Luna's Tracking Journal 2017

[outdoorstom]

10 hours ago, ApexerER said:

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?

By law they have to be on a leash and it would be impossible to handle them both at the same time.

[ApexerER]

13 hours ago, outdoorstom said:

By law they have to be on a leash and it would be impossible to handle them both at the same time.

That makes sense, thank you for answering....Enjoy reading all the stories....

[outdoorstom]

10/19

 

We went on a track this morning and got nowhere. Last night the hunter shot a 4 pointer with his 

muzzleloader but had no idea where he hit it. He found some white hair and a blood trail consisting of 3 or 4 drops and we never advanced the track despite several restarts. 

 

We went on a track this afternoon for a buck that was shot with a muzzleloader this morning. A light blood trail started about 40 yards from the hit site and went into a nearby swamp. The hunter and his friend had tracked it into the swamp and lost blood at a trail intersection. Luna quickly showed us which trail to follow and took us beyond where they had grid searched. We were in and out of swamp grass, through a small wooded area, under main electrical transmission lines, through a thick area, doubled back under the transmission lines, and went back into the swamp. We’d go a hundred yards or more without seeing blood, then find a drop, which is always nice. A couple times Luna missed a turn, but always self corrected  and got back on it. There were deep areas in the swamp and we were walking parallel with one of them when I heard a splash and saw ripples around a curve. A second later I saw antlers and I called up the hunter, who was about 20 yards behind me. He was looking for an opening to shoot when the bucks head went under water and he died shortly thereafter. The buck was in about 6’ of water and Luna was going crazy. I encouraged her to “go get it” and she jumped in and actually moved it a few feet closer to us before swimming back. She went back a second time for another sniff and I was hoping she’d climb on top of it and I could gently pull both of them to shore, but she swam back. I eventually made a loop with my leash and lassoed it. It was sure fun watching Luna’s prey drive turn her from a non swimmer to a swimmer!

Field dressing revealed a quartering to shot that caught one lung and guts. There was no exit hole. 

 

Sent from my iPhone

[Taylormike]

Amazing what they'll do to avoid capture or revealing themselves.  Keep up the great work.  I really think I can use some of these stories as lessons when tracking in the future.

[wolc123]

9 minutes ago, outdoorstom said:

10/19

 

 

It looks like the swamp is the place to be for the NZ rifle opener this weekend.   I was leaning that way anyhow, but that makes the decision a little easier.   I will start out trying to rattle them out a little. If they don't respond, I am going in.  I don't expect any natural movement, after the first half hour of daylight, with the warm weather.     

[land 1]

really enjoy reading these stories keep them coming and great job....  i would like  to have a dog like that but there would be no time for hunting....... well at least hunting for my own deer...

[Zag]

Thanks for always posting your experience with each track, I feel like a smarter Hunter after each read!

[bartman9]

Love these stories!  Keep them coming.. I learn so much from them and hope one day to be helping out fellow hunters with a K9 companion.

[outdoorstom]

10/21

 

I had a call from an old coworker I haven’t seen in 17 or 18 years. His son, 17 years old had shot an 8 pointer this morning and they had tracked for 700 yards, then lost blood in a field. Actually, this field is a range. This is a first for me....this deer was shot on a firing range. The range is 1500 yards long and at least 150 yards wide and is loaded with clover. As they were target shooting, they noticed deer stepping out downrange to browse the clover. They decided to stop shooting and sit tight to see if any bucks would show up. Sure enough, the 8 pointer appeared at 120 yards. The deer must have been angled some because we discovered later only 1 lung was hit. I started Luna at the hit site and had her track the 700 yards they had covered. Luna was all over it and had plenty of time to gather her necessary information to successfully track this deer. Once we got to the hunters point of loss, we were a good 5 minutes of Luna sweeping the field and checking runways lead into a drainage ditch that ran down the middle of the range. She eventually picked one and we finished crossing the field and went back into the thickets, which were mainly prickly ash. Lovely stuff. We had consistently been seeing blood most of the track and that continued now. This buck took us uphill, downhill, you name it....except no swamp this time. At one point, Luna started her high pitched bark indicating a live deer, but it must have been a different one because we found the buck dead a few minutes later. He took us just under a mile. The hunter of course was happy, but I think his Dad was even happier!

