Jackson county deer tracking

I figured I'd be a copy cat and do like CNC is doing. I figured I'd try and keep my stories in a separate thread to keep his clean.

As alot of you know, the northern half of the state is suffering from options on a tracking dog. I think we have 2 that I'm aware of. I bought a dog almost 2 years ago, a mtn cur, from J Carter on here. I had all intentions on making her a tracking dog. Started working her on blood as soon as she came home. I ended up getting a divorce shortly after and didn't have time to work her. I missed last deer season working on a house and decided to start back training her when I was finished. So this summer I started back doing mock tracks and she picked right up where she left off and was doing excellent. Bow season opened in GA and I was able to collect some fresh supplies off some deer friends had killed. Started making her mock tracks as hard as I could imagine. Making loops, crossing dirt roads, etc. She just blew thru them. I felt like it was time to get her on the real thing and started advertising. I've read about every article and alot of books on tracking and have talked to a few other trackers getting advice. (Thanks CNC) I felt confident Spark would find a deer.

Fast forward to yesterday. As soon as I got home, I went to lay a mock track at a family members house. I let it age 4 hours and while I was on my way I got my first call. My boss had shot a doe in GA and the arrow was covered in blood but he couldn't find any blood on the ground. I told him I'd be on my way.

About an hour later we get to the hit site and I let Spark sniff around a minute. Boss told me the story. 2 deer came in the plot, he shot the biggest doe. When she hit the woods, he hears her run by his stand about 30 yards. He didn't see where the deer went in.

So, I tell Spark to find it. I worked her on lead the whole time because I dont have a tracking collar yet. She hits the woods and man is it ever thick. I mean a rabbit would need a chainsaw to get thru this stuff. And me being the novice expert I am, didn't think to wear my briar pants. So here I go, being drug thru the woods behind a dog in a t shirt and blue jeans with no gloves.

We go about 100 yards thru this mess and we've not found blood and by Sparks body language I felt like she wasn't on it. I decided to take her back to the hit site and start over. This time she hit the woods and went a different direction. We get about 30 yards in the woods and find blood. Boy she's on it now. I felt like I had a Clydesdale at the end of that leash being drug thru hell. We end up going about 150 yards and there's the deer! She gets about 5 steps from it, hair raised on her neck and she starts growling. Lol. I'm pumped up, the boss is going nuts. Spark found her first deer! Then we had to drag that heffer back thru that mess. On the way out, I had the idea to train a dragging dog to go along behind the tracking dog! Reckon that would work?

He had actually double lunged this deer but she didn't start bleeding for about 50 yards. It was so thick in there, there's no way he would have been able to find that deer. He had already given up.

When I got back to the truck, I felt like I'd sandpapered an alligators a$$ in a phone booth. I have got scratches and cuts all over me. I learned some valuable lessons from the first. I will wear my briar pants from now on and I will be getting a tracking collar.

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Welcome to tracking!!

That made my morning. Yeah, you better go ahead and be prepared for “thick”…..that’s just about every track it seems like. If you don’t start out in thickness, then just give it a minute….you’re headed that way…..either that or a swamp. Briar clothes are a must. I like the soft leather gloves…..they give me more dexterity to work my GPS than the stiff ones. A forester’s cruising vest is also a valuable thing to get. You’ll want to get used to taking a bottle or two of water with you for the dog as well along with a tiny bowl. You can just cut the bottom of a water bottle off to make one. Some tracks are gonna take a while and the dog will do much better if you stop and give it a drink every now and then. They’ll eventually shut down if you don’t when its hot.

Keep the stories coming!

Awesome! I will eventually get into tracking and really enjoy reading about it.

Congrats on the recovery?

Congrats on number 1.

Excellent job and excellent story.
I’ve been training my GSP for birds since we brought him home last September.
After his first season of dove hunting I think he has it down.
Now I’ve been doing a little bit of tracking training with him and he’s doing ok.
If he manages to find at least one lost deer then I consider it a success.
I can’t wait to try him out on the real thing.

Recovery 2 is in the books. Sorry to come

You need to buy a wicks suit asap

Good deal

Awesome!

Looking forward to keeping up with Spark's adventures!

Alright guys. I've finally had a minute to type all this out. Yesterday evening, my uncle and I went to a spot that we'd scouted last weekend. I took Spark with me just in case one of us shot one, I could give her some practice. I let her lay around in the dog box while we hunted.

I got set up around 4. This spot is a little pinch point between cutover and had a couple white oaks dropping. The wind was brutal, as this spot is right on the brow of the mtn.

I wear contacts and my eyes got extremely dry. At one point, I thought I had caught movement and was straining to look and when I blinked, my left contact came out. I guess the wind blew it off my face cause I couldn't find it.

Well, now I'm blind in one eye. I can't see at all without lens. Shortly thereafter, 3 big does come feeding in. They came in on my left side and I didn't even know they were there until they were at 10 yards. They fed under my tree for the longest and I was able to get up and get ready. I picked out what looked to be the biggest one and got to full draw. I settled the pin and whack, I couldn't tell where I hit her exactly. It sounded like it was right in the boiler, but I can't see real good. She runs off like a bat outta hell and I have no clue where she went.

It was a few minutes before dark and I went ahead and got down. I walked to the hit site and the arrow was covered in blood. I thought then I had made an excellent shot. I gather my crap and walk back to the wheeler and wait for my uncle. I told him all about it and I went and got Spark while he started looking for blood.

I get back and he can't find any blood at all. I take Spark to where the deer was standing and she's on it. I have her on a nylon leash now, about 8ft long. She's dragging me along. We get out about 40 yards from the hit and I see a speck of blood. I tell my uncle to watch for blood as he's following. We make it about 100 yards and the deer finally opened up and bled in one spot about the size of a truck hood. I looked back to tell him here's a bunch of blood, and when I say it, this deer jumps up 2 steps from me and before I could think, Sparks on her. Jerked the leash outta my hand and is gone. She bayed the deer up about 80 yards away.

I told my uncle I was just gone get Spark and we'll come back in the morning cause I'm unsure about the hit. I start making my way over and I'm trying to call her off, but she aint coming. Deer takes off like a rocket again, Spark's right on her. She runs up the mtn this time about 50 yards and bays the deer again. I'm making my way over to her and she quits barking. I can hear her panting and when I get to where I can see her, she's standing on top of the deer chewing on its butt. She was DRT.

Then its all high fives and pics. Somehow, I shot that deer in the hip. I have no idea how that happened and the only thing I can think is, being nearly blind in my left eye and I shoot both eyes open. I don't know.

I don't know if we'd of found this deer without her. I can't say. I believe I could have tracked her to her first bed but when she busted outta there, I found no more blood. It was great practice for her either way. We're both novices and we both love it.

Congrats on the kill and track.

Man, you need to go ahead and get you an Alpha system. You'll love it. I bet it really motivated the dog to get on one like that. She’ll be pumped up on the next one now that she knows that some of them are alive. I had one tracker tell me one time that he thought his dog was a little disappointed when they found them and they were already dead. All dogs act a little different with live deer. Some of them want to run in and grab the deer and get really aggressive with it. Those dogs usually get injured or killed eventually. Them dang bucks don’t play. You can use the Alpha collar to help correct this issue and keep your dog off of them.

I'm gone get one. 700 dollars ain't easy to come by to.

Sounds like it’s time to start accepting “tips” ($$$$)……

In all seriousness though, I hear you…..it adds up quick when you really start getting into tracking. It’s more expensive to track than it is to hunt.

I can see where it is more expensive. Especially driving a truck like mine that gets 15 mpg.

Yep, I’m right there with you. I drive an older model Chevy that gets about 17……When the rut hits, that when things really get crazy. You’ll be running up and down every back road in north Alabama. Last year I drove about 40-50 miles to track a deer for some folks one morning and literally as I walked back in my door from that track….another hunter called that wasn’t even 5 miles from the first one. I loaded back up and here we went again.

