outdoorstom

I got called by a hunter last night as he was still in the woods searching for his buck. Due to a commitment I had, we agreed he would back out and we'd start at first light. We started at the hit site where there was a piece of bone and bright red blood, which had no bubbles. I suspect a leg shot. We were able to occasionally find small drops of blood on this track, which ended 400 yards later when the deer crossed a highway and we were not able to get permission to enter the property. The blood had increased and was fresh toward the end of the track, there is no doubt we were pushing it. Luna did very well on this track. At one point the deer had had walked in circles and it took Luna a few minutes to figure it out, but she did. I received a second call last night from a hunter that had shot an 8 pointer straight on in the chest from the ground at 20 yards. He was shot with a 30.30. The hunter and relatives had followed good blood, which had stopped after about a half mile. We met this morning and started at the hit site, and Luna with a few restarts took us to last blood. We had some trouble from that point on. We went a couple hundred yards without seeing blood, so we did a restart at last blood. We did this two more times. The third time Luna took me down a different runway. As we were working this one, 2 of the guys had gone to move the utv. They hollered to see where we were, then a few minutes later they hollered they had found the buck. It was about 50 yards further from where I had stopped Luna. I have so much to learn! I'm a little slow, but it'll sink in eventually.???? Field dressing revealed a one lung hit. Luna was given a small piece of liver, and allowed to chew on a leg as her reward.

If you shorten it, just take it off the front end.???? I'm for one buck per hunter myself.

Y I got a call this morning from a hunter that knocked down a nice 8 point. When he walked over to it, much to his surprise it jumped up and ran away. After a little more discussion about the shot, I told him it sounded like he had hit near the spine. I wasn't very optimistic we'd find it, but said we'd try because Luna hadn't tracked in 3 days and I wanted to get her out. We went to the hit site where I saw brown hair and bright red blood. Tracking conditions were poor....dry and windy. Luna had some trouble following the track across the field, but the hunter had marked the couple drops of blood he found in the woods. Luna missed the turn into the woods, so I took her to it. We had a hard time getting past the point of loss, but finally found some blood a hundred yards or so into the woods. We were finding an occasional drop, then started finding decent blood that was fresh. We never did find a bed, but we definitely pushed it. Luna advanced the track about 400 yards, but eventually lost it. After 5 or 6 restarts at last blood, she became more interested in tracking chipmunks and I called off the track. Hopefully he gets some pics or has a sighting of the buck.

Great looking buck....hope you get a crack at him!!

Update on last night's u successful track: The hunter and 10 other people went out this morning to search, and they found it in an area we didn't cover last night. The shot was way back and there was no exit hole. Not one drop of blood was found.

Yes, they can survive that, especially if hit in the top of the lung.

11/14/2015 We went on a tough track tonight. The hunter shot a monster buck at 7:30 this morning., it went 75 yards and laid down. He backed out and he and family members went back almost 4 hours later. He got out of his bed and went down a ridge. A piece of intestine was found in the bed, but no blood. Not one drop of blood was found on this track. We went down the ridge and Luna took us to the left where we followed a deer trail (they were everywhere), but after a distance with no sign, we went back to the bed area and restarted. To make a long story short, 2.5 hours later and we still hadn't picked up the track. The guys are going to walk through the area in the. daylight tomorrow. I told them if they find some blood/sign, call me and I'll come back. The scary thing is, a deep swamp 100's of acres in size borders the property and many deer have been lost in there. I'm disappointed we didn't do better on this one.

I live between Waddington and Ogdensburg and will drive an hour and a half each way. There has to be a pretty good possibility of recovery for me to drive that far though.

11/12/2015 At 7:15 this morning I had a call from a woman looking for help in finding her husband's deer. He shot it this morning but lost the blood trail after a short distance. I was happy to hear he hadn't grid searched, and shortly thereafter Luna and I were on our way. The hunter took us to the hit site where we observed white hair, a small amount of blood, and a small piece of meat with fat attached. The area is very brushy, and extremely thick. Luna took off and didn't slow down until we recovered this very nice 8 pointer, only 75 yards away. This easy track was nice after the long unsuccessful one yesterday. The video shows Luna getting her reward ???? http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb49/outdoorstom/th_IMG_0088_zpsvdaqltke.mp4

I love the drop tine bruiser!! The others are great too, but he's a slob!

Thanks everyone.....we're having a blast doing it!

Great shot!

11/10/2015 track #2 While on our track this morning I received a call from a hunter looking for assistance with a buck he shot a couple hours earlier. He wasn't sure where he hit it, but did find some white hair. Due to health reasons, the hunter could not accompany me, so his son in law came along. The SIL had already tracked a few hundred yards before losing blood. The buck had crossed over a beaver dam, so we started on the other side. Luna was all over it, right from the start. We left the hardwoods and into tall swale grass, where we were seeing occasional blood. About 75 yards down the swale grass trail we found the 4 pointer laying there, still alive. I quickly dispatched him.

