outdoorstom

I watched their video and I’m planning on getting one too.

Sorry man, I’m a bit of a smart ass :-)

First I’ve seen of this product. Looks like a great system!

You carry two blood clots?

Thanks for sharing that…awesome job!

Thank you, and the same to you! We arrived in Florida today.

We spend 5-6 months in Florida, so the pups get walked a couple miles a day. It takes a couple weeks after the season before they don’t listen to phone conversations with interest.

I like to keep an electronic journal that I’ll be able to look back on when I’m too old and feeble too do it anymore :-). It’s easy to cut and paste and people seem to enjoy it.

Thank you! We love doing it!

Thanks, and the same to you!

I live in the northern zone and we are completely finished here. Actually, I arrived in Florida today :-)

Well, that’s a wrap! The good Lord willing we’ll be back next season. Thanks for coming along for the ride everybody!

12/9/21 They had a few drops of blood in the 30 yards he was in the field, then couldn’t find where it went into the woods. After the hunter (he’s color blind) and a friend grid searched for an hour, I got a call. Luna got on it in the field, then picked a trail and entered the woods. About 40 yards in, she showed me some blood and never looked back. 200 hundred yards in and there he was about 20 yards ahead of us in heavy brush. I couldn’t shoot because Luna was out ahead of me, so I started reeling her in and called for the guys behind me to catch up and take her, but the buck took off before that happened. We saw him 3 more times, but he stayed out of handgun range. It appeared he had an injury in the rear hindquarter. At 1400 yards we had a property line issue and had to call the track.

12/8/21 #1 Luna and I were called last night and asked to track what was believed to be a liver or gut shot doe. We agreed on a meeting time for this morning. Luna quickly took us to last blood, then started working the small area that had been grid searched. After a couple of minutes, she picked a line and led us right to the dead doe. The total track was 400 yards. The shot was a little far back, but the deer had been quartering away and the exit hole was showed it must have caught lung. I didn’t have time to stay for the autopsy. #2 Luna and I went to track either a 6 or 8 pointer that had been shot last night with a muzzleloader. Luna quickly took us to last blood, did a little searching where the hunter and his friend had looked, then picked a line. We had only gone a few hundred yards when we hit another area that had been walked around in. This one took longer for Luna to figure out, but eventually she led us to a big bedding and swampy area. The hunter made a comment about if he was a betting man, this is where he thought it would have gone. Luna worked the area extensively, but we never found the buck. They only had a few drops of blood last night, and we didn’t see any at all on this track.

Nope, we were only 800 yards from a road. He ended up getting a wheeler in there after I left.

How about NY declaring a state of emergency over it. If that’s not an overreaction, I don’t know what is!

12/3/21 Kunox and I had quite the adventure today! I was called by a hunter that had shot a nice buck late yesterday afternoon in the mountains. He had tracked it following a steady bloodtrail, and at 800 yards in heavy cover he was within 10 yards off it before it took off. He decided at that point to back out for the night and called me. We arrived at 7:30 this morning with 24 degrees and a 14 mph wind. The hunter got us going on the track, then went to reposition the truck, and we met at last blood. Kunox kept right on trucking from that point, showing us a little blood here and there under last night’s snow. At one point we had about a 35 minute delay when we had a property line issue and no cell service. The hunter walked out and spoke with the landowner and was granted permission to enter. We did not find a bed until the 2.37 mile mark. Shortly after that we found 3 more close together. The last one had fresh blood leading away from it, and from that point on the trail could be followed quickly and easily. Twice we saw the buck in shooting range, but no shot was available due to thick cover. Somewhere along the way, Kunox had lost a bootie and cut his paw on the jagged ice, so I took one off another paw to put on there to protect it. Unfortunately he cut that paw too….nothing serious. At this point he became a passenger and I carried him the rest of the day. The fresh blood from the bucks wounded rear leg was very easy to follow, as was the drag mark which started from the last bed. When I picked Kunox up, I moved the hunter to the front with his rifle. At the 3.7 mile mark, the hunter spotted the buck bedded down and was able to put him out of his misery. Kunox was shivering badly so we got a fire going to warm him up before the drag/hike out. I needed to carry Kunox, so the hunter had to drag by himself, and while dragging through a swampy area, he stepped in a hole and wrenched his knee. Shortly after that, we decided to hang the buck in a tree and hike out. Kunox was not happy with our decision, but he said goodbye to HIS buck. Kunox weighs 24 pounds, and I think 23 pounds of him is heart!

He’s was good about it. He definitely learned to identify the target before shooting!

If the hunter had said that I would have to accept that. I hated being put in this position! I would lose my tracking license for a game violation. It’s not going to happen.

12/2/21 Luna and I had a very short, but interesting track this morning. 250 yards in 7 minutes and we had the young hunters deer. The buck he shot at as it ran away from him at last light had somehow turned into a doe overnight. She had bedded 5 or 6 times as the hunter and his buddies tracked it, then they lost it and grid searched for an hour before calling for a dog. Several pieces of bone were found on the track, and we learned she had been hit in the back leg, then guts. Unfortunately, the hunter didn’t have a doe tag and I was forced to call the DEC. They took the deer and the young man will most likely be fined.

11/29/21 This morning Kunox and I tracked a buck that had been shot 20 hours earlier. The hunter had only tracked 50 yards when he had a property line issue and backed out. He was on light blood for that 50 yards. Kunox initially took me into a standing corn field, but he wasn’t acting sure, so we did a restart at last blood. This time he took a trail that we had just seen a live doe on, so after letting him go a while and not seeing any evidence of the buck, back for another restart. The third time, he deviated slightly from the second trail and started tracking confidently and showed us a drop of blood about 50 yards from last blood. We continued a long way without seeing any blood, but suddenly Kunox went hot and I could clearly smell a buck. We continued in pursuit hoping for sign that we were on the right buck and a few minutes later, there it was…..a drop of blood confirming this was him. He was moving strong, his running track showed he was using all 4 legs. We only saw probably 2 ounces of blood on this entire track and no beds. We ended up going 1.4 miles, but that includes the restarts. This was a successful track….Kunox showed the hunter his deer is alive and well.

Not always. This pic is blood from a suspected one lung and liver hit and the deer was not found. Unfortunately, no dog was available, but a lot of people grid searched for hours.

We’ve successfully tracked after an inch of rain. Usually you don’t see much blood, if any at all. The dog is happy though because the moisture enhances the scent.

One lung and guts I treat as a gutshot. Deer can go a long ways and sometimes survive a one lung hit.

11/28/21 Luna and I tracked a buck today that displayed a deers’ amazing will to live. Unfortunately for this 7 pointer, he had a tenacious hunter and friends after him. He was shot yesterday afternoon and tracked a mile and a half last night, being bumped from bed to bed. Based on the amount of blood they were seeing, they were convinced he would be found soon, but they finally backed out for the night. This morning they bumped him out of a bed close to where they had left him. They bumped him all day long, but could never get close enough for a shot due to all the branches hanging low from the weight of snow. This went on for 4 miles, then the blood became very hard to find and they called me. We started at last blood, 3 hours after the hunter backed out. Luna struggled in the snow a little, but then locked on strong. We ended up finding a bloody bed, then a few more, and then Luna went hot. We ended up going 1200 yards and shooting the buck at about 30 yards. The initial shot was in the shoulder, but the deer was quartering away and never hit vitals. This hunter earned this buck!