I got a call to track yesterday around 1. Hunter said he shot a good buck at 15 yards broadside. Deer ran 20 yards and stopped he then turned and walked off. Hunter said he could see blood and stringy stuff running from the exit wound. I told him I'd be on my way. Deer was shot at 8am and I didn't get there til 2. They lost blood about 60 yards from the hit sight. I started at the arrow and Spark took off right down the trail. She went on past last blood and she kept working her way pulling hard and I felt she was on the deer. She took us to a fence line and wanted to go in the open field and I just didn't see that buck doing that and I felt like we needed to go back to the hit site and try again. On the way back to the hit site, we happened up on blood that confirmed the deer had doubled back. I led spark to the hit site and off we go again. Same route back to the open field. I know for sure this deer doubled back and she's not showing it. By this time, she was spent. Breathing hard and very tired. I continued to help the hunter look for the deer with no luck.

He had called another tracker earlier in the day and he was hung up. I told him to call a more experienced dog bc I believed the deer was dead. I was wanting to be there when the other dog showed just to see where mine went wrong but it was around midnight when they started and I'd been up since 3 am.

I woke up this morning with pics of the deer. I don't know the story yet, but I'll relay it when I know.

Kind of embarrassing on my end but I know she's still young and inexperienced.

Well, I just got the update. Looks like I should have trusted my dog a little better. The deer went up a very steep pond dam and died in the pond. I didn't know it was a pond and when Spark was wanting to go up it, I called her off.

Good ending. Keep the stories coming.

I've been on a couple where the handler second guessed the dog , however , the dog was right all along.

It’s completely normal…..It’s almost like a rite of passage to have to experience these tracks. Every tracker has done it. It sucks too because it makes you feel embarrassed as hell. Eventually the dog will get better and you’ll get better at reading the dog. It’s a team game. Brush that one off and get on the next one.

Thanks guys. I learned alot yesterday. I'm glad that I was able to find out the info on the ending.

It's like I told you when we went squirrel hunting, if you talk the dog up and want a good performance they will let you down just like mine did that day. Glad to see we have someone to call up here if we need a dog.

Shoot we still had a blast that day buddy. It was my fault for putting us in a gar hole!

Alright fellers, I just got back from a track. Foldemup text shortly before dark asking if I wanted to track a doe. He thought he hit her high but wasn't sure about the hit. I said sure let me head on that way. I didn't forget the briar pants this time thank God.

We get to the hit site and I let her get her piss and vinegar out. He shows us the general direction she went in the woods. Spark locked on and as soon as I entered the woods, I seen a small spot of blood. Foldemup said he'd stay behind and look for blood and Spark took off. Man, when she's on it, its like I'm being drug behind a D9 dozer. I'm not exactly sure how far we went because I forgot to turn my gps on. (won't do that one again!) His phone said .08 miles. I ended up finding one more good spot of blood where the deer had bled on some trees and there was alot on the ground but other than that I didn't see any. Of course I ain't got time to look either. I ended up having to turn her loose and following her reflective leash. She ends up stopping shortly after and I start scanning for her with my light and BINGO! theres the deer.

I've never seen a hit like this one with the entrance and the exit on the same side of the deer. I think when the deer went thru that nasty spot where I found the blood on the trees, that they pulled the guts on out of her.

Thanks again Foldemup for the opportunity to track. We had a blast!

Good job! We need a good dog in our area. CD.

If she’s wanting to track too fast then try working her on some mock tracks that have been aged 12+ hrs. The idea is to make her HAVE to slow down and dig for the scent instead of being able to blow right through it.

Thanks again Brent and Spark! For those reading and seeing my shooting skills, I shot at that deer's right side from 16 yards away using my 35 yards pin. When I walked to the field this afternoon, 2 does were already in it, so I ranged one and moved my slider to 35 to take the shot, but she didn't stick around long enough. I forgot to move it back to 20 when I got in my stand, and was excited that I finally had a deer close enough to shoot at. I guess the height in the tree got me the angle to shoot over her spine and enter through her back strap on the opposite side from me, then it exited out her guts and split wide arse open. Very little blood and Spark did a fantastic job!

I'll give that a shot as soon as this rain let's up. They've picked the corn off my place finally and it's opened up some more room to train.

I usually lay one in the afternoon and then track it the next morning. The amount of time that you want to age it depends on the individual dog…..how far are they in their training and how much nose do they have? You’re wanting to present them with whatever challenges them.... so adjust according to how your dog responds. If she does well on a 12 hr track then try 15 hrs…then 18 hrs…..until eventually you work up to 24 hrs.

Ran 2 mock lines this afternoon. One for each dog. Haggard, my bloodhound, blew thru his with precision. He'll be 4 months old Nov 1st and is making great strides.

It's not time for Sparks yet. I'm gonna let it age like CNC suggested.

You definitely need a gps collar for those two. You'll be shredded to ribbons in the briars with those 2 dragging you around on a leash. Look forward to see them both work!

I'm working on that foldemup. I think I convinced the ol lady Sunday night when I came in and she seen all the blood on my arms. lol

Let us know how she does on that old track.....

Will do.

So, I laid the lines yesterday with intentions on starting with an 8 hr track and working my way up to 24. Some things came up last night and it was raining so I postponed Sparks turn til I got home today. It was 22 hours old when I started. I wasn't gonna even attempt it with it being that old but I thought I'd just see what she did. Her line was about 300 yards long with 4 90's and a backtrack in it. Took her a minute to get going on it but when she did, she dug in and really slowed down compared to normal. She didn't slow down as much as I think she needs to. She overran 3 of the 90's but she did correct herself. She ended up wind scenting the treat about 40 yards away and she skipped the backtrack.

All in all, she did better than I expected but she does need some more work on the older lines. I'm gonna try and get my cousin to lay a line for me before he goes to work one day and not mark it so I can work her without my knowledge of how the tracks laid.

Awesome……..

Yeah, keep working her on those old lines. She’ll figure out that slowing down is to her benefit and she’ll start working the lines better. I bet your young blood hound could run an overnight track already.

He's made great strides in his motivation to track in just a month. I'm gone start making his alot harder after what I seen yesterday.

I wish these folks up here would hunt more and not shoot as good as they do. This getting one or two calls a week sucks.

Good job! Great looking cur dog.

Once she figures out what this is all about, she will be unstoppable. At least one of those dogs had the best nose of any I've ever seen or heard of.

Well I had another swing and a miss tonight. Got a call around lunch today from a fella that found my name on here. Shot a doe around 8:30 this morning and he thought he got 1 lung. Blood had some bubbles in it that he had found. This deer went almost straight up a DEEP holler. He took me to where the deer had crossed the road so we wouldn't have to walk all the way to the bottom where it was shot. He had tracked past this spot about 100 yards and lost the trail. I put Spark on it and she immediately shot up the bank the way the deer went and dug in and was working it alot slower than normal but still not as slow as I would expect for a 9 hour old track. She stayed right on the blood and when the deer turned a hard left, she made the check and kept going. The hunter had lost blood about half way up that last hill. She stayed on it all the way to the top and kept going. Pulling hard but slower than usual. I felt like she was on it. Top of the hill is a new cutover and she tracked right into it. She made it about 100 yards in and cut hard left, which put us headed back to where we had walked in. I had not seen any blood at all once we got in the cutover and I felt like she had cut a fresh deer track and was on it as she was pulling really hard and building speed.

I took her back to where the last blood was where the deer made the hard left and we went a different direction this time. I believe she got on another fresh track as she was trying to run and barking a little which she only usually does when she bays.

By this time, its dark and the thermals are coming off the hill so I thought I'd walk her back around toward the blood and either she'd cut the track or maybe wind scent the hill side. She struck on something hard and went in to the cutover again. I followed her about 200 yards into it this time and never seen any blood.

