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outdoorstom

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  1. I had the good fortune recently of picking up 156 acres of swampy hunting property for an unbelievable price, so I couldn’t pass it up. The deer bed in the swamp and come to the nearby ag fields to eat. I approached the farmer who owns these fields to see if he’d be interested in selling me 20 acres of woods between my swamp and his fields. We made a deal and I close in a week or so. He gave me permission to start work on my plots before closing, and I’ve finished two, and I’m making good progress on the other two. All of them border the swamp. There are two heavily traveled ridges coming out of the swamp, they both were soiled tested and the soil amended. Winter rye and clover for these two. The third plot is 100 yards from a 2 acre island in the swamp, and has been the most labor intensive. It’s just under 1/2 an acre and required a lot of chainsaw use. I picked up a rental stump grinder this evening and will be at it in the morning. This plot will also have winter rye and clover, plus a trial area of brassicas. The fourth plot is only 10 yards wide, but is 100 yards in length. The only thing done here so far is hitting it with the weed eater. More soil building to be done here with the winter rye. I’ll be spraying this plot and the island plot soon.
  2. Thanks for the kind words everyone! It was unfortunate the season had to end early, but the knee is getting better every day. My wife was sorry I hurt my knee, but happy we got to come to Florida earlier than normal. Thank God lateral movement doesn’t hurt my knee, golf is not off the table. Kunox is now in gecko hunting mode.
  3. I’ve ordered some booties and they will be here on Tuesday. I’ve already tried 3 different styles but nothing stays on properly, due to short leg syndrome. I’m hoping these will do the trick.
  4. Poor Luna. Cut her paw last night on a nightmare track. Buck pushed for a mile by hunter, then he went back out and grid searched after I agreed to come.
  5. 11/10/19 #1 A hunter and his Dad waited a couple hours after the shot to start tracking this buck, and they jumped it within a couple hundred yards. They did everything right....from flagging the blood as they tracked, to backing out immediately after jumping it. Luna took us past their ribbons and just under half a mile to the dead buck. This was a leg hit deer and it looked like he had been chased around an alfalfa field late in the track, there was blood everywhere. There were no other injuries, he bled to death. #2 A hunter shot a buck yesterday morning, found a few brown hairs and a very small piece of flesh. He was unable to find any blood after a good look, so assumed he grazed it. This morning on his way out of the woods he came across blood and followed it for as far as he could, then called me. Luna and I headed over after the first track, and about 15 minutes in, she took me across a paved road. There were no tracks in the snow where she took me, so I took her back across the road. After some exploring over there, she again took me across the road, this time to somebody’s yard about 25 yards away from where we went the first time. The snow was melted in the yard, but not the woods. I told the hunter we need to get permission to enter, but a neighbor told us the bank owned it. Being unable to get permission, I ended the track. I did ask the hunter to take a peak in the woods for sign to verify Luna was right, and he located blood. I got a text later saying he was able to follow it for 300 yards and it never bedded down. #3 I was called by this hunter as I was on my first track, with the second track lined up. I had family arriving from out of state this afternoon, so I declined the track. When the second track ended up being so short, I called the hunter back and said I could take it after all. Naturally, 3 guys had been out grid searching for quite a while by then. I stopped by the house on the way to this track and swapped dogs. The hunter said this was a big buck and the picture he showed backed that up.....it was huge. The buck dropped at the shot, flailed around, got up and ran off. Uh oh.....don’t like the sounds of that. There was minimal blood in a small area about 50 yards from the hit site, then nothing. Kunox and I worked the area extensively and came up empty. I believe this is a high back hit and they may see him again.
  6. 11/9/19 A hunter shot an 8 pointer last night, but couldn’t find any blood. He followed the tracks a short distance into a thicket, then backed out and called me. Luna and I arrived at first light this morning with the temperature at 18 degrees. This one was disappointing. Luna clearly was on it and took us into a wet thicket that eventually got too deep for her as she was breaking through the ice. She picked up tracks coming out of there heading to a 30 acre cedar stand and wanted to follow them. We worked the cedars, never seeing blood or a bed, so we did a restart and again she took us back to the cedars. At this point Luna was showing the effects of being in the ice water for over an hour and was shivering badly, so I called it. The hunter is drying his clothes then going back out. I recommended he go back to the first area Luna took us. I’m regretting not giving that area more attention before Luna got too cold.
  7. 11/8/19 I was called tonight by a hunter that shot an 11 pointer he’d been waiting for. He and three buddies looked for over an hour, but all they could find was a little brown hair. There was no blood, and they couldn’t find his tracks from after the shot. Kunox started at the hair and went into tall thick nasty swamp grass and downed trees, but could only walk about 10 yards in before being unable to get through it. I looked around a short distance and didn’t see any sign so I took him back to the hair. He did the same thing, then turned around and went the opposite way into a thicket. I let him look around in there awhile, and at one point he went hot. Investigation showed tracks too small for our buck. I took him back to the hair and one of the guys said he thought he had smelled the buck in the area Kunox had first gone to. I put Kunox down and he went back to the swamp grass, so this time I carried him around to see if he could smell anything. Sure enough, back goes his head and the sniffer went into overdrive. I watched him as I walked and he took me right to the dead buck. He was only 50 yards away, but you couldn’t see him until you were literally right on top of him. Great bunch of guys....I’d track for them anytime.