 

[outdoorstom]

10/23

 

I received a call last night from a hunter’s Dad telling me his son had shot a bear and they need some help. We met at 7:00 this morning and advanced the track 400 yards, then had a property line issue. We were able to get online and get a phone number for the name on the sign, but got voicemail. I had a dentist appointment at noon, so I drove the 70 miles for that. Before I arrived, I got word that we got a green light. After my appointment, Luna and I headed back. Tracking conditions had deteriorated due to temps in the 70’s and the wind had picked up. Luna got right back on it though and we were off. At this point we were still seeing some blood smeared on saplings and logs the bear had passed, but that quickly stopped and we were lucky to see a drop on swamp grass or in the woods. We were easily going hundreds of yards trusting Luna, then she would show us some as if to say” have no fear, I’ve got this”. At 1.2 miles per gps, we pulled the plug. At this point we were at the 22 hour mark since the bear was shot and it hadn’t bedded down once.

 

[outdoorstom]

10/25

 

A hunter reported shooting a deer this morning, and he and his grandfather tracked it for half a mile. He thinks he hit it in the shoulder, but pieces of bone were found making me believe a leg was also involved. The deer was bumped out of its bed twice in that half mile. They had grid searched for a couple hours before we got there. Kunox and I started at the hit site and he did a great job taking us to last blood. We ended up underneath power lines, and there were trails everywhere.  This is where the problems started. Kunox was all over the place, no doubt from blood being on their boots as they searched. We walked every trail in the area, did circles around there, and went into the nearby swampy area on the neighbors property, but found no sign or dead deer.

[BizCT]

10/21

 

I had a call from an old coworker I haven’t seen in 17 or 18 years. His son, 17 years old had shot an 8 pointer this morning and they had tracked for 700 yards, then lost blood in a field. Actually, this field is a range. This is a first for me....this deer was shot on a firing range. The range is 1500 yards long and at least 150 yards wide and is loaded with clover. As they were target shooting, they noticed deer stepping out downrange to browse the clover. They decided to stop shooting and sit tight to see if any bucks would show up. Sure enough, the 8 pointer appeared at 120 yards. The deer must have been angled some because we discovered later only 1 lung was hit. I started Luna at the hit site and had her track the 700 yards they had covered. Luna was all over it and had plenty of time to gather her necessary information to successfully track this deer. Once we got to the hunters point of loss, we were a good 5 minutes of Luna sweeping the field and checking runways lead into a drainage ditch that ran down the middle of the range. She eventually picked one and we finished crossing the field and went back into the thickets, which were mainly prickly ash. Lovely stuff. We had consistently been seeing blood most of the track and that continued now. This buck took us uphill, downhill, you name it....except no swamp this time. At one point, Luna started her high pitched bark indicating a live deer, but it must have been a different one because we found the buck dead a few minutes later. He took us just under a mile. The hunter of course was happy, but I think his Dad was even happier!

 

Just curious, why is the kid wearing makeup if he was at the range? Lol


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[outdoorstom]

3 hours ago, Biz-R-OWorld said:

 

Just curious, why is the kid wearing makeup if he was at the range? Lol


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That's a good question.....i dont know. 

[outdoorstom]

 

10/26

 

I received a call last night from a hunter who had shot a nice 8 point earlier in the evening. He said the buck mule kicked when shot, then ran a short distance and left his field of vision. He waited 20 minutes to climb down, then located a couple of drops of dark blood near the woods. He and 2 friends grid searched the woods and were unable to find any more blood. The dark blood made me think liver, so we decided to track at first light. 

We searched where the buck had been standing, looking for hair, blood, bone, anything to help us determine where he had been hit. We came up empty and walked the few yards to where the blood was. Luna sniffed the blood and set off through the woods, she only had about 5 yards to learn the deers scent. I let her take me at least 300 yards with no sign, then took her back for a restart. She took me in the same general direction, so again we went in deep. We did many restarts, went to a couple bedding areas and snooped around, got permission from two neighbors and walked their property, all with negative results. I called it quits at about the 3 hour mark. 

I received a call from the hunter about 4 hours later.  To his credit (which I congratulated him on) he and a friend had gone back out to look some more. They jumped a buck in a bedding area but were unable to get a good look at it. They found the bed and just enough blood in it to confirm it was the buck they were looking for. It ran off strong and they never saw it again. I told him this long after the shot, 20 hours, and the buck is that strong it likely will survive. 

The wind was obviously wrong for Luna to scent the bedded buck or he wasn’t there when we walked through. The hunter said we had been very close.

I have a feeling he’s going to get another crack at him. 