The hunter had told me that after he shot the deer there was a group of 8 does come thru and went the same direction the shot deer went. There was deer running every where on this place and I think it may have been to much for her to handle being a novice and all.

I'm gonna keep working her on the old mock lines and try to slow her down more. I'm ordering the collar this weekend so maybe that'll help some to.

It has to be tough on one with that many deer laying a track. I know nothing about training one to track a deer but I do know it's hard to get a tree dog to keep from running a fresh deer track. Curs are easier than hounds though so maybe she will overcome it if that was messing her up.

Dang, that sucks. She'll eventually learn to leave those other deer alone though when those hot trails don't lead to a prize at the end. It's tough when you first start. It can be hard to tell if their tracking the hurt deer or just a random one.

Sent you a PM.

Been on 4 tracks in 2 days. Will update as soon as I have more time.

Love these threads.

Alright fellers. Time for an update. I went on 2 tracks Sunday and 2 yesterday evening. First track was Sunday morning. The hunter which is one of my most hated friends, had shot a buck Saturday afternoon. He knew right away it was a gut shot and backed out. He went back in Sunday morning and lost the deer about 200 yards away in a thicket. I took both dogs because my female is in heat and is acting 6 ways of crazy. We held her back while I went on with Haggard. It was very obvious he is still to young so we brought Spark in. We ended up just going to the thicket where he had lost blood. Once in there, its really thick. She's not hitting on anything. I can hear my midget friend whistle to have me come to him. I had let Spark off leash to be able to work the wind a little. I got to him and it was obvious a deer had layed there a while. I tried calling Spark over but she wouldn't come. She ended up being down wind of the deer and was going nuts trying to figure out where it was coming from. The buck was probably 10 yards away from the bed. Congrats midget, I know your reading this.

Sunday evening, I get a call from a man in Paint Rock. His son had stuck a doe and the arrow was still in her. It was his son's first bowkill. I put Spark on the deer 7 hours after the shot. I let her backtrack it all the way to the hit site and started from there. We had parked down the mtn from there. So we head back down following blood and we get to where the guys had lost blood and she is still going strong. Dad was back behind a ways looking for blood as we were going. We went about 200 yards and found no blood. By her body language I believed she wasn't on the deer. So I restart. She takes the same exact path but takes a left about 100 yards into it. I let her work for another 100 or so yards and come up with nothing. So I restart yet again. Same story, she goes the same way down but gets out so far and just seems to lose it. At this point its nearly dark and i have no light. We started the search about 3.5 hours earlier. I tell Dad that I believe he needs to call a more experienced dog. I had told him from the start that mine were young and there was a good chance they wouldn't make the recovery. There seemed to be a lack of trackers Sunday and I was the only one available. The only other one wouldn't take the track later that night because I had been in there already. I really felt horrible leaving without finding the young man's deer. It's very discouraging.

Up next is yesterday's track. Got the call midday that the hunter had shot a buck and misjudged the distance. He had no blood at the hit site and just backed out to find a dog. He tells me that the deer bolted about 20 yards, stopped and walked off twitching its tail. So we go after him about 6 hours after the shot. He takes me to the hit site and Spark is on it. She tracks exactly where he said the buck walked off. I found one speck of blood about the size of a pencil eraser. There was white hair at the hit site and arrow had some clear fluid on it with no color or smell. I can see in the mud as Sparks tracking a large set of tracks and by her body language I feel like she's on the deer, but we're not finding anything. I restart and she does the exact same thing, goes to a creek. We did this 3 times and she follows the same trail each time. I believe that the deer was shot low and would live. But the way the deer acted is puzzling me. It sounds like a classic gut shot minus the hunching up. But there was only one speck of blood.

I left there and went on up the road. Hunter had shot a buck at 8:40. 18 yards broadside with a crossbow. He caught the off shoulder and they didn't give it any time before tracking. They busted the deer out of its bed and it probably ran 400 yards thru a semi grown up sage field. It made its way into another field which was slammed with cuckaburrs. They seen it trying to get across this field and it was having a hard time walking. So they went in after it, thinking it would be dead in there. They grid search it with no luck. I got there about 30 minutes before dark and we go to last blood and start working our way back towards where they last seen the deer. We end up going around this field hoping Spark will pick up on where it exited at least all while working the downwind side of it. I ended up zig zagging thru this field of cuckaburrs that's at times up to my chest. She ends up hitting a faint trail thru it and we find blood. Its off to the races. She's digging in and on the track. We come out of the field and cross a field road and hit a small strip of woods that is right next to the backwater. She tracked it all the way to the water and I pulled her off. We went 100 or so yards in both directions just to make sure and found nothing else. There was another section of land about 60 yards across the water the we assumed the deer went to. The hunter decided to call it and said he'd go back in this morning to see if it was there. He updated me today and did not find where the deer came out of the water. Up to that point the deer had been bleeding pretty good for just an entrance wound. We both believe the deer tried swimming across and drowned and sank.

Some of the things I've learned this week are, that my dog needs alot of work on older lines. I feel so embarrassed when she can't find a deer that I believe is down and dead. I figure it goes with the territory.

On a positive note, my collar should be arriving this Saturday. I will be headed out for Ohio for a hunt, so I will be unavailable. When I get back, she best tie her shoe's tight cause we got a lot to work on.

Midgets buck from Sunday

Make sure you don’t get the collar out and start shocking the dog trying to make it do what you want it to. It’ll create a negative association with the collar and the dog will not want anything to do with it. Forget it even has a shock function for several weeks, maybe more.

First time you put the collar on the dog just take it for a walk and do something fun. It’s new to the dog and you want to have a positive experience associated with it. Next begin working on the tone function. That’s the far right button that makes the collar beep. This is how you’ll control the dog on a track and bring her back to you.

The way I taught my dogs this command was with training treats. I started by simply taking them for a walk and periodically beeping the collar and giving them a treat. It’ s like Pavlov’s bell……beep the collar give the dog a treat. It won’t take them long to figure this out. Once they do then let them wander off from you 40 yards or so and then beep the collar accompanied by a “Come”……You can also put them on a stay command…..back off 40-50 yards and then beep the collar along with a “Come” command……just practice for 20 minutes or so in the afternoons or every couple days. After a few days, take the treats out of the equation and replace it with praise when she comes to you….good girl!.....and then eventually take the “Come” command out of the equation and simply beep the collar to have them come to you.

Practice this for a couple weeks until the dog has it down…..

Collar came in while I was on my trip. Charged it up sat. night and gave it a test run on Sunday. My cur dog was already conditioned to an e collar from when I worked with her before. She knows that tone means business. I worked my bloodhound on it today. He comes when called pretty well now so I didn't get to try the tone on him.

I ran both of them yesterday on mock lines and just the bloodhound today. Haggard, the hound, is progressing very well to be 4 months old.

Finally got to try the new collar out this evening. Call came in before church and I went right after. Good buck shot about 7 this morning. Took spark in to the shot site and she takes off. This collar is the bomb. She worked the trail up to where they lost blood and she hooked a hard right. Ended up getting the deer up and she ran it almost all the way back to where we started tracking and I toned her off of it. It ran probably 400 yards or so with her in hot pursuit and me and the hunters friend believe it ain't hit hard enough. Hunter shot it with a 22 250.

Ain’t it though……It’s a helluva lot better than holding on to a rope. It completely changed tracking for me.

Got a call tonight down the road from my house. Got there 2 hours after the shot. Hunter had made roughly a 100 yard shot on a buck. He had found a couple spots of blood then nothing. I turned Spark out and she immediately was on the deer. Tracked it about 200 yards and ended up getting it up. She ran it out to 550 and the hunter said he didn't have permission to go over there so I toned Spark back. She finally makes it back to me and I can see her right eye is red. Its milky red looking but no blood. I called the vet and he gave me instructions on how to treat and if it's not better in the morning we'll be headed to the vet.

