So far for this hunting season we are 7 finds,8 no finds , one verified miss and one survivor. Of the 8 no finds 2 crossed property lines, 1 we could not catch up to and 5 were true no finds
|
Got a call of a 8 pointer double lung from a friend. I had told him if he put one on the ground I wanted to work Baby for
practice ( first real deer of the year). The arrow was covered in blood with some hair on it, the angle from his stand to
were the arrow was stuck in the ground looked good. The hunter stated that he thought he heard the deer do a big
sweeping right turn and then crash in a bunch of briers. Well we start tracking and Baby does just what the hunter said
big sweeping right curve. Blood trail looks good and could have been followed by eye tracking. We come out of the brier
patch that the hunter thought the deer crashed in and went up the power line that we had driven in on about 20 yards.
At this point we had only been about 100 yards and the blood trail quickly was becoming very faint. Baby said the deer
then the deer did a hard left and paralleled the power line about 50-75 yards were we found one more drop of blood.
She tried to work a small deer trail off to the left but turned around and continued on straight forward up a trail into an
opening. We worked around the left side of a 1 ac head high brier patch. She circled it and when she got about 20
yards beyond the patch she said she was off and turned around. As we are going back she keeps winding the brier
patch like the deer is in it. Well I plow through it making trails as even she could not get into it because it was so thick,
but nothing was in there.
We decided to start back at a known spot. Baby worked the trail again and this time when we got to were the last blood
was turned around and went to the small deer trail, turned and went down it. The deer had doubled back about 10 yards
on its own trail. We went out into the power line and literally followed our tire tracks up the power line for 150 -200 yards
checking deer trails that crossed. She finally turned right and went into the woods. Still no blood since the last spot way
back down the trail were the deer doubled back. Baby starts working around a small thicket and I drop her lead to go
around it and she takes off on the trail. I got her stopped and she comes back to me. As soon as I pick her lead up and
tell her to "find" I can tell she is on the track. We turn and head back paralleling the power line again heading in the
direction we came from with a slight directional shift away from the power line. I follow her even though no blood because
her body reaction said this is it.
Well we end up at the big brier patch again but this time we circle around the upper side and find a drop of blood about
the size of a quarter. I guess earlier when she was wind scenting on the lower side of the brier patch, that she was
winding were the deer had been across on the other side.
And here is the sad part of the story. We followed the trail on another 50 or so yards and it was following a very well
worn deer trail that went right to a main rd and crossed onto property we did not have permission to track on.
I was a little worried that being the first track of the year she would be to excited to work close and hard but that was
definitely not a problem. I am very proud of how Baby stuck with it and was able to work out the switch back and pick up
the deer trail even though we had driven on the trail. Just to bad I could not reward her with a deer at the end of the trail.
We tracked her right to the river about 300 yards from my stand. The only significant blood was the last 40 yards. The
other side of the river is city property and I had to make some calls till I finally found someone who could give me
permission to go onto the property. Once we got permission we circled around to the bridge and walked up th either
side. We went right to were the deer crossed and started tracking. It did not take long and Baby had bumped the deer
out of its bed. The deer went right back to the river and started swimming down river with Baby right behind her. I was
able to catch Baby's lead as she rounded a bend in the river. I got her out and we ran down river. I could not carry my
bow with me on the city property. I ran back to the truck and got my bow and was able to get down to the river just as the
doe passed under the bridge. I then had to run back up the bank and over the bridge to a 4 wheeler trail that follows the
river. I went a long ways down the river. My father-in-law was helping me and he stayed on the other side of the river. I
finally made it to the river bank but the doe turned and went back toward the bridge. We lost her in a brush top. The
landowner I was hunting with made it out to the bridge and spotted the doe for us up against the bank. SO here I go
again up and around the bridge to the other side. It appears the deer had expired there on the bank. The briers were so
thick I had to crawl on my belly in places to get to the bank. I was going to drop down and slip a rope on her head so we
could pull her out. I made it through the briers and was about half way down to the point of no return when she takes off
again. Pumping blood like crazy. This time she goes to the other side. So back we go. This time she is in the open were I
can put a finishing shot in her.
