Tracking Tips 101

[WapitiTalk1]

Tracking Tips

Always a good topic for discussion.

I'm sure many of us have had difficult tracking experiences; it goes with the sport. What are some of your tips for tracking elk once the arrow (or other projectile) has found it's mark? Let's skip past the standard ones that most big game hunters know (try to determine what type of hit it was, mark where you shot from, mark where the elk was standing, wait XX minutes before proceeding, mark every spot of bood). I'll throw out a couple.

1. Move slowly when tracking a hit elk. Stop often and listen.

2. An elk, even when hit well, may not bleed significantly for some pretty long stretches (depends on the hit, the hit angle, going uphill, downhill, etc.). Learn to tune in to the tracks of the target elk as much as the blood sign. This is crucial.

3. Realize that bright red/frothy blood does not necessarily signify a lung shot.

OK, these are just a very few. Tracking an elk after the shot is kind of an art and something that is learned through many years of doing it. Please throw out a few of your after the shot tracking tips.

[medic6]

I keep a small spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide for when the trail gets small and tends to blend in with the red stained ferns.  Helps with the guesswork. 

[WapitiTalk1]

I keep a small spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide for when the trail gets small and tends to blend in with the red stained ferns.  Helps with the guesswork.

Same here, good tip 

[BULLBLASTER]

Don't be afraid to use your nose. Elk smell (I'd say stink, but elk is really one of my favorite smells  ) strong.

[kellama2001]

tagging

[Bill W]

Flag your blood drops or track sign to establish a direction or trail.   Also when following the trail, do NOT walk on the trail, walk alongside the trail.  This is incase one needs to go back and reestablish a trail. 

[medic6]

When flagging your trail use something that is biodegradable like TP.  Wouldn't want someone to know where animals hang out.  I mark the ground not the trees/bushes.   

[huntindoc]

If blood is scant, you can pick it up where the elk has stepped over a log or fence or ditch and jumped.  Will often "shake" blood off.  Can pick it up on a the log/ bush etc if it's high enough as well.

Go slow, and if you loose the track, back up, and scan forward.  A hit animal is usually - NOT ALWAYS- looking for an easier path and sometimes you can pick up sign quite a distance ahead.  I've seen my brother follow a track for a long ways, and often the drips are more than 100 yrds apart. 

[police women of America]

Tagging

[Firedogg]

Blood trail stopped?  Wrap that white TP in your pack around your hand and sweep the brush with it checking for that little speck. It's a trick that has put me back on the trail several times and almost everyone carries it with them.

[kentrek]

Don't hunt in western Washington 

Looking back at some of the elk we lost I feel like the biggest issue or thing that I can point a finger at besides a less then perfect shot is rain.....rain storms suck....

Last year we lost a bull and after half a day on ny belly i really wish I would have had the peroxide, does peroxide work on day old blood ??

[D-Rock425]

Check the underside of branches and ferns for blood.  Sometimes elk as it walks will brush up against branches and and sort leaving blood on the underside.

[buglebrush]

Stay at it!  Flag every blood spot, and dont forge ahead.  Patience is key, unless you have very  limited daylight left.   Also carry a super bright flashlight in your pack.   Night tracking with an LED headlamp alone is difficult.

[DVET253]

Last seasons elk was standing in the marshy/muddy part of a feeder pond, legs half submerged. Great hit (lower heart) but bled internally, tracked and recovered by following the trail of mud and muck left on tree branches it brushed against once it entered the tree line, one small spot of blood on a branch very close to where is perished. Don't over look "other" signs and mark everything you think maybe a clue until you find your game.

[Squidward]

put some yellow(pick a color) food color in the peroxide can help see it when it foams up on the blood.
 
watch your pant legs for blood coming off the under side of brush while walking.

for muzzy I tie a small piece of flagging ribbon on my ram rod, after the shot and on the reload the ribbon will fall of the rod when you pull it out of the gun. It gives you the place you shot from with no extra effort in the brush.

never pick up blood / bone / hair , leave it on the trail.