How is the eye doing? Everything ok?

She is back to normal. We went on a track last night that was 24 hours old. She done her best work so far on that one. We didn't find the deer as both the hunter and I believe it will live. He took a straight on shot and had a piece of bone and meat at the hit. There was hardly any blood at all. She tracked it off the mtn working very slow and went out about 400 yards and just came back to me. I restarted her and she done the same thing.

She's doing great and learning alot. From now on I'm gonna stay a little closer to her just in case she bays again.

Forgot to mention, keep an eye out for ticks. I pulled one off my arm thanksgiving day from a track on Wednesday I'm guessing. My arm was sore and I was rubbing it and felt the little devil. There's a black spot still on my arm from it and it's sore in that spot. I've never seen ticks after it has frosted and had 5 crawling on me Friday after a squirrel hunt.

Good deal. That sounds like a leg hit….finding bone is pretty much a sure sign of a leg hit.

You can condition the dog to stay close to you if you want to track that way. It takes a little time but if you tone her back to you every time she gets out to say 125-150 yards…..she’ll eventually slow down and start moving through the woods like a pack with you instead of her thinking that she is free to run on her own. I usually don't let Otis get more than about 150 yards out...I stay about 50 yards behind him most of the time.. but now that's just personal preference on my part....not saying everyone has to do it that way. We track in a lot of different situations and it behooves me to have the dogs used to staying close. I've had tracks where I've been right up against the interstate and other tracks that have been for folks bowhunting inside the city limits. You deal with a lot of different scenarios.

I didn't even think about keeping them close til I talked with Ammon about that track. He suggested it and I'm glad he did.

You’ll keep the dog a lot safer if you do. Most of the bad stories of tracking dogs being injured or killed happen when the dog is way off from the handler.

Again, this is just personal opinion and everyone has the right to track however they want……but something I think you’ll find out over time is that the idea of going out and “baying” deer up is a little overhyped and not like folks imagine it to be.

As you’ve already seen….just because someone has hit a deer doesn’t mean your dog is gonna be able to just run out there and make it hold up. The vast majority of them are gonna run like hell. The deer only bays up as a last resort when it doesn’t feel like it can get away. Most deer are either gonna have to be really weak in order for that to happen or you’re gonna need a large amount of acreage where you can just turn the dogs loose on the deer until it wears down. There’s a lot of situations where that’s just not possible….whether it be due to property lines or roads, etc…..These are the ones where you just have to weigh the risk versus the chance of success and decide for yourself where you draw the line and when to call it off.

Got a call tonight from a hunter I helped with last weekend. Gut shot and lost blood after 50 yards. I got there around 9:30 and had the deer found in about 15 minutes. Nice to finally find one that's dead. Hunter didn't want his pic made so I obliged.

Good job Spark!

Good job! Nice looking dog.

Nice going Brent and Spark.

Went on a track in GA today. Man shot a good buck at daylight. Had good blood at hit then lost it. There were 3 piles of blood there close and I believe he caught one lung as there was a bunch of bubbles in it and it was bright red. We ended up tracking it probably 800 yards total and lost it in a subdivision. We found a bed on top of a ridge with a little bit of blood and she lost it there. I believe the deer is gone live cause he should have been in that bed. It had been almost 8 hours also and the deer wasn't pushed.

This was our first time in a subdivision and it thru Spark for a loop. When the neighbor dogs would start going nuts it would freak her out. Id have to take her to where she turned around and start her again. I did that 4 times.

Here's a pick of the blood to see what yalls opinion is.

Tracked a buck last night for a young man close to where I live. Buck was chasing a doe and he thought he hit him in the guts. I turned Spark out on him and she had him bayed a short time later. Buck broke and ran for another 400 yards or so. She bayed him again but this time she didn't stay. She turned and came back to me. I could see on my alpha where she had circled him so we started walking over and then we spot him. We put a finishing shot on him as it turned out he had been hit in the front legs. I don't see how the deer was walking myself. Both front legs were blown up pretty bad. Congrats to the young man on a good deer.

man, I appreciate your thread! Great reading and great pics.

Love that little brindle dog too. Looks a lot like my old Brindle mountain cur did.

Theyre some great dogs!

Good job and keep posting them up.

Been on several tracks since I updated last. I'll just tell about the ones from yesterday and today.

Yesterday I got a call from my cousin. His son had shot a deer behind his house. Deers front legs went out and started dozing off. They tracked it about 200-250 yards and lost blood in a cut over. I turned Spark lose at the hit sight and she does her tracking routine of pooping right there by it. I guess she gets nervous lol. She gets the deer lined out and is moving right along. We're staying about 60 to 80 yards behind and it's getting thick. She gets up to last blood and goes about 50 more yards into the nastiest briar patch you've ever seen. She bays the deer up and I can't get to her it's so thick. I ended up having to fall backwards into the briars, get up and keep doing that til I got to where I could see the deer. We make it up there to about 10 yards and I call her to me and finish the deer. He had shot both front legs a few inches below the body. I don't see how the deer made it as far as it did. As soon as I get permission I'll post a pic of it.

I left there and went over the road to a leg shot. Guy had 6 bucks chase a doe by him. He shot at the buck 3 times with a 7mm. Bucks right front leg is supposedly about to fall off. Spark tracked it about 400 yards past where he'd lost blood. She lost him in a patch of pines. I restarted her 5 or 6 times from that spot and she just couldn't pull it together.

While I was tracking the second one last night, I got a call to track one this morning. Buck comes into food plot and hunter shoots him in the shoulder at a quartering to angle. I got there at 7 this morning and put her to work. She poops and is off on the trail. I found a small piece of bone that the hunter missed last night and I told him I believe he got leg and the deer would most likely still be alive. Sure enough, Spark tracks him about 400 yards and the buck gets up about 40 yards from us and she runs it about 850 yards onto the neighbors. She never could catch up to him to bay so I called her back.

They are lookin for love hard right now. I seen 2 different bucks chasing on the way to that track this morning.

Thanks for the update!

Keep after them!

Nephews deer

Good job!

Congrats to the young man, glad you were able to find it for him.

Good stuff buddy. Thanks for posting the tracks!

Boy did I go on an adventure this evening. Got a call for a kid that shot a good buck and had lost blood. They found a bed and lost it from there. They were walking back to the truck and happened up on one more drop of blood about 70 yards from the bed. This is where I start tracking from. Doesn't take but a few minutes and she's got the deer up and he runs by me. The boy is saying it's not his deer, but this deers front leg is dangling and my dog tracked right to it. He's adamant that's not the deer he shot so I call her off. I have him take me to the bed and I restart from there. Spark takes off in a different direction and I find blood about 80 yards down the trail. She's off on this line now. She tracked it about 300 yards from that bed and I'm following along behind. She ends up baying the buck and I sneak in and finish him off. Apparently a neighbor had shot the first buck that we tracked from that one speck of blood which went thru the hunters bucks blood trail also. Fun track with a good ending. I had my pic taken with the deer for privacy. Congrats to the young man.

Bucks are up roaming. We've tracked 5 or 6 since my last update. They've all been alive when we get to em and haven't bayed after getting them up. Very proud of my dog lately but she still has alot of room for improvement.

What kind of shot placement are you seeing on the deer you have been finding alive.

This week has been been mainly leg shots. Finding white hair at hit site and pieces of bone alone the way. Dog will run em as far as I'll let her depending on property lines and all.

A couple of guys from our club called Brent the other night. From the sounds of it, it was a very bad shot and not lethal to the deer. The deer wasn't recovered but The guys told me yesterday that they are super impressed with Brent and his dog. They were truly amazed at what they saw that night tracking the deer.

They said they will call Brent again, in the future if they ever need a dog. I will too.

That was a fun one batey! I asked them if you had to be bald to get in that club lol

Fixing to head out on a call. I'm seriously questioning how stoopid I am sometimes. It's friggin COLD outside.