Got a call from a former tracking client whose nephew now needed
help. He had shot a nice 8 or 10 pointer this morning around 8:30. I
got the call around 1:30 but was not able to track it until 6:30. This
sounded like a good hit. The young man had stalked up on this buck
bedded in a soy bean field. When he got ready he grunted and the
buck stood up. He released his arrow and got a pass through
according to him. He tracked out about 500-600 yards and lost it.
Now let me tell you what this deer was traveling in. 6 year old planted
pines completely grow up with briers. My brier britches were no
match for some of these briers. The deer had crossed a small field
half way through what the hunter had tracked. I decided to start here
instead of the beginning. I was whimping out on some of those briers.
Well Baby did her typical search around the area a few times before
settling in on the trail the deer took. We followed the trail good
through the rest of the briers and pines. When we got to an old fire
break she took a wrong turn. She quickly began working with her
head up. After about 30 yards I ask the hunter if this was the
direction in which they had found the last blood,it was not. I decided
to pull Baby off and go to the last blood were the hunter had stopped
tracking. She quickly picked the trail back up and about 60 yards
more we were looking at a nice little 2 1/2 year old 8 pointer. It was a
very poor shot, with the hunter pulling his shot and hitting the deer in
the neck. This deer had a second wound in the neck just below this
shot that had started to crust over were someone had shot him
earlier in the week. I was very pleased with how Baby worked, even
though she did get off the line.
we tracked a doe 5 hr old track no blood at
the hit sight and found it in about 7-8 minutes
about 120 yard in some tall grass. You would
have literally had to walk on top of her to
have found her.
Deer 4,5
Sat. the 21st, We got in from vacation early so I "had" to go get in a tree. I did not see anything but on the way out of
the woods I got a call from my father-in-law that he had 1 possibly 2 does down in a privet thicket. For those that do not
know this stuff can get so thick it is impenetrable. We got to the area about 1 1/2 hrs after the shot. Both deer had run
into the thicket in about the same place. The first doe was a straight on shot. He had touched off his rifle a tad bit early
and was pretty sure it was a shoulder hit, he was trying a head on chest shot. Second was a broad side on a yearling
doe. I got Baby to work the edge of the field and she found a small amount of blood. She turned and went into the
thicket I crawled. As soon as we got into the brush I started picking up blood and she quickly found the deer about 40
yards in.
Well I crawled back out and told her to find again. At first she wanted to go down the same trail. I keep telling her to find
out in the field and showed her were I wanted her to search. She started working the edge until she found another spot
she wanted to follow. This was a different opening so I followed her. Again we found blood upon entering the brush.
Baby followed the track that went within 10 feet of the other deer and my father-in-law. She never even hesitated at the
other deer just keep tracking. The brush finally opened up and I was able to stand up and be drug through the
underbrush. I learned a lesson a fresh blood trail has so much scent it is easy for her and she gets in a hurry, older
tracks make her settle down and work closer. The blood was bright red and was decent for the first 100 yards then
quickly went to almost nothing. At first I though she had over ran the trail since she was tracking so fast, but then I
would find a spot or two some of it up high. (I should have called it then.)We finally tracked through that section of
woods, came out into a small field and then right back into the woods were the deer crossed the property line. After
making sure we had permission to be on the other property we continued on, crossing the fence and then a creek and
into another field and only found 1 more drop of blood. Baby was acting like she was on the line so I continued on. We
eventually found another drop. The trail was going to lead us very near to the landowners yard and we had already
traveled over 1/2 mile if not close to 3/4 so we decided to call it.
