Blood trail duration?

[6Taylor4]

How long should blood trails display?

[eagle74]

When you harvest the animal, the trail usually disappears within a minute or so, sometimes less.

For ones that survive, the trail lasts for a long time. I have wounded animals & several game days later the trail is still there. IDK but maybe it lasts until the animal eventually dies?

[6Taylor4]

I took out two deer at one location, and they ran the same way; then one of the spooked herd stopped at a distance and I hit him, he took off another way, but ended up in the same area as the 2. After harvest, the first two disappeared as I tried to backtrack them, the third one took longer to disappear, maybe a minute. This is what I expect to see.
But in another instance, in Matariki, I got a solid hit on a deer near a need zone used frequently; tracked it, and harvested it. The blood trail remained for three game days. I had been hunting elsewhere and then returned. I didn't shoot any more animals either, so was wondering. Thanks for confirming it should disappear soon after harvest.

[AzhureDragon]

For me, when I shoot an animal that will expire, the trail remains until I've harvested the animal. Then it disappears within a few minutes. I stood and watched to see how long - it one case, around 30 seconds for it to vanish.

On the ones I shoot that say "animal survived", I can follow for 40-100 yds before the trail just ends. It usually disappears shortly afterwards.

[[NRG] Miriam]

In case a well-aimed shot fatally hits the animal, the tracks should persist until the player claims the animal or until it naturally despawns because the player did not claim it. Conversely, when the shot is a scratch and doesn't result in a fatal hit, blood trails only go a few meters and then don't continue - and it will fade out eventually too.

[6Taylor4]

Thank you for all the answers, So I can assume the blood trail that wouldn't go away was from an expired animal that I didn't locate. Logical, except that the remaining blood trail had no origin mark, but in thick cover it's easy to lose a marking.
The trail in question is now gone, and I've learned about blood trails, thanks!