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Luna's Tracking Journal 2016

outdoorstom

By outdoorstom,
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10/14 - I received a call this afternoon from a hunter who reported shooting a doe last night with his crossbow. He tracked her across a long field, then stopped when she went into some thick stuff. H

outdoorstom
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Oct 3 - I had a call last night from a hunter that shot a 7 pointer. He said the deer moved just as he released and the arrow hit way back. The good news is the buck was quartering away. He stated the

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10/9 - I went on a track tonight for a hunter that reported he gutshot a doe at 4:30 this afternoon. Due to how quickly coyotes have been finding deer around here, I arrived 4 hours later at 8:30. Lun

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10/14 - I received a call this afternoon from a hunter who reported shooting a doe last night with his crossbow. He tracked her across a long field, then stopped when she went into some thick stuff. He went back this morning and slowly advanced the track, then marked last blood and called me when he could know longer follow it. Luna followed the track to the hunters point of loss and was just starting to go beyond when she shut right down. It was like a switch had been turned and she refused to go further. It was when she started licking her paw that I realized she had picked up a ton of burrs in all of them. I informed the hunter I was going to pull the plug and take Luna home. He was very gracious, understanding completely. While removing the burrs I discovered Luna had cut a paw and earned herself a couple days off. I received a call from the hunter a few hours later informing me he had found the doe about 150 yards from where we stopped. I really like how this determined, ethical hunter never gave up or had the "it's just a doe" attitude that is sometimes seen. 


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10/17 I was called this evening by a bow hunter who reported a high hit on an 8 pointer. He couldn't find any blood, and after one loop, backed out and called me. Luna hasn't worked in a few days due to a sore paw and acting lethargic yesterday. Today she was acting normal, which was very obvious when she got excited as she heard me interviewing the hunter. 
We started at the hit site, and after a minute or two, Luna started off through a field in the direction the hunter watched the deer go. She took a trail into the woods and we soon spotted blood. We ended up in a thick swampy area and Luna worked it like a champ. I lost count of how many times it was too thick for her to walk through and she'd stop and look back at me, asking for a lift. After 3/4 of a mile, Luna focused in on an area that was even thicker than the rest and started air scenting. She would try to go in, but couldn't penetrate the thick brush and swamp grass. I picked her up and waded in, as Luna started getting excited it was obvious we were close. I told the hunter his buck was in there, so he started searching too. After just a couple minutes, he hollered he found it. Unfortunately, the coyotes had already worked on the hindquarters. This was only 4 hours after the shot. His shot wasn't very high, but was back and had hit the liver.

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LET EM GROW Experienced

LET EM GROW

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On 10/3/2016 at 6:15 PM, grampy said:

I too followed your adventures with Luna last year and enjoyed them very much! You two are a great team! I wish you safe tracking and much success! Thank you for your time and dedication to other hunters!

Could not have said it better myself!! I had to call a dog for my archery buck last year, first time ever doing so. I enjoyed watching that dog work, and how excited he was when he found him. Look forward to following all of these stories.. Best of luck to both of you!

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10/20 - I got up at 5:20 this morning and saw I missed a call at 11:00 last night. I sent a text, then spoke with a hunter who had shot a buck with his muzzleloader last night. He reported he and a friend had tracked close to a mile, then backed off when they saw the deer stand up and hobble off. We started the track at good blood, at about the halfway point from last night. Luna locked on it and stayed on  it. A couple times the hunter told me the deer had gone a different direction but I told him I trusted Luna's nose and we continued without blood. A few hundred yards beyond where they saw him last night, we found the four pointer bedded down, still alive. I shot him with my 3.57 and he jumped up and ran off. We tracked him about another 100 yards to the bank of a river and I finished him there.

While on the way to the first track I got a call from a hunter I met briefly earlier this year while tracking for his friend. He shot a bear with his muzzleloader last night, and he and his Dad searched until midnight, then ran out of blood. This track was only 20 miles from the first one and we headed right over after finding the 4 pointer. We started at the hit sight and Luna made short work of getting to the hunters point of loss. Luna took us 400 yards beyond there without blood, then I finally spotted a drop on a leaf. Another 150 yards and I spotted the bear 75 - 100 yards in front of us, still alive and looking back at us. I called the hunter up and he shot at it, but it took off running. We caught up with it a short distance later and he finished it. 
I'd say Luna had a good morning......a deer and a bear by 9:15!

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