Luna and Kunox’s Tracking Journal 2020

[outdoorstom]

11/26

 

Kunox and I went on a track this morning for an 8 pointer that was shot yesterday afternoon, this hunter’s first deer.  White hair was found, but no blood.  The hunter and his cousin conducted a small grid search, then backed out and called.  Kunox worked the hit site, then chose a line and we were off.  At 85 yards he showed us some blood smeared on a small log the buck had gone over.  He ended up going hot a couple times and got on the track of live deer, but we didn’t see any blood so I took him back for a restart. The third time was a charm.....he took a different trail after we went by the known blood and 630 yards later showed us the dead buck.

Edited November 26, 2020 by outdoorstom

[outdoorstom]

11/27

Luna and I were called to track a buck this evening after the hunter was unable to find any hair or blood.  We started at the edge of a cornfield and followed the buck’s tracks to a trail the hunter said he watched him use.  We were a couple hundred yards into it when Luna went hot. We followed the deer but never saw it, or any blood. I took her back for a restart and again she took the same trail.  I worked her on several other trails but didn’t see any sign of the buck.  I had gotten separated from the hunter and when we reconnected he told me he had just seen the buck and he was running strong and no sign of an injury was observed.  Apparently, we were pushing it around.

[outdoorstom]

11/28

 

Kunox sprained his leg while tracking on Thanksgiving so he’s on the injured reserve.  He’s on some pain meds for a few days and we’ll see how he’s doing then. Luna is openly taunting him about getting all the tracks.

 

#1

Luna and I tracked a buck this morning that had been shot yesterday afternoon. The hunter and a friend had tracked for 250 yards and bumped the deer out of a bed.  They wisely backed out at that point. Luna quickly took us past last blood and beyond, then at 0.8 miles, the 10 pointer was found dead in his second bed.  I wasn’t there for the field dressing, but the shot looked to be in the liver area. 

 

#2

The hunter on this track is a neighbor of the hunter we had our 7.58 mile track with earlier this week. We were  on some of the same property we had tracked on then. Lots of rocky outcroppings and small ravines. 

This buck had been shot yesterday afternoon.  Luna took some time to get through the grid searched area, but then locked on and we were off to the races. At about the 1/2 mile mark, Luna went hot and we went close to 800 yards further with no blood. I stopped her and told the group of 7 that were accompanying us that I was considering a restart, and if Luna came back the same way, we’d continue on further.  At that point, one of the guys said he saw some blood on a tree about 100 yards back.  Well, that changes everything!  Go get ‘em Luna.  In a very short period of time we started to regularly see blood, and we got our first look at the buck.  He was about 100 yards in front of us and it was obvious he was hurting as he ran off.  The hunter took a shot but didn’t connect.  I wasn’t watching the gps, but we went probably close to a mile before we saw him again. And again, a shot was taken but didn’t connect.  We continued on,  occasionally getting close enough for Luna to open up on it.  At the 3.6 mile mark, he was found in his final bed and was dispatched by the hunter.  The original shot had hit high on his left rear leg.

 

#3

Luna and I went to track a buck that had left a lot of white hair at the hit site.  The hunter had tracked a small amount of blood for 200 yards, then had lost the trail.  Luna showed us 1 drop of blood 200 yards beyond there, but that was it.  We ended up searching 2.2 miles worth, but never saw any more blood or sign of the buck.  
 

 

 

 

[doebuck1234]

Out of likes,heal up kunox!!!great work

[outdoorstom]

11/29

 

I was called last night by an excited and nervous hunter. He told me he had shot the biggest buck of his life, and he and his buddy had tracked a little blood for about 50 yards. After losing blood, they backed out without grid searching.  Well done!  This buck only went 250 yards and we found him in his first bed.  It turns out he was hit way back and would have gone a long way if he had been pushed.  Congratulations Cameron on a gorgeous buck!