  8. You’re welcome, Mike...the pleasure is all mine!
  9. Thanks everyone......we’re having a blast doing it!
  10. This is our 5th season. The first 2 were pretty lean as we learned what we were doing.
  11. 11/6/19 100th career recovery I was called by some friends tonight that were unable to find any blood from an 8 pointer one of them had shot. They had gone in about 50 yards before backing out. Luna and I headed over and were taken to a food plot and pointed in the direction the deer ran. Luna picked a trail and 80 yards later the leash went slack. I looked around a tree and Luna was chewing on the dead bucks leg. I almost felt guilty having such an easy track.
  12. 11/5/19 Well, the 100th recovery of our career will have to wait for another day. Tonight we tracked another leg/shoulder shot buck. The hunter said the buck was favoring a front leg as it left the field. Long story short, Kunox did his part, but no recovery.
  13. 11/4/19 We seem to be experiencing a mini drought. This is not surprising as it’s amazing how things go hot and cold for trackers. We had two tracks today, both shoulder hits yesterday evening. #1 Kunox started at the hit site and took us 340 yards to a wound bed. We didn’t jump the buck as Kunox never got excited. The deer made a big loop and then I believe it crossed a swamp. Kunox took me back to the swamp after a few restarts so I figured it was time to get wet. After crossing, he went hot as we bumped a deer I never saw. I can’t prove that was our buck since I never saw any blood, but I believe it may have been. #2 The second track was for a reportedly monster buck. Kunox took us the way the hunter and her husband had tracked last night, then continued beyond. There was torrential rain last night that had washed away all but a drop or two of blood at the very beginning of the track. I let Kunox take me a few hundred yards with no sign, then did a couple restarts. He took me into a thick bedding area 50 yards away with lots of rubs, but we never did any good and eventually called the track.
  14. 11/3/19 #1 Hunter shot the buck with a .243, 26 hours before we arrived. This was Luna’s first track since her paw injury sidelined her for almost three weeks. She quickly took us to last blood, then struggled to get us through the heavily grid searched area. I eventually took her 100 yards further to the edge of the swamp to see if she could pick up a line there, but the area was way too thick with briars, deadfalls, etc for her to even walk. I picked her up and walked the edge, heading toward an area that wasn’t as thick when I saw her nose kick into overdrive. I put her down and she led me to the dead, gutshot 8 pointer. #2 Our second track was for a buck shot late yesterday afternoon. The hunter has trailed light blood for 300 yards, then grid searched. Luna took us beyond last blood and showed a few drops a short distance away, then nothing. We searched extensively, but did not recover this buck. I hope they see it again. #3 This young hunter took a 200 yard shot at a running deer and missed. At the shot, the deer stopped and the hunter connected with his second shot. A few drops of blood were found just inside the woods, and a light grid search produced no results when the trail was lost. Kunox went to work on this one, but unfortunately we came up empty. When I questioned the hunter further, I learned his .308 was sighted in 1” high at 50 yards and he had held right on the vitals at 200. He had never practiced at that distance. #4 Another one we came up empty on. This 48 hour old track was for a buck that appeared to be hit in the leg, based on the pieces of bone found. The buck had bedded right inside the woods, but had been bumped when the hunter searched for it. They had tracked for 360 yards, then grid searched. Kunox was able to advance the track, but we never found the buck.
  15. Sorry to hear you can’t get out there much. Glad you're enjoying the stories!
  16. 10/31/19 #1 I was called this morning (Thursday) by the friend of a hunter that shot a buck at noon on Tuesday. The hunter has a prosthetic leg and wasn’t able to go into the woods and track the buck, so he and the hunters grandson went in. They ended up bumping the buck out of its bed a few hundred yards in. They took a shot at it and found white hair as evidence of hitting it. Very little blood was found and the trail was lost after a short distance. They had marked last blood. I had the friend take me to where the buck had been bedded when they jumped it, and I started Kunox there. At 47 hours, this was the oldest track he had attempted. I was pleasantly surprised to see him without hesitation put his nose down and take off up the correct trail. We went by the marker and 150 yards later Kunox showed us the dead buck. The first shot hit the rear leg, the second was a Texas heart shot. #2 While on the first track, I received a call from a hunter who shot a buck last night and tracked it for 150 yards on very light blood. They also found 2 bone fragments, which made me think possible leg hit. Kunox quickly took us down the well flagged trail to last blood, then continued 175 yards to some power lines, and into the woods on the other side. I let him go 225 yards here before taking him back for a restart. I hung a ribbon where we exited the woods near the power lines as a reference and again he took the same trail to the woods on the other side of the power lines, and this time indicated there was a live deer close by. We followed it for 300 yards but never saw a drop of blood or a bed, so I took him back for a 3rd time. Again, same trail. I believe that deer is still alive, although I don’t know if that’s the deer Kunox was pushing.
