Luna and Kunox Tracking Journal 2022

[outdoorstom]

`

10/18/22

Luna and I went on a track this morning for a four pointer that had been shot last night. The hunter watched it leave the field hunched up. He waited a while, then wanted to find blood before backing out. He found first blood 50 yards in, then backed out. Great call on getting out, he really helped his chances of a recovery by doing that.  Luna locked on and took us into the tall swamp grass and to a deep creek that she wanted to cross. It was too deep for us to cross there so we flagged it and went in search of a better crossing location. We found one not too far away where a small log was across the ditch. The hunter went first and slipped off the wet log and filled his boots. I sent Luna across next and she displayed her excellent balance.  I was able to get across and stay dry due to an extended hand from the hunter. I carried Luna back to where she had wanted to cross and put her down. She immediately locked back on and took us into a very thick bedding area, checking and rejecting trails along the way.  She led us straight to the dead,  but still warm buck at 400 yards. He was in his first bed. We had heavy rain last night and had zero blood on the track.  Luna girl rocked it!

[suburbanfarmer]

11 minutes ago, outdoorstom said:

`

10/18/22

Luna and I went on a track this morning for a four pointer that had been shot last night. The hunter watched it leave the field hunched up. He waited a while, then wanted to find blood before backing out. He found first blood 50 yards in, then backed out. Great call on getting out, he really helped his chances of a recovery by doing that.  Luna locked on and took us into the tall swamp grass and to a deep creek that she wanted to cross. It was too deep for us to cross there so we flagged it and went in search of a better crossing location. We found one not too far away where a small log was across the ditch. The hunter went first and slipped off the wet log and filled his boots. I sent Luna across next and she displayed her excellent balance.  I was able to get across and stay dry due to an extended hand from the hunter. I carried Luna back to where she had wanted to cross and put her down. She immediately locked back on and took us into a very thick bedding area, checking and rejecting trails along the way.  She led us straight to the dead,  but still warm buck at 400 yards. He was in his first bed. We had heavy rain last night and had zero blood on the track.  Luna girl rocked it!

Another win!!

Were coyotes on it or just Luna having fun tearing the fur out?

Edited October 18, 2022 by suburbanfarmer

[SportsmanNH]

16 minutes ago, suburbanfarmer said:

Another win!!

Were coyotes on it or just Luna having fun tearing the fur out?

That looks like the work of Ravens or Crows .  

[outdoorstom]

4 hours ago, suburbanfarmer said:

Another win!!

Were coyotes on it or just Luna having fun tearing the fur out?

That was Luna enjoying her reward :-)

[outdoorstom]

 

10/19/22

 

#1

Luna and I went and tracked a buck this morning that was shot last night. The hunter and his buddy had waited two hours before tracking, and had gone a couple hundred yards before calling me. I advised them to mark last blood and get out of there, which they did. He suspected gut shot, but the blood I saw didn’t look like it. Luna took us to last blood, then had to work out the line coming out of the grid searched area, which she did.  We advanced the track, finding very small amounts of blood along the way. At one point we found a larger amount of blood where the deer must have stood, and it was fresh. Shortly after that, Luna went hot….indicating a live deer. We followed a long way but never caught a glimpse of it.  We could see ravens flying up and down from a tree near us, turns out they were eating a spike that looked like it got shot last night. After many restarts, we pulled the plug.

 

#2

Luna and I headed out for a track on a buck that was shot shortly before 7 this morning, and we arrived 8 hours after the shot.  The hunter said the deer had walked away very slowly, then bedded down for 10 or 15 minutes. When he got up, he walked into a patch of goldenrod and then slowly walked out of there and into a super thick area. The hunter recognized the behavior as most likely a liver shot, and when he saw the blood he knew for sure it was.  He did exactly the right thing and left without going after him.  Great job!!

A ranger ride took us to a hidden field where Luna went to work. She took us into the bedding area that bordered the field, and took right to the dead buck. The track was only 200 yards long. Field dressing revealed the buck had been slightly quartered at the shot and 1 lung and the liver were hit.

[BizCT]

 

10/19/22

 

#1

Luna and I went and tracked a buck this morning that was shot last night. The hunter and his buddy had waited two hours before tracking, and had gone a couple hundred yards before calling me. I advised them to mark last blood and get out of there, which they did. He suspected gut shot, but the blood I saw didn’t look like it. Luna took us to last blood, then had to work out the line coming out of the grid searched area, which she did.  We advanced the track, finding very small amounts of blood along the way. At one point we found a larger amount of blood where the deer must have stood, and it was fresh. Shortly after that, Luna went hot….indicating a live deer. We followed a long way but never caught a glimpse of it.  We could see ravens flying up and down from a tree near us, turns out they were eating a spike that looked like it got shot last night. After many restarts, we pulled the plug.

