Trophy bucks recovered by wirehaired dachshunds in NY and Texas

Kudos to Kevin Armstrong, Ron Betts and Carey Sutterfield for helping fellow hunters in the recovery of these beautiful trophy bucks. Carey drove 215 miles to track a wounded deer in Texas (he lives in Oklahoma). Coincidentally, Karma and Effi are half-sisters to Otto (as they were all sired by our Billy).

Kevin Armstrong, a Deer Search members wrote:

Yesterday Karma and Effi teamed upon this paunch shot 15 point trophy in Enfield, NY. The deer was still alive 21 hours after the hit and had to be dispatched. He had taken a bed less than 200 yards from the hit sight but had been bumped from the bed after 3 hours. He was left alone over night. The trail was begun at 8:00 AM. It went on for more than a mile before we caught up to him at 10:00 AM. A wonderful trophy for the hunter, the trackers, and the dogs.

Kevin Armstrong with Karma and Ron Betts with Effi

Carey Sutterfield, a member of the United Blood Trackers, wrote:

Last Friday I received a phone call from Cameron Mclain near Mclean, Texas. He had found my number on the UBT website. He said he had shot a nice buck at 8am with a bow. Quartering away shot he thought was a little far back. Arrow was a complete passthrough. He was sure that one lung had been hit and they had been looking all day. They had good blood for about 30 yards and then nothing. This was around 2:30pm and I was just getting back to Oklahoma City. It was 215 miles to where this deer was shot, but the hunter sounded like a good guy and also mentioned it was his first deer with a bow. I was also the closest person they could find. I decided to make the trip and try to help this guy out. I told them to back out of the area and wait for me.

Otto and myself arrived at around 6pm. It was just getting good and dark. The hunter had mentioned that it was rough terrain. Well, it was pretty much the Grand Canyon! I told the hunter to stay behind us and look for blood if Otto got on the trail. It took 3 restarts as the deer was initially shot under a feeder and there were some deer hanging around.

To the south there was open terrain and to the north there were canyons. Of course, Otto got hot on the trail straight into the canyons. I am talking 100 feet rock cliffs and dry creek beds at the bottom. Sometimes Otto's lead would be pointing straight up in front of me. I think he might have dragged me up a few of the canyons. After about 200 yards, I started seeing blood and the hunter was confirming it from behind me. Just a big splotch about an inch in diameter every 20 or 30 yards. We then hit a big dry sandy creek bed and Otto overshot into it. It took him a couple of minutes to work it out, but once he found the trail it was obvious he was hot again. We found the buck about 900 yards from where he was shot.

Not that awful far, but this terrain was amazing. The buck was also amazing. The hunter was very grateful and I felt really proud of Otto as I was kind've worried about the dry terrain and the cliffs. It was amazing this deer went that far with one lung and the liver. He went up and down some cliffs I would have never imagined a healthy deer attempting.

Carey with Otto and the buck they recovered in Texas.

Good boy Otto!