11/10/2015 I received a call last night from a hunter that thought he had gutshot a deer. He went and found blood, then backed out. We went In this morning and Luna went right to work. This was a very short track, maybe 100 yards. About 60 or 70 yards in we found an area with lots of white hair and immediately thought coyotes got to it overnight. 30 yards beyond that point we found the buck. They had just started to work its shoulder, but I believe we chased them off without even realizing it.

hThis is the best training guide you can get. John has been breeding tracking dogs and tracking for 40 years. He's a world renowned expert in this field. http://www.born-to-track.com/book/order-info.htm

11/9/2015 Unfortunately, we had an unsuccessful 3.5 hour track this morning. A young hunter's Dad reported his son shot at nice 8 pointer last night. He said it hunched up when hit, then jumped some brush and was gone. They found a very small area of blood, lost it, then searched the immediate area with no luck. We were unable to identify the exact hit site, so couldn't find any clues as to where he was hit. We suspect a gut shot due to the hunching. The area of blood in the woods only lasted a few yards, although the Dad did advance the track about 50 more by finding two tiny drops. Luna never really locked in on this deer. I believe she didn't have enough to go on to learn the scent of that particular deer. The area has major runways crisscrossing through it, and many hot trails with us actually jumping a few does. We checked known water holes/swamps with no luck. I'm hoping they either see it again or get pictures, but to be honest I have no clue.

11/8/2015. Track 2 A hunter reported shooting a deer in the shoulder and having it drop right there. He climbed down from his stand 10 minutes later and was reaching over to poke it with his rifle when it jumped up and ran away. Bright red blood was reported - no bubbles. He and three buddies did a grid search and lost blood after about 40 yards. Luna quickly got on the track and stayed on it for 3/4 of a mile with spotty blood.She lost it right at a point where I had just said I could smell it....very obvious during the rut. She started circling the area and we caught a glimpse of it walking away. This 4 pointer was quickly dispatched and the long drag out began. During the drag we were talking about the branches of service we had been in. One of the guys dragging is a former Marine, the other guy was in the Army. I informed them the Coast Guard was watching them drag.

11/8/2015 I got called out on a track that the hunter could not find the hit site, but located blood in the woods and immediately backed out and called me. The blood was a shade or two darker than bright red, and also a piece of fat was found. Further down the trail I found one white hair in some blood. The blood trail started fairly strong, then slowed down. After being on the track for awhile, it suddenly got stronger again. I believe this is where we jumped the deer the first time, although no bed was found, and we. Either saw it or heard it. The blood slowed down again, but of course was very fresh when we'd see some. The mile and a half track took us through cedars, boggy areas, clear cuts, and eventually a large swamp. Luna pulled hard throughout the track, barking when I believe we were close to the deer. The hunter was ready to call it quits at one point, but I insisted we continue, if for no other reason than to hopefully reward Luna for all her hard work. As we approached the swamp, the hunter stayed back in case we kicked the buck out. Luna and I were barely in when I saw the buck standing about 100 yards out. I called the hunter up to make the killing shot, which he successfully did. Luna and I stayed put to keep our bearing on where the buck had dropped while the hunter went home for his waders and canoe. His son came out with him and together they retrieved the 4 point buck. The whole time he was gone, Luna whined and trembled in anticipation of sinking her little teeth into that tasty deer. Afterwards, the hunter half jokingly told me he probably wouldn't call me again because he's never had to work this hard for a deer. We discovered the first shot was a gut shot, not brisket.

I went on a track this evening that I knew from the interview we had very little chance of recovering the deer. I took it for two reasons. 1. It was only 6 miles away. 2. We haven't been on a track in 3 days and Luna insisted we go. The hunter told me the deer didn't seem to react to the shot and he thought he missed. When he got to the hit site he found a lot of white hair, and a short distance away a little blood. He followed the blood into the cedars and found two good size pieces of fat, then lost the trail and called me. We were able to find one more drop of blood about 75 yards or so beyond the hunters point of loss. Luna acted like she was on the track for a while, then started wandering. I took her back to the pieces of fat and restarted her, but the same deal. We were only out there an hour or so. If nothing else, I met some nice guys.

They definitely appreciate it. I love seeing their faces when Luna finds one! I just take enough for gas money.

Hard to say since it ended up with so many holes in it, but I believe the first one was high, maybe clipping the top of a lung, and the second one in no mans land. I didn't stay for the field dressing so I didn't see inside.

11/3/2015 I went on a track this afternoon for a hunter that shot a 6 pointer at 7:30 this morning. He was in brush about 100 yards away, and did a mule kick when he was hit. He went a short distance and stopped, so she shot him again. This time he went down. After climbing down and walking over there, he was gone! She searched and found some blood, marked it and backed out, then went back 3 hours later with a helper. They lost blood after about 50 yards, then started a grid search. She actually called me from the woods as they were searching. Of course I advised her to back out and wait for Luna and I. Upon arriving we were unable to find the hit site, but Luna quickly found blood and we we were off. We tracked to their point of loss, then found blood about 40 or 50 yards beyond there. Our struggles began at that point. Luna took us off in 3 or 4 different directions but we never found any blood. I'd restart her at last blood and we went a few hundred yards each time, but nothing. The hunter had mentioned earlier that she thought it might have been heading to a thick bedding area, so I decided we'd see if we could pick anything up over there. Sure enough, Luna once again found a drop of dried blood. After continuing on for 50 yards or so, the buck jumped up about 5 feet in front of us. I called to the hunter to move up to get a shot, but the buck took off and was quickly out of sight. I showed her the line he took and told her to work in that direction and see if she could spot him. A minute later she raised her rifle and took a shot, missed, one more shot and he dropped. Luna was going crazy the whole time, barking and desperately wanting to go after him. When the hunter got over there, she saw he was still alive and asked if we should wait for him to expire. I told her no and to finish him off, so she did. Of course Luna was lavished with praise and chewed on a leg ????

I think there is a lot of truth to what is said here......

Any bloodtracking dogs in your area? Check Http://www.unitedbloodtrackers.org or http://deersearch.org

Good advice, however they will and do go uphill sometimes. I've seen it many times.