Sticky Need a Tracking Dog 2023: CONTACTS

bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Went on a track this morning, very little to go on. Buck shot with 270, deer ran a loop in the field then cut over to some soy beans where the deer ran the edge and only left 3 spots of blood across only 20 yards. This is very little for my dog to start on. My dog followed the same trajectory as the blood trail and headed into the woods at the corner of the field. On the second restart he showed me a lot more focus and stayed on line, nose to ground and was taking us past a rub line and heavily used trail where I began to see buck tracks. 200 yards back into the woods the dog got hot and began barking with every breath. It was obvious to me we were on a hot track and most likely jumped a deer, but what deer. I was looking for blood confirmation but got none for another 100 yards. I chose to turn around and back track the same trail looking for blood confirmation, sure enough after 50 yards of backtracking I found very fresh blood, we had jumped the deer. Cooper had basically tracked over 250 or so yards without blood and we jumped this buck still alive after 15 hours. Now that I knew the deer was still alive it was safe to say it was not a liver, heart, or double lung and likely not a gut shot. We had no evidence of any of this and blood looked like a muscle type blood. I suspected a low hit likely a leg, brisket or low belly. We tracked this deer another 2 miles in an attempt to keep the deers wound from clotting. The deer never bled enough to slow it down and the deer never bedded. We were unsuccessful and its safe to say that deer will live.
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Was this hunter in the Axtell area by any chance? Guy called me last night about a deer that he shot, but I had to tell him I don't track at night any more; too dangerous for the dog (and me).
 

bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Was this hunter in the Axtell area by any chance? Guy called me last night about a deer that he shot, but I had to tell him I don't track at night any more; too dangerous for the dog (and me).
Afton, NC. That's a country place there

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bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Was this hunter in the Axtell area by any chance? Guy called me last night about a deer that he shot, but I had to tell him I don't track at night any more; too dangerous for the dog (and me).
Afton, NC. That's a country place there

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That's the place I meant, not Axtell.

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Yea, I told him after interview that I could do it morning. Didn't sound good to begin with, few drops blood for 20 yards and those were after he ran 70 yards.

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aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Was this hunter in the Axtell area by any chance? Guy called me last night about a deer that he shot, but I had to tell him I don't track at night any more; too dangerous for the dog (and me).
Afton, NC. That's a country place there

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That's the place I meant, not Axtell.

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Yea, I told him after interview that I could do it morning. Didn't sound good to begin with, few drops blood for 20 yards and those were after he ran 70 yards.

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Yeah, when I talked with him, he said something about his scope fogging up and not being able to see well when he pulled the trigger. Told him I don't track at night anymore, and I couldn't meet him in the morning because I had an appointment......

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bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
oldest school

Been very fun, I've spent more time tracking then hunting but was still very fortunate hunting. My goal is 30 tracks this year.

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bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Was this hunter in the Axtell area by any chance? Guy called me last night about a deer that he shot, but I had to tell him I don't track at night any more; too dangerous for the dog (and me).
Afton, NC. That's a country place there

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That's the place I meant, not Axtell.

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
Yea, I told him after interview that I could do it morning. Didn't sound good to begin with, few drops blood for 20 yards and those were after he ran 70 yards.

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Yeah, when I talked with him, he said something about his scope fogging up and not being able to see well when he pulled the trigger. Told him I don't track at night anymore, and I couldn't meet him in the morning because I had an appointment......

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Yea that's definitely him, never a good sign when they say stuff like that over the phone. He was a friend of a friend and Cooper was impressive, was glad I got the opportunity.

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Anyone available today (11/18) in SE Gaston? Got a new hunter and first deer with a blood trail, might need some help.


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Banjo

Old Mossy Horns
My buddy needs a tracking dog in Rockingham County near Madison.


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turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
24 hour old track, maybe 250 yards. 11 year old boy shot buck with his dad yesterday morning. He called and said there is some blood but they already jumped the buck twice, so they backed out and called me. Earliest I could get there was at the 24 hour mark. Started at first blood and Cooper was flawless, down and hill, check left, then check right across a creek then followed the edge tell he was able to take us 75 yards further then last blood with no blood we could see and found the deer on the creek bank. Was a low hit as you can see from the picture.View attachment 22043View attachment 22044
Nice work them deer love to die near a creek
 

bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Here's a buck we tracked an estimated 1000 yards in the rain earlier this season back on trail cam. Missing a leg. We prefer to track dead deer, now the "he's still alive" photos are starting to come in. Hope people send me a few more.
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JONOV

Old Mossy Horns
Let me spell it out for you.

If I didn’t want to admit I likely mortally wounded a deer and didn’t recover it, I’d:

Post up a photo of a deer and tell you that’s the one we were tracking.

If you’re not skeptical of such, good for you. I couldn’t care less either way.
A man with a tracking dog is in the business of sour and unappetizing realities. No one owes BHRook an explanation; I doubt anyone is worried about sparing his feelings if he and his dog don't make a recovery; he isn't a 12 year old. Now, maybe he has people that do BS him, but his experience isn't totally inconsistent with what I've seen. I shot a deer, lost a deer, was sick about it, only to have a hunting partner shoot the same deer a month later, with no leg.

The other thing, it seems like (and would be logical to assume) that most of these are taken with a gun. Your odds of not recovering a deer fatally shot with a rifle, with a dog, are relatively low (especially compared to a bow.)

You can do a reverse google image search to see if you think he's stroking you. I don't.
 

DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
A man with a tracking dog is in the business of sour and unappetizing realities. No one owes BHRook an explanation; I doubt anyone is worried about sparing his feelings if he and his dog don't make a recovery; he isn't a 12 year old. Now, maybe he has people that do BS him, but his experience isn't totally inconsistent with what I've seen. I shot a deer, lost a deer, was sick about it, only to have a hunting partner shoot the same deer a month later, with no leg.

