Luna and Kunox’s Tracking Journal 2020

[SteveB]

15 hours ago, Otto said:

It really does stink!  Why would someone let an injured animal suffer like that?  Especially a so called "hunter"!   

Only hearing one side of the story here. Could be there is a history not being told by the shooter. 

Edited November 6, 2020 by SteveB

[ncountry]

Does it have ? Quartz?

[ncountry]

1 minute ago, ncountry said:

Does it have ? Quartz?

Oops.  Somehow I was in the middle of a text about grout with guy at work .. it was live from the stand ha.ha..

[outdoorstom]

It was my turn this afternoon .  Not sure what got his tail.....

[Pygmy]

Hey..We all like a little piece of tail now and then  ...<<grin>>...

Edited November 10, 2020 by Pygmy

[outdoorstom]

11/10

#1

This morning Kunox and I tracked a 6 pointer a 15 year hunter shot yesterday afternoon. He and his Dad had only tracked it a short distance before backing out. Kunox quickly took us to last blood and after correcting himself once,  took us 350 yards to the dead deer. He was happy to get a good chew, and we were happy the coyotes hadn’t found the buck first.

 

#2

I hadn’t even walked in the house yet after the first track when I got another call. This one took me to Cape Vincent. Luna was extremely happy, to say the least! The bowhunter had shot an 8 pointer yesterday afternoon and he and a buddy had tracked it for 150 yards, then grid searched after losing blood. Luna took us to the point of loss, then it took a while to get past that point. She eventually chose a trail and took us into a swamp.  At one point she acted like she wanted to cross a deep beaver run, then changed her mind. We ended up going back to last blood for a restart but we ended up back in the same area of the swamp.  We waded through the beaver run and Luna seemed confident, so on we went.  She checked and rejected 3 or 4 trails before picking one and sticking with it for a long way. I looked over a few yards off the trail and spotted the back of the buck as he was bedded, but I couldn’t see his head. I was surprised when he jumped up and moved slowly away from us.  I had the hunter move up to dispatch the deer, he had only gone a short distance and bedded down again. He died 750 yards from where he was shot, but we covered 1.28 miles during the track. We never saw any blood beyond the hunter’s point of loss, so we definitely had to trust Luna girl!

 

[land 1]

great job where were the deer hit ....

[outdoorstom]

7 minutes ago, land 1 said:

great job where were the deer hit ....

I didn’t stay for field  dressing, waiting to hear from the youngster’s Dad. We tried pretty hard to find the hole but the only one we saw was WAY back but the hunter says that was a follow up shot. 
the bow shot buck was hit in the liver.

[jperch]

 Your adventures are always my favorite read on here.  The last deer that Luna found through the swamp is just amazing.  Thanks for taking the time to post and keep up the great work!

[Robhuntandfish]

19 hours ago, outdoorstom said:

It was my turn this afternoon .  Not sure what got his tail.....

Nice buck congrats!!!

[doebuck1234]

Congrats on the buck @outdoorstom!!!!!great work on the recoveries aswell,one of my favorite threads!

[cdbing]

Congrats on the buck and recoveries.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[outdoorstom]

11/11

 

Luna and I tracked a spike that had been shot 3 hours earlier in the evening.  I was concerned about how hard this deer was hit when his reaction to the shot was described to me. He had immediately gone down, did some thrashing around, then got up and ran away.  Sounded like a high back hit most likely. The most blood we saw was in the field where it fell, and that wasn’t a lot.   

Luna took us into the woods and showed us a few drops in two areas a few feet apart, which the hunters (the hunter was actually one of the guy’s wife, and mother to the other. She had a bad knee and couldn’t join us) had already seen. They had grid searched before backing out. Luna had multiple false starts while figuring out the grid searched area, but finally chose a line and we were off. It wasn’t long before she took us into a flooded section of woods, none of it over my knee deep boots. She worked in this area for quite awhile, finally choosing a line out of there as well. I still hadn’t seen any blood since the beginning so I was happy to hear the hunter call out that he had a drop of blood. At the 500 yard mark we jumped the buck and he ran off strong. We didn’t see any blood in his bed. Luna went hot and we were off to the races. It didn’t take long and we had a property line issue which took about 5 minutes to work through. Luna picked up the trail again, but with much less urgency this time. The buck crossed several fences and eventually ended up crossing a road. The property owner had joined us by that time (I’ve tracked for his family a couple times) and said we were welcome to continue.   We were at the 900 yard mark and decided the deer wasn’t hit very hard and would most likely survive. We called the track there.