As much as I would like to have a dog and track I don't envy it on days like this. Stay warm and good luck.

Good luck!...Hope you don't end up in any water.

You are pretty freaking stupid but that's besides the point.

No luck. I believe it was a single leg shot. Found a few pieces of bone along the way. Deer bedded down close to where hunter had parked his truck. He walked over and seen blood after the shot and was going to go home and give it time. When he was walking back, he jumped the buck accidently close to his vehicle. We tracked to that bed and then found where he left. She went on past last blood working slow and before I know, we're 400 yards from the bed. We found one more spot of blood and that's it. I restarted her and she ran exact same trail. We just couldn't catch up to him.

I think he's gone call another tracker and try again.

Enjoying the reads, Brent. You and Spark keep up the good work!

Well today has been another adventure. Got a call this morning for a track close to my house. Hunter shot buck and lost blood about 200 yards into the track. Deer run out of field and run up the edge and crossed the driveway into the place. They had lost blood just before the driveway. I started her at the hit site and she ran it the whole way. She got tripped up at last blood and I'm assuming it's bc of all the traffic. I took her on past there and across the driveway to where no one had been. She picked him up on the other side and she was gone. She bayed him at 132 yards away and he broke before I could get there. He ran about 400 yards and tried crossing a creek and he couldn't make it up the other side. Spark wasn't about to get off in there with him lol. To cold she says. I put one in him and then we fished him outta there.

Track #2. While I was on the other one I got a call from a guy I tracked for 2 weeks ago. He had trailed good blood for 200 yards and then it just quit. We get to the hit site and man at the blood. Ray Charles could follow this blood trail. And when it quit, it quit. I saw one drop in probably 600 yards. The deer had bedded up 3 times before we got to him. He wasn't pushed by the hunter, don't know why he kept moving. We tracked him to a big creek and I toted Spark across. Picked a drop of blood up on the other side, then a big pool of blood. As I was working my way up the creek bank, Spark bayed him 50 yards up the hill. Then he broke and ran. She chased this buck forever and finally bayed him in the same creek 600 yards down stream after he had crossed it 4 times. I couldn't keep up with her running thru the cutover. We found a little road that run beside the creek the last 100 yards to the deer. We went down the road to where she was and I see the buck in the creek. I pointed him out to the hunter and he finished him off. I checked the gps at the end of the line and she'd tracked this buck a total of 5.13 miles. I wish I could take a pic of the gps screen so yall could see the loops and back tracks the buck done. They are very smart when it comes to hiding and eluding.

Good job !!

Good job! I really enjoy the stories, thanks for writing them.

X2...

She's hell on them Brent. When I get my lemon gyp I may have to cross her to blood trailing also.

I'm wanting a male like yours Turkeyneck.

Awesome dude! Next free day you have….take her to a small creek branch and have her follow you in a “S” pattern back and forth along the creek as you walk up the bottom. Go from small branches to bigger creeks. Don’t keep toting her.

Thanks cnc. I didn't even think of that. She don't usually have an issue with small ones. It's the ones she actually has to swim that freaks her out.

I'm thinking of getting some frog legs to for these deep creeks. I went over my knee boots today and my feet still aint thawed out.

Does Wicks or Dans make a good pair of briar proof hip waders?

Congrats on the tracks, but I agree with CNC it would get old toting her. Take her and another dog to a pond and throw her favorite toy in, I bet when as soon as the other dog goes to get it, that will be the end of you having to tote her

I feel your pain………I had to give Otis swimming lessons just to make sure he wouldn’t drown. He froze up the first time he ever went in over his head.

great job.

Got a call while I was fishing today from a man who'd shot his first buck. He had zero blood and no hair but was adamant he'd hit him. He was close to the house so I made my way over when I got home. It took me longer to get Sparks collar on than it did to find the buck. She hit the ground and before we knew it, she was standing on top of him. He went roughly 100 yards and didn't bleed a drop that we found. Congrats to the hunter!

Bowtartist why you reckon no blood? Was it considered a good shot to you? I mean I know he’s dead but sometimes people are lucky. Was he using a big caliber.

120 yard shot 30-30. He hit it real tight to the shoulder about midway up. No pass thru. To be honest, it don't get no better than the shot he made. I guess only having an entrance hole up a little high is the cause.

Gotta love those kind......

I ordered Spark a GoPro. I've been dying to see what she see's when she bays one up. I'm gonna start filming some of my tracks to.

This should be pretty cool.

Can't wait to see some video!

Heck yeah!

Finally a video! Hurry up and guy shoot one!

LUCKY!! Is what I am! Getting all these tracka close to home! Got a call earlier for a track. Hunter said he shot a doe but couldn't find any blood. Felt like he hit her with his second shot as she was running out the field. He was right. I had Sparks collar on before I got out the truck. I took her to where the deer went in the growed up field and she was off. I went back and put my briar bibs on and walked back down and she was on the deer. Went about 60 yards in this growed up field of pine, briars and sage. I didn't go down the trail where she went to look for blood. There was a little bit where she bedded down tho. I didn't even get cold lol.


I didn't bring the camera because the guy wasn't sure he'd even hit the deer and because you wouldnt be able to see at night anyways. Now I need one of yall goobs to leg shoot one tomorrow so I can get some footage!! JK.

Here's her filming apparatus

Very cool!

I know you are close by to Spark when trailing, but that camera hanging down looks like it would possibly hang up on a fence or a vine.

I thought it was supposed to mount on top of her back???

It will mount on back or chest. I figured mounting it on her chest wouldn't get in her way as bad. I've watched her crawl under briars and stuff and figured being back mounted would hang up more. She's not in any danger of it getting caught up on something. The camera mount would break as strong as she is. I bought a cheap one off Amazon just in case that's what happened.

I’m interested in seeing how it works out. I’ve looked and looked at ‘em but just never pulled the trigger. The mount on top of the back needs to be spring loaded so if the camera catches a limb or vine it’ll flex backwards and give some. I think you would likely get better footage on the back mount….especially in thick grass or something like that.

I believe so to CNC. I done a test run of it on her chest and the footage has a side to side action about it from her shoulder movement. If I get in a more open place to track, I'll probably mount it on top. That camera is an Akasa 7000? It can with alot of different attachments and 2 batteries. I bought a 64GB card and the dog mount and it was around 120 bucks.

I never clicked on this thread until last night. I assumed it was a list of North Alabama trackers

You should have named it the adventures of spark and I would’ve been following your thread all along! These are the best threads going during hunting season, keep the stories coming!

Can't wait to see some video!

I went on what is now my favorite track so far last night. The track was referred to me by another tracker up here. My wife and I left last night around 8:15 and got there around 9. We went to the hit site and turned Spark out. She sorts thru last blood and she's off. She makes a hard right about 50 yards past last blood and she's working away. We haven't seen another drop of blood for a while and she ends up just losing it. I had a suspicion she got off on a hot line so I restarted her.

I took her past where she made the hard right and she's working another line. I'm thinking this is it, she's on him now. She goes a couple hundred yards and gets a deer up. She runs it out to 215 and turns around. She got off on another hot line, dang it. I checked all around where she got the deer up and found no blood.

So we're walking back to the truck and my head's low because she's just embarrassed me. I happen to see a drop of blood. I look on my Alpha and she's track thru here so I follow her route. I found more blood, more blood, ok we're good now.

She takes this line at a hard left from the general direction we started from and went straight down the side of the mtn. I feel like she's on it even tho she let me down twice already. I go about 150 yards down the mtn and I hear him get up. She's right on his butt. I wanted to make double sure she was on the right deer this time and I follow her line. I find blood at the bottom of the ridge. She runs the buck straight up the other side of the hill to the top and turns around at the gate where we entered the property and comes back to us.