 

[biggamefish]

What happenedto all the good stories? Hope all is well

Edited November 3, 2017 by biggamefish

[Rebel Darling]

What happenedto all the good stories? Hope all is well

I was recently thinking the same thing.

Sending warm wishes as well.


I'm all thumbs when using Tapatalk

[2012_taco]

I don't mean to derail this thread, I really enjoy these reports/stories. BUT...

Last night I shot a buck and waited an hour and started tracking. It was dark and the blood trail was not good. I know it was a high hit, broadside at 15 yds. I saw the arrow hanging out the opposite side as it ran off. I didn't see any blood until about 40yds. where I found my arrow. Almost 30 yds to next blood and another 30 blood. He ran right down a mowed lane but there is a lot of water and I just could not find any blood. I went about another 100 yds to a big ditch and didn't see any sign of a crossing or any blood. I was thinking I may have to call deer search but I was afraid it was a lost cause. I headed back to where I had last blood and luckily I found more blood! then some more and blood with bubbles in it! I don't know how I missed it the first time. The buck left the lane and I found it piled up 30 yds. later in the thick stuff.  Nice 8 pt. weighed 155 on my scale. Thank God. I seriously believe reading this blog kept me at it. Thanks, Outdoorstom!!

[outdoorstom]

Just got back from hunting in northern Maine.  No luck, but had a great time still hunting skidder roads and clear cuts.  Saw 2 bull moose and 2 does. Also, we had 3 Amish farms to hunt, one with standing corn and beautiful fields of clover.  I'm at a total loss as to why there was not one track in that corn, and in 3 watches only saw one doe in the clover.   I know Maine has nowhere near the deer numbers we do, but they don't like corn?

Back to tracking tomorrow if I get a call.

 

[outdoorstom]

11/7

 

We went on three tracks today, but only recovered 1 deer.

 

A hunter called this morning and reported shooting an 8 pointer last night, then he and 3 friends tracked it for a couple hundred yards before losing blood. The 4 of them then grid searched for a couple hours. This morning, 2 of them searched for 2 more hours before calling me. It was reported there were bubbles in the blood.  We got on the track and Luna followed the blood, then turned into a thicket. The first thing I saw was chest high blood smeared on a sapling. The hunter had been on the ground when he shot, it now looked like the lung shot turned into a high back shot just like that. We continued on and  I was pleasantly surprised when Luna only took a minute or two to get us past the point of loss. Unfortunately, we only advanced the track another 50 yards or so before losing it. Multiple restarts did no good, and after walking a couple areas we called it.

 

A second call had come in 70 miles from the first, so off we went. The hunter reported shooting a big buck, then unfortunately had jumped it twice in a briar thicket. He had been unable to find any blood at all. Luna and I went into the thicket with me carrying her because it was too thick for her to get through the prickers. We could not find any blood either, so we headed off in the direction the hunter had seen the deer go.  After about half an hour, we found a tiny drop of blood in a nearby cornfield and Luna locked on. We found a total of 3 drops of blood and a small piece of fat on this 2 mile plus track. This deer circled and doubled back repeatedly. After an hour and a half of this, I told the hunter I believed we were not going to recover this deer and I was pulling the plug.  We started walking out and I had a change of heart.  I remembered reading that sometimes an extra half hour can make the difference before success and failure, so I told the hunter I wanted to go back to last blood for one more try.  Luna took us on the loopy loops again, going by the ribbons we had marked blood and fat with, then this time took us a different direction into the corn. We never saw any more blood but let her take us through the corn and into a woodlot.  We continued, and I have to admit that doubts were creeping in when the hunter spotted him limping off, but couldn't get a shot.  Luna started her high pitched bark and I told the hunter to stay close and we took off at a trot. We played cat and mouse for half an hour with him taking us through thickets, then back into the corn. He eventually left the corn and started through an open pasture where the hunter was able to end the deer's suffering. It turns out he was shot in the front leg.

 

The third and final track of the day came as we were on the second track. I took tired Luna home and picked up fresh, raring to go, Kunox. The hunter reported shooting a big 8 pointer in a field this morning, then saw him go through a hedgerow.  Unfortunately, neither the hit site nor the exit from the field were marked and poor Kunox never had anything to get him started. We never found any hair or blood. We walked different trails for 500 to 600 yards with no results.  We walked through a neighboring woodlot where a hunter had shot at and missed the same buck, all to no avail. To make matters worse it was now dark and deer were in the field. 3 or 4 times Kunox started his barking, indicating he was on live deer. We eventually called off the track.

