Luna's Tracking Journal 2017

[ApexerER]

Here is to a speedy recovery! Poor little guy

[chas0218]

Sucks to hear about the injuries on both dogs. Love hearing the stories. Had a beagle get into a porcupine, we used a set of dykes and cut the tops of the quill and pulled them out using pliers. He just sat there like you said never whimpered. That dog was tough but man was he gun shy, you just get the gun out and he was hiding under the bed.

[grampy]

Ouch!!!!   That hunter went above, and way beyond, with his compassion and concern for Kunox. That is a stand up guy right there. A big thumbs up to him. Hope he gets the biggest deer of his life this year! And hoping that Kunox feels better real soon! And you too! As no doubt it was all just as tough on you, out there. And hope Luna is back to herself quickly as well.

[growalot]

So sorry for the little guy and so glad he still has his eye sight!...We tend to forget just how dangerous the woods can be ...especially when one needs to get their nose in someones "living room "  Good guy Mark.

We also forget about the handler...when the guy came out for my buck and decided we needed to do a second day( it had gotten picked up by then) We went into the Nastiest swamp areas and wild rose...the dog was fine but a year later we talked and he had told me of a leg puncture he had gotten and not realized it until getting home..it took a very long time to heel. The 100.00 I donated to him surely wasn't nearly enough...I give you guys all the credit in the world..it's not easy...AT ALL

[growalot]

BTW that was heal ...not heel

[outdoorstom]

10/10

 

At 9:00, Kunox and I went on a track for a doe shot at 5:00. The hunter said it was an extreme quartering away shot and the arrow was completely inside her. He had marked last blood. When I got there we drove into the field and the hunter said he had just seen eyes and it looked like it bedded down in the field. We scanned the fairly small hayfield but there was no deer there. He also stated there were 10 deer in the field when he shot. The hit site wasn't marked, so we worked the area and Kunox picked up some blood. He methodically worked that field......back and forth and kept picking up blood the hunter hadn't seen, and we ended up in the treeline. This is where the hunter had seen blood and marked it. We ended up going past the point of loss and into a cornfield. We found three drops within 10 yards of each other. Kunox was unable to show us anymore and was going in all different directions, I believe on hot lines.  The cornfield has a huge weed problem, with weeds being waist high in some areas. We worked through this area with no luck. We called it at midnight with plans to come back at 8:00 after he took his kids to school. 

This morning we went back to last blood and again Kunox was all over the place. I did several restarts with no results. The hunter found some more blood as we worked an area nearby, just as we found the doe about thirty yards away in the grass. We were really close last night and I'm surprised we didn't find her. Great learning experience for Kunox though!  Speaking of learning, or should I say "not learning", we saw another porcupine last night and with a strong grip on the lead, I took Kunox over there to see what he would do. He went into attack mode.

The hunter shot the doe from the ground, and the arrow ran along the spine. We could not find an exit hole, but also couldn't find the arrow in the deer. He's going to let me know what happened to the arrow when he skins the deer out. No major organs were hit.

 

[outdoorstom]

10/11

 

Kunox and I went on a 6 hour old track today. The hunter did everything right.....when the blood started getting hard to find, he backed out and called us. This was a perfect track for inexperienced Kunox. The deer was almost directly beneath the hunter who was 15' up in the tree and his pass through shot took out a lung on the way through. There was lots of blood on the trail initially, which of course was no problem for Kunox. As it started to disappear, he did miss a turn. I let him go about 75 yards to see if he'd correct himself, but he didn't so I carried him back. He at once locked on and stayed on. The blood stopped but Kunox kept going and 50 yards later we found the deer. Total length of the track was 250 yards.

 

Poor Luna has an infection in her paw from a pricker. Warm water and Edson salt twice a day, and an antibiotic. My wife is taking her to NH tomorrow until Tuesday to see the kids. Poor girl doesn't understand why she can't take part in the fun.

[biggamefish]

Good job you two!

[Cabin Fever]

Tom, I certainly admire your commitment! You, Luna, and Kunox are providing a great service. God knows you're not doing this for the money, but I sure hope guys compensate you well for your gas and time. 

[doebuck1234]

Love it!!!

[outdoorstom]

10/12

 

Kunox and I took a track tonight where the hunter didn't know where his arrow had hit the deer, and he had not found the arrow. First blood was found about 50 yards away, and there was very little of it.  It took a while, but Kunox advanced the track another 50 yards to the edge of large deep swamp.  End of story.

 

 

[outdoorstom]

10/13

I had a call at 7:00 this evening from a hunter who had shot a buck with his crossbow. He said the shot looked good on the entry side, but the exit was low and he saw something hanging out as it ran off. Based on what he told me, I was thinking he caught one lung, although he didn't see any bubbles in the blood. We got on the trail and it was initially easy to follow, but got tougher as we went. Kunox did great, but did need a couple restarts along the way. He eventually took us to a huge swamp and really wanted to go in. We walked the banks and a trail that led to a beaver dam, but never saw any sign. We went back to last blood and he again was pulling to go into the water. There were two boats there that are used for bird hunting and I told the hunter I wanted to go out in one and look around. He was surprised, but we set sail in the canoe. After working a narrow channel in the direction Kunox was showing me, we didn't see anything and turned around and headed to another channel that ran perpendicular with the first one. As we were paddling, the hunter spotted the 4 pointer floating in the water. Kunox didn't see the deer right away, but his nose was in overdrive! He finally saw it and I had real concerns about him jumping out of the canoe onto the deer's back. It turns out the shot was further back and caught the liver on the way through.

