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Luminol, blood revealing agent

Allegheny Tom

Allegheny Tom

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Feb 4, 2018
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Location
Western Pennsylvania
Aka, Bloodglow, or BlueStar. I'll give my impressions but the website probably explains some things better than I can. https://www.bloodglow.com
I mentioned this stuff in my Kestrel thread so I thought I'd touch on it in a little more detail.
Disclaimer: We've not actually had to use this on an actual blood trail but we have tested it with blood trails we created. Here's what we found...
This stuff is pretty impressive. Mix 2 tablets in 20 ounces of water and spray it where blood has been and even if the blood drops are microscopic or have been heavily rained upon, the blood will glow blue. Luminol is used only in the dark with no flashlights.
It does have a little bit of a learning curve so it's recommended that you test it first. We made a blood trail by mixing dry bovine blood with water and dipping a rag into it and then drag the rag through the woods. After doing so, there was absolutely zero blood visible with the naked eye. We came back after dark and sprayed the Bloodglow mixture along our simulated blood trail and it did indeed glow well enough to see the "trail".
But what was even more impressive was that the next day, we had over three quarters inch of rain and we tested the same blood trail. It glowed even better than it did before it was rained upon. The stuff definitely detects even the smallest amount of blood.
A couple points...

The blood of a trail can be translocated to a false trail if walked upon. Stepping in blood and walking to the side will show exactly where you walked. It does however, have a slightly different appearance than blood that dropped from a bleeding animal. It's part of the learning curve to recognize the difference. We actually had a squirrel or raccoon walk through the blood and climb a tree...a secondary trail led us to, and up, the tree. It's amazing how blood can be translocated.

Luminol detects the iron in blood and some plants and soils contain trace amounts of iron and can give false readings. But once again, the false readings look different than actual blood so you need to practice with it a little bit.

Certain water has minerals that also diminish the effectiveness of Bloodglow. Actually, windshield washer fluid is recommended by the guy I bought it from. His name is Jerry Allen and he's very experienced with luminol and quite helpful with advice. If you call him, be prepared to be on the phone for a while. Jerry loves to talk about blood trailing.

Check out the link above and maybe also check out Jerry's book. There's stuff in there that I've never read elsewhere on blood trailing. https://www.bloodglow.com/blood-tracking-reagent/blood-in-motion/

Hey, bows, saddles or tree stands go hand in hand with blood trailing, right? Every time we climb into a tree there's a chance we may have a difficult blood trail. Luminol doesn't take the place of sound blood trailing skills, but it definitely has a place in every hunter's bag of stuff.
 
Fun product. My buddies and I synthesized luminol when we were in college and attempted to use it for blood trailing during 2001 ~ 2004 hunting seasons. It was fun but not very practical when the blood turned to pin drops. We inevitably had to track the deer the old fashioned way.

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Great review! I beleive I may get some. I have helped track many deer. And this could make things easier on tough blood trails
 
Just remember the obvious...Luminol won't detect blood if it isn't present. Wounds, even fatal ones, can be pugged by fat or stomach contents. If it ain't externally bleeding, all the luminol in the world won't help you find the animal.
Case in point...My buddy shot at a buck a few years ago in the rain. He couldn't see where, or if, he even hit the deer. The heavy rain washed the arrow clean before by friend climbed down and went to examine it. He could find no blood. We came back after dark with luminol and sprayed it on the "clean" arrow. A very slight amount of blood was detected. However, no blood could be located on the ground. The deer wasn't bleeding externally. The normal reaction from most hunters would have been that the shot missed and they would have ended the search. It was ONLY because of the luminol, that we knew the animal was hit. We went home and returned the next day and searched for many hours. Although we never found the deer (it was later determined the deer survived) IF it HAD been a fatal hit, we would have had a chance to have found it.

But also remember...rain cannot wash the iron in contained in blood away. Rain may wash away the "red" that we visually use to follow it, but the iron that the luminol detects is still present. And actually, rain will turn a pin-drop into a larger area of detection. Rain actually makes luminol work better because it becomes easier to see.

Blood trailing is nothing more than deciphering information. Sometimes, due to weather or other factors, info can't be observed.
Luminol is not a substitute for good blood trailing tactics. IMO, luminol is a tool of "last resort" .
However, Jerry Allen (the luminol dealer and writer of the book "Blood in Motion") has told me he guides a lot of youth hunts on some sort of military base or estate property (I can't remember which), but he said he often has multiple deer to trail on a given night. He told me that he will often go straight to using luminol right off the bat. Jerry said that he's much faster and more efficient at finding an animal if he uses luminol immediately (after dark, of course).
 
You still need to determine if the spots are your blood trail. The woods is filled with "false positives". A good blood trail after a rain works well. A weak blood trail after a rain can be a challenge and you are better off using conventional methods.

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BassBoysLLP said:
You still need to determine if the spots are your blood trail. The woods is filled with "false positives". A good blood trail after a rain works well. A weak blood trail after a rain can be a challenge and you are better off using conventional methods.

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Click to expand...

Agreed, but a moderate blood trail from a fatal hit can be completely washed away but is still obvious with luminol. False positives look different than actual blood, but there is a bit of a learning curve to using luminol.
I'll repeat myself...luminol is a tool just like our eyes, ears, nose and brain.. Sometimes we can't see blood, we didn't hear the hit or where the critter ran, and we can't smell guts on the arrow or his musky odor. We can't find tracks or they are mixed with other tracks. Or maybe we find a bed but it's been rained on...was it the bed of "our deer"?
Just like a hammer or screwdriver, luminol is just another tool. Sometimes we need to rely on every tool at our disposal in order to get a job done.
 
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