  17. 10/28/19 Sometimes you don’t mind being wrong, and that was the case tonight. Phone interview: The deer dropped at the 225 yard shot, I looked away for a second as other deer ran away, I looked back and the buck was on his feet looking in my direction, then he walked into the brush. We tracked 100-150 yards of blood which was high on the brush, lost blood, then grid searched. The hunter agreed with me that it sounded like a high back hit. I told them I’d eat a quick dinner, then head out. I also told them that this didn’t sound promising at all. Kunox quickly took us to last blood, worked through the grid search area quickly, then showed us two more smears high on the brush. After a couple restarts, he took us right to the buck.....which was dead from a one lung hit and gutshot. He was a big deer, but we were all still amazed at how high on the brush the blood was. Good boy Kunox! I was surprised he was dead 4 hours after the shot. The track was only 200 yards.
  18. 10/27/19 A very wet, unsuccessful track this morning. Hunter shot a buck last night and found two small drops of blood. Heavy rain overnight, so of course the blood was washed away. A dog can still smell the blood even if we can’t see it, but Kunox never locked on. We ended up basically grid searching the area.
  19. 10/26/19 #1 I woke up this morning to a text that was sent late last night. It was from a hunter that shot a 12 pointer in the front shoulder with his muzzleloader. He tracked it until bumping it out of a bed after 150 yards, then backed out. As he was leaving, he found more blood but resisted the urge to follow it. We discovered today that the deer had, unknown to the hunter, ran the same way the hunter left the woods and he had been pushing it. Kunox and I arrived at sunrise, met the hunter, and drove back onto the State land he was hunting. The area had been logged within the last year, and the buck had been shot in a clearcut. The hunter has hunted this buck exclusively the last two seasons, so you can imagine he was a little stressed over the turn of events. Kunox got locked on and we got to the hunters point of loss pretty quickly. The bloodtrail was adequate to follow without too much difficulty for a while, then stopped except for an occasional drop every now and then. Kunox went hot a few hundred yards after last blood and the hunter caught a glimpse of a body and a tail. He thought the deer looked smaller than his buck, but we followed until we could confirm that yes, the track was too small. We went back to last blood and Kunox took us in a different direction this time. We went 200 yards with no blood, then we started to see fresh blood and knew we had the buck on its feet. Rifle season started today, so I had told the hunter to bring his. When we started seeing fresh blood I told him to stay close in case he gets a shot, and I also shortened Kunox’s lead to a couple feet. We continued and Kunox eventually took us to a trail that had blood right at the waters edge of the Deer River. Kunox quickly jumped in and acted like he wanted to swim across, but after 20’ (he was on a 30’ leash) he turned around and came out of the river onto the next trail over, shook off, and proceeded away from the river. When we had gotten to the river, I told the hunter to walk the bank downstream to see if he could spot the buck either in the water or near the bank, so the hunter was at least 50 yards from me when I spotted the buck bedded down in some thick stuff. I hollered to him to come back toward us and see if he could get a shot. As he came back, the buck jumped up and crashed through the brush out of sight, and it was obvious he was hurting. From this point on the buck opened up good and the bloodtrail was extremely easy to see. Kunox was super excited as we hustled after the buck, and I was thankful I wasn’t being pulled by a bloodhound. We jumped him 2 more times before the hunter was able to shoot him. The track was 2.1 miles long, and the initial shot was in the left front leg. #2 The second track today was the opposite of the first. The hunter couldn’t find blood, so he called us. Kunox’s investigation showed us a couple drops of blood 75 yards from the hit site, and the dead doe 20 yards away.
  20. 10/25/19 Swing and a miss I was called by a hunter who shot at a buck this evening but couldn’t find any blood. He wasn’t sure of the direction the deer ran due to the muzzleloader’s smoke. Kunox and I headed out there, and upon arriving the hunter informed me the deer had run by a game camera a few seconds after the shot. The side he had aimed at was facing the camera as it ran away and there is no evidence of a hit. We worked the area for a while anyway, and never found any sign the deer was hit.
  21. 10/25/19 I was contacted by a hunter last night who told me he believed he had gutshot a buck. He had tracked for 75 yards and pushed it out of it’s bed. He wisely backed out and called me at that point. Kunox and I arrived at first light, 13.5 hours after the shot. Kunox quickly took us to the bed, then continued on. We had an occasional drop of blood here and there for the first 300 yards, then nothing for the last 370 yards. We had a property line issue toward the end of the track and the hunter had to walk out and go to the owners house. Kunox was not happy and it was obvious as we waited that he was winding it. After permission was granted, Kunox took us the final 117 yards to the buck. The buck was still warm.
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