Luna & Kunox’s 2021 Tracking Journal

[ApexerER]

Great start to the season, keep the stories coming!!

[Culvercreek hunt club]

My favorite thread on the entire site. Thanks for what you do. 

[outdoorstom]

13 hours ago, Swamp_bucks said:

Great way to start off the year. I'm sure that pup was excited to be chewing on a deer again.

You’re not kidding. She was practically hyperventilating when we got there!

 

[outdoorstom]

9 hours ago, crappyice said:

LOVE THIS TEAM!!!!

Why would there be no blood trail with that shot placement? Shot looks awesome.
What broadleaf/Mechanical? Montec G5??
Did the mule kick make him think guts?

 

There was blood, but the 2nd deer messed the hunter up and he was looking for blood in the wrong area.  Usually a mule kick is a good thing, at least in my experience.

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[outdoorstom]

 

9/28

#1

I was called last night and asked to track a 4 pointer that was shot at 5:15. The hunter wasn’t sure where he had hit him, but thought maybe one lung or liver. He had waited about 45 minutes before starting to track. He was approximately 100 yards into the track when he jumped the standing buck, who blew as he took off.  He jumped him again about 20 yards later and found a couple drops of blood where he was standing. The hunter attempted to leave the woods at this point, but got turned around and walked all through the area trying to get out.  

Kunox was taken to the hit site and quickly got locked on. There was never a lot of sign, a little bright red blood here and there, but no beds, and no recovered arrow.  At 600 yards, Kunox went hot. We never saw the deer or any blood, but I let him continue, figuring I could always go back for a restart later if necessary.  Kunox went hot again, and this time I found a tiny bit of fresh blood on a leaf. We continued but never caught up or got a glimpse. I called the track at .9 miles.

 

#2

This 4 or 6 pointer was shot last night at 6:10, and I got the call this morning while on the first track.  Kunox lucked out and got two in a row. When I heard where the deer had been shot, I knew if we didn’t find it close, we most likely wouldn’t find him at all. He had been shot high in the neck and the hunter could clearly see his arrow still in him as he ran off. Based on the small amount of blood, an artery was not hit. He was long gone.

[outdoorstom]

 

9/29

 

I was driving home this morning after spending the night with buddies at Camp Serenity, which is run by Wounded Warriors Outdoors Adventures, when I received a call requesting help with a tracking job. 

The hunter told me he had shot a 9 pointer at 40 yards and believed he hit him too far back. He waited 2 hours before looking, but bumped the buck out of a bed at 80 yards. Going in too soon on a gut or liver shot was the only mistake this hunter made. He made a great decision by backing out immediately and waiting until this morning to go look.  He was only able to advance the track a short distance this morning due to being in the cedars….tough tracking there.  This is where he made another great decision….he backed out without grid searching and called! 

Luna made short work of this 375 yard track.  If the hunter had continued pushing that buck last night there’s a good chance we would not have recovered him. I wasn’t there for the field dressing, but the hunter reports the arrow caught lung and sliced part of the heart.  The entry point was back quite a ways, but the deer was quartering away.  

Poor Kunox has had to track 2 deer that were still alive while Luna gets the dead ones. His luck will change soon.

 

Edited September 29, 2021 by outdoorstom

[Steuben Jerry]

Nice job Luna!!!

[Robhuntandfish]

Kunox is gonna be a raging grizzly on the next one! 

Good job Luna!

[outdoorstom]

3 hours ago, Robhuntandfish said:

Kunox is gonna be a raging grizzly on the next one! 

Good job Luna!

Hahahaha. No kidding!

 

[outdoorstom]

 

10/2

 

Short version - high quartering to shot,  loud crack at impact, arrow recovered minus broadhead and 2” of arrow. 1.9 miles total track in the rain, no buck.

[outdoorstom]

My wife and I are moving in 3 weeks and still have a LOT of work to do. As painful as this is, I won’t be tracking until we’ve moved. :-(

 

[2012_taco]

18 hours ago, outdoorstom said:

My wife and I are moving in 3 weeks and still have a LOT of work to do. As painful as this is, I won’t be tracking until we’ve moved. :-(

 

Good luck with your move! I'll miss this daily blog!

[mlammerhirt]

Man I spent a while tonight searching for the this thread......good luck with the move... can't wait till you and the crew get back in the woods.

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[outdoorstom]

I’m about 10 days away from resuming tracking, and unfortunately Luna had surgery yesterday. She had 5 sebaceous cysts removed from one paw.  She’s crated if not on the couch with us, for 2 weeks, then another week of staying home bound. Poor girl!

[knehrke]

That's tough on a mutt! Particularly headed toward a move, when there's extra anxiety in the house and impending changes - dogs, like us older guys, are creatures of habit.

Our Finnegan ended up eating not one, but two collars of shame while crated, recovering from Dr. Snip. The vet said they'd never heard of a dog doing that before. Made for an interesting couple of weeks watching bits of plastic pass through the GI tract. 

