Luna and Kunox Tracking Journal 2022

[Robhuntandfish]

Kunox gets double snacks tonite!  Warrior! 

[stubborn1VT]

Glad you guys are back in action.  Thanks for sharing your adventures!

[outdoorstom]

13 minutes ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Kunox gets double snacks tonite!  Warrior! 

He worked REALLY hard this morning. Sleeping now. 

[outdoorstom]

[outdoorstom]

9/29/22

 

Luna and I tracked a buck last night for a young bowhunter.  Unfortunately it was a lost cause from the start.  Only 4” - 5” of penetration would not get the job done.  An occasional small drop of blood was nice to show the father and son that Luna was on his buck on this 1.1 mile track through lots of prickly ash. This 8 or 9 point buck will be seen again.

Edited September 30, 2022 by outdoorstom

[land 1]

nice work, great effort

[outdoorstom]

 

9/30/22

 

Luna had a turn this morning. This 7 pointer was gutshot from the ground last night.  We went in 12 hours later this morning and he was still alive and had to be dispatched. He went a very short distance and stopped and bedded down when we jumped him.  The buck had only gone 100 yards from where the hunter and his brother backed out last night.  These guys did things right. They didn’t realize he was gutshot, but were smart enough to back out when they jumped him. They also had ribbon with them and marked the blood as they tracked last night. Way to go guys!  We were more than a mile deep, so I was glad the hunter brought his jet sled this morning as it made our drag out much easier.  Great morning workout and it gave Luna plenty of time to chew on a leg as we dragged him out.

[outdoorstom]

 

9/30/22

 

I received a call from an experienced hunter this morning and we arrived a little over 12 hours later. He realized he shot a buck too far back and was able to watch him stand in one place for 20 minutes. He then slowly walked away while hunched up. The hunter was unable to see what trail he took into the woods, but knew the general area. After the deer was out of sight, the hunter snuck away in the opposite direction without even looking for blood. Well done!!   Kunox was not on his game tonight for some reason.  He initially seemed unable to focus, but after numerous restarts, he finally buckled down and went to work. There was very little blood on this 200 yard track. The buck was found in its first bed due to the hunter not pushing it.

[crappyice]

 

9/30/22

 

I received a call from an experienced hunter this morning and we arrived a little over 12 hours later. He realized he shot a buck too far back and was able to watch him stand in one place for 20 minutes. He then slowly walked away while hunched up. The hunter was unable to see what trail he took into the woods, but knew the general area. After the deer was out of sight, the hunter snuck away in the opposite direction without even looking for blood. Well done!!   Kunox was not on his game tonight for some reason.  He initially seemed unable to focus, but after numerous restarts, he finally buckled down and went to work. There was very little blood on this 200 yard track. The buck was found in its first bed due to the hunter not pushing it.

Was it a liver hit? That 20 minute stand there and just walk off is brutal to watch!


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[outdoorstom]

12 hours ago, crappyice said:

Was it a liver hit? That 20 minute stand there and just walk off is brutal to watch!


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No, all intestine.  He was still very warm when we found him.  Intestine hits can actually live for a couple days sometimes.

 

[The_Real_TCIII]

Ive hit two in the intestines and they died in sight, lot of blood flow back there. I guess I lucked into an artery


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[outdoorstom]

On 10/1/2022 at 8:03 AM, crappyice said:

Was it a liver hit? That 20 minute stand there and just walk off is brutal to watch!


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No, it was intestine. He was still warm when we found him and we were lucky he was dead.

 

[outdoorstom]

 

10/3/22

 

Luna and I headed out this morning to look for another buck that had been hit high.  The hunter suspected a high single lung hit.  He had been on the ground and the deer was above him on a small knoll and jumped the string at the shot. The buck took the arrow with him and the hunter found it broken off a short distance away in the woods.  The rage broadhead and arrow left in the deer totaled about 8”.  

Luna quickly took us the 250 yards onto a beaver dam where the hunter had lost blood last night. Halfway across she wanted to go into the pond. I hung a ribbon there, looked the pond over good but didn’t see him, then walked around it. We were able to pick up blood where he came out.  We advanced the track another 50 yards, then the blood stopped.  With restarts, we ended up walking 3.9 miles and never found any more blood or any sign of him.  I believe he will be seen again.

[crappyice]

 

10/3/22

 

Luna and I headed out this morning to look for another buck that had been hit high.  The hunter suspected a high single lung hit.  He had been on the ground and the deer was above him on a small knoll and jumped the string at the shot. The buck took the arrow with him and the hunter found it broken off a short distance away in the woods.  The rage broadhead and arrow left in the deer totaled about 8”.  

Luna quickly took us the 250 yards onto a beaver dam where the hunter had lost blood last night. Halfway across she wanted to go into the pond. I hung a ribbon there, looked the pond over good but didn’t see him, then walked around it. We were able to pick up blood where he came out.  We advanced the track another 50 yards, then the blood stopped.  With restarts, we ended up walking 3.9 miles and never found any more blood or any sign of him.  I believe he will be seen again.

Amazing work..even without a recovery


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[outdoorstom]

 

10/3/22

Kunox and I went to track a buck for a young man tonight.  We found his first buck a few years back and I’ve since become friends with the family.  He made a nice shot on this buck and it only went 230 yards.  Kunox worked this track slow and methodical, unlike his hyper performance last track. He did a couple restarts on his own. The scent pool was large where the buck went down and we had actually marked blood ten feet away and never saw the buck. We spotted it when Kunox brought us back there after his restart. Congratulations Evan!

