking, it's often dark! I warn them that once they've shot the bear, stay put until you either hear their death moan or 1/2 hour has gone by.
A wounded animal will lay down after running a certain distance(often measured by the severity of the wound) if they figure they are not being hunted. Once down for a bit(lets say that works out to be 15 minutes this time), they tend to stiffen up and can't rise easily. Once my lazy a$$ is in gear, I at least grab 4 things for sure(and maybe more).
1/ Naptha or Propane lantern:(them with a mantle) and make sure it's full
2/ 12 Gauge Pump Shotgun
3/ 12 Gauge Slugs: 6 rounds(2)x3 loadout
4/ roll of white Toilet Paper: unscented
You start at the spot where they took the shot. We(archers) usually say "shoot low" as actors would say 'break a leg". Low shots are better than a high shot because when high, the animal doesn't bleed out(meaning no blood trail to follow). With the tourist packing shotgun( as I'm obviously looking at the ground)I start in the direction the prey was last seen heading, and do a zig-zag pattern, first left, then right and fan wider and wider as I go until I find blood sign. There is never usually any blood sign at first unless an artery is stuck. When a spot is found , you place a single square of TP on a stick beside the spot. You can spot this TP in the dark better than any reflective tape. In this way, it is easy to go back to the last spot and restart if required. Then you restart the zig-zag pattern, and fan wider and wider as you go until I find the next blood sign. You keep this up until you bump into something wet and furry(and hopefully dead)!
Now here's the cool part! In the dark a blood spot shines "wet" (like a rain drop does) when hit with a mantled lantern. This doesn't occur with a flashlight or other light sources that we've tried! Blood sign we missed while still light, we've found later using this trick in the dark! While most bear drop dead on the spot they were shot when tagged by a muzzle loader, the lack of shock from an arrow or crossbow bolt rarely has this effect.
The farthest I measured a bear travel with a mortal heart (& lung)shot was 176 yards. That meant he was running on reflex alone (while kinda holding his breath and having a heart attack)! There was no blood sign until the last 10 yards and it took near 3 hours to locate him in heavy bush country. My point therefore is don't give up easily on the search....you tagged him, you bag him!(and of course I expected a good tip that I otherwise wouldn't get)!
BTW: bears and whales are the only animals that have a bone in their pecker. We carve these out and give them to the tourists so they can hang em on their car mirrors as conversation pieces later! ( I'd bet ya won't find that tidbit of info in your local rag either!)
BTW: bears and whales are the only animals that have a bone in their pecker. We carve these out and give them to the tourists so they can hang em on their car mirrors as conversation pieces later! ( I'd bet ya won't find that tidbit of info in your local rag either!)
It's called a baculum and it's present in a fair number of non-human placental mammals that don't rely on friction, to include dogs and gorillas. I don't know that the tidbit there added anything to your post for either hunters or non-hunters, and it's the kind of thing that could be easily fact checked.
In the dark a blood spot shines "wet" (like a rain drop does) when hit with a mantled lantern. This doesn't occur with a flashlight or other light sources that we've tried! Blood sign we missed while still light, we've found later using this trick in the dark! While most bear drop dead on the spot they were shot when tagged by a muzzle loader, the lack of shock from an arrow or crossbow bolt rarely has this effect.
I'll leave shot placement and firearms-bows points alone and concentrate on: I've personally me myself gotten the "oil slick" reflective shine using an economy-minded 6V Rayovac and a 4-C Maglite hunting. I've also picked up blood spots from dog fights and animal-MV collisions with a mini maglite with no other outside lights and in dull-orange street lighting. The LEDs seem to need to pan at a relatively low angle compared to other bulbs, but that could be simply the conditions.
My point therefore is don't give up easily on the search....you tagged him, you bag him!
That I agree with completely.
Points about the TP (and I've used it; it glows like a beacon in open country and once you're close to it again)
-1 Cheaper in a big way than biodegradable flagging tape
-2 Use biodegradable even if you're sure you'll be back, because enough people jack up my woods with trash as it is
-3 Have an alternative, because TP does not hold up to wetness well (GID spray paint and the $-store necklaces and bracelets are cheap) and once it's droopy and rolling up, it is not as good of a beacon
-4 Make sure you're tracking with a compass, especially in thick country, and "box" squares/flags around the blood sign and lay a sheet or two right by it on the ground (staked with a stick) so you have a better chance of seeing it from other angles if you're not totally confident
Cheers
Dang woman, you can read too! 😆 I can't say that I ever thought of looking up pecker bones but it's good to know that I could sell that same trick in regards to other game too. A track is often lost when the dew sets in and the chills from the damp often takes the pizazz out of the tracking with most tourists anyway. We tried reflective tape and it doesn't reflect so well in the dark unless you shine a light on it. The lantern works far better reflecting bloodsign than any flashlight ever did and I hope you try it sometime to see what I mean. We used flashlight until we discovered something better, then went to that! (mind you we still carry flashlights).
I haven't tracked in the dark since before the invention of LED flashlights.(we still help friends out) How do they fair in this? As you might have figured out by now, I haven't hunt large game in years(but I went in between 3 moose and missed "by that much" couple years back with the bumper of our H3) but am considering doing so this year. I mostly hunt keys on a keyboard nowadays 😆 . I have a boat , but no boat license...gonna get around to that soon too! Thinking about guiding again to kinda close the circle(as it was my first real job in youth), but it seems I now require a license for that too. I'm not too keen on all these new laws and the irony is that I used to be a P/O. 😆
I enjoy the fact that other hunters are sharing knowledge....keep doing it because I'm betting many here would like to learn. We may not all track with TP, but my method again has dual purpose...with the TP that is...(in case I gotta go.. you know...) 😆
Im only an amateur tracker, more interested in human track but something I found useful in a couple animal tracks is that its useful to get down on your knees or lower where you have the original track and observe from there. If you lose the track, try to look for what the animal was looking towards in its next few steps. Getting down to the animals level helps. I remember tracking what I thought was an otter. I was confused at the sign because it turned at one point and charged a gull that got away. That didn't seem like an otter. then I lost it on the rocks. After a couple miles, previously tracked and giving up...there it was bouncing around. a Martin, not an otter and the bird hunting made sence.
I have a Tactical Harness and I have a Tool Belt. The Tool Belt is more Useful.
Reading your comment reminded me that a different colour is often a flag to look for too. You know how you can tell that rain is coming by the leaves turning over and showing their bottom instead, as it is a different shade, a less shiney colour? That same shade effect occurs when grass is trampled. The blades rarely inflict damage and will soon return to their previous state after a few hours....but in between these two states they will sometimes still show their bottom colour and this is what noticed by our subconscious. It's never a sure bet but it makes you look further for conformation such as an impression hidden beneath that spot...
It is cool that I'm trying to put into words things that I did without really fully understanding the thought process involved as to why I'd done them. It seems I become better aware of procedure when trying to explain such things than when we just do them on an instinctual level....and then maybe folks just have to trust their instincts more and read less 😛