Go Luna go!

[outdoorstom]

Luna and I went out on a call this morning only 12 miles from home. The hunter reported a quartering away pass through shot, with dark blood on the arrow. He searched last night, but actually got chased away by coyotes. He and a friend went back this morning and followed blood, but then lost the trail. He reported they walked all through the area. I told him this didn't sound promising due to the coyotes and the fact they walked all through the area, but we'd give it a shot. We started at the hit site, but were unable to find blood or hair. The hunter had watched the deer run through the field and exit it, so we knew if Luna was going in the right direction....she was. We entered the woods and the hunter told me this was the area the coyote chased the doe and threatened him, and the area he and his friend had walked through this morning. Luna stayed on the blood trail as it circled all around, then appeared to lose it. I picked her up and took her to an area that we had been through that had a lot of blood, and we restarted there. This time, she took me to a fence that bordered a field about 300 yards long. I lifted her over the fence and she was off on the trail again. I've read how difficult it can be for a dog to track through an open field, and I was prepared to take her to walk along the edge to hopefully pick up the track where the deer exited, but that wasn't necessary.

Luna appeared to lose the track only once in the field, but corrected herself and continued on. It was at this point we observed turkey vultures overhead, then saw one fly up from the ground. I let Luna continue to track and she took us right to the doe!

[phade]

Very cool, and proud moment! Congrats to you! Hopefully you got a donation to keep up with costs!

[outdoorstom]

Very cool, and proud moment! Congrats to you! Hopefully you got a donation to keep up with costs!

It wasn't far at all. He did take me to a diner and bought me lunch.

[Gencountyzeek]

Congrats on the recovery, hope if ever need someone out my way they are as good as luna!

[shawnhu]

Awesome dog, and thanks for your service!

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

http://facebook.com/XCaliburLightingSystems

[grampy]

What a great team you two are! Awesome job and great find! Luna comes from good stock and showing it. And looks like her handler is pretty good too!

[Paula]

Is Luna biting or licking her neck?

[Marion]

Is Luna biting or licking her neck?

Luna is being a beast and basking in her glory of another successful find

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

[Lawdwaz]

I've only used Deer Search once and the tracking ended without a dead deer...........not the dogs fault but mine of course.

 

I was thoroughly impressed with the dog and handler. 

 

Hopefully I NEVER use them again. 

[outdoorstom]

Awesome dog, and thanks for your service!

Thanks, but don't let the uniform fool you...mine was blue. (retired USCG)

X-Calibur Lighting Systems

http://facebook.com/XCaliburLightingSystems

[outdoorstom]

Is Luna biting or licking her neck?

Good eye! Definitely biting. We had a tug of war dragging the deer out. Luna didn't want us taking "her" deer.

[wmig2]

That's awesome! it's great when an animal is recovered when potentially lost.

[Paula]

That's cute

[Dinsdale]

Good stuff.

Congrats to the pup and the trainer.

[outdoorstom]

I got a call last night asking us to track a bear in the Adirondack foothills. I met the hunters at 5:30 am and we got to the cabin at 6:00, started the search at 6:30.

Luna immediately got on the track and away we went. We eventually ran out of blood, and after about a quarter mile of not seeing any, I decided to go back to last blood to see if she if she took the same trail. Embarrassing as it is, I'm going to admit we got turned around and ended up walking miles until we found our way out. I carried Luna on my shoulder for a some of those miles to give her little legs a break. With no exaggeration, we easily walked 10 miles. I learned a valuable lesson and will NEVER enter the woods again without turning the gps on. After a 30 minute lunch break at the cabin, we went back to a known blood spot and started over. Luna once again went to work and we were off. After a mile on the trail with Luna still pulling hard, the hunters called it off, saying there was no way they could get it out of there if we found it. It was disappointing, but I take solace I. The fact Luna was still on it when we quit, I feel bad she didn't get to see it (and have a little chew on it) This was an 8 hour track due to our failure to turn the gps on.

I had a call this morning from a guy a few miles from my home wanting me to track a buck he gut shot last night. I told him I'd have to decline since I have an appointment this afternoon. After getting lost on the bear track, I saw I wouldn't make my appointment so I rescheduled it. I called him back and told him I would be willing to go out and try after going home to get something to eat. He shot the deer and watched it bed down, then get up and walk into a swamp. He waited until dark and snuck out. He and his Dad were there at 8:00 this morning and followed blood for a while, then spent the next 4 hours walking through the whole area. Luna got on the trail and followed past the hunters point of loss, then started circling around all through the whole area. I'm sure the scent was everywhere as the hunter and his Dad had clearly walked all through the blood. We ended up not finding it, but again Luna worked her little butt off. What a trooper....we're both going to sleep good tonight.

