Tracks don't make any sense - please help

[binks]

I'm not a hunter, never held a gun, so maybe for you guys, it may seem obvious but to me, it doesn't make any sense.
So I shoot a dear here
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1352298788
and it says that it's a vital hit. So if I track my animal, and active tracks are marked blue, it should point me the path the animal took. But when I come to the next set of tracks it just redirects me to the first ones.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1352303193
So what's going on here? On the map I have a purple area in this spot, so as far as I know, it means I've killed the animal.
Why one set of tracks point me to the next one which send me back to the first ones? is this a bug?

[bossbill1]

you need to look for the next blood splatter on the ground. when you activate a track it shows you every track that animal has made that is all the ones before you shot it as well as the ones after. if you look for blood on the ground and follow that you know you are on the track the animal made after you shot it.

[binks]

But I am right, am I? Active tracks are marked blue?

[Ormy]

There is a bug sometimes where the cone shows the opposite way than it should. Check the prints on the ground and see which way they point and go there. Follow the blood trail to the animal. That is a lot of blood so it won't be far.

[binks]

Got it. Thanx. The animal was in a completely different direction than this cone showed me. I found it by the blood on the ground. Thanx for your help:)

[bossbill1]

yes active ones are blue. as long as you havn't changed the default color schems

[CaptainNebulous]

You are correct that active tracks are marked blue, but they will also include all the old tracks from that specific animal that you shot. Sometimes they do reverse direction, other times it's that they were walking in the reverse direction before you shot them. (Following the blood splatter as suggested above is a key) "Active Tracks" in this game = all the tracks of the one you shot. So it can be a bit of a puzzle to figure out the true direction at times. I'm good at it now but when I started I spent a good amount of time figuring this out on my own. And sometimes the tracks overlap so there can still be blood splatter even if you're on their old tracks.

[ALIEN-SQUARE™]

its does happen the animal stops turns direction back but its not the same track u just followed it will be some were back in the direction probly to the side of of it . sometimes u get a hit n blood trail stops after a wile meaning animal has rested and healed . but what ur saying has confused me in game but i seen its changed direction its just picking up on were it went

[saphire jinn]

they double back on themselves all the time, and thats what throws you off, sometimes you will track them into an area where they have been walking back and forth all day so you loose the track, and you go from a fresh track to an old one in a heartbeat, all you see are tracks everywhere, go to your map if you see a purple dot in that area means you killed them but they are often not at the center of the dot, you have to walk around its edges closing in each circle until you find them.

[wubbelflup]

You can change the track color b.t.w. and it is helpfull to learn the tracks from memory. I have turned off the cone because it is so big and breaks the immersion. But don't do that if you just started :)

[Gangrene]

Originally posted by epicpotato:

I have turned off the cone because it is so big and breaks the immersion.

I think having the cone off breaks immersion / realism as I can't really tell which way the animal was headed without it. The track is completely straight and doesn't show which way the animal was heading. When animals turn in real life their tracks turn as well.

[wubbelflup]

Originally posted by Gangrene:

Originally posted by epicpotato:

I have turned off the cone because it is so big and breaks the immersion.

I think having the cone off breaks immersion / realism as I can't really tell which way the animal was headed without it. The track is completely straight and doesn't show which way the animal was heading. When animals turn in real life their tracks turn as well.

yeah but after a while you know how the tracks work. which way they've gone. and you can always use the hunterm8

[WolfAyron]

I agree with the mentioned points (finding blood splatter, you might examine previously made tracks by same animal, and so on).
But after many hours of playing I found the best to follow the tracks indicated by the tracking cone. I could find always the animal by finding and following the new tracks according to the cones. That is why I still not tried to turn off them as sometimes track's direction does not even foreshadow/help findig out the possible direction. It often misleads.

So all in all, for me the most accurate help is the cones and the splatters.

(Unless the animal just disappears, leaving no tracks left. It happened to me some times)