[doebuck1234]

Great story.never sieze to amaze me with ur drive!!

[outdoorstom]

10/14

 

Our first track today was for a 5 pointer that was shot with a muzzleloader in a cut cornfield.  After the shot, the buck ran to the edge of the field and stood a while, then walked off. The hunter found decent, not great, blood where the deer stood. He followed the bloodtrail through some tall grass until it came to a wide creek. At this point he went and got a canoe, crossed the creek and saw some blood, then lost it and called me. He marked it and backed right out.

I took Kunox into the corn field to try and locate the hit site, but we were unable to pinpoint it. Kunox did show me blood in the field, then followed it to the creek edge where we took the canoe across. He took us past the hunters point of loss where we would see an occasional tiny spot on the ground. We continued to the neighboring property and a phone call gained us access. After 1/2 a mile, no blood to speak of, and no wound bed, we called it off.

 

On the second track today Kunox did an outstanding job, but I didn't do my part. The hunter reported the deer hunching up when shot with the muzzleloader, a sign of a gutshot.  I told him we'd wait 8 hours then go track him. For several reasons (none of them good enough) I called him back and said we'll go after 6 hours. We got there and the hunter had done his part...he had only gone in the woods about 20 or 30 feet and had seen some blood on a leaf, marked it and left. Kunox had a hard time getting a line on this one, but eventually did after a couple restarts. Once he was on it, he was ON it!  100 yards into the track, we jumped the buck and he took off. He wasn't moving the best and it was obvious he was hurt. This is where I made my second biggest mistake of the day. I thought he was injured worse than he was and instead of backing out and giving him more time, I thought we could get close enough for a killing shot. 3 miles later and I realized how wrong I was. We ended up seeing him standing broadside 150-200 yards on the other side of a swamp as we came out of the woods. Tough shot for a muzzleloader that was sighted in for 50 yards.....it was a miss.  We walked all the way around the swamp to the field on the other side and after some searching, Kunox once again did his job and showed us blood. We tracked the buck another 400 yards from there, across a road and onto the neighboring property. We went a distance onto that property then pulled the plug. I learned some lessons the hard way on this track and will not forget them. 

 

[outdoorstom]

10/15

 

Today was a disappointing day. 1 deer track, 1 bear track, 0 recoveries. Kunox did advance both tracks.

 

Conditions were far from favorable. The bear track was in the mountains and we decided it wasn't a good idea to be out there when the wind blew a tree over.

 

When Kunox got out of the truck I noticed he was limping as we walked to the house. Pads on both back paws are skinned up and he needs some recovery time. Luna gets back from Club Med on Tuesday so we'll be back in business Tuesday night.

 

[Taylormike]

She's a trooper, so are you.  Time for you both to rest!

[Fletch]

You guys are getting a work out this season! Speedy recovery pups!


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[The_Real_TCIII]

This thread is my favorite thing on the internet. Second favorite maybe. You're a true friend to NY sportsman

[outdoorstom]

10/17

 

Luna's back!  2 hours after she got back from NH, we were out on a track. The hunter reported a misfire with his muzzleloader, he  put a new cap on and touched it off again. This time there was a delay, but it fired. The smoke blew directly back at him so he didn't know where it went. He found some brown hair and a little meat at the hit site, but couldn't find blood so he called us. Luna made short work of this track. We headed out of the food plot and down a trail. We had marked two drops of blood in 50 yards and the next thing I know Luna is chewing on the tail of an 8 pointer. This would have been a good track for Kunox to get more experience on, but Luna was sure a happy girl!

[Taylormike]

You both deserve an easy track, way to go Luna!

[outdoorstom]

10/18

 

I had a call from a very distraught bowhunter last night. He had climbed out of his tree due to high winds and had ended up shooting a doe from the ground.  Unfortunately it was a gutshot. He did what us trackers love...he backed out immediately and put absolutely no pressure on the deer. We were there at first light this morning and Luna immediately walked us 125 yards through the woods to the dead deer. She died in her first bed due to the hunter being smart about it. I had to laugh when he told me I'm the reason he was over his data plan. Apparently he gets up in his stand and reads tracking stories. As we drove home I told Luna not to tell Kunox where we'd been. Pretty sure he figured it out for himself though.

[grampy]

Great work from all involved! Go Luna!

[ApexerER]

Great work! I don't know anything about dog tracking...Is there a reason you can't bring them both on a track? Would they interrupt each other?

[growalot]

I love that pic. lip smacking good!...Great job guys...

[hunterdan44]

Outstanding! Love to read about your tracking.


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