Luna and Kunox’s Tracking Journal 2019

[TreeGuy]

Two grown men hugging deep in the woods :-)

What happens in the woods,stays in the woods !

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[UpStateRedNeck]

3 minutes ago, outdoorstom said:

Two grown men hugging deep in the woods :-)

Most natural thing in the world.

[outdoorstom]

10/27/19

 

A very wet, unsuccessful track this morning. Hunter shot a buck last night and found two small drops of blood. Heavy rain overnight, so of course the blood was washed away. A dog can still smell the blood even if we can’t see it, but Kunox never locked on. We ended up basically grid searching the area.

[Fletch]

Yikes!

That track looks like one guy I know looking for his stand before first light!! Lol


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[Swamp_bucks]

3 minutes ago, Fletch said:

Yikes!

That track looks like one guy I know looking for his stand before first light!! Lol


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You know my friend to.  

[outdoorstom]

7 hours ago, Fletch said:

Yikes!

That track looks like one guy I know looking for his stand before first light!! Lol


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Hahahaha Hilarious!

 

[outdoorstom]

10/28/19

 

Sometimes you don’t mind being wrong, and that was the case tonight.

Phone interview: The deer dropped at the 225 yard shot, I looked away for a second as other deer ran away, I looked back and the buck was on his feet looking in my direction, then he walked into the brush. We tracked 100-150 yards of blood which was high on the brush, lost blood, then grid searched.  The hunter agreed with me that it sounded like a high back hit. I told them I’d eat a quick dinner, then head out. I also told them that this didn’t sound promising at all.  Kunox quickly took us to last blood, worked through the grid search area quickly, then showed us two more smears high on the brush. After a couple restarts, he took us right to the buck.....which was dead from a one lung hit and gutshot. He was a big deer, but we were all still amazed at how high on the brush the blood was. Good boy Kunox!  I was surprised he was dead 4 hours after the shot. The track was only 200 yards.

[DanielT]

Wow .....your dogs are on it this year....great job

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[outdoorstom]

10/31/19

#1

I was called this morning (Thursday) by the friend of a hunter that shot a buck at noon on Tuesday. The hunter has a prosthetic leg and wasn’t able to go into the woods and track the buck, so he and the hunters grandson went in. They ended up bumping the buck out of its bed a few hundred yards in. They took a shot at it and found white hair as evidence of hitting it. Very little blood was found and the trail was lost after a short distance. They had marked last blood. I had the friend take me to where the buck had been bedded when they jumped it, and I started Kunox there. At 47 hours, this was the oldest track he had attempted. I was pleasantly surprised to see him without hesitation put his nose down and take off up the correct trail. We went by the marker and 150 yards later Kunox showed us the dead buck. The first shot hit the rear leg, the second was a Texas heart shot.

 

#2

While on the first track, I received a call from a hunter who shot a buck last night and tracked it for 150 yards on very light blood. They also found 2 bone fragments, which made me think possible leg hit. Kunox quickly took us down the well flagged trail to last blood, then continued 175 yards to some power lines, and into the woods on the other side. I let him go 225 yards here before taking him back for a restart. I hung a ribbon where we exited the woods near the power lines as a reference and again he took the same trail to the woods on the other side of the power lines, and this time indicated there was a live deer close by. We followed it for 300 yards but never saw a drop of blood or a bed, so I took him back for a 3rd time.  Again, same trail.  I believe that deer is still alive, although I don’t know if that’s the deer Kunox was pushing.

[land 1]

great year your dogs are having

[Poppy]

Tom,

You and those pups are fantastic.  My time in the woods is very limited due to recent medical problems thanks to a tick but reading your stories makes me feel like I am out in the woods.  I never get enough of your adventures to read.  Good health to your and the pups and keep them stories coming.

[Chef]

10/31/19

#1

I was called this morning (Thursday) by the friend of a hunter that shot a buck at noon on Tuesday. The hunter has a prosthetic leg and wasn’t able to go into the woods and track the buck, so he and the hunters grandson went in. They ended up bumping the buck out of its bed a few hundred yards in. They took a shot at it and found white hair as evidence of hitting it. Very little blood was found and the trail was lost after a short distance. They had marked last blood. I had the friend take me to where the buck had been bedded when they jumped it, and I started Kunox there. At 47 hours, this was the oldest track he had attempted. I was pleasantly surprised to see him without hesitation put his nose down and take off up the correct trail. We went by the marker and 150 yards later Kunox showed us the dead buck. The first shot hit the rear leg, the second was a Texas heart shot.

 

#2

While on the first track, I received a call from a hunter who shot a buck last night and tracked it for 150 yards on very light blood. They also found 2 bone fragments, which made me think possible leg hit. Kunox quickly took us down the well flagged trail to last blood, then continued 175 yards to some power lines, and into the woods on the other side. I let him go 225 yards here before taking him back for a restart. I hung a ribbon where we exited the woods near the power lines as a reference and again he took the same trail to the woods on the other side of the power lines, and this time indicated there was a live deer close by. We followed it for 300 yards but never saw a drop of blood or a bed, so I took him back for a 3rd time.  Again, same trail.  I believe that deer is still alive, although I don’t know if that’s the deer Kunox was pushing.

You and your dogs are awesome! I’m sure Wolc is very happy for the help with his butt shot deer!