The other thing, it seems like (and would be logical to assume) that most of these are taken with a gun. Your odds of not recovering a deer fatally shot with a rifle, with a dog, are relatively low (especially compared to a bow.)

You can do a reverse google image search to see if you think he's stroking you. I don't.
A man with a tracking dog is in the business of sour and unappetizing realities. No one owes BHRook an explanation; I doubt anyone is worried about sparing his feelings if he and his dog don't make a recovery; he isn't a 12 year old. Now, maybe he has people that do BS him, but his experience isn't totally inconsistent with what I've seen. I shot a deer, lost a deer, was sick about it, only to have a hunting partner shoot the same deer a month later, with no leg.

The other thing, it seems like (and would be logical to assume) that most of these are taken with a gun. Your odds of not recovering a deer fatally shot with a rifle, with a dog, are relatively low (especially compared to a bow.)

You can do a reverse google image search to see if you think he's stroking you. I don't.

I don’t think the trackers are stroking anyone. If it sounded that way, it wasn’t my intention.

Do I think people BS THEM?

Yeah. I do.

I said I was skeptical of such stories. Are they all :donk:donk:donk:donk:donk:donk:donk:donk stories. No.
 

bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Looks like I missed some posts? Maybe they got erased. DB I'm guessing you were asking how do "I" know it was same deer? Well I don't, but the sign at the hit sight and on the track were consistent with the pictures, leg hit and brisket is what we suspected on each after finding what we found. Seeing the picture gives them relief but I actually don't think providing a picture like these publicly provides any relief in regards to other peoples feelings towards them, they took a bad shot and the deer is suffering, they should feel bad, would be easier to put it in the past. But I've made friends with each person I track with and the last thing I do is make them feel bad about wounding the deer. I just explain to them whether I believe its a dead deer or not and where I believe its hit. Then I tell them how much I appreciate them putting in the extra effort to contact me, its an extra step in attempting to recover a deer that many people do not take. I don't put any pressure on these guys to prove anything to me. Over the phone, they don't tell me the whole story, but once I arrive and we talk throughout the track I get more and more details. I actually have 2 more deer that I tracked that were found to be alive again on camera, but the pictures they sent weren't clear enough for me to even see an injury, but they say its the deer they shot. I'm not posting them cause there is no confirmation for me in the picture that its same deer. The 3 legged deer walked past a trail camera 2 hours after being shot, they showed me the picture, I could tell it was big deer like one pictured but all I could tell about injury was 1 leg was covered in blood, couldn't tell it was missing a leg though.

The % of deer I find depends on how much I screen the calls. I go to 90% of the calls I'm available for, not much screening at all, the best trackers in the country that don't screen calls are finding 1/3rd of the deer they track. 1/3rd are probably alive at the time of the track. Since I'm not very experienced and my dog is young, I take calls others wouldn't, me and the dog learn. I've taken 24 up to this point, I plan on 30.
 
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DBCooper

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I think the service you provide is wonderful. I’ve used a tracker/tracking dog myself. My comment had NOTHING to do with you, your peers or the service you provide.

My comments were referencing the phenomenon of shooting a deer and the (to me, seemingly growing) notion of “he’ll live”. I just don’t think that’s the case as much as is reported.

I’m sure (as primarily a bowhunter) I’ll need you guys services again in the future. Thanks for doing what you do.
 

Buxndiverdux

Old Mossy Horns
I haven't had to use you guys for tracking, but I sure have enjoyed reading all of your recoveries. I think there is a lot to learn from the results posted here that all of us can learn from. We all know how gut wrenching it is to lose a deer. It has caused me many a sleepless night over the years. Glad you guys volunteer. It seems like a lot of fun. Good luck to you all. And thanks for your efforts in the field and on this board.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Agree with what these guys saying have enjoyed reading these stories no hunter wants to lose a deer. Its win win you guys love watching your digs work and hunter greatly increased increases chance finding that deer
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
so bowhuntingrook,
when are you getting a raven to help in the finding?
In one of those "just when you think you have heard it all" deals I got a pic of a slob from the Midwest that was found with the help of a dog and a raven. That was new ground for me in terms of looking for one.
I think you may as well dive into that as well. :)
Thanks for your stories and I know the 30 hunters you will help are most grateful.
 

bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Was looking through the post and realized his first recovery pic ever wasn't on here. So added it. Yea DB I here what your sayin. We try to track within 24 hours of the hit, we can do 36 hours just depends on scenting conditions. So even deer we track that are living may die due to infection/sepsis after we track. Gut/intestinal shot are almost always fatal and some live past 36 hours. With dog we can sometimes still get close enough for shot if there sick enough, sometimes we can't. Also sometimes we run into property lines/permission problems. And then you have many who just don't put in the work after the shot, that like you said, assume because they can't find much near the hit site, that the deer lived. Thats a shame, I don't question the woodsmanship of the hunters either, but I have actually been impressed with the track jobs of quite a few individuals I've met as well. The worst part is telling a (6) year old we cannot find his buck, and seeing the tears start rolling.

Advancing a track is a success in a trackers eyes, which we have confirmed with blood and have done on many of these. The dog is teaching me things about deer behavior after the shot that would never have been possible without him before.

I hope to have more recoveries for you guys.
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bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Here's a picture showing the heartbreak of a track. Worst thing I've had to do, besides telling people their loved one has passed away, was breaking this guy's heart when we couldn't find his buck. Tears were rolling. Should have got a pic of him and my dog walking back to the truck together in front of us, them two were some very sad individuals, heads down in disappointment.
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