[outdoorstom]

11/30

11/29 - Last night Luna and I went to the Wellesley Island State Park to track a bow shot deer. The buck had been slightly quartering to, and the hunter thought he had a one lung hit. The arrow had passed through, coming out a short distance down the trail. We arrived 4 hours after the shot. The buck had been tracked several hundred yards before the blood trail was lost and the hunter wisely backed out without grid searching. We had light blood for 500 yards, but the hunter reported seeing several pools earlier where the buck had stopped and stood there. Luna was sometimes working just downwind of the blood, so we didn’t see it all. I didn’t look at my gps to see how far in we were, but Luna went hot and we could clearly smell a rutting buck. This happened three times and I thought we were going to get close enough for me to dispatch him. I was sure we were on the right buck, but it was nice to finally see one drop of blood on a leaf after 900 yards of not seeing anything. We put up ribbon, marked it on the gps, and are coming back in the morning.

11/30 - This morning we went to our ribbon marking last blood and Luna picked up where we left off. We were about 100 yards into it when Luna went hot and led us to the edge of a swamp with deep pools. I was really hoping the buck had died overnight, but that wasn’t the case. She indicated he had had gone into the swamp, and we could see where the water had been stirred up in the deep part. There was a very small island about 50 or 60 yards out, then about 30 yards further was the mainland. We decided to hike out and drive around to come in from the other side to see if he had come out. Once there, I worked Luna along the shore of the mainland, hoping she would pick up the track again. She didn’t, so I picked her up and we waded out to the small island to try there. I could see a sheen in the water near the shore where it appeared he may have walked out of the swamp, but I don’t know where he went from there. Luna never got back on him, so I guess it’s possible he went back into the swamp. I think the hunter was correct when he suspected a one lung hit.

#2

At noon today, we went to track a buck shot yesterday afternoon. Despite a very thorough search of the area, white hair at the hit site was the only evidence of a hit.

#3

This track was for a buck shot at 300 yards. The .270’s first shot was a miss, the second was believed to be a shoulder hit, the third shot was a possible hit, but not positive about it. The hunter had tracked for 150 yards before losing the blood trail. Luna and I started the track at the edge of the woods where the deer was shot and she quickly took us to the hunter’s point of loss and into a marshy area. At this point it became obvious something had happened there as Luna was tracking in big circles. It appeared to me that coyotes had most likely been chasing the buck....we’ve seen it many times. The hunter stated they had coyotes very close when they backed out last night and I’m pretty sure that’s what happened here. On a funny note, at the end of this cold rainy track, Luna led me right out of the woods and sat down by the truck door. She’s never done that before. It may have been her way of saying this deer is alive and you really need to get the heater going in the truck.

[BizCT]

11/29

 

I was called last night by an excited and nervous hunter. He told me he had shot the biggest buck of his life, and he and his buddy had tracked a little blood for about 50 yards. After losing blood, they backed out without grid searching.  Well done!  This buck only went 250 yards and we found him in his first bed.  It turns out he was hit way back and would have gone a long way if he had been pushed.  Congratulations Cameron on a gorgeous buck!

Monster!


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[outdoorstom]

12/3

I was called by a hunter last night that reported shooting a buck at 240 yards.  The first shot was a clean miss,the second connected and the buck dropped at the shot, thrashed around, then got up and ran off.  My first thought was this is a high back hit, but then he went on to say they found what looked to be evidence of it being gutshot.  This didn’t add up, but to be on the safe side I scheduled the track for this morning.  We started in the field at the hit site, and Luna took us to the drop of blood they had found in the woods.  Before that, we saw the gutshot evidence was actually clumpy poop.  There were a lot of live deer in the area evidenced by Luna going hot a few times.  Also, a neighbor was in his stand and told us he had 9 doe and a spike run by him.  We found a couple drops of blood further up the trail, but nothing after that.  Multiple restarts from the field and from last blood produced no evidence of a fatally hit deer.  We covered 2.8 miles circling through the woods before calling it.  I believe we have a high back hit and this buck is still alive.

This concludes our tracking season......heading to Florida.  Hope everyone has a good winter.  The good Lord willing, we’ll do this again next season. 90 tracks with 32 recoveries.