I got a call for a buck shot 3 hrs prior. The hunter could
not find the exact spot again were the deer was
standing but Baby picked it up and followed the trail out
through the pasture across the fence and through
another fence the turned just as the hunter had
following the deer. We then went up through a small cut
over and the deer turned and went back across the they
had found. Baby got up to it and it was like you turned
off a switch, she started walking around with her head
up and started searching every trail around. I eventually
took her back and started over in the cut over. She
again turned and crossed the fence and went to were
the last blood was marked and then went on straight a
little more. Here I found a small amount of blood as I was
crawling through the brush. She never again acted like
she was on the trail. She searched the entire field edge
and the only thing she indicated was a bunny rabbit. I
finally called it as she definitely was not going to pick it
back up.
This recovery was more of a practice for Baby
but was a real find since the hunter could not
find the deer. Baby was very excited and it took
us a little bit to get started. When she did get
going we quickly worked out the field and to the
woods. This is were the hunter lost blood in
some red leaves. Baby started in the woods and
me right behind her on my hands and knees.
Then before I even got all the way in the brush
the rope goes limp. I look to see what Baby is
doing and see she is already on the deer. The
hunter stated that he had walked around the
brush but did not see the deer laying there
behind the tree.
Now last nights call the deer went up hill for well over 500
yards before making a right hand turn for about 3 or 4
steps then turned around and headed in the opposite
direction, basically making a "T" intersection. Baby over
shot it at first but was able to eventually work it out. I just
trail and then were it turned right. But after working that
direction for less than 20 yards Baby said that was not it
and came back up the hill were she picked up the real line
and eventually we were able to find a small spot of gut
juice to confirm we were back on track. This sign quickly
ran out and after another 1/4 mile we called it. It is
believed that the hunter just barley grazed the deer
across the belly making a small cut in the stomach. As the
deer moved the hole in the stomach and the hole in the
skin no longer matched and this is when the sign stopped.
This deer would have stayed out in front of us as this was
not an immediate kill shot.
Deer #14 Rodney and Baby 11/14/06
|
I received the call around 11 am that the hunter had shot a deer at 8 am and could not find it. I was at work and
could not get off early. Just from the quick conversation it sounded like a leg hit. Well when I got back to the office
this afternoon I called him and he ask if I would come give it a try. I told him if it was a leg hit we would not catch it
but he wanted to try anyway. We got there 10 hrs after the deer had been shot. At the hit site was lots of light
brown hair and some meat. Hunter was trying a front on shot. Baby quickly picked the blood trail up and followed it
just were the hunter had tracked. At the point of blood loss by the hunter Baby keep right on tracking. She never
hesitated when she crossed the dirt rd. I was beginning to question her as we were having to literally push our way
through the privet. I mean this stuff was so thick, I though there is no way the buck could come through here and
not be rubbing all over everything. But still no blood, we had to stay on our hands and knees for over 100 yards,
because this stuff was so thick. Well the hunter is starting to say,"you can call it whenever I do not think we are
going to find this deer". About then I found a spot of blood and I mean 1 spot. We keep going and again the hunter
says I can call it. By this time we have gone another 150 yards from last blood and I was about ready to call it. I
decided that I wanted 1 more spot of blood to make sure Baby was still on track. That is when we start seeing large
pools of blood. I am again down crawling through the thick stuff when my light reflects off the bucks eyes. It was still
alive. The hunter was able to step up and finish it off. Overall the track was a little over 1/2 mile and took us 45
minutes. After looking at his deer I could see why the deer was not smearing blood on the brush. The shot had
gone in under the front should. It just did enter the chest cavity and then exited out the back of the front shoulder
just grazing the body and then hitting the inside of the rear lag. So all the wounds were on the inside of the body
thus no smearing.
Link to page 2 of stories from this year
|
Hillock Kennels is a proud member of
|
Hillock Kennels
Williamson Ga 30292 770-468-5459 Contact Ken Parker
|
Web site created and maintained by Ken.
Last updated 12-16-06
Club for Bavarian mountain Blood Hounds
Home , Ken's Bio , BMH's from around the U.S. , Breeding , Health Guarantee , Links , Our Dogs, Puppy pages
Status , Tracking Services , Training , 2004 Tracking stories , 2005 tracking stories , 2006 tracking stories
2007 tracking stories