[outdoorstom]

I got word today that last night’s spike is alive and well this morning. 

[outdoorstom]

11/12

#1

Kunox and I tracked a buck this morning that was shot last night at 40 yards from the ground with a 30.06. The buck never reacted to the shot and the area was too thick for a follow up. A lot of white hair and a small amount of blood was found at the hit site. The hunter lost blood at 30 yards and backed out. Kunox showed us a little blood beyond that point and  picked a trail. We ended up finding the gut shot 8 pointer dead, 1000 yards away in his second bed. There was very little blood on this track....Kunox is a good boy❤️

 

#2

Luna and I had a first today on this track. We were in a 300 acre high fence operation, with a very high deer density. The clients that come here never leave.  It was a cemetery! There is one small open area in the fence that had heavy deer traffic through it. The hunter said about 60 deer live there and I believe it. Luna went hot many times as we bumped deer. A 10 pointer had been shot with a .270. We found white hair at the hit site, with a few drops of blood. The hunter had followed the light blood trail a couple hundred yards until it stopped, then backed out. Luna showed us one tiny speck beyond that point, that was it. We worked every trail through there, going 3.4 miles before calling the track. I believe this buck is probably still alive. 

[Zag]

Great pic with your dog looking up at the hunter!

[outdoorstom]

#3

Luna and I went on a short drive to a short track tonight. 15 minutes from the house.....gotta love those!  The hunter had shot a buck with his .270 this afternoon, but couldn’t find any sign of a hit.  He thought he had heard the smack of an impact though.  Luna and I arrived at the area the deer had been in and shown an approximate area of where the deer had entered the woods. Luna picked a main trail and was checking it out when her head whipped up and she lead me into the woods to the left of the trail.  In just a minute she showed me blood and we were off to the races. This nice 6 pointer only made it 165 yards before piling up.

[crappyice]

#3

Luna and I went on a short drive to a short track tonight. 15 minutes from the house.....gotta love those!  The hunter had shot a buck with his .270 this afternoon, but couldn’t find any sign of a hit.  He thought he had heard the smack of an impact though.  Luna and I arrived at the area the deer had been in and shown an approximate area of where the deer had entered the woods. Luna picked a main trail and was checking it out when her head whipped up and she lead me into the woods to the left of the trail.  In just a minute she showed me blood and we were off to the races. This nice 6 pointer only made it 165 yards before piling up.

Sweet!!! Browless 6!!!
Love Luna’s laser beam eyes!!!!


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[moog5050]

I gotta say, you guys are amazing.   Great job.  

[outdoorstom]

11/13

 

Rough day today.  0-3. 

The deer should have been recovered on the first track, but it was taking more time than the hunter was able to stay. 

The second track we had a couple white hairs and no blood. A thorough search of the areas trails resulted in zero sign. 

The third track was for a neck shot buck. Often, if a buck is only hit through the meaty part of the neck you don’t recover him. That was the case today. 

Hopefully tomorrow is better. 

[outdoorstom]

11/14

 

#1

Luna and I tracked a big buck this morning that had been shot at 200 yards with a .243 yesterday morning. I didn’t like the sound of that as soon as I heard it. The hunter jumped the buck out of a bed about 45 minutes later, then tracked it for 600 yards on light sporadic blood. When unable to find any more blood, 4 people did a 2 hour grid search. 

I wasn’t convinced we were tracking a fatally hit deer, but we did our best to make that determination. After 3.2 miles of following trails and making circles around the grid searched area and seeing no further sign  we pulled the plug. 

 

#2

Kunox and I tracked doe that had been gut shot yesterday afternoon. The hunter had tracked until he saw watery blood and recognized that meant gut shot, so he marked it and  backed out. Kunox made short work of this 600 yard track, unfortunately the coyotes had picked her clean. 

