I took a very difficult track today. A hunter shot a mature buck and had everything on video, then the hunter backed out for the night. In the morning the hunter walked everywhere searching for any sign of the buck, and contacted Chad Stark, who referred Brad Shoemaker. Thanks Chad Stark.
By the time I arrived the track was over 20 hours old, it was 90 degrees, wind was 20 mph, there was zero blood and the hunter grid searched for 10 miles! There wasn't even blood on the arro...w, which had white hair. The buck was gut shot at a steep angle, with the arrow exiting the bottom of the belly, but there was not one drop of blood the entire track!
I started with Elkie, who got us close, but Elkie was over heating, so I put Elkie in her crate and got out Heidi, who is in season. Heidi initially tracked everywhere we went with Elkie, and it was exhausting and beginning to look hopeless when we all sat on a log and rested Heidi. I explained to the hunter that as evening approached the scent would rise from the ground, and that we would then restart at the hit site.
Heidi was exhausted, but she has a ton of prey drive, so she restarted, slowly working out the track, taking it to Elkie's point of loss at the edge of the woods, that overlooked a sea of briars. We were going through cover so thick that I couldn't see 10 feet, and suddenly there it was!!! At first the hunter didn't believe Heidi found it, and then there was an outpouring of emotions. Moments like these are why I love tracking.
Elkie lost the track at the edge of the woods because Sun, heat and wind had dissipated the scent, but the evening air brought it back up from the ground. Heidi wasn't used much last year because she had a litter of puppies in November.
The hunter films her hunts and has 18,000 viewers on Instagram. The hunter did a one hour photo shoot, and I'm hoping she posts a video to the forum. The pics I took show the sea of briars, the buck, the hunter and of course Heidi, who found her buck.
By the time I arrived the track was over 20 hours old, it was 90 degrees, wind was 20 mph, there was zero blood and the hunter grid searched for 10 miles! There wasn't even blood on the arro...w, which had white hair. The buck was gut shot at a steep angle, with the arrow exiting the bottom of the belly, but there was not one drop of blood the entire track!
I started with Elkie, who got us close, but Elkie was over heating, so I put Elkie in her crate and got out Heidi, who is in season. Heidi initially tracked everywhere we went with Elkie, and it was exhausting and beginning to look hopeless when we all sat on a log and rested Heidi. I explained to the hunter that as evening approached the scent would rise from the ground, and that we would then restart at the hit site.
Heidi was exhausted, but she has a ton of prey drive, so she restarted, slowly working out the track, taking it to Elkie's point of loss at the edge of the woods, that overlooked a sea of briars. We were going through cover so thick that I couldn't see 10 feet, and suddenly there it was!!! At first the hunter didn't believe Heidi found it, and then there was an outpouring of emotions. Moments like these are why I love tracking.
Elkie lost the track at the edge of the woods because Sun, heat and wind had dissipated the scent, but the evening air brought it back up from the ground. Heidi wasn't used much last year because she had a litter of puppies in November.
The hunter films her hunts and has 18,000 viewers on Instagram. The hunter did a one hour photo shoot, and I'm hoping she posts a video to the forum. The pics I took show the sea of briars, the buck, the hunter and of course Heidi, who found her buck.
