This is Dan's report from the call he took several days ago.
By Dan Hardin
I got the call for my second track of the year just before 7 PM as I was on my way out of the woods. This was the first deer for a young hunter Madison (12 years old) who made the 15 yard shot with her compound bow. Her father Jim was in the stand with her and saw the arrow hit the middle of the deer but a little far back, while still being within the rib cage. The arrow, which wasn’t found, was sticking out as the doe took off, but the blood showed an exit wound. There was an easy blood trail visually and Keena took off intently. Heavy fog and a light drizzle previously made scenting conditions good but the stillness of the air seemed to spread the scent over a wider area.
The trail took us through a sparse forest with mixed trees and heavy thorn bush undergrowth. We made the 300 yard track to
After the bleeding stopped we were waiting for Jim to return
with some tape and paper towel. Keena would shake her head and reopen the
scratch, which was stopped each time by applying moss and light pressure.
Jim gutted the deer right away, kindly donating the liver and some blood for training purposes, and didn’t think that the meat would be lost. The paunch was intact and the liver starred by the Muzzy 100. Congratulations Madison on your first deer and Keena on her fist find of the season!
As a side note this was my first track using my 1000lumen Cree headlamp for tracking. It lasted the three hours advertised on full
power, which made the blood stand right out. I had attached the battery pack to
the headpiece and it was comfortable to wear. One issue that is to be expected
with a light of this power is the heat generated, which could cause a burn if
you are not careful. (There is no risk of this on low power from my
experience.) The other issue is that there isn’t a noticeable dimming of the
light before the battery runs out. It just stops working and that is it. They
don’t sell replacement batteries, but I was able to find an equivalent online
and install the needed socket.
1 comment:
Love reading about helping young hunters! Great work!
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