Luna and Kunox's Tracking Journal 2018

[outdoorstom]

10/19/18

#1

I went on a track this morning for a buck that was shot with a muzzleloader last night. They had followed blood for 200 yards, 30 minutes after the shot. After losing blood, 3 people grid searched. We arrived this morning and Luna quickly took us to the hunters point of loss, then spent a good 15-20 minutes unraveling the grid searched area. She eventually chose a trail in the swamp grass, and we saw a tiny spot of blood as we went along. That was the last blood we saw during this .79 mile track.  We had only gone about 75 yards when we went by a trail to our right, but Luna put on the brakes and went back to it. As we started up it, the buck jumped up and took off. It happened so quickly the hunter could not get a shot off.  We were only 10’ from the buck in the tall swamp grass, but were unable to see where he had been hit.  We continued after it, and as I was ducking under some limbs, the hunter saw him take off up ahead of us. He said it was definitely moving slower, so off we went again. The next time I saw him, he was bedded down 40 yards ahead of us. I held Luna there and the hunter got into position and made a killing shot. This 9 pointer had been hit in 1 lung and the liver. He was still alive 15 hours later!

The hunter’s 3 year old son had been with his Dad in the blind last night, and came outside to thank me for finding their deer.  Very cute kid!

 

#2

I took Kunox on the second track this morning. The hunter had shot a buck this morning with his muzzleloader, and found two drops of bright red blood 100 yards from the hit site. Kunox took a while to pick a direction, but eventually took us into a thick area where he alerted on a live deer. We followed for a long way, never seeing blood, and determined the track was too small to be our deer. We went back and did a restart. Kunox this time started to take me toward a standing corn field, when all of a sudden he started yelping in pain. I ran up to him and saw he got tangled in a broken down barb wire fence. One of the barbs we stuck in the side of his paw. Poor guy! I rinsed it out good and took him back to the truck. Luna took the same line Kunox had the first time, but we never found any sign of the buck.

 

#3

I took Luna on our third track of the day. The hunter shot a buck this morning and he and his nephew had tracked it for 300 yards and found a bed with a very small amount of blood in it. The bed was cold and the blood was dry, so they had not pushed it, it left on its own. Luna nailed this track as we followed light, but fairly steady blood up and down a steep hill, through clear cuts, hard woods.....etc, for a long way. I forgot to start my tracking app, but we went at least a mile and a half and never saw the buck.

 

[outdoorstom]

10/20/18

 

I received a call last night from a muzzleloader hunter that had shot a buck and needed some help.  The buck had dropped at the shot and jumped up 5 minutes later and ran off.  The hunter took a second shot, and a large piece of bone was found. I suspected leg hit when I heard bone fragment.  I explained that I was not able to track until tomorrow, due to two dogs being out of commission. Luna was worn out from 3 long tracks and Kunox had a paw injury from barb wire.  

We met at daybreak and Luna took us by the ribbons that had marked blood last night. The hunter and his brother in law had tracked for 200 yards and had done very little grid searching at the point of loss. We had heavy rain overnight, but a little blood was still visible. 100 yards past the point of loss and the hunter spotted him 40 yards or so ahead, and he was dead. We were unable to find where he had been hit with the first shot, but the hunter will let me know when he skins him out. Sure acted like it must have been high.

[outdoorstom]

10/20/18

#2
I was called this morning by a friend who shot an 8 pointer with his muzzleloader yesterday evening. He was unable to locate any blood, but felt confident he hit it. He works midnights, so of course he worried all night about it. This morning after work and before going home, he went back to take another look. He found a couple spots of blood in the bean field, but couldn’t find any blood outside of the field to show him the correct trail to follow. He called me at 9:30, but I couldn’t get there until 2:00. 
Luna smelled the blood  and the numerous tracks in this heavily browsed field, and picked a direction and we left the field. We went through a overgrown fallow field for 400 yards and entered the woods. As soon as we entered the woods she seemed unsure, so I picked her up and carried her back for a restart. We were walking along the edge of the bean field, very close to the hit site when Luna’s head whipped up and her nose went into overdrive. I stopped the hunter and told him we need to see what she’s smelling. I set her down and 75 yards later we were standing over a nice 8 pointer.

[TreeGuy]

BOOM ! And just like that, the dream team starts stacking up the recoveries. And here you were thinking you would have a dead end season. Awesome work !!!

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[Jdubs]

Pretty impressive back-to-back days!  Hope Kunox's paw heals up quickly. 

[Dinsdale]

Enjoy the posts as always, a little success boosts the spirits of all; good stuff.

[outdoorstom]

16 hours ago, Jdubs said:

Pretty impressive back-to-back days!  Hope Kunox's paw heals up quickly. 

We’ve been on a couple tracks this morning(stories will be posted a little later) and unfortunately Kunox’s paw still has issues.

 

[outdoorstom]

10/21/18

 

#1

Kunox and I headed out this morning to track an 8 pointer that had been shot with a 308 last night. It was an 80 yard shot from a stand, but lots of small saplings were between the hunter and deer. The hunter and his friend had tracked through a swampy area for approximately 100 yards and then lost blood and backed out.  Kunox advanced the track a few hundred yards, then totally lost interest. I had Luna in the  truck, so we headed out and swapped dogs. Luna took us a little further, and at one point began pursuing a live deer that we never saw. I don’t think that was our buck. The small amount of blood and no bed, despite not being pushed, makes me believe this deer is still alive.

