What makes a good tracker?

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RobbyW

RobbyW

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I swear my 15 year old is part Cherokee. The boy can find a pencil size blood drop on the under side of a piece of grass. When we get to tracking I usually stand at the last blood spot and he circles me moving out until he find the next one. I can't figure out if it's because he has younger eyes or what? He is very patient where I am more looking farther down the trail for the white side up. He doesn't look beyond his current circle. We have tracked them where I see the deer 10 yards in front of us, but I just let him keep doing his thing until he got to her. He never raises his head. If he isn't part Cherokee he has to be part blood hound.

So what makes some people better than others and tracking a wounded deer?


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Vision, experience, attention to detail. Lots of things. My vision helps me a lot with 20/15

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I would say all of the above and ADD

Curiosity and imagination

I am told as we get older our curiosity level and our imagination starts to decline. Maybe this is because we get older and wiser and start becoming more dependant on real world experiences and predictable patterns of behaviour.

Don't know.
 
All of the above traits are needed but thinking like a deer will help when you don't have any of the obvious signs . Found one for a friend quite some time ago after they had come to the conclusion of a miss .First determine if it is a miss by examining the shot area alot miss this clue . I found this deer without any blood for about 75 yards of being on its track , the deer was found some 100 yards further after several had done gave up . By not messing up the area sometimes this can be done . A great eye is most definitely needed and that I don't have anymore . Some hunters are better than others at tracking because some give up to easily so preserverance has to be he most important trait IMO .
 
Agreed! Perseverance and attention to detail with some knowledge of whitetail habits.... and practice gets you closer to perfect.
 
Snake":1el4wggj said:
All of the above traits are needed but thinking like a deer will help when you don't have any of the obvious signs . Found one for a friend quite some time ago after they had come to the conclusion of a miss .First determine if it is a miss by examining the shot area alot miss this clue . I found this deer without any blood for about 75 yards of being on its track , the deer was found some 100 yards further after several had done gave up . By not messing up the area sometimes this can be done . A great eye is most definitely needed and that I don't have anymore . Some hunters are better than others at tracking because some give up to easily so preserverance has to be he most important trait IMO .
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Alot of what makes a good tracker is experience.

Learning when the blood runs out is what I think we are talking about here. how to grid.. where to look next,, using a stick to move in the next direction,, looking for dew or moved leaves,, where he left a trail.. knowing where a deer might head (water dense cover, thickets ETC) all of this plays into what makes a good tracker. If you havent done it before your not going to be a good tracker. Its pretty easy to follow a blood trail. Stevie Wonder could follow some of them.
 
We actually just had a tracking course at Garrett Lake. According the instructors, one of the most important things to have is the ability to pick up on patterns. Leaves and pine needles fall in a random pattern when they hit the ground, when something walks on them it changes them so they're not so random anymore. Being able to see what has changed and what is different in an environment, and the patience to work through the challenging areas is what makes a good tracker.

And there's no substitute for experience.
 
A good shot. Kidding. I think some people just come by it naturally. Some people have a knack for it, they could find a difficult deer on land they've never seen.
 
I think vision and patience. I have seen my oldest son get down on his hands and knees and crawl if he cant find blood in a grid pattern. He is good at tracking.
 
Patience and the ability to go so slow it hurts.
Worst tracker, in my opinion, is the person that shot the deer.
 

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