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[UpStateRedNeck]

5 hours ago, outdoorstom said:

10/31/19

#1

I was called this morning (Thursday) by the friend of a hunter that shot a buck at noon on Tuesday. The hunter has a prosthetic leg and wasn’t able to go into the woods and track the buck, so he and the hunters grandson went in. They ended up bumping the buck out of its bed a few hundred yards in. They took a shot at it and found white hair as evidence of hitting it. Very little blood was found and the trail was lost after a short distance. They had marked last blood. I had the friend take me to where the buck had been bedded when they jumped it, and I started Kunox there. At 47 hours, this was the oldest track he had attempted. I was pleasantly surprised to see him without hesitation put his nose down and take off up the correct trail. We went by the marker and 150 yards later Kunox showed us the dead buck. The first shot hit the rear leg, the second was a Texas heart shot.

 

#2

While on the first track, I received a call from a hunter who shot a buck last night and tracked it for 150 yards on very light blood. They also found 2 bone fragments, which made me think possible leg hit. Kunox quickly took us down the well flagged trail to last blood, then continued 175 yards to some power lines, and into the woods on the other side. I let him go 225 yards here before taking him back for a restart. I hung a ribbon where we exited the woods near the power lines as a reference and again he took the same trail to the woods on the other side of the power lines, and this time indicated there was a live deer close by. We followed it for 300 yards but never saw a drop of blood or a bed, so I took him back for a 3rd time.  Again, same trail.  I believe that deer is still alive, although I don’t know if that’s the deer Kunox was pushing.

47 hours old track?  Impressive!

[outdoorstom]

1 hour ago, Poppy said:

Tom,

You and those pups are fantastic.  My time in the woods is very limited due to recent medical problems thanks to a tick but reading your stories makes me feel like I am out in the woods.  I never get enough of your adventures to read.  Good health to your and the pups and keep them stories coming.

Sorry to hear you can’t get out there much. Glad you're enjoying the stories!

[outdoorstom]

11/3/19

 

#1

Hunter shot the buck with a .243, 26 hours before we arrived. This was Luna’s first track since her paw injury sidelined her for almost three weeks. She quickly took us to last blood, then struggled to get us through the heavily grid searched area. I eventually took her 100 yards further to the edge of the swamp to see if she could pick up a line there, but the area was way too thick with briars, deadfalls, etc for her to even walk. I picked her up and walked the edge, heading toward an area that wasn’t as thick when I saw her nose kick into overdrive. I put her down and she led me to the dead, gutshot 8 pointer. 

 

#2

 

Our second track was for a buck shot late yesterday afternoon.  The hunter has trailed light blood for 300 yards, then grid searched. Luna took us beyond last blood and showed a few drops a short distance away, then nothing. We searched extensively, but did not recover this buck. I hope they see it again.

 

#3

 

This young hunter took a 200 yard shot at a running deer and missed. At the shot, the deer stopped and the hunter connected with his second shot.  A few drops of blood were found just inside the woods, and a light grid search produced no results when the trail was lost. Kunox went to work on this one, but unfortunately we came up empty. When I questioned the hunter further, I learned his .308 was sighted in 1” high at 50 yards and he had held right on the vitals at 200.  He had never practiced at that distance.

 

#4

 

Another one we came up empty on. This 48 hour old track was for a buck that appeared to be hit in the leg,  based on the pieces of bone found. The buck had bedded right inside the woods, but had been bumped when the hunter searched for it. They had tracked for 360 yards, then grid searched. Kunox was able to advance the track, but we never found the buck.

[outdoorstom]

11/4/19

 

We seem to be experiencing a mini drought. This is not surprising as it’s amazing how things go hot and cold for trackers. We had two tracks today, both shoulder hits yesterday evening.

 

#1

Kunox started at the hit site and took us 340 yards to a wound bed. We didn’t jump the buck as Kunox never got excited. The deer made a big loop and then I believe it crossed a swamp. Kunox took me back to the swamp after a few restarts so I figured it was time to get wet. After crossing, he went hot as we bumped a deer I never saw. I can’t prove that was our buck since I never saw any blood, but I believe it may have been.

 

         #2

 

The second track was for a  reportedly monster buck. Kunox took us the way the hunter and her husband had tracked last night, then continued beyond. There was torrential rain last night that had washed away all but a drop or two of blood at the very beginning of the track. I let Kunox take me  a few hundred yards with no sign, then did a couple restarts. He took me into a thick bedding area 50 yards away with lots of rubs, but we never did any good and eventually called the track. 

 

  

[crappyice]

You guys will come out of this “slump” - none of which sounds like your fault of course!
Do you find more unrecovered from gun or bow?


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[outdoorstom]

16 hours ago, crappyice said:

You guys will come out of this “slump” - none of which sounds like your fault of course!
Do you find more unrecovered from gun or bow?


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Definitely more unrecovered from gun.

[outdoorstom]

11/5/19

 

Well, the 100th recovery of our career will have to wait for another day. Tonight we tracked another leg/shoulder shot buck. The hunter said the buck was favoring a front leg as it left the field.  Long story short, Kunox did his part,  but no recovery.

[BowmanMike]

Your luck will change soon..Funny how things go in streaks like that...

[outdoorstom]

11/6/19

 

100th career recovery

 

I was called by some friends tonight that were unable to find any blood from an 8 pointer one of them had shot.  They had gone in about 50 yards before backing out.  Luna and I headed over and were taken to a food plot and pointed in the direction the deer ran.  Luna picked a trail and 80 yards later the leash went slack. I looked around a tree and Luna was chewing on the dead bucks leg. I almost felt guilty having such an easy track.

[UpStateRedNeck]

That's 100 people who you lifted a huge weight off their chests.

[TreeGuy]

!!!!

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[Zag]

Congrats sir!! U and the pooches should be super proud!!

[Swamp_bucks]

Congrats on number 100!!!!!  How many years has it taken?