Mossy's recovery #29 for
the season took place on Sunday night, the last day of hunting. As it turned
out it was not her last track of the season but we will have another post about
that. A big thank you to Judy Catrett, Mossy's owner and handler from Georgia, who reported:
The
hunter had shot a doe quartering to him and had found blood and hair, 3
foot diameter area, at the site of the shot. The most hair I had ever seen at
a shot site. Mossy tracked the blood trail easily into the woods and through a
swamp for 200 yards with visible blood being seen by me as we tracked.
She then tracked for another 600 yards, total of 800 yards, with me seeing no
blood the last 600 yds. Craig was with us on this track, having stayed at the
truck, so I called for him to pick us up and let Mossy start over. She again
tracked 200 yards, but at this point went in a different direction than our
initial track and within 100 yards, I began seeing blood again. She tracked for 300 more yards into a clear cut with thick briars.
She
jumped the deer which I could not see, but could hear. We then tracked very
fast thru the briars which were chest high, with me seeing blood the entire
time. I had shortened her leash to 6 feet so that she would be in no danger of
again coming up on the deer without me seeing it and being hurt by the deer.
Within 100 yards, the deer had bedded again and was unable to jump up and run.
I was able to dispatch the deer with my pistol.
This deer
had sustained an open wound to the left side of its abdomen and had run 600
yards per GPS from the shot site with its stomach and intestines hanging out. I
really had empathy for the suffering this deer had already endured and was so
glad that Mossy had found it so that its misery could be shortened. Evidently,
no major arteries had been hit and the deer could have lived for a while longer
had we not found it. The deer had made several turns, so I am not sure how far
she actually was able to run with this massive injury, probably 700-800 yards
as GPS showed 600 yds straight line. Deer are very tough animals, being able to
exert this type of energy with this injury.
There
were 5 other deer in the field when this deer was shot, and I assume that
Mossy, in her haste to find the wounded deer, took the track of one of the other
deer initially after 200 yards. I knew after 800 yards and no blood that we
were probably on the wrong track, so we tried again and she straightened
herself out. She is still very young in her tracking career, and things of this
type are to be expected. She continues to excel in her tracking abilities.
The
picture is not pretty with all of the blood involved and Craig burst out
laughing when he saw me in the picture. He said I honestly looked like I had
been dragged through a swamp. Mossy was the only one who endured this track
without any change of her looks. She is always rewarded with the tongue once
she finds the deer. She swallowed this tongue whole, but is doing fine this
morning. Could not believe that she just gulped it down as she normally chews
them. She also supplied heart for supper for herself, Pache, Tiny Tink, and
Buddy. Her sibs love having her around so that they can all feast on heart when
she comes home from tracking--something they have come to expect when we get
home from a track.
No comments:
Post a Comment