Well this track did not turn out to be anywhere near as promising as I was hoping for. The hunter said that he saw where he hit and it was high on the shoulder about 2-3 inches down from the top….When he said that he could see blood…..I figured if he could see it from 360 yards away then we would at least have a minimal blood trail to follow. I’m not sure if he was just looking at the wound or what but there wasn’t a single drop of blood on the ground anywhere. The part about jumping the deer was also incorrect. The deer was most likely just standing about 20 yards inside of the thicket he ran into and when the hunter approached after the shot he ran on off.
The good part of this track was that Shelby did outstanding on it…..especially for what we were trying to track. I couldn’t have been more pleased with how eager she was to find the deer and how well she was able to work such a minimal scent line as one like this. She picked it up just past the hit site and took it exactly where the hunter had watched the deer run down the edge of the field and into the thicket. You could tell when she got to where the buck had stopped and stood because she paused for several moments working that spot over with her nose really well. Even where the buck had stopped though, there still wasn’t any blood that we could see. She progressed the track on and took it close to 200 yards from the hit site before it completely petered out on her. What I was really happy with is the way she kept actively working the surrounding area over to try and pick back up on the line without any help or encouragement from me. She didn’t just lose it and give up or anything. After seeing what she did today I wouldn’t be afraid to put her on any track we get called on.
The great thing about this track is that it was down in the Mathews/Fitzpatrick area on some land that was just fields and woodlots. The way the land was laid out really narrowed down the options of where this deer could go. It was one of those situations where he pretty much had to be in one of the woodlots or hedgerows if we were gonna find him…..So after the scent line petered out on Shelby, we spent the next 2 hrs searching out every wood lot on the place with no luck. I really don’t think this deer was fatally wounded. It’s very frustrating because I really wanted Shelby to get a reward at the end of this one as good as she worked. I’m really excited though at the potential she showed and looking forward to getting her on another one by herself.