 

#2

Luna and I headed out for a track on a buck that was shot shortly before 7 this morning, and we arrived 8 hours after the shot.  The hunter said the deer had walked away very slowly, then bedded down for 10 or 15 minutes. When he got up, he walked into a patch of goldenrod and then slowly walked out of there and into a super thick area. The hunter recognized the behavior as most likely a liver shot, and when he saw the blood he knew for sure it was.  He did exactly the right thing and left without going after him.  Great job!!

A ranger ride took us to a hidden field where Luna went to work. She took us into the bedding area that bordered the field, and took right to the dead buck. The track was only 200 yards long. Field dressing revealed the buck had been slightly quartered at the shot and 1 lung and the liver were hit.

Congrats @Marion . Nice buck!


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[outdoorstom]

10/20/22

Luna and I tracked a mature buck tonight. It was tracked last night too. The shot last night was high….a classic high back hit. The hunter watched it drag itself into the woods using its front legs. A friend and fellow tracker went out last night,  but had no sign of the deer and no recovery. This morning, the hunter and a friend went to take a look in the daylight and the friend watched  it stand up and walk off 15 yards in front of him. It had been bedded behind a deadfall. Based on the fact the buck had let him get so close and had only walked off, I thought we’d see if we could find him.  We started at the deadfall and Luna immediately locked on to the big unmistakeable tracks. There was no blood in the bed.  We pushed this buck back and forth between two thick woodlots.  Luna went hot 3 or 4 times, but we never got close enough to see him. I’m wondering if he was very stiff from laying in the bed last night and that’s why he walked away, but once he started moving around he loosened up? Hopefully the hunter sees him again and can close the deal.

[outdoorstom]

 

10/21/22

 

#1

Luna and I tracked a buck this morning that had been gutshot last night with a muzzleloader. The hunter did exactly the bright thing and marked the trail the deer left the field on, then backed out.  Luna locked on easily and quickly took us a meandering 563 yards to the spike. Unfortunately the coyotes found him before we got there. I’m sure he had been chased by them, that’s why the track was all over the place.

 

#2

 

The second track today was for what was thought to be another gut shot last night. The doe was shot with a bow in a food plot, with other deer present.  This was the hunters first deer. He had to work today, so his uncle took me out there.  The hunter had seen the doe run to a trail up at the far end of the plot and enter the woods.  For some reason, Luna wouldn’t locked on up there, but in we went. After a few hundred yards she went hot.  We never saw the deer she excited about, but I believed this doe we were after was most likely dead, so I picked Luna up and took her back to the plot. We went back to the trail she had been seen entering the woods from, but Luna wasn’t interested. She walked back toward the hit site about 40 yards and entered the woods there. She circled through the thick area, eventually coming back out and went through the plot in a different direction. We entered an overgrown area and started up a trail. Luna changed her mind, turned around and went up a different trail, this time taking me right to the dead doe.  She was less than 100 yards from where she was shot, but never would have been found since it was believed she had gone in the opposite direction. It turns out she had been shot in the neck. There must have been real good blood, but heavy rain last night washed it away.

[outdoorstom]

 

10/24/22

 

#1

This track was for a 4 pointer that had been gutshot last night. This was the young man’s first buck. He and his father tracked it for a couple hundred yards last night, quitting when it crossed a blacktop road. We started at the hit site and Luna quickly took us to the road and crossed over. She then ran parallel with the road and we ended up at a creek, next to a bridge. Luna wanted to cross, so I picked her up and went up the bank to cross the bridge. I was told we didn’t have permission from the property owner to enter, so we waited while the hunter went to ask. Permission granted….we can continue! I took Luna down to the other side of the creek and she locked back on. 50 yards down the creek we found what was left of the buck laying in the creek. He had travelled 1/2 a mile.  The coyotes had really done a number on him.

#2

Our second track was for a young ladies first buck. She was in school so unfortunately couldn’t be involved in the recovery. This was also a known gutshot. They had gone in looking last night and bumped him out of a bed. They left at that point, going back 2 hours later but not finding him. Luna made very short of this 200 yard track.  Kunox will be back to work tomorrow.

[land 1]

great job looks like the pups are having great year look forward to your posts

[crappyice]

Wow..that coyote destruction is real!!!


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[outdoorstom]

10 hours ago, crappyice said:

Wow..that coyote destruction is real!!!


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You’re not kidding!  I tell people if you go after your deer too soon, all you’ll do is push it and lay a lot longer scent line for the coyotes to come across. Left to die in its first or second bed and your odds are better.