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by outdoorstom

[outdoorstom]

11/8

 

A friend shot a buck last night and Kunox and I tracked it this morning. There were a couple drops found right where it entered the woods and Kunox headed up the trail, showing us a few drops here and there. About 75 yards in, he abruptly took a sharp right turn onto a different trail. 25 yards later he showed us this fine 6 point. I was really happy for him....he needed a find.

I have no idea why pics posted on this site get turned.....nowhere else does this happen.

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by outdoorstom

[outdoorstom]

11/9

Luna and I went up to the beautiful Adirondacks this afternoon to look for a buck that was shot this morning. It was reported as a shoulder shot, but turned out to be a gut shot. Nothing had been marked and the hunter was uncertain of the hit site location. We had to start at some blood on a skid road and had 50 yards or less of blood, plus one bed. The hunter reported seeing a total of 4 beds as he tracked it earlier before losing blood. He and his buddy grid searched for three hours. They must have been careful not to step in blood because Luna sailed right through the search area. We ended up going a couple hundred yards and I commented that it would be nice to see some blood. The hunter asked me if I thought she was on it and I said definitely. We went another twenty five yards down a hill toward the river and there he lay. It was great seeing the big smile on this retired Army veterans face. Thank you for your service, Carl!

[DanielT]

Tom and Luna ...what a team...awesome...
And we all thank you for your service sir...
There pic is flipped
Love this thread

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[outdoorstom]

7 hours ago, DanielT said:

Tom and Luna ...what a team...awesome...
And we all thank you for your service sir...
There pic is flipped
Love this thread

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G891A using Tapatalk
 

Thanks Daniel. How'd you flip it?

 

[outdoorstom]

11/10

 

#1

I received a call from a hunter that shot an 8 pointer as he was on his way out of the woods this morning.  He found a little blood but was only able to track it a very short distance before the blood stopped.  Kunox and I got on it and advanced the track a hundred yards or so, then he was acting unsure so we did a restart at last blood. He went a different way this time, into a thicket. After a short distance he started barking, telling me he had found a live deer.  We advanced and found a small amount of blood, then he started pulling hard.  We left the thicket and headed down a trail in what I thought was hot pursuit.  After a short distance, Kunox looked back at me twice within a couple steps, as if to say "is this the way you want me to go?" I stopped him and we went back to last blood and restarted. He chose a different direction  this time and showed me a small drop of blood, but we never saw anymore after that. We went up through someone's yard and it appeared the deer had crossed the road. I believe this deer was not seriously wounded....he didn't even bed down in the thicket, there was hardly any blood loss, and he was able to stay way ahead of us.  Kunox did a great job and is really coming along nicely. He is definitely easier to read than Luna was at that stage in her tracking career. 

 

#2

 

I received a call when I was on my way to track #1 from a hunter that had shot an 8 pointer this morning.  He thought he had missed it when he was unable to find any blood, but his Dad and and Grandpa went back with him to look some more. They ended up finding some good blood, but lost the trail after 100 yards or so. I went home and dropped Kunox off and picked up Luna. We met the hunter and began a long walk into the woods. Luna quickly took us to the point of loss and made short work of finding new blood. She led us to the edge of a swamp and headed in. She had a few minutes of difficulty locating the line due to deep water, so I had to carry her to different locations and put her down to check them out. While doing this, I ended up filling both my boots with icy water, with the air temperature in the 20's.  I emptied my boots out once Luna had picked a line on drier land, and away we went. We were seeing sporadic blood, and after a few hundred yards Luna started barking and we were off to the races. As we continued, the blood trail increased and was easy to see.  About 300 yards into this stage of the track, I realized we were still on big tracks, but there was no blood and the stride was way too long. Luna had switched deer on me and not missed a beat.  I picked her up and we backtracked until we found blood, and she started over. We had gone less than 50 yards when the hunter spotted him bedded down. He was still alive, so we finished him.  We were deep in the woods, surrounded by swamp at this point. My feet had been wet for at least an hour, so I told the hunter we needed to take some quick pictures, get our gps coordinates,  and get out before the sun goes down.  We ended up walking through a 1/2 mile of swamp, often mid thigh or higher on the way out.  When I could no longer feel my feet, I was actually starting to get concerned we had put ourselves into a dangerous situation. We finally made it to a road about 30 minutes before sunset and flagged a truck down and got a ride back to our trucks.

 

[biggamefish]

Those dogs are awsome. Great job!