Good luck with recovery! And the move, of course. We can't wait for the story to continue. 

[biggamefish]

That is one miserable look at her face!! Here is to a speedy recovery.

[Fletch]

Wishing Luna a speedy recovery. She does not look thrilled!


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[grampy]

Wishing a fast and complete recovery for Luna. Hope to see her on a lead, soon after she's back to 100%

After we moved to our forever home back in May, I feel your pain Tom! Tough to do in your 60's !

Hope it all goes smoothly as possible for you guys too. 

[ApexerER]

Poor girl. She doesn't look happy being in that crate. Wishing her a speedy recovery and good luck with your move....

[outdoorstom]

On 10/14/2021 at 6:39 AM, knehrke said:

That's tough on a mutt! Particularly headed toward a move, when there's extra anxiety in the house and impending changes - dogs, like us older guys, are creatures of habit.

Our Finnegan ended up eating not one, but two collars of shame while crated, recovering from Dr. Snip. The vet said they'd never heard of a dog doing that before. Made for an interesting couple of weeks watching bits of plastic pass through the GI tract. 

Good luck with recovery! And the move, of course. We can't wait for the story to continue. 

Thanks man!

[outdoorstom]

Thanks everyone.  The worst part is the fact that she doesn’t understand why she’s stuck in there:-(

 

[Poppy]

Tom,

Finally found your daily report.  I am thrilled that you and the pups are back again.  I hope that Luna recovers quickly.  If a 75 year old person can have a crush on a young female, that would be me and Luna.  My best to you and the pups with your move and I hope it is quick and uneventful.  Looking forward to more stories about the tracking.

Poppy

[outdoorstom]

10/28

 

#1

 

This morning Kunox and I tracked a buck shot by a huntress yesterday evening. I was called last night, and with the report of dark blood, we agreed it looked like a liver hit and decided to meet at first light this morning. There were only a few drops of blood for about 10 yards, then nothing.  Kunox appeared to lock on, and off we went.  20 yards later a deer took off out of some stuff so thick I was unable to determine the sex of the deer.  Kunox went hot and we followed for a few hundred yards. Based on how strongly the deer had run off and no visible blood, I decided we were following the wrong deer.  We did multiple restarts, going 400 to 500 yards each time. The hunter and her husband stayed near first blood trying to advance the track, which they did by another 10 yards. During one of our extended forays as we searched along a creek, I was called by the husband and told he had found it. Kunox and I had twice been within 10 yards of it on the upwind side. There was a slight rise concealing him from us.  I’m disappointed we didn’t find it, but of course very happy the 6 pointer was found! He had been gut shot and only gone about 125 yards due to not being pushed last night…..well done!

 

#2

 

We had a second track scheduled less than 10 minutes away from the first, so off we went.  This huntress was in an elevated box blind when a buck materialized directly underneath her. She found him in her scope, squeezed a round off, and was able to see where the round had hit him in the left haunch. Unfortunately, her scope had been set to 9 power so all she saw was brown in her scope.  She, her husband, and a friend went back in 2 hours later and found a small amount of blood which they were able to follow for about 40 yards.  The husband remembered how I stress not to grid search, so they backed out and called.  Kunox took us to last blood, and took off down a trail with me unsuccessfully looking for blood.  We had gone quite aways when I decided to take him back to last blood and I picked him up right next to a posted sign.  As we were walking back, I heard a holler of, I’ve got blood.  We went over, marked it, and I put Kunox back down. We took off down the trail and before long walked right past the posted sign. Sorry about that buddy!  We continued and found a bed from last night.  Further down the trail we started finding fresh blood and knew we were pushing him.  We continued on and Kunox started getting more excited, but never opened up.  I was hopeful we could close the distance and get a shot. He took us to a large swamp and led us across a VERY long beaver dam.  We were following the occasional small drop and smears on swamp grass.  Unfortunately, we never even got a glimpse of him and called the track. Kunox did very well on this one. 

 

[outdoorstom]

 

10/29

 

Much to Luna’s chagrin, Kunox and I went this morning to track a buck that was bow shot last night. The hunter and his wife had grid searched and were unable to find any blood at all.  He believed the shot was good up and down, but a little too far back. As the deer ran off he could see about 5” of arrow protruding.

At the hit site, Kunox immediately locked on and circled around to where the deer had stopped for a few seconds after the shot. There was no blood or hair visible. Kunox picked a trail and off we went.  Much to my delight, the hunter said they had been grid searching in a different direction than we were heading.  We weren’t seeing any sign, but Kunox was acting confident and at 140 yards he showed us the arrow. From that point on, we had 3 spots of blood as we went 325 yards to the dead deer.  He had been hit in the haunch but the arrow had angled it’s way down into the guts.  The hunter had a bracket up with his phone in it and was recording the shot. His phone had moved after the shot and apparently the arrow had deflected off it.

[outdoorstom]

Luna will be back to work on Monday morning.  Can’t wait to get her out there!