[land 1]

great job kunox

[outdoorstom]

This afternoon Luna and I tracked an 8 pointer that was shot last night. The hunter believed he had a one lung hit, and Luna confirmed that for us.  The hunter did a nice job of not grid searching and that made Luna’s job easier. She made short work of getting to the hunters point of loss at 400 yards, then took us well beyond.  We crossed a paved road and she picked up the track again on the other side where we found a little blood. This was clearly lung blood.  Luna showed me one bed, but there was no blood in it. We ended up in the middle of a large beaver swamp at a distance of 1230 yards when I called the track.  Clearly only one lung had been hit. 

The short video clip shows Luna working an area, then picking a line and away we go.  The hunter and his Dad were blown away with her performance.

 

Almost forgot….the hunter is a member here :-)

 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by outdoorstom

[land 1]

long track they go a long way on one lung even may survive

[crappyice]

And now you are adding videos!!! We are all playing for 2nd place with any posts! (maybe 3rd place considering 81 year old @fasteddie deer)


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[outdoorstom]

 

10/5/22

 

I received a call from a hunter this morning asking for assistance in tracking a doe he shot. He wasn’t doe hunting, but saw that she had a severe limp so he did the humane thing. Good job!  Unfortunately, the shot was far back, so I told him I’d be there at 7:00 tonight.  After the paperwork and call to the DEC were completed, into the side by side we went.  We were able to drive to within about 200 yards from the stand. As we were walking to the hit site, a lit luminock was observed nearby.  There happened to be a dead doe there too. We continued to the hit site to let Kunox run the track, which he did, and happily got his chew as the reward.

 

While wrapping up the track, a second call came in. This one was on the way home, so Kunox lucked out with back to back tracks.  The 3 pointer was shot in an alfalfa field from a ladder stand and was quickly out of the hunters view.  Kunox had a false start where I let him go about 300 yards before taking him back to the field for a restart.  The hunter said there had been about 20 deer in the field, so there was a ton of scent.  This time Kunox stayed in the field instead of going directly into the woods like he had done.  We stayed in the field for 400 yards, first finding the back half of the arrow, then not far away we found the front half. We then crossed the road into the thickest stuff I’ve been through in a while.  Crawling on hands and knees thick….with Kunox occasionally looking back and laughing.  We ended up on the bank of the Grasse River and Kunox jumped right in, then climbed back out.  I told the hunter I believe his buck had gone into the water, so he waded in and got on top of a rock to look around with his flashlight. Kunox jumped back in and joined him on the rock.  After a couple minutes, Kunox swam back to shore and started working a trail along the bank.  He decided he didn’t like it and turned around and started working the other direction. The next thing I knew, Kunox was getting a leg chew. Good boy Kunox!  I didn’t have time to stay for the autopsy,  but the shot was a touch far back and high.  The track was 800 yards long.

[outdoorstom]

 

10/5/22

 

I received a call from a hunter this morning asking for assistance in tracking a doe he shot. He wasn’t doe hunting, but saw that she had a severe limp so he did the humane thing. Good job!  Unfortunately, the shot was far back, so I told him I’d be there at 7:00 tonight.  After the paperwork and call to the DEC were completed, into the side by side we went.  We were able to drive to within about 200 yards from the stand. As we were walking to the hit site, a lit luminock was observed nearby.  There happened to be a dead doe there too. We continued to the hit site to let Kunox run the track, which he did, and happily got his chew as the reward.

 

While wrapping up the track, a second call came in. This one was on the way home, so Kunox lucked out with back to back tracks.  The 3 pointer was shot in an alfalfa field from a ladder stand and was quickly out of the hunters view.  Kunox had a false start where I let him go about 300 yards before taking him back to the field for a restart.  The hunter said there had been about 20 deer in the field, so there was a ton of scent.  This time Kunox stayed in the field instead of going directly into the woods like he had done.  We stayed in the field for 400 yards, first finding the back half of the arrow, then not far away we found the front half. We then crossed the road into the thickest stuff I’ve been through in a while.  Crawling on hands and knees thick….with Kunox occasionally looking back and laughing.  We ended up on the bank of the Grasse River and Kunox jumped right in, then climbed back out.  I told the hunter I believe his buck had gone into the water, so he waded in and got on top of a rock to look around with his flashlight. Kunox jumped back in and joined him on the rock.  After a couple minutes, Kunox swam back to shore and started working a trail along the bank.  He decided he didn’t like it and turned around and started working the other direction. The next thing I knew, Kunox was getting a leg chew. Good boy Kunox!  I didn’t have time to stay for the autopsy,  but the shot was a touch far back and high.  The track was 800 yards long.

[outdoorstom]

Sorry about the double post…..it was late!

 

[knehrke]

Your stories are good enough to read them twice

[outdoorstom]

 

10/6/22

I was called last night by a hunter who had shot a buck and knew he had hit it too far back.  He went about thirty yards in to get a direction of travel, then backed out without pushing the buck. Nicely done!! Luna and I arrived 13 hours after the shot and she immediately locked on. This track ended up being 345 yards long and included a backtrack and 3 drops of blood. Luna nailed it and got a well deserved leg chew.

[moog5050]

I always thoroughly enjoy this thread.   Thanks for sharing!   Great job!