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.
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.