Just wanted is ask this because I have heard that a deer, Depending on where it was hit, will leave a different color blood trail?

Example: dark red, pink, bubbles, etc.

If a deers blood circulates through its whole body how can it have different colors? Is this an old tale or is there something to it?

it depends on what organ it comes out of...

Bright Red w/ Pink Bubbles usually indicates a lung hit (aboundance of O2)

Dark Red istypically a Liver shot or Gut shot

I have heard that there is no difference and from what I can tell there isnt except for special circumstances such as gut shots where there is plant matter mixed with the blood and it turns mushy green. My friend shot an eight point this weekend and with his angle he took out half the heart and both lungs. The blood looked the same as any other deer I have ever shot when we were tracking it.

A definite doube lunger will leavea morepinksh bubbly blood, but if there is heart blood mixed in, that may make it one homogenous color. Liver hits tend to leave a much darker blood. IT is not as if one blood is not recognizable from the other because the colors are so different, just subtle variations that can lead to clues as to where the animal was hit. Usually the arrow will tell more of the story. My double lunger this year left the fletching covered in bubbly blood, while the heart shot was bright red, but no bubbles.

I can def tell the difference between regular blood color and liver hit deer. I hit a doe last year, when she bedded, the pool of blood was very very dark. This was a pure liver shot though. Also, when I get double lung shots, my rocket sidewinders typically tear the lung up so much that I find pieces of it along the way......

Muscle= red to dark red
Lungs= pink and some times foamy
Liver = brick red to a dark greenish red color
Gut shot = light greenish redcolor. looks faint.

right on, and when you get a gut shot a lot of the time there will be stomach fluid along with the blood, that's why it's faded

To answer thequestion of "If blood circulates through its whole body how can it have different colors?"


After blood enters the heart it goes into the r. atrium then the r. ventrical. From there it goes to the lungs to get replenished with oxygen. Then back into the heart (L. atrium). then L. vent. From the L. vent it goes through out the body dispersing the oxygen and other nutrients. Blood from the intestine and other places (spleen) goes to the liver to be filtered before it finally gets back to the heart. So the Liver hits are darker b/c they have a minimal amount of oxygen and the lung shots are pink b/c of the high oxygen content.

Hope this helps, --Millpond

Thanks guys!

You explained it very well, I knew that there was different colors etc but didn't know why or how.