Things are not always what they appear. It seems this point gets reinforced every year around this time.
As some of you know I have a buddy that is a pretty fair tracker. His name is Moe.
Tuesday evening at about 9:45 pm. I got a call.The call came from a good friend who wanted to know if Moe could come track a deer for a friend of his. I said no problem have your friend give me a call. Sure enough the phone rang just a minute or so after I hung up with said friend of mine. Often enough these calls all start out very similar.The voice on the other end started with "sorry to bother you but I shot a deer deer and I'm having problems".I said "no problem what is going on". The story was told. I'll give you the brief version. The hunter hunts with a recurve and had taken a ethical shot at a young buck resulting in what the hunter thought was a perfect hit.I was told the arrow looked great with lots of blood and no bad smell about it. After the shot calls were made for back up to drag the deer out and assist with the tracking job.This all took about 2 hours before they started tracking. Blood was very sparse at the shot and along the trail. The track had only gone about 50 yards when the deer suddenly got up and took off. That is when they backed out and called me.
I'm in..
I had a yellow Lab that found over 60 deer for me. I got all kind of calls from hunters that just shot a booner. I would gather my grip, get the dog and go find their 4 point.
I asked the caller to tell me just exactly how the deer acted after the shot. I was told the deer took a few bounds and walked/trotted off just out of sight. My next question was what was the deer's body language like. The caller said the buck would hump up in his middle. AHHH an important bit of information right there. The buck was humped up I said? Yes the caller replied. Well that means he was gut shot. COULDN'T BE the caller replied the arrow smelled fine and I saw it strike the deer perfectly.Things are not always what they seem was my response.What I was thinking was. Then why are you calling me at 10 pm for help tracking your deer. Tracy has taught me to be more tactful these days so I bit my tongue. A bit of discussion followed but I'll keep this the short version. I convinced the caller that we needed to leave the deer until morning and that the time between the shot and sunrise would not mean a thing to Moe but would be the difference between a dead deer that will not go terribly far and a deer that will run until it drops if it is pushed.
So, how long did it take to find it again?
Moe to be rescue!
Three good things happened so far.
They waited two hours rather than rushing after it.
They backed out immediately when the deer was bumped.
They knew a friend who has a friend with a tracking dog.
Get'em Moe!
Moe and I arrived at the designated are well before daylight as agreed. The hunter was there waiting patiently. We then drove to the farm where the track was waiting. It was still not daylight enough so we waited for the sun to come up a bit more. While waiting we examined the arrow by the truck lights and discussed the whole scenario again.I was pleased that the story I got that morning was exactly the same as the one I had gotten the night before. The arrow did indeed look good. There was good blood on it and no sign of a paunch hit. Until you smelled the arrow. Then the smell of gut was very faint.
Once the sun came up enough that I could easily see Moe's reaction to the track I harnessed him and let him smell the arrow. I swear he gave me a sly wink of his left eye as to say don't worry boss I got this. :D Ok maybe that part was all in my head but I was confident Moe would do his job well.
Once we got to the point of the shot. (Which was well marked by the hunter with a glove). Good job hunter on marking the shot well. I asked him to point out where the deer went. Meanwhile Moe is under my arm whining to be sat down. He already knows where the deer went. After a short discussion on the deer escape path I sat Moe down and we were off. We had only went about 20 yards on the track when we came to intersecting deer trails. Moe checked each of them. Then set off the direction the deer had ran. I had not seen any blood yet. In another 30 yards or so we came to the first bed. There was only a small amount of blood in it. Moe showed a little interest and then we were off at a walk again. The hunter pointed out the bed as I walked through it.
Over the next 100-150 yards the trail turned left then right several times. Finally we ended up at an old over grown logging road. Moe looked right then looked left and we were off again. The dead deer laid ahead of us on the old 2 track not more than 50 yards.
Once at the deer Moe got his usual praise and a little time to take out some frustration on the deer before the hunter began gutting and tagging the deer so we could drag it out.
While the gutting chore was going on we had a discussion about what went right and what went wrong.
What went right.
1) hunter marked the shot site well as well as the direction of travel after the shot and the last place they saw the deer.
