by John Jeanneney
Yesterday was the first
day of our bow season and my first day of tracking at age 79. I have total
confidence in my tracking dog Tommy, but I confess that I was a bit concerned
about my own agility in the woods.
Jolanta was even more concerned and went along so that she could call in the
EMS helicopter if necessary.
I was almost relieved when I met the hunter. He was slightly
younger than I am, but in considerably worse
physical shape. I knew that no one was going to laugh at me in this
situation. It turned out that he had brought along his own daughter/caregiver,
who got along just fine with Jolanta.
Fortunately Tommy Tracker was the one who really had his act
together. The start was complicated because there were no markers, and the
hunter could not find any blood to verify the line. We ended up going to the "point of loss", which is not the ideal place to begin. Here there was a confusing pattern of muscle blood that had
been walked over by the hunter. Tommy figured the mess out and took a line.
Blood... Blood.... Then a long stretch with no blood, but I could see that
Tommy was confident. "Trust your dog."
The deer was a big doe, shot quartering away with a Rage
expandable broadhead. We had hoped for a one-lunger at least, but had seen
nothing but muscle blood. As you know, Rage broadheads have been know to
deflect along a rib cage. The doe never laid down, but after a quarter mile in
very dense cover, I could tell by Tommy's body language that he had jumped her.
The hunter also found a drop of blood, which laid any doubts to rest.
We were on the line.
Muscle blood |
1 comment:
Great job John and Jolanta. I am always inspired by your continued drive to get out on blood tracks.
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