Luna's Tracking Journal 2017

[TACC]

Wow great job again.

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[grampy]

Good things happen when you have an exceptional dog and handler working as a team! Great work Tom and Luna!

[outdoorstom]

Thanks everyone.......this is just as much fun as hunting! 

[growalot]

Excellent reads...Have you ever thought of putting these all together and writing a book. between the photos and your writing you could end up with a real hit....Thanks it is an education and adventure in every post...

[outdoorstom]

12 hours ago, growalot said:

Excellent reads...Have you ever thought of putting these all together and writing a book. between the photos and your writing you could end up with a real hit....Thanks it is an education and adventure in every post...

That might happen sometime in the future. Need a few more seasons of tracking first. Glad you enjoy them!

[outdoorstom]

 

This morning I went to track a 6 pointer that was shot last night. The hunter and his father had tracked it last night for close to 200 yards, lost blood and grid searched. Luna had some difficulty with this track from the start. Several times early on she got off the known line and I had to take her back to it. The last 100 yards she was locked on until we hit the hunters point of loss. We were in an area that was logged off a few years and it was extremely thick. After Luna lost it, we worked circles for a good two hours, but never advanced the track. The blood was high on the vegetation.....I won't be surprised to hear this one is still alive.

[outdoorstom]

10/4

 

Luna and I tracked a 6 pointer for a 13 year old hunter tonight, but unfortunately we did not recover him. There was no visible blood at the hunters point of loss due to heavy downpours. Luna took a trail in the general direction they thought the deer had gone and we followed it for 200 yards. She wasn't pulling hard like she usually does when she's sure, so I decided to do a restart. We went back and started over and she once again took that trail so this time we continued on. About 50 yards past where I had pulled her off it, I saw a tiny drop of blood. When will I learn not to doubt her??? We continued on for a couple hundred more yards and ended up at a stream where the hunter spotted a drop of blood on the bank.  In we went and even though we didn't find the deer, it was amazing watching Luna work. We walked up and down the stream where it wasn't too deep and Luna would sniff each rock as we went by. We left the stream to check trails, and on her own, Luna would walk up a trail about 10 yards snorting like a little pig as she was trying to find the scent. Back she would come and do it again on the next trail. I believe the buck went for some distance in the stream and we never found where he came out.

[outdoorstom]

10/5

 

I received a call from a hunter last night telling me he had shot a six point, had waited an hour to start tracking, but unfortunately heavy rain moved in. He was unable to find any blood, didn't have a direction of travel, and was not able to find the arrow. We were not able to track until 4:00 this afternoon due to his work commitments. We started in the field he had shot the buck in , but Luna was not able to pick up on anything. We started walking trails in the hopes of having her find something to show us a direction. We encountered a porcupine shortly after starting and waited a minute as it climbed a tree. Luna was obsessed with it and took a few minutes to refocus. Twice as we worked the area Luna started tracking live deer, evidenced by her barking. We never picked up on anything and called it after and hour and a half.

[doebuck1234]

You two are very busy so far.great reading as always!

[outdoorstom]

10/7

 

I was called this evening about a 4 pointer that had been shot an hour and a half earlier. The 13 year old had shot the buck at 25 yards and he and his Dad had waited an hour before tracking. They found that some of the bright red blood had bubbles in it, and followed it for 150 yards before losing it and grid searching.  Luna quickly took me to the point of loss, then worked the area for 3 or 4 minutes before showing me the direction. This was confirmed by a little blood. We started seeing sporadic blood, most with no bubbles, as we moved on. The blood slowed down until it finally dried up. I realized we were chasing a live deer when two separate times Luna began pulling very hard and barking. We pushed the deer for 600 yards but never got close enough to see it and called the track.

[outdoorstom]

10/7

 

When I got up this morning I had a message from a hunter who had shot a big six last night. He had watched it for over an hour while it bedded down, out of range. He even took a picture though his binoculars of it. It eventually headed his way and he shot it, hitting the shoulder. The hunter tracked it last night until finding a bed in an open field, then losing blood. He was back with help this morning and had advanced the trail a short distance, then lost blood. I went back and forth on taking this one due to it being a shoulder hit with 6 or 7 inches of penetration. I eventually told him if he found more blood to mark it, back out, and call me. It wasn't 5 minutes later and he called back saying he had found more.

We arrived and due to rain moving in, started at the bed in the field instead of the hit site. Luna quickly took us to the point of loss and led us across the road where we went through an open field and into a brushy area. We found a couple tiny drops of blood, actually smears on vegetation and she took me onto a grassy lane. We went down to within 10 yards or so of the end of the lane which led to another field, and I misread Luna. She was acting nonchalant about it and I doubted her. That was my mistake, I'm still sometimes not reading her properly. I'm hoping this one helps get it through my thick skull to TRUST YOUR DOG! We spent a good hour on wild goose chases after the restart, going different directions. Finally we ended up at the corner again and I let her continue. Sure enough, there was some blood there where he made a turn, walking along with an open field on his right and heavy brush, cedar, and swampy areas on the left. We walked 150 yards on the edge and Luna cut in. We went into a swampy area and we jumped him. The bed was dry, indicating he'd spent some time there, but had a little blood in it. We never saw him, but found a small amount of fresh blood leading out into the woods, with Luna barking and us in hot pursuit. We could see his tracks, with long strides and no stumbling. We got to a property line where we didn't have permission to enter. Rather than trying to get permission to enter, based on him still being so strong 16 hours after the shot, I called off the track. We ended up over a half mile from where he was shot.

[BowmanMike]

Great job again you two. Anf I feel for the hunter,I would have had a hard time staying calm when drawn back on that buck. Sounds like he will survive it and be harder to catch again...

[zeus1gdsm]

Love this thread!

