I got a call last night around 8. The hunter had shot his target buck at 5 yards. He watched the buck run off into a clover patch with his arrow still in him. The buck stood in the clover patch for around 10 minutes and tore off out of sight up the mtn.

He makes a few calls and gets referred to me. He explains the situation and tell him to give me some time to get everything together and I'll be on my way. Spark knows what were headed to do as she's sitting in her spot in the back seat, whining and looking intently out the windshield.

We get to the hit site around 9:15. The hunter is showing me roughly where the buck was standing as I'm putting her tracking collar on. We cross a fence to get to the last place he seen the buck. The hunter asks me how she knows the difference in a live deer and a dead deer because she just left a different way than he saw the buck go. As I explain how she knows, my Alpha buzzes to let me know she's found him already. I look up the hill and can see this massive main beam sticking off the ground about 80 yards away. I tell the hunter "there's your deer!" and it's all high fives from there.

I love being a small part of these recoveries. I have been on the losing end of not finding a buck you've been after. When you've lost all hope and one of our dogs is the only hope you have left. Seeing the faces of the hunters is what drives us to keep going. Watching our dogs do what they love so much is in there as well. I got to share this track with my favorite tracking partner, my son Easton. He will be quite the tracker when he gains another 100 pounds and doesn't let Spark drag him around like a Budweiser Clydesdale!

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