 

#2

I was called to track a buck that a 14 year had shot with a 12 gauge slug at 7:30 this morning.  We arrived at 10:30.  I got Kunox out of the truck and noticed him favoring the leg he got caught in barb wire a few days ago, so much to Luna’s delight, back into the truck he went.  Luna locked onto the track and took us past the blood that had been marked. We had only gone 50 yards further when Luna went hot. We saw a couple small drops of blood of blood and we continued on about another 100 yards. I stopped and told the father I’d like to give the deer some more time. This worked out good since the son was at church preparing for Confirmation and this would allow him to join us later. We made plans to resume at 3:15. The hunters grandfather lives around the corner from where we were tracking, and had happened across the blood trail in his backyard a short while after we left. This was a couple hundred yards from where we had stopped. Luna picked up the track in his yard, and we entered a prickly ash thicket. We were maybe 75. yards in when we saw the buck take off,  running strong. We found light blood, but no bed. I stopped the track and decided we’d give it one more try later, and we agreed to meet at 7:00.  

The third time, Luna picked up the track where we had left off, and again in a short distance she went hot and we saw a little blood. We went further this time, and moved quickly trying to catch up to the deer. We never even caught a glimpse of it, and I called the track. I believe they’ll see him again.

[LET EM GROW]

Man I love catching up on a week or more worth of these stories! Great work Team! Makes me want to just call with every deer i shoot just to watch the pups work! lol 

[Robhuntandfish]

i would love to train my dog to do this and it would be so much fun but I would never get out to hunt myself.  But these stories are great and hope kunox is feeling better soon! 

[nyslowhand]

^^^ Yeah, initially sounds like a great experience & helpful fun for dog & trainer. BUT, me too .. calls happen when I'd want to be in the woods myself. Also not sure I'd be quite so forgiving of all the continual bad shots and tracking those deer. Not for me!

[outdoorstom]

10/22/18

 

Luna and I arrived at 10:45 this morning to track a buck that was shot at 6:00 last night. The hunter and 2 friends had tracked for 200 yards until they lost the bloodtrail. They were smart....at that point they had marked last blood and backed out without grid searching. Luna locked on and quickly took us to the buck,  a 433 yard track. 

[outdoorstom]

47 minutes ago, nyslowhand said:

^^^ Yeah, initially sounds like a great experience & helpful fun for dog & trainer. BUT, me too .. calls happen when I'd want to be in the woods myself. Also not sure I'd be quite so forgiving of all the continual bad shots and tracking those deer. Not for me!

It would be different if I was still working. Being retired, I have time to both track and hunt :-)

 

[crappyice]

I love how the pups NEVER look at the camera. The hero shot is clearly their least fav part. They always look like they are already looking for he next dead deer.


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[moog5050]

On 10/20/2018 at 9:18 PM, TreeGuy said:

BOOM ! And just like that, the dream team starts stacking up the recoveries. And here you were thinking you would have a dead end season. Awesome work !!!

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First time reading.  Very generous of you and impressive by the dogs!   Nice job!

[J.B.]

This is one of my favorite things to check every morning. Keep up the good work!

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[outdoorstom]

On 10/22/2018 at 7:57 PM, nyslowhand said:

^^^ Yeah, initially sounds like a great experience & helpful fun for dog & trainer. BUT, me too .. calls happen when I'd want to be in the woods myself. Also not sure I'd be quite so forgiving of all the continual bad shots and tracking those deer. Not for me!

It would be different if I was still working. Being retired, I have time to both track and hunt :-)

 

[outdoorstom]

Well, we’re out of the tracking business for a while. Just home from the vet with Luna. She’s been dealing with an infection in her paw. Warm water with Epson salts and an antibiotic didn’t do the trick. There’s something in there that will have to be surgically removed, so on Monday that will be done. 5 or 6 days recovery time. Kunox recently got his right rear paw hung up on a barb wire fence. His paw is ok, but we believe he strained his leg when it happened because he yelps when it’s manipulated. He’s on pain meds for a while and gets free rides up and down the stairs. When it rains, it pours. :-(

[outdoorstom]

Well, we’re out of the tracking business for a while. Just home from the vet with Luna. She’s been dealing with an infection in her paw. Warm water with Epson salts and an antibiotic didn’t do the trick. There’s something in there that will have to be surgically removed, so on Monday that will be done. 5 or 6 days recovery time. Kunox recently got his right rear paw hung up on a barb wire fence. His paw is ok, but we believe he strained his leg when it happened because he yelps when it’s manipulated. He’s on pain meds for a while and gets free rides up and down the stairs. When it rains, it pours. :-(

[Culvercreek hunt club]

3 minutes ago, outdoorstom said:

Well, we’re out of the tracking business for a while. Just home from the vet with Luna. She’s been dealing with an infection in her paw. Warm water with Epson salts and an antibiotic didn’t do the trick. There’s something in there that will have to be surgically removed, so on Monday that will be done. 5 or 6 days recovery time. Kunox recently got his right rear paw hung up on a barb wire fence. His paw is ok, but we believe he strained his leg when it happened because he yelps when it’s manipulated. He’s on pain meds for a while and gets free rides up and down the stairs. When it rains, it pours. :-(

That is sad to hear. Hope the "kids" feel better soon and everything go well during the surgery. 

[nodeerhere]

Get better soon! Love the adventures! 

[moog5050]

Hope they heal up soon!  IT has been fun reading their adventures.

[Robhuntandfish]

prob nobody sadder about it then those pups!   I bet they live for those tracks! Get better! 

[Fletch]

Sorry to hear the pups are busted up. I am sure they are not happy about it lol. Best wishes to their quick recovery and back to their and your great service to the hunters.

Edited October 24, 2018 by Fletch

[crappyice]

I feel badly for that first deer who needs to be tracked...he won’t stand a chance with the amount of piss and vinegar those guys are storing up right now! Rest up and get back out there (when Doc says it’s ok of course!). Your stories will be missed until then!


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