I hike back out to the truck and tell the hunter what is happening. We decide to drive back to the gate and see what she does from there. We get out and go to where she turned around and she takes the track again, so I follow. I start finding a little blood along the way and then I focus on trying to keep up with her. She crosses the county road, goes thru a guys yard, and tries crossing a fence but can't make it over. Hunter makes it up there to me and I tell him that I don't think the odds of us finding this deer are good. He's already made it about 1700 yards from the shot and he hasn't held up yet. I took him to where the deer crossed the fence and we decide to just see what she does across the fence. We end up at another fence, find blood and I can see that we're coming up on the brow of the mtn. I felt like the buck would be laying up there and thought it might be best to let him lay up the rest of the night. The hunter and I make the decision to come back this morning.

By the time I get home and get in bed, its nearly 2 AM. I turn around and get up at 6 and head back out there. We take Spark to where we pulled out last night and cut her loose. She takes it again and is gone. I'm steadily keeping up with her and we hit the woods and go about 60 yards in and I hear him get up. I was right! He laid down there right on the brow of the mtn. Sparks on his butt again. She takes him about 200 yards and he bays up. I felt like Usain Bolt running thru the woods there, but it was probably more along the speed of a sun dial lol. The buck breaks and is gone before we can get close enough. She runs him another 200 yards and he bays again. Here we go again. We get over this little hill and there's a pond there. She's got the buck bayed in the mouth of this pond. I tell the hunter to shoot and I call Spark off. He pops a round in him when she's clear and puts an end to all of it. Or so I thought.

You see, this was the GoPro's mayden voyage. I was pumped up to see the footage. I mean, she bayed the buck twice, and was head to head with him at the end. I get up to where she's at and the GoPro is gone! SonofA! I start back tracking trying to find it while the hunter goes to get his 4wheeler. I walk all the way back to the truck and haven't found it yet. We fished the guys buck out of the pond and we strike out to find the GoPro. It takes us about an hour or so. We found it where she bayed the buck the first time. I'm thinking at least we got some footage. Wrong, I get home like a kid at Christmas excited to watch this footage and Sparks DA owner forgot to turn it on! What a maroon! I did take my camcorder and I have some footage. Its not very good and I'll probably make a little something out of it but yall will have to forgive my filming tactics lol.

Forgot to mention, congrats to the hunter. I'm glad we gave it 110% and she got a chance to redeem herself.

I bet that was an exciting track. I don't won't to wound one but if I do I'll be like a kid in the candy store waiting on you to get here.

It will take a while to get the bugs out of that thing, but at least Spark got her buck.

I'm sure she's a great tracker but that's the ugliest dog I've seen in some time. Looks like she ought to be in the Australian Outback stealing babies.


JUST KIDDING. (Sort of), lol. Great stories. Keep 'em coming.

My ol lady said(says) the same thing until I changed her mind

Give her a break she was having a bad hair day!

Glad you found the camera!

Where was the buck originally hit?

Arm pit. Went in low behind the leg and came out in front of the leg.

You Idot! Glad you guys found the buck, but sure wanted to see some video!

Trust me, no one was more pissed than I was!!

Well, I didn't mention it yesterday in the story but Spark got a cut on her leg while tracking that buck yesterday. Its between her paw and elbow. I talked to vet when I got home and I sent him pics of it. He said I would be fine to keep it clean and put triple antibiotic on it. She's favoring it really bad today. I think she got into to one of the fences while chasing the buck. Her leg is swollen pretty good today from the cut to her paw. Looks like she's gonna be down several days over this one.

I had to turn down a couple tracks because of it and I'm reminded of the story about Jerry Clower and coon huntin with a wheel barrow

Good stuff! Heck of a track there!

Thanks for taking the time to tell us about it.

Look into DR Underwood horse medicine. I've never had a need to use it on a dog but it works wonders on horses. I assume if is safe for dogs. We used to keep a case on hand for horses. It is the only thing I have seen that would allow the hair to grow back on a bad wound.

My cousin told me about this and he gave me a bottle of it last night. He thinks she's done for the year. I really hope not because she was hitting on all 8 cylinders lately.

Great track job for sure! I hope Spark will be able to rebound sooner than later.

You take great care of that good looking dog.

I'm real partial to the brindle OMC dogs.

I think your pup is just beautiful.

She's a different shade of brindle than my dog, Sadie.

I have really enjoyed reading your thread this year.

Wishing Spark a speedy recovery.

Damn man that sucks……It’s bound to happen eventually if you track enough deer. Hope its not too bad.

She's getting around tonight alot better. She's starting to use it more. I think she's enjoying the pampering way to much tho!

I would get the vet to give her some good antibiotics just in case. If she didn't have any ligament damage she will be back to tracking in a couple of weeks.

I've been nursing Spark all week in hopes of having her better for this weekend. I had to turn down 5 tracks this week. I came home from work yesterday and checked her. She'd been getting around real good for a couple days and her wound looked better. I got a call yesterday morning and decided to take it and see how she done. The hunter had shot a buck with a crossbow and 2 of his fletchings had came off midflight and he wasn't sure where he had hit the deer.

I got there 8 hours after the shot and got my camera on and turned her loose. She picked the track up and was gone. I stayed close to her the whole time to see how she was doing with the leg. She acted like nothing was wrong and was doing good. We were finding a drop of blood about every 80 to 100 yards. The deer got to an opening where some construction was going on and he bled pretty good there. He crossed the site and we picked him back up on the other side. I never saw another drop of blood.

She ended up getting the deer up and took him over a ridge and he was looping back to where he was shot. She ended up baying the buck and the hunter couldn't keep up, so I told him where she was and I left him.

She had him bayed in a nasty cutover. I got ripped up trying to get to em. The buck heard me coming and broke but ended up holding up again about 50 yards away. I was able to crawl up a dead log and get above the briars and finish him off. I was running the go pro on myself and the freakin battery died about 10 seconds before I shot him. We tracked him about 8-900 yards total. I forgot to clear her previous track to know exactly. The buck ended up being shot in the shin!

I get her home and as soon as she gets out of the truck, she's favoring her leg again. The wound looks better but I'm gone have to give her another week to get better.

Hunters shot

Good deal

Spark is gonna be a goodun! Congrats pal!

Yes she is.

X2

congrats, hope Sparks leg gets better.

do you use a tracking harness on her??? I used a tight fitting harness of bright orange on my dog for years and an orange reflective collar. If she was off the 50" lead I wanted a bunch of orange on her. Once the tailgate drops any plan YOU had is out the window as you know.

I don't use a harness Fred. I use an Alpha 100. I ordered her a blaze orange vest and I'm waiting on it to get here. It also has reflective strips on it. I feel like I've been gambling when I'm tracking during daylight hours with her. It should be here one day this week.

good to hear that. There are way too many non thinking trigger happy folks around for me.Some of em would shoot a beagle puppy. Hows the leg doing??

Its healing up real good. She's not favoring it anymore at all.

Well, I figure I'll get caught up on some tracks. Got a call last Friday night for a guy that I had tracked for a week earlier. He had shot a buck he'd been after all season. Buck came into a food plot 75 yards broadside. Ballistic tip bullet. No blood at hit site but he was sure he hit him. He had found 2 kernels of corn where the buck was standing and he said the deer was holding it's front leg as it ran off. I was hesitant to take the track so soon after the shot because of the corn being there but we wanted to see how it went with the way he was favoring his leg.

I got there 2 hours after the shot and Spark had the buck found in about 3 minutes. He didn't go 50 yards into a thicket along a creek. Once he got in the thicket, he bled a little but not much.

Went on 2 tracks yesterday evening. First was a doe, shot at 8 am. I got there at 430 pm. Spark took the deer around the mtn and then off. I was staying real close and I seen the deer get up. Spark ran it thru a flock of turkeys and she went bat shucks crazy. I let her recollect herself and she ran the doe straight up the mtn side until I called her off.

