I would agree with you but I would have said the same thing about this morning’s track too. I expected it to just be a few hundred yards and dead deer….but nope. There hasn’t been a big search party after this buck so that’s good….. It did sound like the hunter probably got right down and started tracking it though. There’s a good chance it may have been bumped from that initial stopping point. I’m really hoping that he buried the arrow up in it.

Sippin on a hot cup of motivation this morning. About to head out the door and see what we've got on this one. Story later today.......

Will tune in later!

Well, it was what we thought it was……arra was buried up way back on the deer. I’ll say it again….if you’re gonna miss, you’re better off to miss too far back than hit it in the shoulder. There wasn’t a whole lot to this track. The buck probably went 200-250 yards but wasn’t putting out much blood at all due to where it was hit. Otis just pretty much walked a line right to it.

I did get Shelby on this one too and I was really pleased with how she behaved. I kept her on lead working about 30 yards behind Otis so I could keep her controlled. She was her normal excited self before we started but once we got to tracking, she settled down and focused on the line like a champ. You could tell she was sure enough tracking the deer too. I was really happy with how she kept her nose on the ground because of how much she likes to wind things with it up in the air. I’ve always been afraid it might be challenging to get her to ground scent but she seems to naturally do both. The only thing she needs now is a little more maturity to take care of that puppy excitement so me and the lead don't have to be her self-control.

My pics turned out blurry for some reason so I don’t have the classic “Otis eating the arse” pic…..Sorry I’ll try to do better next time.

Great spot to shoot one ^

I had same shot on buck last year

Zero drops of blood, went 50 yards and died

Good deal cnc. Glad you found it.

Thanks man!



Yep….I’ve found a few of these now and they never go that far when they have an arra buried up like that. I'm not talking about aiming as far back as where this hunter hit but if I get a quartering away shot then there’s no doubt I’m making my point of aim be a about mid-body in the guts rather than trying to put one in the crease of the shoulder. Not with the intent of making a gut shot but knowing that the arra is gonna likely angle up into the body cavity and do devastating damage. I tracked one for a neighbor last year that was standing at about this same angle. He made his point of aim be the crease of the shoulder and ended up burying his shot up in the back of the deer’s front leg. It ended up getting away too. We tracked it for over 1000 yards before having to call it off.

Good deal!

Glad to hear Shelby is coming along !

Thanks fellas!

Thanks.....


Better get in the woods if you can boys....the deer are really on the move. They were all over the sides of the roads this morning. Looks like another big front coming next week that's gonna push temps down even cooler. Should be another good round of hunting with that front as well.

Just caught up on the tracks. Way to go guys!

That was a good few minutes of reading! I’m glad this thread is back.

Outstanding job my man. Don't be too hard on the little high strung girl. Some of us are just wired up to run faster and farther than everyone else and it makes them (you) nervous to watch it in action. It's really just normal speed.

Her nose up high in the air can still smell the ground just fine.

Thanks fellas!....Hopefully I'll have us another story real soon.

Geno.....Believe it or not I know how Shelby feels. That same gene runs skrong in my family. It's a blessing and a curse. I suppose its a little bit the same with a tracking dog like Shelby. One of the difficult things about making a really great tracking dog is that they need a lot of drive but they need to be able to control that drive enough to intensely focus at the same time. They have to really want to go after that deer but be able to do it at a slow walk if necessary. To be able to stop and sniff one twig or one leaf. I see it in Shelby but to truly do it well is only gonna come with maturity. I believe she's gonna be a damn good one though when its over. It just takes time. Otis is pretty well there now and its exciting to finally have what you could consider a "finished" dog.

Got a call around noon today to track a buck that had been shot yesterday afternoon just before dark. It was around 20 hrs old when we started tracking. This is one of the tougher tracks we’ve been on. The hunter and 3 other folks had looked for the buck until after midnight last night and jumped him up in the process. The hunter came back in this morning and searched again before giving up. The search area was bad mucked up.

It was the slowest I’ve ever seen Otis work. He was working so slow and meticulous that it was almost like watching a cat stalking through the woods. It took us close to 2 hours to work through the search area and go 650 yards to where the deer had expired. I was extremely happy with the patience Otis showed on this one. We never found another drop of blood. I couldn’t tell you for sure what Otis was tracking. It’s hard to tell in the pic but if you look close you can see the ruffed up hair where the deer was shot in the hind quarter. The arrow had just barely penetrated into the gut. It was still stuck in the deer when we found it but the hunter had pulled it out by the time we snapped a pic.

BTW……The hunter’s story before tracking is that he thought he had hit it right behind the shoulder.

Also, a shout out to loprofile for referring the hunter to me. Thank you sir...

Good deal cnc. I went on one myself today that didn't turn out so good. I'll post the story here in a bit when the other guy gets here.

Thanks!.....Don't sweat the bad days....we all have them.