I agree completely about letting a deer lay. I hope ya'll don't burn me down, but I pushed a deer too soon cause I had out of town family plans the next morning and didn't have time to wait. I hate that I lost that deer, I saw her jump from her bed with my headlamp. Just saying, sometimes you don't have the time to wait 12-15 hours and would need a dog right away. Even if it is not the best thing. You do great work, and very skilled at what you do.

Thanks man...I appreciate it. I can understand a situation like that.

This! Getting to meet you and so many other trackers a couple of years ago and pick your brains was not only fun, but helped me know not to push my buck back in November. My knowledge gained from you guys gave Woodrow and Ammon the best chance at recovery. I understand there are times that a hunter might not be able to wait, but doesn't excuse rudeness. I follow mutiple tracking pages on Facebook and appreciate what trackers and their dogs do, I'll be getting a puppy soon.

CNC, are you tracking and not updating the thread or has it been dead?

I use this thread as a rut indicator. The more he cracks the more they are moving. I'm hopping he hasn't needed to be tracking cause they aren't pushing does.much yet.

It's been crazy slow the last few weeks. I haven't had a lull in action like this in a couple of years. The only couple calls I've gotten we're unfortunately while I was hunting with family and couldn't get to. I expect things to really pick up soon when the next good cold snap hits.

CNC you better be checkin the waders for leaks. I remember last year you went through some pretty swampy areas. All the rain we are getting gonna make for some slippery tracks.

I Enjoy this thread, hoping for some tracks soon.

Yep, it's about to get bad sloppy out there. It's all good though. I wear hiking boots and just go right on through whatever we run across.....hang 'em up on the boot dryer when I get home and go again. I made the decision to abandon the tall boots a long time ago. Most of the time its either ankle deep water or knee deep and then some water. When you get over knee deep and your boots fill with water then its better just to have on the comfortable hiking boots.

You can gauge the deer movement and kills via CNC's thread. If he ain't tracking, deer ain't being shot at which means not a lot is being seen. I bet he'll more than make up for it by this time next month.

Dr. B

THIS^^^^^ I have been watching this thread and approve of this message.

I think this rainy weather has been a big part of why its been slow. It's hit on the weekends and kept a majority of the hunters out the woods around here. The big boys just aren't on their feet yet either down here in South Bama. It's about to get good though. It looks like we may have some cooler air coming in later next week.

I saw a good example last night of a track like we were just talking about a few days ago. The hunter makes a post on Facebook looking for a tracker to locate a deer he shot on the afternoon hunt. The tracker responds and comes right on out to track it a few hours after the shot. A little while later the hunter makes another post saying they had jumped the deer 200 yards from the hit site, ran it 650 yards, and then called it off after the deer crossed a river…..stating that it wasn’t a fatal shot.

These types of stories are very common but not much attention is paid to them due to no pics of big bucks being posted up. We just glass right over them and move on to the next one. Now I don’t know where this deer was hit and it very well may have been a non-fatal hit……but if the deer was bedded up 200 yards from the hit site then its makes me think it was probably pretty hurt. They don’t tend to bed up like that when they’re ok. How would the track have turned out if they would have given the deer over night? We’ll never know……

To each his own. We all have to make our own judgement calls. It’s my opinion though that you will have better success in the long run to give afternoon shots overnight. Yes, some will be eaten by coyotes but its just part of it when you make a bad shot. Don’t let the “success” stories fool you into thinking that a tracker will always be able to come right out and bay your deer up. For every success story, there’s just as many or more like this one. Be patient and give the deer time to weaken. This is just one tracker's opinion on another rainy day.....

Nice mention of CNC in the latest issue of GameKeepers Magazine... well done and keep up the good work CNC.

Thanks!......

Got called out on a track day before yesterday……..Hunting lodge called and said that a father and son team were hunting together when a really nice buck came out into the field. The son shot it from around 175 yards with a .243…..The buck spun around and ran into the woods. The only thing they could find was a big pile of dark grey hair at the hit site. They backed out and gave it overnight and waited to search for until the next morning. The guides went out at daylight and couldn’t find any additional sign. That’s when they called us to see if we could help.

I left Shelby in the dog box on this one and just let Otis work by himself. I figured it was gonna be a track that needed to be worked slow and after a couple weeks of not tracking they would be excited enough as it was without Shelby’s added exuberance. Otis picked up on the track and worked it really well taking us by two different small “ponds” that had formed naturally….we’re talking like maybe 30 yards long and wide. The way he worked them over and waded into the water sniffing made me think the deer had gotten into them over night trying to treat his wound. After we worked those areas over he led us into a nasty thick area that we just about had to get on our hands and knees to make it through. That’s when the track went hot. I noticed Otis go from slowly ground scenting to putting his head in the air, back hair standing up, and tail stuck in the air. He start moving forward faster like he was looking for the deer but cautiously doing so with us being in such thick undergrowth. He’s been charged enough before in the past that he won’t aggressively chase them if he can’t see them.

I was hoping that we might be able to push the buck into an open area where Otis could bay him but unfortunately we were tracking right beside a major highway and I had to call it off when we started getting within 100 yards of it. I just couldn’t risk having the deer bolt across the road and Otis getting hit by a car. After studying everything over a little…..my best guess is that this deer was shot in the hind quarter.

Got another call later that night after I got home from the other track. The hunter said he was hunting just outside of the city limits on some property behind a housing development. He said that as close as he was hunting to the houses that he was afraid to shoot his .300 mag and so he was hunting with a little .223……A buck came in just at dark and he felt like he had made a perfect shot on it but couldn’t find any blood. The undergrowth around him was extremely thick and on top of that he said that several deer scattered when he shot and he wasn’t exactly sure which one was his when he looked up out of the scope.

This one was a very simple track and there’s not a whole lot to the story. The deer had only made it about 75 yards from the hit site and we pretty much just went right to it. He had indeed made a perfect shot but there just wasn’t anything but a small entry hole in the deer.

Good job

well done.

Good read as always CNC.