The grand finale...

I get 5 calls yesterday while I'm at work. Each one from the same number and they leave 5 voice mails lol. 4 call were within 10 minutes of each other. I'm swamped at work right now and had to wait til I got off to call back. Hunter had shot a big deer Thursday at 445 and he said he'd been out there all day looking for him. He'd tracked it a few hundred yards and lost blood. Said while he was tracking, there was a hot doe being chased by 5 different bucks. I started thinking about this track. It was going to be a full 24 hours after thw shot at least before I could get to it. All the hot lines, all the hunters spreading the scent around. I got worried that Spark wouldn't be able to find it, so I called back up. The great Ammon Mckinney and Woodrow.

Ammon had prior plans and couldn't be there til 930 last night. We met up last night and took both dogs along. We started at the hit site and both dogs took off. You can tell Woodrow is way more experienced than Spark as he is gone. At one point he was a couple hundred yards ahead of her and she's granny walking this track. We get off the side of the mtn down in a bottom that's already flooded. It had been raining for an hour when we started this track.

We get to this big creek and I'm trying to figure out how to cross. Ammon happens to see the buck bedded down about 100 yards out and we wait to see what the dogs do. Woodrow is on him in no time. At one point I'm pretty sure he had that buck by the ear lol. I found a beaver dam no cross and we hauled over there. Ammons filming and calls the dogs off while I sneak around the side. Bam! Bucks piles off in a creek and Woodrow is right back on top of him. It's high fives and pics then reality sets in. We've tracked this deer 1.59 miles. We're .71 miles from the truck. I knew a little about this area and knew of an old road that we could get the buck to and get a 4 wheeler to get him out. So we start the drag back across all the creeks and to the road.

This track was 31 hours old before we found the deer. It had rained about 2 or 3 hours. I'm pretty sure after seeing how Spark worked the track that she would have found this deer but I didn't want to take chances. I'm very proud of what she's become in our first year. I was proud to be apart of this track with Ammon. He, David Jones and I have all become good buddies thru this and I'm already looking forward to next year. Ammon is making a video of the track and as soon as he's done I'll link to it here.

I also got to see first hand how Woodrow turns into the Incredible Hulk when he finds a deer!!

That's a good way to end the season up....Nice find!



Are you coming to the tracking convention this year?

I'm planning to.

Bowtarist,

I have followed your thread since you started it this year.

I have really, really enjoyed reading it.

Your Spark reminds me so much of my Sadie.

She is a great looking dog and I really have enjoyed keeping up with how she has progressed this year.

You take real good care of that little girl and I'm looking forward already to your thread for next year.

Thanks buddy! I've got all summer to get her camera gear sorted out. My goal is to do semi live tracks next season.

Thought I'd do a closing post of our stats. I've tried my best to keep up with how many we've went on this year and I know I've forgot to write down one or 2. We ended the season putting 17 deer on the tailgate. 17 of 43 is what I have wrote down. 8 more we found and had to pull off because they ran on property we didn't have permission to go on. I've got pics from 2 hunters of deer I didn't find that showed back up on camera with clear bullet wounds visible. I had to turn down probably 20 more tracks all season due to time restraints and injurys.

For our first year tracking, I've learned alot about my dog, tracking in general and countless other lessons. I'm looking forward to next year already and my plan is to get a male mtn cur and have him ready to go next year. That way injuries won't stop me from going out, maybe.

Spark will be going thru obedience boot camp again as well. Dang she's hard headed and strong willed at times.

I'd like to thank all the guys that helped with advice and whatever else. Ammon, David Jones and CNC were all very helpful to me.

That’s a great first year! If Jackson County hillbillies could shoot worth a damn, you would’ve found more of them. Can’t wait to see Spark work next year!

I call them illiterates

Here's the video of the track as promised. Told by Ammon himself.

Last find of season 2017 18: http://youtu.be/qu7mKs0xiI8

Awesome video and have enjoyed your posts as well.
Did you get Uncle Si to sign your vest??

I thought he looked more like popcorn Sutton. And he said, "you know it, huh?" After EVERY sentence.

I've got the collar charged and Spark tuned up for the GA opener this weekend. Maybe, just maybe, we'll be able to have a story!

Awesome video of ole Woodrow riding that buck like a bull!! Great recovery

Enjoyed watching that

I got a call last night around 8. The hunter had shot his target buck at 5 yards. He watched the buck run off into a clover patch with his arrow still in him. The buck stood in the clover patch for around 10 minutes and tore off out of sight up the mtn.

He makes a few calls and gets referred to me. He explains the situation and tell him to give me some time to get everything together and I'll be on my way. Spark knows what were headed to do as she's sitting in her spot in the back seat, whining and looking intently out the windshield.

We get to the hit site around 9:15. The hunter is showing me roughly where the buck was standing as I'm putting her tracking collar on. We cross a fence to get to the last place he seen the buck. The hunter asks me how she knows the difference in a live deer and a dead deer because she just left a different way than he saw the buck go. As I explain how she knows, my Alpha buzzes to let me know she's found him already. I look up the hill and can see this massive main beam sticking off the ground about 80 yards away. I tell the hunter "there's your deer!" and it's all high fives from there.

I love being a small part of these recoveries. I have been on the losing end of not finding a buck you've been after. When you've lost all hope and one of our dogs is the only hope you have left. Seeing the faces of the hunters is what drives us to keep going. Watching our dogs do what they love so much is in there as well. I got to share this track with my favorite tracking partner, my son Easton. He will be quite the tracker when he gains another 100 pounds and doesn't let Spark drag him around like a Budweiser Clydesdale!

how do i print screen

Congrats way to start the season off.

Good start!.....That's a heck of a nice buck too.

Good job Spark! Awesome buck!

That's awesome buddy! Nice 1st buck of the season to find too!

That is a heck of a deer to start the season with.

Awesome

That is a great buck. Good work to both of you.

Looking forward to reading this thread all year long!

Way to get started.

Super nice buck right there!

I'm finally getting an opportunity to type this up. I got a call Thursday about a buck that was shot right at daylight in a bean field. The hunter said he felt like he'd hit the deer low. He'd tracked the buck around the back side of the bean field and lost blood at the edge of the woods in someone's back yard. I put spark on the hit sight and just let her run it the whole way since it wasn't very far. She got to last blood and made a left turn at last blood and went up into a wood line farther into these people's backyard. I followed for about 40 yards and didn't find any blood. She acted like she lost it so I took her back to last blood. We searched every direction with no luck. I put her back on last blood and she went right back into the wood line. This time I let her work it longer. She ended up getting the buck up at the tip of the wood line which was directly across the bean field from the shot and in these folks back yard. He was bedded less than 100 yards from their house. I seen him as he was leaving and I let her run him about 200 yards and called her back. We didn't find any fresh blood along his escape route. The blood in the track looked dark and stringy looking. I've never seen this type blood before and the buck showed zero signs of slowing down when we busted him. I feel like he's gonna make it.

While on that track, I got a call from a guy I tracked for last year. He told me he had a buck down that was shot low. They tracked about 100 yards and lost blood. I have failed to mention that Spark came into heat one month before she was supposed to. She ended up getting bred by one of my irresponsible neighbors stray dogs. I was expecting her to come into season early October, instead she starting filling out. She was getting bigger and bigger and I have been reluctant to even use her but after talking with some of my dog hunter friends they assured me she'd be fine. I didn't know a due date or anything. She ended up having them as soon as we got home the night of this track.

We got to this track about 8 pm. She worked it like a pro. She got to last blood and the buck made a hard left turn and went off this ridge. He ended up working his way up another ridge and down the other side. He starts up a second ridge and she gets the buck up. She runs him about 200 yards and she stops and comes back to me. I'm worried at this point because she never pulls off that soon. She started acting a little strange to me. The hunter seen the buck when she ran it by him and he felt like the buck would live and I was wanting to get her home because I could tell something wasn't right.

