Can animals heal by themselves

[shivel]

I shot a wolf with my gun then I was stalking it for a couple of hours in the game and I suddenly found it stop bleeding I couldn't find any blood on the ground is it a bug or something

[muoz]

8 minutes ago, shivel said:

I shot a wolf with my gun then I was stalking it for a couple of hours in the game and I suddenly found it stop bleeding I couldn't find any blood on the ground is it a bug or something

I noticed that when there is wind the blood marks and footprints dissapear.

[Doc Feral]

From what I've observed wolves (not sure about other animals) slow down when they're almost dead, and at that point they haven't got enough blood to leave a trail. There's a "transition zone" when they don't bleed nor leave footprints, and that's how they "disappear". Then they start dragging along and leave many more prints, and then they fall. The messy part is when they stop bleeding and slow down, it's easy to lose track.

[UpUpAway95]

I've seen the blood trail mysteriously just end on several occasions.  The official explanation is that the animal does slow down and stop bleeding while they are walking; usually I find the trail ends suddenly when they run right over a rock.  I often find I simply cannot pick up the trail on the other side of the rocks.  At that point, I generally check my journal "kill count" to see if the animal has died so I have a bit of an idea of how far away from where the trail disappeared they may have gotten before they fell... and then I resort to a grid search.  Sometimes I find them, sometimes I don't.

However, be aware that there is also a bug that appears to cause some animals to reset (e.g. heal) if the player goes inside a building or otherwise leaves the map.

[XaldinVii]

Just the other day I had a trail of blood stop while tracking a bear by Trapper's Cabin. The trail ended in the valley between the small lake with the Hunter's Blind and the Bear's Cave. I searched all around that area and even by the lake but eventually turned in at Trapper's as the weather turned and it was nearing night. What is sitting right by the cabin on the hills were the rabbits spawn... the dead bear. Not anywhere close to where the trailed ended but in the general area.

[matchstick]

My opinion when I wound is to wait and go later looking for the crows circling. They'll lead you to a body. I think they disappear after three days however.

[matchstick]

My opinion when I wound is to wait and go later looking for the crows circling. They'll lead you to a body. I think they disappear after three days however.

[past caring]

What I have found - at least 50% of the time - is that if I lose the trail the wolf ends up dying exactly where I shot it. Even when the last place I saw the trail was a good distance away......