Luna and Kunox's Tracking Journal 2018

[Moho81]

You provide a much needed service. Keep your head up you’ll get hot soon and won’t even remember the slow start.


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[TreeGuy]

Keep the faith in your team. They don't find em = deer is alive and gone. Nuff said

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[BowmanMike]

This is really a slow start for you and your dogs,i am keeping my fingers crossed for a streak of successes!!

[ApexerER]

Love this thread....Thank you for posting

[biggamefish]

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to people bowhunting and the story you get might not be what happened in the field. Things happen so fast and you get so amped up with a deer in close quarters. Your brain tells you what you want to see sometimes.   Stay with it and keep your confidence in those pups they know tracking better than we do.

[DanielT]

It's also a lesson to most of us to slow down Breath and make a good double lung shot
To which I am sure we all intend.. but it doesnt always happen as planned as we know


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[grampy]

1 minute ago, biggamefish said:

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to people bowhunting and the story you get might not be what happened in the field. Things happen so fast and you get so amped up with a deer in close quarters. Your brain tells you what you want to see sometimes.   Stay with it and keep your confidence in those pups they know tracking better than we do.

Great analogy Matt. 

Also add, the people who will be telling you anything, during the interview, or what they think you want to hear. Just to get you to come out to them, and track a poor shot, that shouldn't have been taken. Or to make up for a sorry attempt at recovering their own deer. They just assume the "dog can find it'. 

Won't find it, if the deer is still alive, during the tracking sorte!

The "average" recovery rate is less than 40% in a given year. Even with the best certified dogs and handlers.

I think, outdoorstom will agree. 

[turkeyfeathers]

47 minutes ago, biggamefish said:

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to people bowhunting and the story you get might not be what happened in the field. Things happen so fast and you get so amped up with a deer in close quarters. Your brain tells you what you want to see sometimes.   Stay with it and keep your confidence in those pups they know tracking better than we do.

I sent out a group text opening day (my first ever archery hunt) saying "I'm nervous I'm going to see something"  That tallish spike first appeared at 12 yards and all I saw was horn I immediately felt like I ingested a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew, 6 cups of coffee . I was shaking

 

My favorite thread is this one

[Culvercreek hunt club]

28 minutes ago, turkeyfeathers said:

I sent out a group text opening day (my first ever archery hunt) saying "I'm nervous I'm going to see something"  That tallish spike first appeared at 12 yards and all I saw was horn I immediately felt like I ingested a 2 liter bottle of Mountain Dew, 6 cups of coffee . I was shaking

 

My favorite thread is this one

When that feeling stops is when i take up a different hobby. 

[outdoorstom]

15 hours ago, grampy said:

Great analogy Matt. 

Also add, the people who will be telling you anything, during the interview, or what they think you want to hear. Just to get you to come out to them, and track a poor shot, that shouldn't have been taken. Or to make up for a sorry attempt at recovering their own deer. They just assume the "dog can find it'. 

Won't find it, if the deer is still alive, during the tracking sorte!

The "average" recovery rate is less than 40% in a given year. Even with the best certified dogs and handlers.

I think, outdoorstom will agree. 

Absolutely!  I hear all kinds of things and sometimes it's obvious I've been lied to.  If that happens, I'm not shy about letting them know Ithat I know. I don't call off the track, but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Edited October 4, 2018 by outdoorstom

[outdoorstom]

10/4/2018

 

I was called by a friend last night telling me he had shot a doe. He and his father in law hadn't even looked yet, and were giving it some time due to hitting too far forward and high. He had video of the shot and believed the arrow was stuck in the opposite shoulder, and he was putting me on standby. I was called at 10:00 and told they had only been able to follow blood a short distance before losing the trail. I loaded both dogs up and was there in 20 minutes.  Luna quickly advanced the track from a thicket, across an overgrown field, and into another thicket. We found light blood in the thicket as Luna worked a large area. It was obvious the deer had been milling around in there. She took us back into the field and was air scenting out there. Part of the field were too tall and thick for her to work so I carried her around as we searched. After not finding any sign, I took her back in the thicket and started walking the outside edge looking to find where the doe had exited. Bingo.....found some blood and we were off again through the field.  We were working within 50 yards of where we had been.  Luna got on a trail and took us a couple hundred yards without blood, but was showing confidence so we continued on. It was so thick I couldn't see Luna most times, just the weeds moving up ahead. We had stopped for a minute when we saw a green light moving about 100 yards ahead of us. For a second we thought someone else was in the field, then realized we were looking at the lumenok! I told the hunter we need to mark the location, back out, and come back in the morning. He had to take his kids to school, so agreed to meet after that.

We tracked this morning in a heavy downpour. The doe was not where we left her last night, so I walked Luna through the area trying pick up the direction of travel. After a while, she picked a trail and led us a hundred yards along the treeline, then into the woods. We were unable to find any sign of the deer. When we saw it moving last night, it was 7 hours after the shot. I believe if it was a mortal injury, we would have found her not far from where we left her.

[crappyice]

Uggg...another successful track without a positive result for Luna- that pup deserves some hide to chew on!!!


