outdoorstom

Definitely not seeing any activity here yet. Even the spikes are leaving the girls alone. I did watch two spike lightly sparring. The 10 day forecast is horrible for daytime rut activity...gonna even reach the 60's a couple times next week.

Sorry to hear this....both of you. My condolences.

I'm definitely seeing more in the morning.

I had a call from a deer hunter that was charged by a bear last evening. She managed to hit it twice with her 30.30 and it veered off and ran away. She and her two sons tracked it for about 300 yards before losing blood and backing out. She reports blood on both sides of the trail in some spots. I met with the hunter, and her husband and son at 7:30 this morning. The hunter couldn't identify the hit site, so we went to first blood. Luna immediately picked up the track and away we went. Blood was scarce from the beginning, and only got worse as we went. We started off in an area of thick brush which lasted for a few hundred yards and we'd occasionally see some blood on on vegetation, rarely any on the ground. The track took us through two swampy areas, and one area of hardwoods. Luna worked beautifully through checks....so much fun to watch her figure things out. More than once we went hundreds of yards with no sign, then I'd find a little smear of blood on a sapling or bush. It was easy to tell when Luna was on track because she'd be pulling very hard. After one of the long gaps between blood, we found some in the swamp. The hunter couldn't get over Luna's nose. "How'd she do that? We're in water" she said. After over a mile on track, I told the hunter I believe the bear is still alive and I'm ending the track. We never found a bed or large amounts of blood, and this was after the bear being shot almost 16 hours earlier. The hunter and her husband agreed with me and we began our trek out. I consider this a very successful track. Luna performed flawlessly and continues to amaze me. A couple times in the hardwoods she got sidetracked by squirrels, and when I told her to "leave it" she did so immediately. Swamp dog definitely needed a bath when we got home!

I'm seeing scrapes in my wood lot, also watched a small six harass a doe 2 days ago. My brother in Michigan shot a big 8 this morning that was trailing a doe.

My buddy and his wife were in the drive thru at Duncan Donuts the other morning and noticed two women in the car behind them pointing and laughing at their truck. When they got home they realized Al forgot to wash it out after hauling a deer home.

vExactly. Couldn't believe the yokes got to it that quickly.

I received a call at 5:30 this evening from a hunter that had gutshot a deer with his bow. Without getting too graphic, he saw the exit hole and he said it was very large. I know for a gutshot deer you normally wait a minimum of 5 hours, but based on his description we went in after 4. There was an excellent blood trail starting about 30 or 40 yards from the hit site. Luna led us through the woods and to the edge of a swamp. She took a wrong turn at one point so I took her back to last blood, and a minute later she found the doe. Total track was 150-200 yards. Coyotes did a number on her in that short timeframe!

I'm fortunate that my leashed tracking dog license allows me to carry a firearm at night to finish a deer off if necessary. If anybody local need some help, give a shout.

I put a Seresto collar on Luna recently....happy to hear the good reports on it.

October 21, 2015 I had a call from a hunter this morning that bow shot a 6 pointer at 6:00 last night. Due to buck fever, the hunter never saw where the arrow hit. He called a couple buddies and an hour later they began tracking. They were able to follow an occasional drop for 500 yards, then decided they were probably pushing him so they marked last blood and backed out. The blood was described as bright red with no bubbles. My first thought was muscle blood, and after the track I still believe that to be the case. Due to the deer crossing a river after the shot, we didn't start at the hit site. We were close to where they backed out, and Luna got on the track right away. We ended up in a large clearing under power lines and Luna struggled in that area right from the start. After 3 or 4 restarts and going in different directions every time, I took Luna to the edge of the clearing and worked the edge. Again, nothing. I suggested we don't follow Luna, and he and I look in the immediate area of last blood. We were able to find a few drops and advance the track about 40 yards. This was enough to give us a little better idea of the direction, so once more I took Luna to the edge. This time we located a drop and advanced the track a hundred yards. I have no idea where the deer went after that. We spent a total of 3 hours on this track, but never got beyond that point. This is a call I really struggled with taking, but decided to since the hunter didn't know where he hit it. I guess maybe that should have been another reason not to take it. I'm still trying to get a handle on which calls to take and which to decline.