 

 

[Zag]

17 minutes ago, outdoorstom said:

12/3

I was called by a hunter last night that reported shooting a buck at 240 yards.  The first shot was a clean miss,the second connected and the buck dropped at the shot, thrashed around, then got up and ran off.  My first thought was this is a high back hit, but then he went on to say they found what looked to be evidence of it being gutshot.  This didn’t add up, but to be on the safe side I scheduled the track for this morning.  We started in the field at the hit site, and Luna took us to the drop of blood they had found in the woods.  Before that, we saw the gutshot evidence was actually clumpy poop.  There were a lot of live deer in the area evidenced by Luna going hot a few times.  Also, a neighbor was in his stand and told us he had 9 doe and a spike run by him.  We found a couple drops of blood further up the trail, but nothing after that.  Multiple restarts from the field and from last blood produced no evidence of a fatally hit deer.  We covered 2.8 miles circling through the woods before calling it.  I believe we have a high back hit and this buck is still alive.

This concludes our tracking season......heading to Florida.  Hope everyone has a good winter.  The good Lord willing, we’ll do this again next season. 90 tracks with 32 recoveries.

 

 

Great job and season. Thanks for always posting your tracks I always look forward to it! Enjoy the downtime and weather. Merry Christmas 

[moog5050]

Great read and effort as it is every year.   Enjoy FL!

[2012_taco]

Have a great winter in Fla! You and the doggies deserve the break. Thanks for your efforts and some great reading. I look forward to next years reports! 

[Fletch]

Thank you for sharing your adventures. I always look forward to catching up on your posts!

[crappyice]

Safe travels and thank you for taking us along on so many tracks.


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[crappyice]

Safe travels and thank you for taking us along on so many tracks.


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[Farflung]

Always the most interesting post on this board. Have a safe trip to/in/from Florida

[UpStateRedNeck]

2 hours ago, outdoorstom said:

12/3

I was called by a hunter last night that reported shooting a buck at 240 yards.  The first shot was a clean miss,the second connected and the buck dropped at the shot, thrashed around, then got up and ran off.  My first thought was this is a high back hit, but then he went on to say they found what looked to be evidence of it being gutshot.  This didn’t add up, but to be on the safe side I scheduled the track for this morning.  We started in the field at the hit site, and Luna took us to the drop of blood they had found in the woods.  Before that, we saw the gutshot evidence was actually clumpy poop.  There were a lot of live deer in the area evidenced by Luna going hot a few times.  Also, a neighbor was in his stand and told us he had 9 doe and a spike run by him.  We found a couple drops of blood further up the trail, but nothing after that.  Multiple restarts from the field and from last blood produced no evidence of a fatally hit deer.  We covered 2.8 miles circling through the woods before calling it.  I believe we have a high back hit and this buck is still alive.

This concludes our tracking season......heading to Florida.  Hope everyone has a good winter.  The good Lord willing, we’ll do this again next season. 90 tracks with 32 recoveries.

 

 

Love your stories, thank you very much for posting them and for all you do for the hunting community!

[Moho81]

Enjoy your warm winter in Florida! 

[grampy]

A much deserved break for the pups and you Tom. Enjoy!

And thanks for sharing with us again this year.

32 recoveries by the "Dream Team" !!!  Great work!!!

[Steuben Jerry]

3 hours ago, outdoorstom said:

This concludes our tracking season......heading to Florida.  Hope everyone has a good winter.  The good Lord willing, we’ll do this again next season. 90 tracks with 32 recoveries.

I'm going to miss reading these updates. Hope you have a great time in Florida! And stay healthy if you can!

Edited December 3, 2020 by Steuben Jerry

[Shoots100]

I'm sure the team is looking forward to tracking some chameleons in Florida.

Safe Travels.

[Poppy]

Tom,

Again thank you for the great stories and for the animals that the three of you recovered.  I always look forward to next year's adventures.  I hope you and your family including the pups have a restful and enjoyable snow season in Florida and have a safe healthy and blessed holiday season.

Poppy.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Stay safe and warm and enjoy your time. Thank you for all you do to help the sportsmen and women. 

[outdoorstom]

Thank you everyone.  I’m still going through withdrawals here.  Merry Christmas!