[diplomat019]

@outdoorstomnot sure if this was ever mentioned.  What is the fee for deer search?

[crappyice]

[mention=488]outdoorstom[/mention]not sure if this was ever mentioned.  What is the fee for deer search?

I believe there is no charge BUT there should be a mandatory "tip" to cover their expenses and time. Gas, dog food, headlights, flagging tape, cold High Life, first aid for the pups...that adds up. I would say minimum $50 just for a deer search to show up-but I bet he/they would try to refuse it


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[Trad bow]

The one time I called them I gave everything I had in my wallet which was only $60.00 wish I had more with me. 

[outdoorstom]

16 hours ago, diplomat019 said:

@outdoorstomnot sure if this was ever mentioned.  What is the fee for deer search?

Like Crappyice said….no charge. A tip for gas is appreciated though!

[outdoorstom]

This happened last week to a tracker friend in Illinois. Thank God he’s going to be ok. Right through the tibia.

 

How does one remove a bolt from a leg? A bolt cutter of course! Tara is holding the bolt cutter to trim the bolt so that they could fit me within the CT Scan before surgery.

ANYHOW THE UPDATE AND ANOTHER CRAZY ORDEAL (MUST READ). The surgery appeared to go well. The fletching end of the bolt that was buried within my tibia was all removed. The doctors were a bit surprised to find something that was lit up inside me when they began the surgery, the lit knock was still lit up! The surgeons got quite the surprise, wondering what the heck was this lit up thing inside of me? Anyhow it was a couple hr surgery to clean up everything and to install two screws in the tibia to hold the break together. With that all being said the biggest fear I have now would be a possible infection. I can bear weight on my leg and I’m using a walker to get around currently, stitches and staples will be removed in three weeks.

Now here is where the story gets even crazier, this is what my middle daughter, Morgan, calls a Slifer Situation! Checking out of the hospital took FOREVER, the first mentioning of a discharge was around noon yesterday, we finally got out around 7:00PM, but not without drama. There was a motor vehicle theft and an attempted kidnapping!! Yup that’s right and it was none other than OUR mini van that was stolen and I was the one kidnapped! So how you say did this happen? Well I had loaded up within the back of the van, since Tara folded down the seats I was able to lay down in the back comfortably. Laying down in the darkness, due to the tinted windows and wearing dark clothes apparently I could not be seen. After loading me up Tara and myself had realized that we had forgotten something in the room I was in. Tara then pulled up out of the way and left the van running to go get what we had forgotten, it wasn’t three minutes later an individual decided that he would open the door, enter the vehicle, and take off with our van. I immediately said hey bud what are you doing? The person replied I’m security, you can park here I’m moving your van! Immediately I knew this person was not security by the baggy clothes he was wearing, a hat on sideways and was smoking a cigarette. I must have really freaked this person out the minute I said something from the darkness of the van behind him! Fortunately for me the person drove half way around the block, exited the vehicle quickly and ran off, doing so drew attention to the situation and security personnel came to investigate! Meanwhile Tara comes back to where she had left me in the van. Needless to say the van was gone as well as her husband, ME!! At first Tara had thought I had pulled a joke on her, I wouldn’t know why she would think that but there was no way that I could drive with my leg the way it was. Tara had no phone to call me, as it was laying in the van between the seats with me. I finally received a call from a MO. phone number, I immediately answered as I figured it might be a track call, or perhaps Tara. Fortunately it was Tara she was relieved, but in shock to find out about my ordeal! Security then brought Tara to me and an investigation then pursued. I believe it was around 9:00PM when we was finally freed to go. The officers investigating were scratching their heads, as this was the first vehicular theft and attempted kidnapping they had dealt with.

Unfortunately I couldn’t ID the suspect well, due to the fact he never turned to me to see his face. However there are surveillance cameras all about and he was captured on them. They didn’t find the suspect as of last night, but will still be investigating this Slifer Situation! Of course Tara felt terrible about the whole ordeal, we were once again lucky that this didn’t have a worse outcome, as I couldn’t defend myself well and the person could have driven wherever within the city to do whatever with me! Thank you all for the continued prayers and support for myself and the hunter as this was an accident.

