Sorry I haven't posted more. Cletus is having a great season. We have had days with 8-10 calls.
One of our best tracks was a call to the Red River bottom. I was avoiding anything down there til cold weather due to rattlesnakes but this call was in an area I had turkey hunted and knew it generally was not a snake area.
The track was 10hrs old, shot was just behind shoulder but steep angle. Very minimal blood, hunter had marked point of loss at about 100 yds. Head high very fragrant weeds had us all sneezing and Cletus struggled some til we cleared them. Then it was nasty tangles of locust thickets and greenbriars. Cletus lost the track where the buck circled but picked it back up and locked on leaving me with no doubt just trying to fight through and stay with him. At about 1000 yds I heard that yip that tells me we are close. We charged down an incline at a mud hole and the buck got up! Cletus was sure he could take him, lol but I held him back as the 8 pt stumbled trying to get away. He only made it another 20 yds and fell over for good. Turned out the shot was well placed but the angle only got one lung and the diaphragm. This was a happy hunter, proud handler, and Cletus got a good chew!
I will post a few of Cletus' tracks as we progress through the season. First a little about Cletus. Cletus is an18 months old std size wire haired Dachshund. A bit shorter backed and longer legged than the American version and much more athletic. His mother came from the Czech Republic and his father was born in New York originating from European stock. Those two dogs met in Utah and that is where we found Cletus In May of 2015.
