Our family hunts for (or raises) all the meat we eat. Clearly, we do a lot of hunting. If you do a lot of hunting, eventually you will make a solid hit that doesn't take the deer down immediately. That will necessitate some tracking. I have gotten pretty good at tracking over the years, but that does not mean I enjoy the fact I have to track an animal at times.
In the current climate of the Southeast, coyotes are a real and present threat to any game left unattended. Move north and west and that threat to your game lying on the ground intensifies with other large predators such as mountain lions, bears, or wolves. The faster you can locate and secure your game, the better.
At the beginning of the season I acquired a NEBO IllumaTrace Blood Tracker flashlight. The season has been "feast or famine," with the few deer I have gotten dropping within sight ... which is good. I did have a few friends who needed some assistance tracking, though, including my dad. He hit his most recent deer with a double-lung shot using a 12-gauge slug, but despite that, the animal ran a distance and made some twists and turns along the way without bleeding much at all until the very end. 
We looked for sign at the spot the deer was standing when Dad took his shot. Then we started moving to where it was last seen. Still no visible blood to be found. It was dark, and I decided it was time to try the NEBO IllumaTrace Blood Tracker.
Getting used to the strobe of the light, which helps illuminate blood against various backgrounds, took a minute. The patent-pending technology makes the blood appear to strobe against leaves, weeds, or rocks. When I started scanning with the light I caught a glimpse of something bright red, as in BRIGHT red. It was only a dot, but I saw it and slowed down my scanning. Soon I started picking up the trail, and my gosh, when I found where the deer had briefly lain down, I was stunned how bright the puddle was.
The bright red, “neon like” dots of the blood on the trail before and after that area where the deer briefly laid or fell down led me like bread crumbs to the fallen deer. We probably would have stumbled upon the deer at some point, but having that light made the matter much faster. Like I said, it took a few minutes to get used to the strobe and learn to slow down my scanning with the light and let my eyes adjust.
The Blood Tracker light has four settings. A white setting like a regular light at 170 lumens that lasts 2 hours and 30 minutes and beams out to 262 feet; or the S1, S2, S3 strobes (each in increasing frequency), which have 150 lumens lasting 3 hours and reaching 246 feet into the darkness. I personally preferred the S1, or slower strobe setting, but I suspect in some circumstances the faster strobes would be helpful.
The light comes with a lanyard, 1 USB A- USB C type cable to recharge the internal battery, a removable belt clip, and a user manual. The light has a good textured grip on it, and it is bright red, making it easy to keep track of.
NEBO also makes a headlamp version of this light. The technology works the same. The specs on the light are as follows: Blood tracker mode is 100 lumens at 2.5 hours with the beam going 55 yards. White light high beam is 800 lumens, 3 hours 101 yards, white medium beam is 400 lumens, 4 hours, 75 yards, or white low beam 200 lumens 5 hours 49 yards. It also has Flex Power with a rechargeable Lithium-Ion battery or you can carry 2 CR123A alkaline batteries for field use and backup.
I am making this light a permanent part of my hunting pack for all my big game excursions. Now my dad wants one too! MSRP for the flashlight and headlamp is the same ($59.99). Visit https://nebo.acgbrands.com/
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