Well……shooting a .223 may have just cost a hunter a giant tonight…….Dad was sitting with a teenager (the shooter) when a buck came out that he had never seen before…..Said he shot a 140 out of the same field last year and this one would swallow it. The buck mule kicked and took off with tail tucked and head down…..All we found was about 10 hairs at the hit site and that was it….never a drop of blood…..Otis tracked it for about 300-350 yards before the trail went cold on him at the creek. He’s gonna try and get a drone out there to see if he might be able to pick up on it…..I hope they’re able to recover it…..I kinda think he could have a deer that may die but its hard to tell for sure on this one

Dang

Went out to look for a doe for a fella this morning…..He was a pretty good sized ol’ boy….The deer was still alive and when we jumped up I said…..”Well, we can either call it here or its about to be on like neck bone”…….He said…..”Call it!”

I doubt we would have gotten this one bayed up anyways…..I think all he had done was blown some hair and meat off of the brisket.

Took Muzz and Ace out on a track again today. The deer was grazed across his belly and lot of grid searching had been done. Took them awhile to line it out but they finally got him bayed. The deer ended up breaking bay and running into a creek. When I got to the creek Ace and Muzz were both swimming around him and Ace was struggling. Ace is only almost 5 months old. I panicked and dove in the creek grabbed the buck by one antler and dispatched him with my knife. Ended up getting gored in the arm during all that but totally worth it for my pups sake anyways.

Give em hell johnv!

Dang Son! Be careful out there.

Recovered a doe for an ol’ boy this morning……Not much to the track, just another good practice run for Ruby……He shot it facing him and didn’t get an exit. It only ran about 100 yards but crashed in some canes with its belly down and he had walked all around it looking.

95% of the hunters we track for are great folks to deal with…..That other 5% damn sure test your patience some days though…..I had one this evening that’ll fill my quota for the rest of the year…..The guy had shot this buck low in the belly this morning, blowing wads of white hair off of it and tracking lots of blood for a few hundred yards…..I told him right out of the gate that it was a low belly shot and we’d likely jump the deer alive not far past where they lost blood.

It played out exactly like I expected…….the dogs ran right to him and about 150 yards past last blood Otis and Lu-lu both cut loose barking and it was on…..I don’t know if this guy had snooted a big line right before I pulled up or if he was just still that amped from shooting the deer but he never shut-up long enough to take a breath the whole track…..and it was all negative the whole time…..”I just don’t think this is my deer!”……”I’ve never seen a wounded deer run this far, we’re not on the right one!”……”Are you sure there on it?”…….”We gotta be on a hog or something!”……”If this is my deer then why isnt he pouring blood??”

The dogs finally got it bayed up at just over a mile from where we jumped it but it broke before we got into finish it off….I’m sure it heard us coming……When we got to where it was bayed there was a trash can lid sized spot on the ground where the deer had stood and dripped blood…..This was the first blood we had seen since jumping the deer…..I showed it to the hunter and he actually said….”You think that’s from my deer??.....What if someone else shot a deer here this morning??”……and on and on and on with those types of comments…..It was like he was mentally struggling to come to grips with the fact he had made a bad shot. We called it off right there and I headed back to the truck.

Hallelujah……holy chit…..where’s the Tylenol??

Lol some people just can't be made happy. Had a guy call me the other night to track a leg shot deer on tva land. Told him I wouldn't do it till dark. He didn't want to wait till dark because he needed to find his cell phone he lost in the woods. He asked well can you bring the dogs in to find my phone atleast before dark I really don't care about the deer if y'all find my phone. Told him I'd never got around to training them to track phones yet. needless to say I declined helping him.

Damn.

People

Agreed to meet a guy for a track at noon last week and told him I would let him know when I was on my way. I sent him a text to tell him I was on my way. Tried to call with no answer. He finally sent a text back and said he was at the house that owned the property the deer had went on to get permission to go on their property. Told him ok just let me know when you leave there, I'm headed to where we are meeting. 45 mins go by after meeting time and I don' get response from text, phone call or anything. I decide to drive around to the house where he is getting permission. I see five guys and 2 dogs grid searching a field and watch them find the deer from the truck. His buddy or something had gotten someone else to come with dogs and noone had mentioned anything to me. I was HOT! Those people leave a sore taste in your mouth.

Yeah that kinda stuff really gets under your skin……Knock on wood but I’ve been lucky so far this year as to not get stood up yet…..I try to be pretty direct over the phone about I’m on the way, I’ll meet you at the dropped pin in “X” amount of minutes, go ahead and back out now, etc…….I’ve had several folks tell me….”Ok we’re gonna keep looking”……and I tell them no, if you want me to bring the dogs out I need you to back out now so I don’t get halfway there and then you tell me never mind.

The guy that shot it would have toted some kind of a cussin. Crap like this is why I quit tracking years ago! Sorry inconsiderate low life sobs is all they are. Hate that happen to ya.

Great stories guys and I know your making a lot of folks happy but, I really wish folks would spend a little more time shooting and understanding deer anatomy.

Alright now, somebody take the bad ju-ju off of us.......We're on a run of no recoveries......One last night was just grazed......First one this morning was a non-lethal bow hit followed by another gun hit that just barely took a few belly hairs off of the buck.