Mossy has had a busy week again this past week. The only problem has been that most of our
tracks have ended up with no dead deer being recovered, much to Mossy's
disappointment. The majority of these
have been after a front leg shot, having found bone consistent with an upper
long bone of the leg at the sight of the shot.
The areas these deer were shot were so thick that Mossy on leash dragging
me could not move fast enough to catch the deer. And, at this point in Mossy's
career, running off leash is just not yet an option. We are getting closer to that point, but this
will probably take a few more seasons of tracking. She is too vulnerable at
this age to the dangers she has no idea exist, and she can move too fast. When I was tracking off leash with Bear, he
could make a deer with a leg wound move fast enough that it would usually bed
down or stop and stand to defend himself once Bear had run it a mile or
more, giving me time to get to them and dispatch the deer. Same scenario on a
couple of occasions last year when Mossy ran off leash. As she became older and
more sure of herself, she would venture further away and I am now concerned
about her safety--highways, coyotes, wild dogs, snakes, etc--so on leash she will
be for a while longer.
This young man, Jason had been deer hunting
on several occasions, but had never had the opportunity to shoot a deer. I have a stand that I take kids and have had
a camera on it, but deer were coming by only during the night with an
occasional doe during the day. I
explained to Jason that we could go and if we were lucky, we might see a deer.
And, so we did. After being in the stand
for an hour with Jason sitting perfectly still and quiet, this 8 point walked
out. On the way to the stand, I had gone
over the things we should and should not do to keep from spooking the deer. His actions in the stand were those of a
young man who had listened to everything we discussed and then followed through
with them. I was very impressed. When
the deer was broadside, Jason took the shot. The deer hunched as if it had been
hit. When we walked to the site of the
shot, my heart dropped when I saw bone--thinking--oh NO, another leg
wound. On closer inspection, the bone
did not resemble a long bone. So, I
called Craig to bring Mossy as we could find no blood or the deer. Mossy to the rescue. She immediately picked up the trail--going in
a direction in the woods I knew the deer did not go--but I allowed her to
continue to track. Glad I did because
she had found Jason's deer very shortly. The deer was hit low in the brisket,
but caused enough damage for the shot to be fatal.
So, Mossy's and my Thanksgiving weekend turned out
perfect. A young man with his first deer
and Mossy finally finding her reward at the end of the track. Life does not get
any better for a WHD than this. She
guarded this deer with her entire body, but allowed Jason to act like his was
his for a few minutes.
*****
Mossy Brooke received another call this AM. The hunter had shot the deer 3 hours
previous, had found blood for 50 yards and then had lost the trail of
blood. He and his buddy had walked in
the woods for 2 hours searching for the deer.
They then ran into another hunter up town who told them about Mossy. We
arrived and after talking with the hunter found that the deer was quartering
toward the hunter who had made an app. 150 yd shot with the deer going down on
his front legs, then jumping up, crossing a fence, and running off. The hunter
had gone down to the site the deer was standing when he shot and found blood. He heard a crash about 75 yds to his left and
assumed this was the deer.
Mossy started
on the blood trail, went directly uphill and then to the right. The hunter
advised me the deer did not go that way--he heard him crash to his left. "When will she ever learn?"--were
Mossy's thoughts at this point I am sure as I pulled her off the track and took
her back to the area of the crashing noise. She appeased me for a few minutes
and then we were off on Mossy's track again.
Within 100 yards, I began seeing
large pools of gut shot blood, then thru a thicket losing my glasses, and
across the creek. Now, Mossy is pulling
hard, I have lost my glasses and cannot see very well, and the hunter has
gotten behind. I am calling him to catch up so he can be my eyes and shortly
Mossy is standing over the dead deer.
Thank goodness the deer was dead as without glasses I did not see the deer until she was touching it.
Three blows from the whistle and the hunter comes running to us. Mossy is
awesome, awesome, awesome. And, I have learned that along with extra batteries,
flashlites, etc., I will have an extra pair of glasses. Another awesome morning with my little Mossy
Brooke.
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