How long until blood vanishes?

I can't give you a definitive answer, but there are other factors that will affect the time besides precipitation.

For example, what climate and time of year are we talking about? If you're in the middle of winter and it's icy, the blood will last longer than in the height of summer because of bacterial and fungal growth, not to mention insect concentrations.

What kind of wildlife hangs out there and how abundant are they? Is there some critter around that might just come and lap up the blood?

These are just 2 possible variables that might affect your timing. You might very well be able to fiddle with the conditions enough to arrange for various answers.

ETA - The type of tree might also affect it. Blood might show up longer against the white of a birch tree, for example.

Animals will be one of the first things to get at it. Lots of rich food there. Insects mostly, but some larger animals too.

Depending mostly on how dry it is and the amount of life in the forest, I'd give it a week or two. Maybe a little more during certain seasons.

This is just my own haphazard guess though. Nothing scientific to back my opinion up.

I'm totally guessing, but I would imagine that "soft" wood trees (like maple) would be more absorbent than "hard" wood trees (like oak). Thus they may retain the blood longer.

Unless it soaked into rocks that contained no micro-organisms, bacteria, etc. would eat it with a short time. I can't imagine any being in the soil after a week, and trees would absorb it at about the same rate, but there might be a stain left in wood. If it wasn't all gone within a week in the Summer, then there would be stains that would remain for years.

Just a guess, but in a typical deciduous forest, I'm guessing most of it would be gone in two or three days. If a tree had smooth bark and was a lighter color, it might be possible for residual stains to last considerably longer.
Other evidence of a fight-turned up ground, broken brush, etc, might last for a few weeks, depending on the amount of rain and type of undergrowth.

You're really not likely to have noticeable bloodstains around for several years. Maybe, just maybe, if a piece of dead wood were lying around and got splashed, the mark would be findable -- but forest clearings are complex places, full of years of fallen leaves turning to leafmould, relatively non-absorbent bark, and rocks already covered in lichen. The proportion of absorbent surfaces that could show bloodstains is relatively low.

(I've bled in a forest. Even knowing where it was, when I went back the next day I only managed to find one fallen leaf with a drop of dried blood on it.)

My suggestion would be to use a combination of mechanical damage (sword-cuts to the trunks of trees, for instance, would leave quite long-lasting marks) and remaining artifacts (even if the reusable arrows are collected, broken ones are likely to be left in place). Find a few arrowheads half-embedded in trees, and you know something happened there. Then all you have to do is differentiate it from hunting: two different kinds of fletching/arrowhead, military arrowheads rather than the ones common people carry, laws restricting hunting in that wood, etc. And sword-cuts would be pretty hard to ignore as hunting accidents.

evilrooster said:

You're really not likely to have noticeable bloodstains around for several years. Maybe, just maybe, if a piece of dead wood were lying around and got splashed, the mark would be findable -- but forest clearings are complex places, full of years of fallen leaves turning to leafmould, relatively non-absorbent bark, and rocks already covered in lichen. The proportion of absorbent surfaces that could show bloodstains is relatively low.

(I've bled in a forest. Even knowing where it was, when I went back the next day I only managed to find one fallen leaf with a drop of dried blood on it.)

My suggestion would be to use a combination of mechanical damage (sword-cuts to the trunks of trees, for instance, would leave quite long-lasting marks) and remaining artifacts (even if the reusable arrows are collected, broken ones are likely to be left in place). Find a few arrowheads half-embedded in trees, and you know something happened there. Then all you have to do is differentiate it from hunting: two different kinds of fletching/arrowhead, military arrowheads rather than the ones common people carry, laws restricting hunting in that wood, etc. And sword-cuts would be pretty hard to ignore as hunting accidents.

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I second. That's exactly what I was going to suggest. A buried broadhead in tree bark might be visible, but not fall out for years.

Probably not helpful, but a trained canine can detect blood scent for years after, so traces of blood would still be there technically, just probably not visible. I've tracked deer the morning after it was shot and you'd be amazed at how well a forest can hide that and how quickly that trail vanishes, especially if there's inclement weather.

Side note: Blood also dries almost black, not red; very dark brown would be an acceptable description too. I've seen that mistake made before.

SuspiciousCookie said:

Thanks for all your answers so far.

I probably should have clarified this before, but we're actually talking about several years after this fight. So,

1. Is there any possibility for bloodstains to last for that long (King Neptune hinted something like that, but I'd like a more extensive description if possible)?
2. If yes, what conditions would be required for that?
3. If no, do you have any other ideas for indicators of a fight that last for years, other than bloodstains?

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Without knowing the terrain it is impossible to know what signs of a fight might remain after several years. What kind of vegetation is there? What are the soil and rocks like? What is the climate?

One way would be for the vegetation to be permanently damaged. If there were shrubs, yew, juniper, and similar, that live for a long time, then breaking branches, etc. would be apparent for years after. There are rocks that could absorb and hold blood stains for many years, but they probably wouldn't be identifiable as blood, just as brownish stains.

In addition to the local conditions, the kind of fight would also make a difference. There are remains from ancient battles in some places.

Cheers, and again, thanks in advance.

P.S.: There are boards where you are contemptuously talked to just because the question you asked is a little silly or because you forgot details necessary to answer. I'm really glad this doesn't appear to be one of these boards.

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It isn't?

Quote:
Originally Posted by SuspiciousCookie
Thanks for all your answers so far.

I probably should have clarified this before, but we're actually talking about several years after this fight. So,

1. Is there any possibility for bloodstains to last for that long (King Neptune hinted something like that, but I'd like a more extensive description if possible)?
2. If yes, what conditions would be required for that?
3. If no, do you have any other ideas for indicators of a fight that last for years, other than bloodstains?

If you are talking forensically blood stains can last a lot longer than a couple of years although DNA might break down and be incapable of comparison. However on growing wood fresh bark would grow over any cuts or blood stains in that period. So slashes to the trees would have to be deep. Broken branches would remain but would be less noticeable as fresh growth came in. Churned earth would have reseeded and unless artifacts from the battle remained and hadn't been looted in a couple of years the only noticeable effects would be the ground would be more fertile and the growth over dead bodies tends to be more lush. Blood and bone being an excellent feriliser.

Judging from my butchering gazebo, in Kentucky spring through fall, just a couple days even without rain and the bugs and birds have removed the stains. Winter is another thing, probably a couple weeks. Also a tailgate in a garage, it will take a couple months

SuspiciousCookie said:

Now, the question is: How long does it take until the bloodstains are not visible anymore on the bark of the trees (obviously, rain, mud and snow are gonna wash away any stains on the ground quite quickly), and what factors play a role here?

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Just punch yourself in the nose and bleed a little on the lawn, in the woods, etc. Then observe.

(Okay, you can usually buy blood at a butcher shop to test this too...)

Jeff