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.