Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Tracking Tales

This is my 7th season now and looking back it seems like you just go through phases like this.....You'll have a run of good tracks and everything will be going great and then suddenly it'll feel like you cant get a good track for nothing. I've been trying to screen my calls a little more than I used to but its still tough to know which ones to pick and choose.....I had one just a few days ago that sounded like a for sure back-slap......The deer had hit the ground and laid there while the guy and his grandson walked up to it and then went back to get the buggy.....When they came back the deer was gone......I told them it was a very, very low chance of recovery but he wanted to try anyways since it was for his grandson......Well, we ended up recovering the deer 340 yards away.....It was shot in the spine but some bone or bullet fragments must have gotten down into the vitals. You never know what you're gonna deal with on these tracks until you go on them.

CNC if you don’t mind me asking what happened to Shelby?

We have about an acre fenced in around my house where the dogs stay......We got lax about leaving the garage open because the dogs never attempted to go anywhere.....ever. I even have a second wooden fence along the front of my property......Well, one day someone through out a bunch of scraps from a fish fry in the road in front of my house.....We were actually outside working and I had just saw her a minute earlier.....I guess she waited until we werent looking and she slipped out there to check out the scraps....She likely smelled it from the yard...She had a super nose on the wind..... A dump truck hit her running about 60 mph.....She never even knew what happened.

Dang that’s awful CNC. I’m sorry

We found 3 in a row towards the beginning of deer season. One was 2.4 miles up at little river. I felt on top of the world. Didn't recover about the next 4 in a row after that. It can be extremely frustrating but at the same time I love watching the dogs work regardless if we get em or not. Dealing with the people is definitely the hardest part. Some are grateful you tried and some are pissed because they just know the deer is dead somewhere and ain't no changing their minds. The ones that get mad because I call the dogs off and ask them to get permission to cross property can just kiss my arse. Ain't no deer worth me risking my dogs life period.

I appreciate.....I think it was just something that was meant to be. I was noticing her favoring her back leg from time to time. I dont know for sure but I suspect she might have had hip problems had she lived.....As much as it hurt I may have been spared having to put her to sleep which would have sucked even worse for both of us I imagine....She wasnt a natural hunter as much as she tried to be one.....She was a world class duck dog or field trial dog......She just had too much drive and energy to track efficiently. At age 4 she was finally settling down enough to be a tracker.......

My new lab is a natural hunter.....She doesn't care anything about playing ball and fetching. She wants to hunt something......She's naturally patient too. The craziest thing about the whole ordeal is when we went to put a deposit down on my new lab Ruby......we were talking to the folks we were getting her from and telling her what had happened to "Shelby Lou".....when the lady says....."Hey that's my daughter's name "Shelby Louise".......Now what's the chances of that happening?.....

Man you got that right.......Tracking could be the most enjoyable in the world for me if it wasnt for dealing with people.....There are some folks who are awesome to track for and you feel like you can get out there and just work with your dogs.......... while other folks make you feel like you're having to manage people the entire time.

I bought a Catahoula from a retired game warden in Missouri. He called me one day and asked me what I named her. When I told him Cotton he got choked up and I could tell he was dumb founded. Turns out that was his mother's middle name. He still calls me every once in awhile to check on her and see how she's doing.

I was very grateful for my tracker - opening line I used was u don’t know me and you can tell me to drop dead if you don’t want to do this - He started laughing and he accepted

I asked if he wanted to track from original spot or go to last blood - after that I just piggy backed out of way cause I realized I did not know crap - had low expectations and I was paying wether he found or not

He was doing me the favor So as the hunter you need to take the emotion out of it and let the tracker do the work - Was good experience for me

Srry to hear that!

Same!!

CNC, sorry to hear about Shelby

Thanks....I appreciate it.

We pulled off a 5.7 miles bay catch and dispatch today in Dawson. It was a low front leg shot. The dogs bayed him at 2.4 miles, 3.7, and he ran out of steam at 5.7. It feels good to pull off a good one

Good gosh

Did you walk all that or ride? Marathon track - I thought my 300 yard one was long

Ran mostly, stopped and puked up my lunch a couple times along the way. It's rare we get permission to go that far.

Dang it man

This year was my first experience with a tracking dog. My son shot a good buck and we trailed a fair blood trail but one that never really opened up. After about 250 yards without the buck laying down and dark settled in we stopped and called a dog. They came out first thing the next morning and started out where we stopped. After a short distance the blood diminished and the dog trailed down to a high wall of an 30+ year old strip pit. Nobody trusted the dog including the owner as he called her back up to set her out hunting again. She went back to the high wall the second time. After a short time, I went back to last known blood and got on my hands/knees and started finding blood. After just a short distance it was obviously headed toward the high wall. The dog was set out again and she went up a steep trail that wasn't obvious from first glance. There was a significant amount of blood going up the trail but little to none afterwards. We trailed for about another 3/4 mile picking up a drop every once in a while but would have never made it that far without the dog. We feel confident the buck will live and it felt good to know we did all we could to recover it. Obviously the moral of the story is always trust the dog......

Headed out to go look for one.....they think he either hit the swamp or the big creek......Brrrrrr.....