[crappyice]

This happened last week to a tracker friend in Illinois. Thank God he’s going to be ok. Right through the tibia.   How does one remove a bolt from a leg? A bolt cutter of course! Tara is holding the bolt cutter to trim the bolt so that they could fit me within the CT Scan before surgery. ANYHOW THE UPDATE AND ANOTHER CRAZY ORDEAL (MUST READ). The surgery appeared to go well. The fletching end of the bolt that was buried within my tibia was all removed. The doctors were a bit surprised to find something that was lit up inside me when they began the surgery, the lit knock was still lit up! The surgeons got quite the surprise, wondering what the heck was this lit up thing inside of me? Anyhow it was a couple hr surgery to clean up everything and to install two screws in the tibia to hold the break together. With that all being said the biggest fear I have now would be a possible infection. I can bear weight on my leg and I’m using a walker to get around currently, stitches and staples will be removed in three weeks. Now here is where the story gets even crazier, this is what my middle daughter, Morgan, calls a Slifer Situation! Checking out of the hospital took FOREVER, the first mentioning of a discharge was around noon yesterday, we finally got out around 7:00PM, but not without drama. There was a motor vehicle theft and an attempted kidnapping!! Yup that’s right and it was none other than OUR mini van that was stolen and I was the one kidnapped! So how you say did this happen? Well I had loaded up within the back of the van, since Tara folded down the seats I was able to lay down in the back comfortably. Laying down in the darkness, due to the tinted windows and wearing dark clothes apparently I could not be seen. After loading me up Tara and myself had realized that we had forgotten something in the room I was in. Tara then pulled up out of the way and left the van running to go get what we had forgotten, it wasn’t three minutes later an individual decided that he would open the door, enter the vehicle, and take off with our van. I immediately said hey bud what are you doing? The person replied I’m security, you can park here I’m moving your van! Immediately I knew this person was not security by the baggy clothes he was wearing, a hat on sideways and was smoking a cigarette. I must have really freaked this person out the minute I said something from the darkness of the van behind him! Fortunately for me the person drove half way around the block, exited the vehicle quickly and ran off, doing so drew attention to the situation and security personnel came to investigate! Meanwhile Tara comes back to where she had left me in the van. Needless to say the van was gone as well as her husband, ME!! At first Tara had thought I had pulled a joke on her, I wouldn’t know why she would think that but there was no way that I could drive with my leg the way it was. Tara had no phone to call me, as it was laying in the van between the seats with me. I finally received a call from a MO. phone number, I immediately answered as I figured it might be a track call, or perhaps Tara. Fortunately it was Tara she was relieved, but in shock to find out about my ordeal! Security then brought Tara to me and an investigation then pursued. I believe it was around 9:00PM when we was finally freed to go. The officers investigating were scratching their heads, as this was the first vehicular theft and attempted kidnapping they had dealt with. Unfortunately I couldn’t ID the suspect well, due to the fact he never turned to me to see his face. However there are surveillance cameras all about and he was captured on them. They didn’t find the suspect as of last night, but will still be investigating this Slifer Situation! Of course Tara felt terrible about the whole ordeal, we were once again lucky that this didn’t have a worse outcome, as I couldn’t defend myself well and the person could have driven wherever within the city to do whatever with me! Thank you all for the continued prayers and support for myself and the hunter as this was an accident.

I have so many more questions at the end of this tale then the beginning!!!! Glad he's ok


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[Moho81]

I'm glad he's OK what a crazy series of events but I'm with @crappyice ice on this, so many more questions. Let's start with how did the bolt get there in the first place?  

[outdoorstom]

Unknown to Ron, the hunter walking behind him had cocked and loaded his crossbow. He tripped and must have had his finger on the trigger.

[Dinsdale]

Crazy story.

Hunted with all kinds of guides, including a couple that regular follow large wounded dangerous game; and their biggest apprehension from guiding is the hunter behind them with a loaded weapon. 

 

Enjoy the posts, lot to be learned from them. 

Stay safe.

 

[grampy]

3 hours ago, outdoorstom said:

Unknown to Ron, the hunter walking behind him had cocked and loaded his crossbow. He tripped and must have had his finger on the trigger.

For this reason, I always insisted that the hunter not carry a loaded weapon when tracking. I told them if there is a need for a follow up shot, I would probably be the one to take it. If there were time I'd let them know to load up.

Every tracker/handler has their own way of doing it. 

I hope this one has a complete and speedy recovery.

Edited October 26, 2022 by grampy

[Moho81]

It feels so weird/unsafe to carry a cocked crossbow with a bolt loaded. I never felt weird/unsafe walking around with a loaded gun. Maybe it’s the size and awkwardness of the crossbow.


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[doebuck1234]

Wow that's,crazy!!!!I get the unsettle feeling with a loaded gun constantly checking the safety but don't mind walking with one.both trackers I dealt with earlier this season carried,loaded but never one in the chamber.as I had nothing with me for safety reasons and running around with a bow through thick crap would just make it worse getting tangled up

Edited October 26, 2022 by doebuck1234

[cdbing]

Wowza! The outcome from both incidents could have been so much worse. Is there a gofundme page or something for this tracker. Tough situation to be in after trying to help a hunter recover game.

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