Preserve a bloody arrow?

[ChiefStingingArrow]

I have a wooden arrow Covered in blood from a first deer kill and would like to preserve it just as it is to put up on a plaque.

Would something like a minimax work or would it just wipe it off?

anyone tried doing this before?

[Hermon]

Just leave it as is.  I would think any sort of finish would wipe the blood off. Congratulations on your first traditional harvest.

[KyStickbow]

I still have my arrow from my first bow kill years ago. Didnt do anything to it...just set it up and let her dry. And try not to handle it too much afterwards.

[Ryman Cat]

Maybe just toss it in a box like a lot of use do with with our kill arrows over the years. I've even reused them after touching up to reuse as a luck factor. Prob. didn't bring anymore than what was to come anyways?LOL

[30coupe]

If they don't break, I just wash them off, re-sharpen the broadhead, and repeat if possible.

If you want to keep it, blood and all, I wouldn't try to put anything over it. At best it would look pretty funky and at worst you'd just wipe it clean, which is another option, I suppose.

By the way, congrats on your first trad deer. Hopefully there will be many more in your future.

[Skipmaster1]

I usually just reuse the arrows but sometimes they are special enough to keep. Just let the blood dry and don't handle it too much.
A few weeks back my buddy Bill Terry Sr made this picture frame that holds the arrow for my first bear kill

[BowDiddle]

Seal it up in a clear plastic tube.

[Stumpkiller]

I have an assortment of snapped off heads in the wall behind my fletching/reloading table.  Nothing on these and they have held up OK.

 

I wiped the heads with Barricade so they don't rust.  May need them again one day.  ;-)

[2wfstlhunting]

Really, think about that.  Dried blood is bacterial growth medium, and blood has an odor.  Do nonhunters really want to see an old nasty item with dried blood?  Clean it up, and if you want to preserve it because you think it is special to you then do so.  I certainly did.  On my first hunting trip in 1992, much to my surprise and the surprise of the other (all rifle) hunters, I took a nice pronghorn.  I mounted it on a nice board and got a small brass plaque made for just a few dollars.  I enjoy it to this day, and it reminds me of "my first time". I don't mind others seeing it, but I am sure that the reaction would not be as positive if there was old caked blood blood on it.

Just my opinion

[bucknut]

I would spray it with clear coat if I wanted to preserve it as is. Especially the feathers to keep moths and such from eating them. I think it is a pretty cool idea.  As far as non hunter opinions of it, They can go elsewhere if they don't like it.

[BAK]

Wow, that's something I never would even have considered.  I washed mine up and back into service they go.

[Jakeemt]

I would wash the blood off it it were me. It will just dry and come off over time anyway. Then just save the arrow. A clear coat might work but who knows.

[mark Willoughby]

I second the clear coat idea I'm almost positive this will work

[highlow]

Frankly, I couldn't care less if a non-hunter doesn't want to look at a bloody arrow. And as far as being a bacterial growth medium, I'm sure you come into contact with many more things in your everyday activities that qualify as a bacterial growth medium much more than a dried, bloody arrow. Odor? On an arrow? Come on. Get real.
Personally, I wash 'em off, resharpen the head and try to repeat the kill with that arrow.

[reddogge]

I washed them all off and reused what I could. A bloody arrow on the wall never impressed me. We all understand what the arrow did to the animal. Clean, dried, bent or broken is OK.

[Izzy]

Broken ones I save in my shop area. Good ones get hunted.

[centaur]

If I break them on the shot, I keep them, and I have a pile of them out in my garage. If they don't break, they get cleaned up and put back in the quiver. If people get upset by a bloody arrow, they shouldn't  go in my garage.