Oh no, I know you weren’t questioning the distances. I was just throwing that out there for anyone reading who thinks I’m just eyeballing these distances. I can measure a straight line on my GPS when we find the deer from point A to B. The only estimate is how much to add for us looping around or arcing back.
Here’s something else to consider about that 800 yards. Look in the background of that first pic at the understory we were working in. The whole track was just like that from beginning to end. You could barely see five yards ahead of you and deer trails criss-crossed everywhere. There was zero chance of finding that deer without a dog unless you spotted buzzards on it. A lot of the tracks we’re working are in these really thick young pine stands or some form or thick understory. A deer doesn’t have to go too far through that type habitat to make it a really difficult find without good blood. These thick areas are typically where most of us are hunting here in my neck of the woods too.