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[Culvercreek hunt club]

I love following this thread. They sure seem like some good pups right there. I hate to be a Debbie Downer but for heaven's sake folks. Video of the shot? I don't know the details or anything but to me, with a bow, concentrate on what we are doing and stop trying to be the next great outdoor show. Take your pics at the end of a successful blood trail. 

Edited October 4, 2018 by Culvercreek hunt club

[Robhuntandfish]

But there is success in all these tracks.  Whether you find the deer or not you have put an ending to their stories.  Just sometimes the ending is the deer lived to see another day.  

Great thread and a lot to learn from.  Those pups deserve a good belly itchin!   

[outdoorstom]

A hunter I tracked for last week sent me a current picture of the deer. You can see it was a high back hit. Pretty much explains why we couldn’t find it. 

[outdoorstom]

Just got word of another survivor we tracked :-)

[TreeGuy]

It's great to see that your "bad streak" is obviously not "bad". I'll speak for all of us, we know your legit, your not losing deer because the dogs or your knowledge.... Keep the updates coming

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[Moho81]

I imagine it feels pretty good to know that they are still alive and roaming the woods.


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[outdoorstom]

10/8/2018

 

#1

Luna and I tracked a young bowhunters gutshot deer this afternoon, after it was shot last night. Unfortunately, an hour after the shot this deer was pushed for 2 hours. We were able to advance the track a distance during the two hours we worked it, then lost it and were trying to pick it up again when the hunters Dad called it due to time constraints.

 

#2

I was called at 8:00 this morning by a young hunter’s dad. The hunter had gutshot a buck this morning, and they had lost blood, marked it, backed out, and called me.  Gotta love it when you get these calls! I tracked for the Dad last year and he remembered my advice on following those steps. Luna found this young man’s first buck 200 yards away.

 

#3

Our third track today was for a bowshot doe that 3 people had grid searched for. The hunter believes he may have hit one lung on this pass through shot. I have never seen so little blood on a pass through. In 60 yards,  there were about 6 specks of blood. Kunox got the call on this one, but was sent back to the truck after about 15 minutes. The entire floor of this 60 acre woodlot had more acorns than I’ve ever seen and Kunox was totally distracted by the large number of squirrels and chipmunks. Luna advanced the track, showing us an acorn cap with blood in it. Further on we found something weird.....a large wad of undigested grass that appeared to have been thrown up and contained feces. Unfortunately we never found this deer.

[crappyice]

10/8/2018

 

#1

Luna and I tracked a young bowhunters gutshot deer this afternoon, after it was shot last night. Unfortunately, an hour after the shot this deer was pushed for 2 hours. We were able to advance the track a distance during the two hours we worked it, then lost it and were trying to pick it up again when the hunters Dad called it due to time constraints.

 

#2

I was called at 8:00 this morning by a young hunter’s dad. The hunter had gutshot a buck this morning, and they had lost blood, marked it, backed out, and called me.  Gotta love it when you get these calls! I tracked for the Dad last year and he remembered my advice on following those steps. Luna found this young man’s first buck 200 yards away.

 

#3

Our third track today was for a bowshot doe that 3 people had grid searched for. The hunter believes he may have hit one lung on this pass through shot. I have never seen so little blood on a pass through. In 60 yards,  there were about 6 specks of blood. Kunox got the call on this one, but was sent back to the truck after about 15 minutes. The entire floor of this 60 acre woodlot had more acorns than I’ve ever seen and Kunox was totally distracted by the large number of squirrels and chipmunks. Luna advanced the track, showing us an acorn cap with blood in it. Further on we found something weird.....a large wad of undigested grass that appeared to have been thrown up and contained feces. Unfortunately we never found this deer.

What a difference(on the hunter part) between #1 & #2...back out and let the experts handle it and you find the deer. Traipse all over the place, bump deer, and not have enough time to commit to the follow up track, and get nothing .

Nicely done on your part!!


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[G-Man]

seems like a lot of shots are high or just poor. best advice is wait ..im amazed at how many people still push them when everything you see or read is back out wait....

[Moho81]

Agreed G-Man. Seems like hunting/tracking 101. Unless you saw it go down just wait. So many people seem to forget this part in though.


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[biggamefish]

6 minutes ago, G-Man said:

seems like a lot of shots are high or just poor. best advice is wait ..im amazed at how many people still push them when everything you see or read is back out wait....

I talk to a lot of people and they say they take there bow out 2 weekend before season put a few arrows through it and they are good. It is a terrible thought process on a hunters part. Practice is such a key part in making a good shot. The muscle memory and shot process is so much cleaner when under pressure if you practice regularly.

[2012_taco]

I'm so glad to see this thread again! It's definitely one of my favorites! Keep up the great job. 

[LET EM GROW]

1 hour ago, G-Man said:

seems like a lot of shots are high or just poor. best advice is wait ..im amazed at how many people still push them when everything you see or read is back out wait....

I know 2 people who have both lost two deer already this bow season. It makes me sick to even talk to them or answer them when they ask me related questions yet not give a crap.. etc.. And they'll just keep hunting and forcing shots and then mush in with a team of terds through the woods in attempt to find poorly hit deer..