 

#3

Luna was rested up enough for the third track, so she got the nod. This 4 pointer had been shot yesterday afternoon, twice. The second shot had knocked him down, but he got up a few minutes later and ran off. Uh oh, sounds like a high back hit. The hunter and his friend did everything right on this track. They had ribbon with them  and marked blood as they went. They also were smart and backed right out when the blood trail ended.  Trackers love these kind of hunters!  Once passed the hunters point of loss we never saw any blood, just one small clump of hair. The buck was still alive when we found him at 860 yards and I dispatched him. 

[Shoots100]

Never had to use the services of a deer tracker, but it's good to know the service is available, if needed.

It must give you great satisfaction to watch your dogs working and finding a deer in the end.

Even though I'm not there, I have a feeling of relief after you report that you recovered a deer for a hunter.

Keep up the good work.

Thank you for your service and for helping the hunting community.

[outdoorstom]

11/15

 

#1

Luna and I started the day with a 2 mile track through a swamp. The buck had been shot 24 hours earlier and had been tracked a considerable distance.  We had tracked in this swamp earlier this season, so I knew it somewhat.  The hunter thought the buck had been gutshot.  Luna took us on a march into the heart  of the swamp.  We hadn’t seen blood for a long time on this track, when a mile and a half in I heard the guys holler they had some blood. Always nice to hear that. It was shortly after that Luna went hot and I knew our buck was still alive. He ran very strong and it wasn’t long before Luna became quiet. We never got a glimpse of him.  This was 24 hours after the shot and the buck was strong, it makes me question if it was a gutshot. The hike out of the swamp was an adventure as we walked through beaver runs in the icy water. I’m attaching a video for your amusement.

 

#2

Kunox was with me as we tracked on this gorgeous piece of property for a 4 pointer had been gutshot yesterday afternoon.  The hunter had waited 30 minutes, then started tracking.  500 yards later and the trail was lost. A light grid search followed. 

Kunox quickly got on this one but lost it in a field.  It took about 5 minutes before he locked backed on. Pretty sure the wind was wreaking a little havoc. Once he got going in the right direction on he took us down to the tall grass by the lake and showed us 3 beds in about 20 yards.  I told the guys that we were very close, and 20 yards later Kunox was chewing on a leg. This buck went 850 yards. Thanks for the call guys....enjoyed your company!

 

#3

Luna and I attempted to recover a very large buck that had been shot yesterday afternoon. The buck fell over at the shot, thrashed around, then got up and ran off.  My first thought was high back hit, but the hunter said it appeared that the shoulder on the opposite side seemed to have issues when it ran off.  They had tracked the deer out of the field and into the woods for a short distance before losing the bloodtrail. They did a nice job of marking blood with gloves and hats, and minimal searching had been done after losing the trail.

Luna quickly took us to last blood, did some detective work and showed us the buck had made a sharp turn into a thick grassy area. We found a bed in the grass that had minimal blood in it. She then took us across a field and into the woods where it was obvious something had happened there. She worked a crazy pattern all through the woods and I think it’s possible he ran does around overnight.  At one point she left the woods and backtracked into the field. She went to an area we know the buck had been, sniffed around , then back into the woods. She was refreshing her memory.  We never did recover this buck. I believe it was a high back hit. Interestingly,  I tracked a big buck on the neighboring property during muzzleloader season this year. That buck had been shot in the shoulder and we never recovered it. The hunter said there’s a chance it’s the same buck. If that’s the case, he’s up 2-0.  

 

#4

I was messaged by a friend last night that a member of his club had gutshot a deer at 9:00 this morning. I spoke with the hunter and learned that when he got to the hit site he recognized what had happened and immediately backed out.  A track without grid searching.....love it!  We agreed to go in at 7:00, but I was only 20 minutes away when I finished my third track, so I told the hunter we’ll change it to 5:00. I went to grab something to eat, then headed over. I knew it was a little early to go in on a gutshot, but I figured if we jumped him we’d just back out and I’ll bring a dog back later.  Kunox was a tracking machine while working through a large briar patch, then went a short distance to a dead buck.  The track was only 220 yards thanks to the hunter using his head and backing out. 

[land 1]

nice job

[Steve D]

I love your posts and are glad there are people around like you and others to provide this service which  prevents countless dead deer not being recovered.

 One question I have is why is a "grid search" by the hunter so detrimental to the dogs being successful on their search and how much does it affect their tracking ability?

Just trying to learn more about the entire process.