Normally, when we leave a track, she's in the back seat looking out the window and has her nose in my business. This time, she was curled up in a ball and just looked extremely exhausted. When we got home, she just laid down and went to sleep. I did the same as it was near 11 pm and I have to get up at 4 am to go to work. When I got up Friday morning, she'd had the pups, 9 of them. They are all doing well.

I get a text the next morning that after I'd left, the hunter found a pool of blood and decided to follow it the buck ended up open up and bleeding really well and they tracked him by eye about 250 yards to a dead buck. I feel bad for leaving but given the circumstances, everyone understood.

I blacked the hunters face out for privacy. I will not give location away either.

So Spark has been getting extra attention from everyone around the house now. She's got her energy back and every time I open the truck door, she thinks we're going to track. I've had to turn down a few guys this weekend because of the situation.

Yesterday, I had the day off work. A couple of friends and I decided to hit the small game for the bow hunt. I had one of the greatest days ever in the public woods. I seen a total of 19 deer. Deer were coming from every direction feeding on the white oaks I was roosted in. About 7:30, I had a messed up 6 point come in. He was quartering to me way more than I thought when I shot him and I had zero blood after the hit sight. I didn't hear the deer crash so I decided to hang out and maybe shoot a doe. I ended up botching a 15 yard broadside shot on a doe.

One of the guys that was there had shot a buck as well. He unknowingly hit a branch that deflected his arrow. He had found decent blood for about 60 yards but then it dried up.

One of the other guys that went with me also shot a 6 point and a doe. His doe reacted to the shot and he hit her in the guts so he decided to give her some time as well. We both got down at 11 to check the situation out. He found no blood other than at the hit sight like mine. We made the decision to back out and just go get Spark and see how she done. I had a tracker on stand by just in case and I was somewhat glad that I got to try her on mine.

We started with the buck I'd shot. I put her on it and she made an 80 yard bee line right to the buck. He didn't bleed a drop other than a little spray at the hit sight. He was quartered way harder to me than I realized but I got one lung and an exit straight out the guts.

We left mine and went to the second. She got on this deer and worked it sloppy. She'd pick it up and lose it, pick it up and lose it. I know we had not scented the area up. I took her up this point that we felt the deer would be in but she wasn't picking up on anything. I took her back to last blood and started again and she kept wanting to vear off to the right back towards the open woods. So I let her go. She went about 300 yards as I followed along behind. She stared barking which is typical with a live deer for her and she took off. There are so many deer in this place, I thought she'd got on a hot deer so I called her back.

We went back to last blood once again. She took the same path as before working it very slow and methodical. I followed looking for any blood. About 100 yards from last blood, I found another drop. Confirmation! She's still working it slow and I'm finding more and more blood. I follow her all the way to where she got the deer up and confirmed it was him.

We decided to pull off this deer as we weren't convinced he was hit lethal and because we didn't want her running all around with the chance of her coming up on another hunter.

We go to the doe that the other guy had shot. We put her on the hit sight and she makes a beeline. We get about 150 yards aND find one speck of blood on a small tree. She keeps going and gets another 150 or so yards and makes a lose. She starts doing circles when this happens. We had found a few other spots of blood along the way, so we took her back to last blood. She starts again and this time she gets to this dead tree and works the downwind side of it. The deer had made a 90 degree right turn, crawled thru thw limbs of this dead tree and bedded down with her back to the trunk. It was a straight up gut shot.

I was looking forward to snapping a few pics to remember this hunt, but by the time I got back to the truck it was dark and we were exhausted. Shes up in the back seat being her jolly self. She is back in business now and all are still doing well. If anyone wants a pup, I've got 7 boys and 2 girls lol.

Great Read! Beautiful deer in the pic above. Hope Momma Spark doesn’t overdo, but getting a break from 9 sucking pups for a bit is probably a vacation for her! Keep up the good work.

Got a call yesterday from a man that had shot his first buck with a bow. He had shot it at 445 Wednesday afternoon. He knew he'd hit it a little far back. He gave the buck an hour and jumped it after 100 yards. After he'd jumped the buck, it ran straight off the mtn down an old 4 wheeler trail. They lost blood shortly after. He went back yesterday morning in hopes of finding more blood in the daylight. He was not able to and got referred to me by a friend from here.

I told him I'd be there after work which put me meeting him around 530. We got on the track around 6 as the rain started falling hard. Spark took the trail and was off. I let her work ahead of us about 40 yards as she worked down the 4 wheeler trail. We went on past last blood, still headed off the mtn. The buck took a hard left onto another old trail and past a salt lick. He must have hung around right there for a bit as she had to piece together where he went from there.

After working that check, she went straight off the mtn again thru some NASTY cut over. My alpha buzzed shortly after to let me know she had found the buck. Total track length was 385 yards from the bed they jumped him from. Roughly 26 hours later in the pouring rain. I was super proud of her and the hunter was very grateful to have his buck. Congrats to the man. This is the only pic I took as it was pouring when we got back to the trucks.

That’s awesome! Sparks a good one!

Good stuff! You and Spark are on a roll!

God blessed me with a beautiful public land 8 point yesterday. The buck came in right at 5:30 pm. I watched him make a scrape and stand on his back legs to reach a liking branch. He worked the scrape for 2 or 3 minutes all while I'm having convulsions from buck fever. It's been a while since I was able to pull the trigger on a decent buck due to tracking and family activities and my emotions hot the better of me.

As he was finishing up with his scrape, I kept repeating "pick a spot, pick a spot" over and over in my head. He comes a few steps closer, to within 30 yards and starts feeding under a giant oak. I have no shot until he gets to the other side of the tree and he was in no hurry to get there.

By the time he reached the big oak, I had my bow in hand, ready to draw. He goes behind the big oak and I reach full draw and hold. He comes out the other side, still feeding on oaks. I line my pin up behind his shoulder as he stops for a second. My heart is about to jump out my chest and I immediately pull the trigger as he starts walking again.

I watched the red nockturnal nock bury up in his midsection and my heart sank. He runs about 30 yards and hunches up and starts to walk away. He gets to about 60 yards and it looked like he bedded down there. I nock another arrow and hang my how up to try and collect myself. How can I be so overcome by emotions that I botch an easy 18 yard shot.

I check the time and call my cousin to tell him what happened. I was debating whether or not to pull my stand or creep down and sneak out. I waited til 6:40 and started my decent down the tree, pulling my set as I went. The arrow was between me and my exit route, so I decided to check it as I passed. Upon inspection, the arrow is covered in blood, but there is zero blood within eye sight of the hit site. I ease on out and meet up with the rest of the party.

There were 4 of us hunting together yesterday and one of the other guys had killed a doe. So we make the decision to head back and get a cart and I call my bride to bring Spark to the ramp where we were parked. She arrives around 8 and we make the run back to where we were, Spark quivering beside me with excitement.

We get the doe out to buy more time and then go in after the buck. I put Spark on the hit site and she starts to work. She runs a couple circles to sort things out and she locks in, nose on the ground as she's dragging me thru this thick privet hedge. We make it about 80 to 100 yards as she rounds the corner of a big bush, I can see him. I shout to everyone in the party, "here he is!" 

She continues to amaze me at how far she's came in a year. I'd like to thank my cousin/brother, Andrew Miller for helping me get this dude out the woods and my lovely wife, Morgan, for bringing the dog out 2 nights in a row! 

Nice deer, congratulations

good end to a great story

Awesome! Congrats on a great buck!

Great buck for you!

Congrats to you and to Spark for the tracking job!

Well done....

Congratulations! Great deer for a great guy!

Pretty cool that your dog helped you find your deer!! Congrats on a very fine buck!

Dr. B

Cool story, and nice deer. Congrats

Next time, try not to shoot him in the penis! Congrats on the buck! I wish I could shoot something just to watch Spark work!