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