How skilled are you at tracking?

Most impressive tracking I've seen is in north america is on a Roosevelt hunt in the rainforest of bc. We would cut a track in the morning, and follow it all day trying to catch up. Crossing river, streams and all sorts of crazy terrain. It was a really interesting hunt. Im sure glad I brought my swaro ds on that one.... for the 15 yard shot I had on the bull hahahahaha cows almost stepped on us we were in there so close
 
First order of business is to hit them with a bullet that will create a wound channel that will then become a blood trail. I prefer the monos and a more bonded type bullet that mushrooms through a shoulder hit and exits the other side 2 holes is better than one for blood trails.
If you have that and can mark the spot it was last standing, very likely the blood trail will be evident.
 
Compared to the true professional trackers, I suck.

Compared to every single hunting buddy I have ever hunted with, I rock.

I have had several buddies call me from the field (a couple buddies more than once) to come and find their game.
I have only failed to recover one animal, after a 2.5+ mile tracking job. I would like to think that bull lived. All tracks, only 2 drops of blood, and a bed with a small smear after 2 miles that we must have bumped him from. Looked for 2 more days then called it a marginal hit and killed another bull on the last day.
 
Phil Rizzo said:
Not very capable, being a Deutan.
So I try to make real good shots with real good bullets.
At pretty high velocity.
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My younger daughter is too. I never could figure out why she couldn't see the swath of red blood at times. Now I know. Good thing her guide is always with her.
 
lancetkenyon said:
My younger daughter is too. I never could figure out why she couldn't see the swath of red blood at times. Now I know. Good thing her guide is always with her.
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It is aggravating KNOWING you made a good shot, but finding no evidence of it. That's when I get on the talker and summon help, giving in to the fact that sign is likely there. Not against a dog, either.
I've learned to push it less, and get help sooner.
 
I thought I was a pretty fair tracker until I went to Africa, as a couple of previous posters mentioned. The tracking skills of my trackers in Tanzania were phenomenal, I never would've believed it could be done. The biggest issue I have with my tracking ability is that I tend to go too fast and overrun the sign. Once I settle down and start observing instead of just looking and walking I can do okay.
 
Nimrod said:
I thought I was a pretty fair tracker until I went to Africa, as a couple of previous posters mentioned. The tracking skills of my trackers in Tanzania were phenomenal, I never would've believed it could be done. The biggest issue I have with my tracking ability is that I tend to go too fast and overrun the sign. Once I settle down and start observing instead of just looking and walking I can do okay.
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A local mentor of mine used the phrase "they can track mice across concrete"
 
First of all I just plain love the outdoors, fishing and above all hunting. I started archery hunting over 60 years ago and I believe that that has improved my hunting skills. While I know that I'm a long ways from an expert at tracking and am not trying to convince any one I think I'm good. But I usually get the job done. Probably takes me longer than some but being patient and learning what game usually does helps.
 
xsn10s said:
I'd say I'm okay. I mostly only get to hunt coyotes and badgers in the sage brush these days, if I'm lucky. Last coyote I tracked to was only 458 yards away. I didn't have a compass with me so I walked across the desert to get to it. I couldn't keep line of sight with it because I needed to scan for rattlesnakes and scorpions the whole way. I walked up to the wrong sage brush, they all look the same lol. So I started circling the spot until I came to the impact site. Then I followed the tracks and blood for 20 yards. I guess I could have used my phone to shoot an azimuth to the coyote.
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This post brings up some things I have always done whether rifle hunting or bow hunting. Rifle hunting I always took a compass bearing on the point where I took the shot, and another bearing if I heard the animal crash. Bow hunting I used a quarter inch piece of reflective tape just ahead of the nock to help find an arrow in the dark. If I heard an animal crash I took a bearing on that spot and estimated the distance. Nowadays if I hear the animal crash I know the deer ain't far. I don't hear so good. Things tend to look a lot different after dark when you climb down from the stand. The compass bearings help.
If I'm trailing blood by myself which is the usual I'll flag blood spots if the trail is scarce, circle and see if I can pick the trail up again. Directional changes are often the reason you lose the trail. Not just lack of blood. If there are two of us, one stands on last blood until the other finds the next. Simple but effective. An animal that runs a trail, then does a 180 and runs right back down the same trail and veers off just isn't playing fair. Those need to be eradicated.
 
I'm pretty good at finding them. Some can be tough and will stop bleeding but will lay down in heavy cover. Primarily on archery hunts, with marginal hits, can get tough. We've gone hours after daylight working them with many guys, and still lose them occasionally. I really dislike those that tell you it was a great hit, only to find the animals with poor hits 500 yards away from the point it was hit. That makes me mad. I don't want to hear that b.s. We give them the business back in camp.
 
My father pounded it into our heads to watch our arrows all the way to the target......if anyone said they weren't sure where they hit, they got a wrath of crap. Once it's ingrained, its not hard to follow an arrow, nor is it hard to see exactly where the crosshair was when the trigger broke.
 

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