Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Al Dogs The Tales of Otis and Shelby Lou

Funny as hell those guys celebrating and talking out and camera guys was saying " guys, he's up!"

My daughter's 9 pt

Good looking buck. Congrats.

Good night how much did he weigh?? congrats!

X2. Looks like a cow

170 on floor scales at processor. I had guessed 185, he was only slightly smaller than the deer the previous week that went 201 on different scales.

CNC I gave your number to Pete Hall on Sunday morning to look for a bow shot buck from Saturday evening. He said he called and got no answer then I saw on facebook where he had spoken with AJ but never heard who he got to track it or if they found it. Hopefully you were able to get the track since it was close to home for you.

I was in a tree in Bullock Co hunting that morning when another tracker called me about it. I was texting him to let him know that I wouldn’t be able to make it out until the next morning and to see if AJ was available to cover it… when about that time I look up and a big group of deer starts filing through the swamp on me. I slung my phone in my back pack to get ready and in the chaos of it all I didn’t even notice that Pete was trying to text me too until the next day. Between the other tracker and the folks I was hunting with texting me it just got shuffled down the list on me. I had already texted and told the other tracker that if he didn’t get someone out there to let me know and I’d still try it the next morning but I never heard anything else about it. I hope they were able to find it. I hate I missed that one.

CNC, what is Otis's batting average?

Not sure......I don't keep up with any kind of numbers. I can say that we recover the vast majority of the ones that I believe are recoverable ahead of time. I don't think we leave many dead deer in the woods. Once the dog becomes experienced then its much more about the shot placement of the hunter and the actions they've taken before calling us in. We get called out on all kinds of situations.....some deer are just grazed ....others are not hit at all...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUYeveXwl8c&feature=share

Found a YouTube channel for people who are interested in tracking and the stories. This guy videos every track he takes his dog on.

So I’m gonna post a short rant just to get the frustration off my chest a little…….

A guy makes a post on the Alabama blood tracking facebook page yesterday saying that he had gut shot a good buck and needed a dog brought in. I responded to it and we posted back and forth about the situation finally determining that he had very likely hit it low in the guts and needed to give the deer plenty of time to expire before tracking. We then spoke over the phone and the guy booked me to come out the next morning at 7:30 am. I even called back an hour later just to make sure I had the directions correct and knew where I was meeting him. Well, another couple of hours go by and I get a text saying that the deer had been recovered, thanks anyways. Not long after that another tracker posts up the story about finding the deer still alive and finishing him off.

Apparently. they hung up the phone after booking me for the next day and had someone else come out right then without ever bothering to call me back. I could care less that someone else tracked the deer but its pretty damn rude to book someone and then call someone else. They’re very lucky to have recovered the buck going after it too soon like they did. It makes me wonder if they would have even told me about the other tracker coming out had they not recovered him that afternoon. This is some of the chit we deal with.

Anyways, rant over…..moving on.

I can understand your frustration CNC. I would probably call before I headed out and confirm "still needed" if it was a track I booked for next day.

What’s makes this one even more frustrating is that even after being told to give the deer time…..the hunters still immediately ran in there to track it anyways. They got fortunate that the deer gave them another shot and didn’t take off and run another 500-1000 yards. It’s good they got the deer but it would have been a good lesson for all of them had it done so.

It’s not too big of a deal right now other than just the rudeness of it. Things are slow right now anyways. However, in another few weeks when the rut kicks off, I’ll likely be getting multiple calls per day. When someone “books” me to come out during that period then it’ll likely mean that I have to tell the other folks who call afterwards that I’m already booked up and can’t take on anymore calls that day. That’s when it really becomes frustrating for someone to do something like this.

I think a lot of times the hunter wants a dog asap and lots of times a tracker will not offer to come right away. The only times I have called one neither offered yo come that night both wanted to wait til morning. If I had called another guy and he said he was on his way I dang sure would not tell him no. In that case had I already spoke to you I would let you know someone else was coming out right then.

Some hunters do want you to come out right then and I suspect that had a lot to do with this one. They wanted to track it right then. That doesn’t mean the tracker should go though. Any tracker that’s been doing this for a while is likely not going to come right out every time. How many heart and lung shots do you think we get called out on?? Yeah, pretty much none. They’re just about always marginal hits that need to be given some time....leg hits being about the only exception.

There’re a couple common themes that play out over and over again……1) Most hunters believe they’ve made a much better shot than what they actually have. It’s very common even with a bow…….and 2) Most hunters have no real concept of how long they actually need to give a marginally hit deer before tracking it.

I hear it all the time….”We gave him an hour or we gave him two hours”……Once in a blue moon you’ll hear someone say they gave it 3 or 4. However, I commonly find deer that are still alive that we’ve given over night…12-15 hrs. Low gut hits are just about guaranteed to take that long to die. The deer from the rant was a definite low gut hit. White hair, blood, and stomach contents at the hit site. Going in and tracking that deer 4 or 5 hours after the shot is just asking to jump it up and run it onto someone else’s property, across a highway, into a river, etc…..The best chance of recovery is to let it bed up and get weak. Getting on one too quickly that you know for sure is a low gut hit is also taking a risk of getting your dog gored. A very active tracker in GA had his lab gored and killed earlier this year on a very similar track as this one.

I'm just saying that there's some very good reasons why trackers may not run right out there and track your deer as soon as you call.

Here’s a good example of a low gut hit just like the one from the call…..This deer was shot on an afternoon hunt. It was my second track of the morning the next day so we didn’t get to it until around 9-10 AM that morning…..14-15 hrs after the shot. The deer was still alive and jumped up when we found him. Fortunately, he was weak enough at that point that he quickly gave up and we finished him off. Running in as soon as the hunter calls because they say they have “good blood” or they need you to track it right then is not doing them any favors in most cases. You may get some but they'll be just as many or more that you'll just jump up and run.

This was a high hit with a gun…..Still alive the next morning but weak enough by then that he quickly gave up….The lower shot was the finishing one.



Low gut shot with a bow…..Still alive the next morning but too weak to get up and run….



Another low gut hit…..not even stiff when we found him the next morning…….



I’m just trying to make a point…..How many deer like these would have not been recovered had the tracker just went out ASAP because of the hunter’s impatience??? Part of the trackers job is to help you take the right steps to increase your chances of recovery. If you really want to increase your chances of recovering marginally hit deer, then learn to recognize when you’ve made a bad hit and back out on your own…..before you push it 700 yards…..or jump it out of its bed at 250 yards. Know what the signs of a bad hit look like. White hair and guts are a sure sign to go home and wait.

Hunters, deer hunters, can be like teenagers- they will keep asking someone else until they get the answer they want. Keep giving good advice CNC- if folks won't follow it, they have to live with the outcome.