2) hunter gave the deer time to move off and expire before taking up the track.
3) Once the "dead" deer was jumped from his first bed they backed out and looked for other options
4) hunter wanted to go back in that night after more time but after our talk agreed to leave the deer over night and come back in the morning.
5) Moe did a great job tracking for us.
What went wrong.
The shot was taken at a broadside deer. The shot looked perfect to the hunter but actually entered the deer just in front of the hip on the left side of the deer and exited up towards the off shoulder. It went through gut liver and maybe the back of one lung.
The only explanation is that the deer wheeled to run at the shot resulting in the bad hit.
So after all of that gut the arrow went through why was there no gut material and very little gut smell about the arrow. The only explanation is that as the arrow passed through the liver, lung rib cage, and hide most of the gut material was replaced by actual blood. The smell on the arrow was so faint if you were not looking for it you would have very likely missed it.
Lots of lessons in this tracking job and no things are not always as they appear. Even with the bad hit we still collected this deer because of the things the hunter did that we should all do on every shot. Perfect or not. Also because Moe and his beautiful nose. The whole track from start to finish took about 5 minutes.
Great post Brother. Moe is the real deal there is no doubt. Watching a well trained dog do a professional job is one of life's greatest moments in my book. Moe made short work on one for me last year that I hit behind the ribs.
(http://i62.tinypic.com/1624jm0.jpg)
QuoteOriginally posted by KentuckyTJ:
Great post Brother. Moe is the real deal there is no doubt. Watching a well trained dog do a professional job is one of life's greatest moments in my book.
Spoken like a true houndsman. :thumbsup:
Yep there have been many times I'd wished for a good dog on the trail of a "perfect" shot. It's funny how our mind plays tricks on us. Many times the shot we "saw" is not the shot that occurred. Also how many times have we made a perfect shot and over the next 30 minutes talked ourselves into a marginal hit?
Good tracking skills whether human or canine are a great asset.
Mike
Great read.... Well done
God Bless,
Well said bill....thxs for sharing!!
I sure wish deer trailing dogs were legal here in WV!!
Great post with information we all need to hear.
Thanks! :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :clapper:
Awesome post Bill. Good lessons here that we all need reminding of every now and then. Thank you for sharing.
Steve
Excellent tutorial without sounding like a teacher. Read every word THANKS!!!
great stuff!
:thumbsup:
Great stuff right there !!! :thumbsup:
Bill
Great job, great lesson. Thanks for expanding and enhancing our knowledge thru your experience.
Great post a lot to be taken from this. Goes to show you what experience in a situation does.
Excellent information for all of us to follow. I will say that one of the things I do when finding my arrow is smell it even when it visually looks great.
So how big was he??
Great Read, Thank You
Thanks for all the comments guys. Moe is 4 now and really beginning to come into his own on this tracking stuff. He is getting old enough that he is a little slower on the tracks now. He use to try to run them just as fast as possible but he is settling down nicely now.
QuoteOriginally posted by Sam McMichael:
So, how long did it take to find it again?
It took Moe roughly 5 minutes to cover the track.
BowArkie
The buck was a basket racked 8 point. I'd say he was a 2 yr old deer.
Thanks Bill. Great post.
Great story Bill.... gotta love that pooch!
You the man Bill, or maybe Moe is the man. You're both a ok in my book.
:archer:
Way to go Moe, I just love a good dog... My friend we could share some stories about good dogs and some funny hunter's stories about after the shot. I learned early to listen to the dog and not the hunter, lol.
Way to to go from Tim and Ximo
I know there are regulations about "hunting" deert with dogs, but I did not know that recovery dogs were illegal anywhere? I guess if the animal is wounded and still alive, that really "blurs" the lines of trailing and hunting with a dog.
Cool story - I grew up with hunting beagles and it truly a joy to watch a dog work when he/she's doing what they were meant to do!
Good job Moe!
great post ... way to go Moe :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Moe is my HERO......... :thumbsup:
I was the founder of a pretty large urban deer control group in the 90's. We were hunting a golf subdivision...and our efforts were always to be "unseen" by any resident or golfer even if it meant not taking a shot at a deer if we felt it would cross in front of a golfer or go into someone's yard.