Thanks for keeping it going for another year

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[outdoorstom]

10/8

 

Today was a busy day. My wife, Geri, and I drove to Berne (near Albany) to take John and Jolanta Jeanneney up on their generous offer of loaning us 4 year old Kunox. We had a very nice 2 hour visit, then headed home to face the music with Luna. Kunox has had training on tracking deer, but has never been on an actual track. I told my wife how cool it would be to get a call tonight and have him find his first deer. Luna is a little puzzled about the intruder who keeps trying to hump her, but they'll figure it all out in the next few days.

 

At 8:00 the phone rang with a hunter asking for Luna by name. I told him Luna has the day off due to her injury, but I do have an inexperienced dog I'd love to bring over if he likes. He agreed and told me he was hunting from the ground and had made a good shot on a nice buck, had good blood, then lost it. They had looked around for about a 100 yards, then called. I told them to mark last blood and back out. It turned out the track was only 1 mile from my house...gotta love that. 

 

We walked back to first blood since the hit site wasn't marked and started there. I told Kunox to "find it" and off he went. There was a substantial trail to follow and he mostly stayed on it. He missed some turns but corrected himself most times. When he didn't I took him back to last blood and restarted him.There were a few times where the blood dried up for 40 or 50 yards and Kunox methodically worked it out and found more. He was a very determined boy! We crossed two creeks and he dove in without hesitation. The track ended up being a mile long and I dispatched the gutshot buck at the end of it. The long drag out started then, with Kunox chewing the deer the whole time. He was not overly possessive as he showed no signs of aggression when I tested him several times by picking him up and walking away from the deer. He's a very good boy! It was an honor to handle him on his first track and first find!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[biggamefish]

Awesome!  It sounds like you mIght be trying for a litter?

[grampy]

Sending out a huge conratulations to Kunox on his first find! He is very lucky to have such an awesome handler to work with! Wish I knew you were coming to John and Jolanta's, would have loved to meet you! As I live close by. I will be out of tracking this year, for the most part, as I'm dealing with a medical issue. But my hunting partner, and life long friend, Gary and his daughter Nikki are taking calls with Xola, and using a couple of the Jenneney dogs as well. You have a dynamic duo now! And yes, they "will work it out", even competing some for, "who gets to go". But no doubt they will complement each other nicely as each will have their own strong points. Wishing you continued success! Keep safe out there!

[outdoorstom]

10/9

 

Luna and I went on a track this morning for a young hunter that shot a doe at 7:00 am. We arrived at 8:45 and the hunter told me the doe was at 25 yards in the field when he shot her from a ground blind. I asked him to pretend Luna was a deer and had him point to the spot he hit her. He pointed directly behind her front leg, indicating a perfect hit. He went on to state she had made a big loop in the field, entered the woods, and he heard her crash. The hunter was able to kind of show the general area the doe had been standing when shot and Luna went the opposite way from where she had gone after the hit. She hadn't been alone, I think we were following one of the other deer. I took Luna to the edge of the woods where I walked her along until she picked a trail and took off. 200 yards later we found an arrow with only a couple inches missing from the broadhead end. We entered a swale and Luna gave a couple high pitched barks and started pulling hard. It had been, and still was, raining very heavily so we never saw any blood but there was no doubt we were on her. We continued for another 300 yards until we had a property line issue. A phone call went unanswered and voicemail had not been set up. End of the line. On the way out I had a candid discussion with the hunter about the pitfalls of bow hunting in the rain, especially when 1-2" is called for, like today. I believe he now thinks it's a bad idea.

[outdoorstom]

2 hours ago, biggamefish said:

Awesome!  It sounds like you mIght be trying for a litter?

Nope, Luna is fixed.

[outdoorstom]

2 hours ago, grampy said:

Sending out a huge conratulations to Kunox on his first find! He is very lucky to have such an awesome handler to work with! Wish I knew you were coming to John and Jolanta's, would have loved to meet you! As I live close by. I will be out of tracking this year, for the most part, as I'm dealing with a medical issue. But my hunting partner, and life long friend, Gary and his daughter Nikki are taking calls with Xola, and using a couple of the Jenneney dogs as well. You have a dynamic duo now! And yes, they "will work it out", even competing some for, "who gets to go". But no doubt they will complement each other nicely as each will have their own strong points. Wishing you continued success! Keep safe out there!

It was a last minute decision to go for Kunox. I'm taking him back in December....we'll have coffee then and I'll bring Luna so you can meet her. Hope you're back on your feet soon!

Edited October 9, 2017 by outdoorstom

[dbHunterNY]

always enjoy the stories.  you sure do keep busy Tom!

[DanielT]

Great work both of you

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[outdoorstom]

10/9  #2

 

I took Kunox on a track tonight for a doe that was shot this evening. It sounded like a great one for him to get more experience on.....bubbles in the blood. We were about 5 minutes into it when he went under a deadfall and a few seconds later I started hearing a commotion. I thought he had found the doe and she was still alive. I quickly made my way around and ducked under to get a look. All I could see were quills everywhere. I pulled Kunox out and he had a face full.  This brave guy never so much as whimpered.....talk about stoic! The hunter, Mark Henophy, and I hustled out of the woods and Mark drove us to the vet. Kunox was put under and the quills were pulled. I want to publicly acknowledge Mark for being a stand up guy and paying the vet bill! Thank you!

[BizCT]

Yikes. Hope he’s ok

[Zag]

I showed my 9yr old and he said awww dad why did you show me that, poor dog looks sad. Hope for a speedy recovery.

[Buckmaster7600]

Poor pup! Had a lab beagle get into some quills while rabbit hunting years ago, I know what that after hours vet bill cost. Hope he has a speedy recovery!


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