The adventures of Elkie
- Thread starter Brushpile
- Start date
Congrats to Elkie and yourself on the successful track. Last night I was sure wishing Oklahoma would allow tracking jobs but man it would have been a really short track!
Buckly
Well-Known Member
I found a well known deer that had been shot like that many years ago.. It bedded twice in 100 yards, against my advice they went back in and pushed the deer a third time. I found it 2 months later 800 yards from the original shot.
Oklahoma is changing the law, and at present it's the local game warden's call. I almost had a track in Oklahoma, but the hunter changed his mind. If you shoot a deer in Oklahoma, I'll track it or find another tracker who will.
Elkie recovered that buck. I'll post pics and tell the story when time permits.
This buck was not hit in a vital organ, but there was massive damage from a thwacker pass thru and Elkie recovered him. In this heat and after about 40 hours, the only thing that could be recovered was the antlers. Pics and story as time permits. When I'm not hunting or tracking, I'm eating and sleeping!
Elkie's track was so tough that many trackers wouldn't take it because it'd been grid searched! When a track is grid searched, scent is spread from the original track.... throughout the area, creating a maze of footprints for the dog to figure out. 4-5 people crawled through the woods on their hands and knees and couldn't find this buck.
The hunter is 6'5" and had a long draw length, so he drove a Thwacker mechanical point through the shoulder blade and heavily muscled chest area, opening a 2-3 inch hole through the deer, possibly hitting one lung, and doing massive damage to heavy muscle. Muscle blood starts out looking good and then stops bleeding, so there was no blood trail over most of the track.
When the buck was hit, he bedded in the open within 40 yards of being hit. The hunter watched as 2-3 other bucks began goring it, until it got up, moved 40 yards and bedded again. The hunter waited two hours and found what he thought was a dead buck, but the buck bolted and was gone. Elkie and I arrived about 36-40 hours after the buck was shot, and Elkie recovered the buck in about 15-20 minutes in cover so thick that there was no way the hunter would have found the buck without a tracking dog. Losing several deer in cover like that is why I bought Elkie!
The hunter told me that the crew that did the grid search were, "Blown away"! Elkie can be amazing! The hunter has become a fan and knows to call when the hit is off, because even though Elkie recovered this buck, the meat was spoiled.
This shows the massive shoulder wound.
The hunter is 6'5" and had a long draw length, so he drove a Thwacker mechanical point through the shoulder blade and heavily muscled chest area, opening a 2-3 inch hole through the deer, possibly hitting one lung, and doing massive damage to heavy muscle. Muscle blood starts out looking good and then stops bleeding, so there was no blood trail over most of the track.
When the buck was hit, he bedded in the open within 40 yards of being hit. The hunter watched as 2-3 other bucks began goring it, until it got up, moved 40 yards and bedded again. The hunter waited two hours and found what he thought was a dead buck, but the buck bolted and was gone. Elkie and I arrived about 36-40 hours after the buck was shot, and Elkie recovered the buck in about 15-20 minutes in cover so thick that there was no way the hunter would have found the buck without a tracking dog. Losing several deer in cover like that is why I bought Elkie!
The hunter told me that the crew that did the grid search were, "Blown away"! Elkie can be amazing! The hunter has become a fan and knows to call when the hit is off, because even though Elkie recovered this buck, the meat was spoiled.
This shows the massive shoulder wound.
Chestnut Valley Farms
Active Member
Congrats on another successful track!
Doctorbrady
Well-Known Member
Andy Bensing, the president of United Blood Trackers lives in PA. He had one of the most talented tracking dogs in the country before she developed an illness that damaged her sense of smell. That said, he has volumes of successful track stories from around the country, including that from neighboring New York which has a very successful tracking history. Like most states that haven't legalized, the issue is the politicians who are either not interested in spending time pushing the legislation through or who are intent on remaining ignorant by refusing to be swayed by the facts. The way to change the apathy is to have voters in the state demand it through phone calls and petitions. When the voters make it uncomfortable for the politicians they will act, but likely not before. It always amazes me that very liberal states like New York and the New England states (where I am visiting now) legalized tracking with dogs while very conservative states like Ok and Ks have lagged behind. We were able to push it through Kansas when people finally made a fuss about it 2 years ago. I recently sold a recurve to a commodities attorney in Tx who owns and hunts a large farm in Ok...and happens to have a tracking dog from John Jeanneney (the patriarch of blood tracking) in New York. He opined that tracking wasn't legal in Ok. I showed him the pathway to getting it legalized, and hopefully motivated him enough to help get the ball rolling there.
I am thinking they might not know what a 170" buck looks like...congrats to Elkie and yourself for another successful track...
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dogdoc
Well-Known Member
Yea, I was also wondering if that was the supposedly 170" buck or a different buck? Doesn't matter for Elkie---great job to Team Elkie!!!!!
outdoorstom
Active Member
Way to go, Brush and Elkie! 170" huh? Luna does the same "casting" thing and I still struggle to read her. I'm sure with more experience I'll get better at it.
Crimson n' Camo
Active Member
Great find! 
Please do! No one of reason would object to recovering a deer with a leashed tracking dog, and Elkie illustrates the non threatening nature of tracking.
As the sign says at Bass Pro Shop, "Welcome hunters, fisherman, and all other liars". Every track holds a mystery for the dog to reveal. This hunter exaggerated the truth, thinking that I'd be more inclined to take the track if the buck had a big rack.
I wouldn't think the rack would make any difference...that is what irks me - I am going to try my damnedest to find the deer weather it's a small doe or a record book buck.
I drove 600 miles to recover a Boone and Crocket Buck in Kansas and neither the hunter or I would have expended so much to recover a doe.
On the other hand a track is a track to Elkie, and I encourage hunters to have Elkie recover their doe, but don't get many calls to track does.
Jack Terpack
Well-Known Member
One of the first things I was taught by my father and uncles was, "If you shoot it, you find it or prove it will survive." Now my cousin and I tell our young nephews that hunt with us the exact same thing. we hunt in PA and are not allowed to use dogs to track so WE are the dogs. We have only lost one deer in 14 years on our property. We are kinda proud of that and so are the youngsters.