[jjb4900]

yeah, it's not easy doing what you're doing, I did it for a few years and to be quite honest I got burned out....my biggest problem was not saying no. I'm not sure how it is by you, but L.I. was non stop.

[outdoorstom]

I received a call from a hunter's wife this morning, telling me her husband had shot a big buck last night and couldn't find it. She said he and some friends were looking for it now. I told her to call her husband and tell him to back out and call me. The hunter reported a high shot, with a drop of blood here and there for 100 yards. They had not proceeded past the last blood marked. He suspected a one lung hit. I was encouraged by the fact they hadn't pushed the buck, and jumped in the truck to drive the 70 miles to their location. We left the hunter's buddies at the truck and went to the hit site. Luna immediately got on the correct trail and we passed his markers as we worked the trail. When we got to last blood I left the hunter there and we continued. After about a hundred yards it was clear Luna wasn't sure, so we went back to last blood to try again. This time she stayed on it, and we found the buck about 200 yards away. Luna was very pleased with herself and commenced her chewing and licking routine. To say the hunter was happy with his 11 pointer would be an understatement!

Investigation revealed the hit was only about 2 inches high. The fixed blade Muzzy had hit the top of one lung and had done a good job on the other, but was still in the deer.

[Paula]

Good find

[grampy]

Nice work! Keep it going!

[biggamefish]

She will only get better with more practice.  Looks like you have a good dog!

[outdoorstom]

She will only get better with more practice. Looks like you have a good dog!

I agree....she's a good one. Get a couple seasons under her belt and watch out!

[outdoorstom]

A hunter called at 10:00 this morning asking for help locating a mature buck he gutshot last night. He reported he and his buddies went to look for it an hour and a half after the shot, and they jumped it. I don't know why, but they didn't back out when that happened and continued looking for blood. At first light they commenced a grid search due to a steady rainfall and no chance of finding blood. Despite the 100 mile drive, I decided Luna and I would give it a shot.

We went to the hit site, but Luna didn't appear to pick up on anything. I asked the hunter to take us to the first blood found, and Luna got on the trail at that point. She stayed on it for about a 100 yards, then appeared to lose the track. As we've done before, we went back to last blood and restarted. She followed the same trail and again lost the track at the same spot. We were in a fairly open section of woods and searched the area thoroughly. At one point, Luna started tracking again but I had no idea if it was our deer or not. We went about 300 yards and came to a property line we didn't have, nor could obtain permission to enter. We had just turned around when we heard a flock of crows nearby. We located them and searched that area, with no luck. There is a creek running through the property, so I suggested we walk it. Again, nothing. It was at this point the hunter called it off, I think because we were soaked from the two torrential downpours that had happened as we searched.

Several times during this track Luna got sidetracked by chipmunks she saw. I'm taking the blame for that due to the fact I take her to our wood lot when I'm working on habitat projects, and she had been chasing them there. I hate to not take her with me, but I can't allow that to continue after seeing her distracted today.

[monkeyman2269]

That tracking job was not your fault or the dogs. Hunter error on that one

[outdoorstom]

October 14, 2015

I received a call at 6:00 tonight from a hunter only 10 miles away. He made what he thought was a high shoulder hit on a deer at 5:00 and watched it run into a tall goldenrod field. He made three passes through the field but couldn't find any blood. I got there at 6:30 and he told me as he was walking back to his truck to wait for me, he had seen fresh tracks made by a running deer in a sandy area. He followed them, saw some blood and backed out. We went to the hit site and Luna took us to the sandy area but didn't locate the blood, which the hunter had marked with blue tape. I took Luna over there and she got back on the track. I believe it was muscle blood as it was bright red, with no bubbles. There was no heavy blood and no bed was found during the track. Luna took us about 200 yards with blood, then we never saw any more. She was pulling very hard and acting completely confident for at least an hour as we followed many different trails. At one point, coyotes were howling not more than 50 or 60 yards from us. Understandably, Luna got very nervous and quit tracking until they left. I believe there's a chance they were on the deer we were tracking. 2.5 hours after starting the track, and based on the details above, I called off the search. I believe this was a non lethal hit made with a Rage broad head. I'm happy with how Luna performed on our first night track.

[Lawdwaz]

A big E for effort, good job regardless of the outcome.