We had a guy and his buddy in the group- they were compounders- both passed the shooting proficiency test with flying colors- showed us photos of lots of dead deer. They shot cut on impact heads- as we would not allow expandables
One Saturday I get a call to come help this guy who had shot a forkie and lost the trail.
I asked the typical questions and got what sounded like the right answers....including the shot was right in the goodie box...I said "which side of the deer did you shoot into, and what was his reaction?" Broadside, on the deer's right, tight to the shoulder, and he bucked up and took off like a scalded dog- was the response. How long since the shot? 1 hr 15 minutes.
We went to where he'd marked the impact spot- i found 1 or 2 drops....and every 12 feet another drop or two- in a straight line- headed for a fairway. I followed onto the fairway, and found one small oak leaf in the middle of the open, neatly mown fairway that had a speck of blood on it- and I went straight across...and picked up the trail. 75 yards later- creeping along, I see the deer bedded on the edge of the fairway with his head up, very alert. He gets up and walks away from us.
I just happened to be hunting in that block of timber a lot- and knew the trails. I sent him and his cohort around in a big loop and told them exactly where to get on the two track that ran through the middle- that the deer would come across just toward me from them, at about 20 yards and he might be able to finish it.
I pushed it, watching it ahead of me, slowly so it wouldn't run, and saw the wound- it was in the lower RIGHT leg of the deer- not a fatal hit at all...just trickling drops of blood.
It crossed the road, and he pumped two more arrows into it to finish it. He was so excited about the kill I waited till the next day to fire him so he could enjoy the moment.
In several years, thankfully, we didn't have too many of those situations.
Nice job to Moe!
Pretty nice buck too!!
Here is a pig from a couple of years back. Moe literally saved my bacon on this one. It was a good hit but just a lousy trail.
(http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e305/zipperbows/image.jpg) (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/zipperbows/media/image.jpg.html)
This is the same pig. Moe decided to sneak in a victory kiss without my permission.
(http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e305/zipperbows/moesneaksakiss.jpg) (http://s42.photobucket.com/user/zipperbows/media/moesneaksakiss.jpg.html)
Over the last 4 years he has found several deer, pigs, and bear for various folks. Yep we are proud of him. :D
My hat goes off to the people that use dogs to track deer . They give up untold hours of there best hunting time to help others recover deer . It truely takes a sportsman to give there time to make sure as few deer as possible go unrecovered. This is a big Thank you to all of trackers !!!
Great post!
I'm an avid shed hunter and people always ask why I don't get a dog to help. I don't want an animal to take all the fun from me!
HOWEVER, I would LOVE to have a dog that could help me an my friends/family track animals! Nothing is better than watching a good blood dog do his thing.
Nice post, and thanks for sharing!
Great post Bill thanks for that!!!!!
Good Job Moe.
well done
Way to go Moe AND Bill! Watching a good blood trailer is as much fun as hunting.
That is just plain awesome, it is amazing to watch animals work instinctually. Great job to both
:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :archer:
Great thread with lots of great info that needs repeating often. Love blood tracking deer dogs.
Moe for President 2016
Atta' boy, Moe. Good dog.
Great job Moe and Bill! He's a good lookin dog. Id love to see a tracking dog in action.
QuoteOriginally posted by Bill Kissner:
Way to go Moe AND Bill! Watching a good blood trailer is as much fun as hunting.
You know, Bill you and, Suzie planted the seed.Watching her track, Tracy's pig in TX all of those years ago is what started our quest to find a blood tracker of our own.
LC, That is hilarious!! Moe is much too honest for politics.
Think you all for the comments. It was actually, TJ's idea for the thread while we were discussing the track and all the lessons that we relearn every year.
Thanks Brother but lets keep this about Moe and all our hard working hairy friends. From years of training bird dogs I truly appreciate and love watching a good dog do a job he was intended to perform. The good dogs love what they do and you can see it when they go to work. I don't understand why more folks don't put in a little work to have such a great tool.
That 2nd pic of Moe "stealing a kiss" is priceless. Great reaction from you both!!!
Great post. :thumbsup:
Great traking Bill and Moe Dunn