Amazing bucks....good luck with them!

October 19, 2015 I had a call from a friend who had shot a spike this morning. He made a poor shot, hitting high near the spine. The deer fell over, then jumped up and ran off. He had very little blood. I told hi. This does not sound promising at all, but I'd give it a shot. The only reason I agreed to try is because he's a friend. Luna got on the track and stayed on it, going past the last marked blood. About 75 yards later, we came to an area in the pine needles where it was obvious a deer had taken off in a hurry. I suspect we jumped the buck there. We never saw it and Luna lost the track shortly thereafter. We did a couple restarts at last blood, but nothing came of them. I pulled the plug at that point.

I'm a member of deersearch and United Bloodtrackers, but I've mostly been getting calls from being in the paper a couple times. Thanks for the compliment on the signs.....they arrived this afternoon????

No charge. I'm not allowed to because I don't have a guide license. If someone wants to make a donation towards gas, I can accept that.

6A - scrapes have been appearing for about a week and a half. Got two small bucks sparring on camera, haven't seen any rutting activity personally. Neighbor reported seeing a big 10 chasing a doe last week.

Way to go....congrats!

They of course chewed it's ass, then field dressed it for him. Could have been a lot worse!

I got Luna from. John & Jolanta Jeaneney, near Albany. They aren't going to have any available for 6 or 7 months.

I'm not sure the chipmunk therapy would work with Luna. She has a fierce hatred of them! I would recommend when you, family, or friends shoot a deer, put Schatzie on it and see how she does. Good luck!

October 18, 2015 I had a call from a 17 year old hunter's Dad last night. His son shot a 6 pointer and hit it in the shoulder. He said they tracked real good blood, which they tracked until losing it in thick stuff. He marked the blood and backed out. He requested we come at 10:00 this morning, which I agreed to. Luna got on the track right and went past the marked blood, and continued on about another 100 yards during which time we were finding blood. I'm not sure why, but at one point she got off the track and went down a trail into a field. Not seeing any blood, I picked her up and took her back to last blood, this time she stayed on it. We went about another 50 yards and she found the 6 pointer under an apple tree. Unfortunately, the coyotes had found it before us.

Had a call at 1:45 this afternoon from a hunter that had shot a bear at 11:00 this morning. Actually, he and his buddy both shot it with muzzleloaders as they walked out from morning watch. He said they both had good hits on it, and had good blood. He also said he had marked last blood and hadn't gone beyond that point. They lost the blood trail after a heavy shower moved through the area. I agreed to give it a try and got there at 3:00. Luna appeared to get on it, then lost the track in the area last blood was marked. I asked the hunter if he was sure he hadn't gone beyond that area, and he admitted doing a little looking past that spot. It took Luna about five minutes to sort it out, and she again appeared to be on the track. We went 400 yards before finding a little blood on a leaf. If I had a nickel for every time the hunter asked me "is she on it", I'd be a rich man. At one point I told him if Luna could talk, I'd ask her so we'd both know for sure. He took the hint and quit asking me. After 1/2 mile, fresh blood started appearing, so I got my .357 out and told the hunter to be ready with his muzzleloader. We were in very thick briar patches the majority of the track, the roughest one I've been on yet. The K was getting thicker and more frequent when we heard a shot. We had a pretty good idea someone else had just shot it. Sure enough, 2 minutes later we saw the hunter in a tree stand. He said the bear had come into the clearing and stood there for about 30 seconds. I wonder if it was listening to see if we were still coming? After his shot, the bear went out of sight. We walked over together and got Luna back on it, and found it dead less than 50 yards away. The hunters were discussing who would get it, and I told them legally it's whoever made the killing shot. The second hunter was amazingly gracious and told the first hunter he could have it. During this discussion, Luna was having a good old time sniffing, licking, and chewing on the bear. I looked the bear over to see where it had been shot, and found that one of the first two shots had hit the front leg, and the second barely grazed the stomach. Luna did amazingly well over this mile long track....I couldn't be prouder!

Yep, no problem with public land.

Nicely done! Love the pics!

bThanks, appreciate the kind words. Yes, it is frustrating, and not good for Luna's development as a tracker. I'm going to be more selective on what tracks we take.