Brushpile's Tracking Pack
- Thread starter Brushpile
- Start date
The girls are bigger and older, so his advances turn nasty! In a few Months Otto will be King!
Rain tonight. Elkie and I need a rain day!
Heidi has tracked every deer after Elkie has made a recovery, so Heidi is a proven tracker. This track was a 10 hour old gut shot buck that didn't leave one drop of blood and had been grid searched, contaminating the track. This was Elkie's second track of the day and she was losing focus, so I switched to Heidi, who took the track, and was on it when a 4 wheeler's headlights pierced the night, and pulled up to us with two large dogs in the bed; ending the track. So Heidi was restarted and tracked to a well built barbed wire fence. The buck was shot with a bow, high on the back, angling toward the right hind leg so he didn't want to jump the fence. We followed the fence beyond the grid searched area and Heidi picked up the trail.
The hunter had been searching for hours, it was dark, and he had grown discouraged, when I asked how far we had gone, and suggested going another couple 100 yards, so on we went and suddenly there was a white belly and a red Luminock!!! The hunter dropped to both knees with his hands over his face!!! Moments like that are why I track!
The buck was bigger than the hunter thought, and is a dandy; adding to the excitement!
Heidi and her first solo buck!
The hunter had been searching for hours, it was dark, and he had grown discouraged, when I asked how far we had gone, and suggested going another couple 100 yards, so on we went and suddenly there was a white belly and a red Luminock!!! The hunter dropped to both knees with his hands over his face!!! Moments like that are why I track!
The buck was bigger than the hunter thought, and is a dandy; adding to the excitement!
Heidi and her first solo buck!
Last edited:
wbpdeer
Well-Known Member
Heidi deserves a big treat for find the Hunter's nice deer. A story with a great ending. Congrat to dog and handler. Bet that hunter was very happy. This buck has nice G-2s on both sides.
Can you imagine how good of a reference he will be when hunters ask him if a tracking dog is worth the effort?
Wayne
Can you imagine how good of a reference he will be when hunters ask him if a tracking dog is worth the effort?
Wayne
Does this mean 200 miles each way or 400 each way?
200 miles one way, and the buck was not recovered; Grrrr!!!
The buck was shot in a 50 yard wide planted Osage Orange fence row, with NWSG on both sides as far as the eye could see. The track was 26 hours old and no further blood was discovered after the hunter's point of loss. I think it must have been an alien abduction. ;-)
What the hunter reports and what the dog discloses are often conflicted, but the truth is always exposed. You can fool me, but you can't fool my dog, and fooling her comes at a price; $ wasted and no deer! This scenario plays out quite often as one hunter at a time is educated to not grid search.
Otto is practicing to be UBT Certified. Otto is still a big puppy, but he can run tracks I made for my older dogs. I have a problem in that I can only certify two dogs at the Oklahoma Trackfest, so I will certify my stud and a breeding female. Elkie could easily certify, but Elkie is spayed, so she can only track and be our special baby, yet Elkie is my best dog at this point.
A hunter in Kansas called, saying he shot a big buck twice. Shot #1: The buck was quartering to so it was almost facing. The shot went in front of the shoulder and passed through, taking out one lung. One lung shots are rarely fatal, and the buck walked away, presenting a 50 yard broadside shot. Shot #2 hit something solid that broke the head off and the shafted passed though, without the head.. I discouraged the hunter... my sweet wife was listening to the call and thought I was too negative... Ultimately the hunter decides, and the hunter wanted me to track.
So I woke at 3:00 A.M., and drove into Kansas to track at Sunrise. We tracked the buck 100's of yards to the end on a brushy draw, where the 27 hour old track ended in the wind swept open prairie. Before we left the hunter pulled his camera card, and there over the bait pile was the buck at about 8:00 in the morning, feeding while we had been tracking for a dead deer!
So I woke at 3:00 A.M., and drove into Kansas to track at Sunrise. We tracked the buck 100's of yards to the end on a brushy draw, where the 27 hour old track ended in the wind swept open prairie. Before we left the hunter pulled his camera card, and there over the bait pile was the buck at about 8:00 in the morning, feeding while we had been tracking for a dead deer!
