Blood tracking flashlight

Had the opportunity to use Primos blood tracker flashlight this weekend:

http://www.basspro.com/Primos-Mini-Bloodhunter-Plus-Blood-Trailing-Flashlight/product/101299/58303

I have heard good and bad reviews, so didn't know what to expect. We had to track a deer after dark for about 400 yards. And he did not travel in a straight line. There was enough blood that in the daylight, it would have been a relatively easy tracking job, but with a normal flashlight, it was going slow. Then remembered we had this light that we have never tried. Pulled it out and gave it a try.

Now I won't say it is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but it did really speed up the process. Instead of working the trail out slowly with a normal light we were able to basically shine it slightly ahead and see the blood 8-10 ft in front of us and keep moving along the trail without really stopping. The guys who were following the trail had worked out the trail for about 250 yards in about 45 minutes. With the blood tracker we covered the last 150 yards and found the deer in less than 10 minutes.

This was fresh blood that was still fairly bright red, so don't know how it would work on dried blood (dark red). Although it wasn't a really hard trail to follow anyway, the flashlight certainly sped up the process. I will certainly keep it in my backpack from now on.

txhunter58

venor, ergo sum (I hunt, therefore I am)

Thanks for a good review. I always wondered if it was worth getting one of those.

We have used one several times. They work OK on fresh blood as long as there are no redish leaved bushes which contrast and give off false positives. The tracker light does not reflect dried blood at all....Last year tried one on a archery elk and on dried blood it was useless. Downed a archery blacktail this past season and had problems tracking it. Temp's were in the 90's. Went back at night to our last GPS marked point of blood after dark with the hopes of picking up the blood trail. We shined that tracker light on dried blood we left marked to resume the trail and the immage only looked like a dark spot on a log not blood. We could not even back track using the light on the known blood trail. So for our experience on fresh blood you can get some use but if the blood dries forget it. Almost not worth the extra pack weight when backpacking into the back country where every ounce counts.

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