United Blood Trackers members provide invaluable service to hunters

Samantha Allen from North Carolina sent us her mini "smire" dachshund "Ollie". She says: Ollie  is now 10 months old and about 11 pounds. This was a gut shot doe we tracked for about 500 yards on a four-hour-old line. Ollie was so excited to find the deer. During the track she even jumped off a four foot bank into the creek and swam across like it was nothing. This surprised me because she doesn't seem to care for water too much until we go out tracking, then she is part otter! Thank you for your time and dedication you both have put into blood tracking, you have inspired me greatly! I love my dog with a passion and look forward to many tracking years with her.
Many thanks,
Samantha Allen

Samantha Allen from North Carolina with her mini dachshund Ollie.

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Darren Doran from New Jersey is no stranger to this blog. He wrote:

I got a call from a hunter mid morning on Friday 10/7. He had shot a deer the night before and was looking for a tracker. He had shot the deer at 25 yards quartering away. The stand was pretty high and he did not find the arrow. I don't believe there was an exit hole. The deer had bled for about 60 yards then nothing. The hunter had looked some past the point of loss but didn't disturb the woods too bad looking. The earliest I could go would be Saturday morning.That would put the track at 36 hrs old. This didn't sound like a high percentage track but I hadn't gotten a call since the 18th of September and I've never tracked in this part of the state. I told the hunter I would give it a try. Later that evening I had gotten a call from a friend that had gut shot a buck. I told him I had one in front of him but would meet him as soon as I finished the first one.

I met  the first hunter on Saturday morning at 7 and proceeded to his hunting spot. This part of South Jersey is in the pine barrens. The soil is sand and the terrain there was old cranberry bogs, blueberry brush, scrub oak and a pine tree the locals call a lob-lolly pine. The hunter had flagged the track and we started at the hit site. Karl tracked to the point of loss and onward. The brush was right at my chin and it was difficult getting through. I believe Karl went hot and when I corrected him he quit right away. We went back to the start and this time he tracked to a lone large bed and onward but there was no sign in it nor did we find any more sign past the point of loss. The hunter did find the back 10 inches of his arrow on the flagged line. I believe this hunter hit a little high and once the arrow broke the skin solid back over the wound and that was it. After about an hour or so of busting through this brush looking I told the hunter that I wasn't going to find his buck. The hunter told me that he would keep in touch and let me know if he found the deer or gets anymore pictures on his trail cam. I then headed north towards home.

I was heading to a piece of woods I know pretty well. Hunter #2 had shot the deer the night before and when he checked his arrow it was covered in gut. He did not track at all that night and just snuck out of the woods. By the time I  got there this call was 17 hours old. The woods is a tight creek bottom with a lot of green briars and large pin oak. This entire bottom was under water during Irene. We went to the hit site and I tied up Karl. The arrow was right where it had stuck in the ground. I checked for sign in the direction the hunter said the deer ran but found none. I brought Karl to the hit site and he sniffed the arrow and took off. He went the way the hunter said the deer ran and in about 80 yards he was on the deer. I did not see any blood on the track. I believe the hunters actions in this case kept the deer close. By sneaking out of the woods and not tracking at night the deer did not run far and died in its first bed.

Darren Doran from New Jersey with his wirehaired dachshund Karl

To find United Blood Trackers members who provide tracking services in your state, click here.