Syracuse.com - Syracuse police investigator and her dog locate lost deer for hunters

[HuntingNY-News]

She's 2 for 2 this bowhunting season, having found a 6- and an 8-point buck for hunters.

Submitted photo

Paulene Eggers and Braylee, her trusty wirehaired dachshund, are 2-for-2 this bowhunting season.

The Deer Search volunteer and her dog have helped two hunters recover arrowed deer thought to be lost causes.

On Monday, Scott Jevis, a hunter in Highland Forest, shot his arrow at a 6-point buck from his tree stand. The arrow went through the deer and it took off. The Cicero hunter looked in vain the rest of the day and called the Deer Search hotline Tuesday.

Eggers, who works full time as an investigator for the Syracuse Police Department, took the assignment and met Jervis at 3 p.m. that day at the spot where the buck was shot.

The blood trail went up to a point “and just stopped,” Eggers said. “He said he hit it right behind the shoulder at an angle, and the arrow came out the gut.”

For nearly two hours, Eggers and Braylee checked out some steep and challenging terrain. Then Braylee started giving off body language that she was close.

“She stands on her hind legs, puts her nose up in the air and flares her nostrils,” Eggers said. “When she starts doing that, I know she has it.”

Braylee found the buck 31 hours after it was shot.

“He (Jevis) was so happy. He ran up and hugged me,” she said.

Eggers, 53, is the area’s only Deer Search volunteer this hunting season. She covers Onondaga, Madison, Oswego “and sometimes Cayuga and Tompkins counties.” This is her second year volunteering after being certified by the non-profit group and licensed by the state to conduct the searches.

She said she doesn’t charge for her service, but accepts donations, which go back to the Deer Search group. She said hunters give her from $50 to $100 and sometimes throw in a little extra to cover her gas money. Most of her searches take place during the bow season, she said, and she has successfully tracked bucks and does for hunters.

Last Saturday, Eggers helped out bowhunter Mike Paduano, of Bridgeport, who lost track of an 8-point buck he’d shot in the town of Sullivan in Madison County.

“There was no blood track, but he said the arrow entered the deer’s middle section behind the shoulder and he was sure it was a mortal wound,” Eggers said. “He said he and his brother had looked all over the place for it.”

After searching for 90 minutes, Eggers and Braylee zeroed in on “a real thick patch of brush.” Braylee started up with the body language.

“We found it out. It was dead and lodged in some skinny little trees,” she said.

For more on Deer Search, check out the group's website.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog