A busy Thanksgiving weekend of deer tracking for Judy and and her dachshund Mossy Brooke

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.

Mossy Brooke finds a doe completely covered with pine needles and leaves by a bobcat

On Sunday we received this tracking report with some pictures from Judy Catrett. Judy is tracking with Mossy Brooke, an 19-month-old daughter of Tommy and Tuesday.

Mossy Brooke has been very busy these past several days. She has made several recoveries and we have not been able to catch up with several wounded deer. We have had two leg wounds, with bone fragment at the site of the shot.  We were not able to catch up with either buck even though she tracked with all of her might. The blood trail finally ran out on both, and after 1/2 mile with no blood and briars so thick, I could take no more, I stopped Mossy.  

Unsure as to whether I made the right decision, I came home, picked up John's book, Tracking Dogs For Finding Wounded Deer, and read the chapter on leg wounds. I often refer to his book when Mossy and I have failed to recover the deer, and usually I am reminded of things I could have done better. I am convinced that it is at times impossible to catch a 3-legged deer.  

We have had one buck shot high in the upper, anterior aspect of chest with an arrow.  Basically, same story as above. Tracked blood for 1/2 mile and then another 1/2 mile with no blood thru briars so thick Mossy had difficulty getting thru. She finally asked me on this track if I would carry her. This let me know that she had not had scent of blood in a while.  So, she definitely was ready for a reward at the end of her tracking.  No big bucks, but to Mossy a dead deer is a dead deer.

She has found 3 does this weekend. Fairly good blood trail on all 3 and better than anything for her, a dead deer at the end of the trail.  One of the does had been dead for only 1 1/2 hours when Mossy found it. It had been covered completely with pine straw and leaves as I have seen Mountain Lions out west do.  We left part of the deer and put up cameras---this was done by a large bobcat, not a Mt. Lion, much to my relief.  Mt. Lions in this area have not been documented.  

Mossy is one happy and tired tracker today--she is napping in hopes of being able to track again later today.   WHDs--Trackers, they are.

Brady Hesington's Wachtelhund Caliber recovers two deer in one day but there is more to this story

A big thank you to Brady Hesington, a United Blood Trackers member from Missouri, for sharing his recent tracking experience.

I'd like to share one of our more memorable tracks of the year.  I received a call on a Monday afternoon from a gentleman who lives about an hour from me.  He related that his son had shot a nice buck the previous evening, and they needed help locating it.  Unfortunately, I was working and wouldn't be available until the following morning.  After taking a phone survey of the shot, I felt that we had a reasonable chance at recovery.  I was also impressed that the father shared his desire to instill in his children the importance of making every effort of recovering animals that they shot as a way of honoring God, their Creator.  The details were as follows...

The father and son were hunting together on a ridge, with the father sitting not far behind his son, Luke.  A buck came up along the opposite ridgeline, along the edge of a field, and Luke took the shot.  The buck ran into the field and the hunters could hear him taking loud, sucking breaths.  Luke asked his dad if he should take another shot, but his father, Jayson, an experienced hunter, told Luke that the shot was through the lungs and that no further shot was necessary.  The buck then dropped his head and laid down.  After several minutes the two stood up to go look at the deer, and much to their surprise it rose and took off into the woods.  Expecting the deer to be down, they followed the blood trail for about 100 yards and heard more crashing, which prompted them to back out.  

The following morning, they scoured the woods along with two additional searchers.  They progressed the trail by about 200 yards, but did not find the deer.   Later that day a large rainstorm blew through washing away all the blood.  That's when I got the call.  The track had led them within 75 yards of a small river, and they had not searched on the opposite side, as they had not received permission.  My hope was that the deer was not far on the other side, and that we would be able to find it quickly if they received permission.  I told Jayson to do his best to gain permission, and an hour later he called back to tell me that he had it.  Later that night he called me back to tell me that his daughter, Sydney, had also shot a deer and after tracking for about 100 yards they decided to back out since I would be arriving in the morning...good idea!  He was unsure of where young Sydney had struck the deer, but informed me that there seemed to be a lot of blood.  

The next morning I arrived at the sight with both my wachtelhund, Caliber, and my BMH, Chloe.  Most of my time tracking this year has been spent with Chloe, as I am trying to develop her skills.  Caliber, sadly, has not gotten a lot of tracking time in the woods, and I was anxious to get him on the 15 hour old track and save Chloe for the 40+ hour old track.  Caliber has shown great ability on tracks of all ages, but is not as motivated on really old tracks with no or minimal sign.  Chloe on the other hand, will dig for scent to track no matter the age of the track.  The problem is she is less discriminating on what scent she takes at times, which is why I have spent so much time working with her this season.  

We decided to start with the "easy" track.  I started Caliber at the hit sight, and true to the report, there was plenty of blood.  Caliber took off without a hitch.  We covered the first 100 yards easily, then progressed the trail another couple of hundred yards past the point of loss.  There was intermittent blood along the way to reassure us.  At that point, Caliber began acting like he was on a hot scent and really began to track fast.  I slowed him down and restarted him a couple of times to get him to focus.  He took the trail to about 600 yards into a field, then made an abrupt turn along the field edge.  After another 100 yards I hadn't seen any sign, so I set him down and searched the field edge for a bit.  Unable to find any confirmation, I allowed him to work the field edge into a thick, brushy area.  He was searching through the area when I heard a LOUD crash up ahead of us.  My brain immediately screamed "leg shot deer" because of all the racket.  Then I saw him jump up out of a deadfall and run into a field.  It was obvious that he was wounded when he ran, and I felt certain that it was a leg shot, but could not see his wound.  Caliber and I took off in pursuit, and after a short chase, I allowed Caliber to bay and hold the deer so that I could put it down.  Caliber was able to pull it down, but suffered a cut along one leg in the process.  He held it while I quickly dispatched it.  A quick inspection showed that the deer was hit just inside the hind leg, dislocating the joint and entering the groin area.  The deer, no doubt, would have had a lingering death had we not recovered it.  This was Sydney's first deer, and she was very excited by the whole experience...as were we all!  When Jayson approached, he initially thought that this was a different deer than what Sydney had shot because one of the deer's antlers had broken off somewhere along the way.  When everyone was gathered, Jayson and Sydney said a prayer of thanks for the deer and for the recovery.  It was special to be a part of this family's traditions.  

Sydney and Caliber with her first buck

After loading the deer, we loaded up and headed to the sight where Luke had shot his deer.  I started Chloe on the track and she followed it "perfectly" along the trail where they had previously tracked the deer.  Unfortunately, there was absolutely no sign remaining after the previous day's deluge, and the hunters had not flagged the trail.  Still, there were plenty of landmarks, and by accounts Chloe was doing a good job of staying on trail.  We proceeded up to the area where the hunters had lost the blood previously.  At this point, there was some confusion about where the deer had made a hard left had turn.  Chloe wanted to track straight where they thought the deer had turned, so I redirected her into that area.  She tracked around in the area, but didn't make me very confident that she was on the deer.  I then let her track in the area where she wanted to go and we ambled along the woods for a ways, and ended up at the end of the small peninsula of land along the river...no deer.  After several restarts we weren't making any progress.  As Jayson had obtained permission to cross the river, he and the rest of his crew went back to the house to pick up a canoe to help us cross. 

I decided to put Chloe in the kennel box and give Caliber a shot at the trail while I waited for them to return.  It took little time for Caliber to pick up the trail and begin tracking aggressively.  He was very motivated after getting to catch the other deer.  Caliber would prefer to bay deer and wild hogs than just about anything in life, so he was highly motivated on the track.  I wondered if he was "cheating" and following our footprints rather than tracking the 2 day old blood scent, but that was soon put to rest.  The deer had run through a large downed tree which had a 4 foot section cut away.  It was an obvious landmark where they had actually found blood on their second tracking attempt.  Chloe, had missed that section and tracked a line 20 yards around it before coming back onto the correct trail.  Caliber, however, nailed the track without missing a beat.  He was definitely not tracking us as we had not walked that route!  Like Chloe, Caliber, also didn't take the hard turn where the hunters had thought the deer may have detoured, but rather took me about 50 yards further before making a sharp left into an area that looked similar.  He then led me straight down to the river.  

As he searched our edge of the river bank, I began looking at the far edge for an area where a deer may have exited the creek.  The river wall was nearly vertical on the opposite side, so there was no way that a deer was going to climb out at that point.  That's when I noticed the brown lump laying on the gravel bank.  I was so excited, that I took off my shoes, rolled up my pants, and waded across the river in 35 degree weather!  Caliber followed along as well.  When I got to the deer, I couldn't see a wound, but upon further examination there was a bullet hole low in the chest just in front of the near leg...a low lung shot.  This would explain the "sucking" sound that Jayson had described to me, and the low forward shot would explain why the deer had not expired more quickly.  

There was just one problem.  Jayson had told me that his son had shot a "big buck," "at least an 8 point, but possibly a 10 or 12,  and I was standing over a 3 point.  The deer was untouched by any predator or birds (prior to Caliber pulling out all its hair), but looked to have been dead about the right amount of time.  I called Jayson to confirm, and he assured me that it could not be the right deer.  When he arrived on the river by canoe, he again assured me that this could not be the right deer.  Oddly, if this deer had been shot on the opposite side of the river it would have had to jump to its death off a 10 foot sheer bank with a maze of exposed tree roots below.  Not impossible, but questionable.  We did walk down the bank to a point where we were able to climb up and searched the area for a bit, but did not recover another deer.   It's difficult to believe that a seasoned hunter like Jayson would have thought that a 3 point was a 8, 10, or 12 in the heat of the moment, but equally difficult to believe that Caliber would lead me straight down a track that would end up at someone else's wounded deer.  Either way, it made for a great day of tracking!

Caliber and the 3 point...his buck

Memorable tracks do not have to end with recovered deer or bear

Sometimes the most memorable tracks do not produce a dead deer or bear at the end. These are two examples of such tracks that were also very long. A big thank you to Chris and Pete for sharing them with us..

Chris Barr from Indiana tracks with Gerti (Gwen von Moosbach-Zuzelek), who is a  5½ year old daughter of Billy and Gilda, and the track is a direct quote from his email:

I wanted to tell you about my most recent track with Gerti which occurred this past Tuesday evening. The hunter shot a small buck at 9:00 in the morning with a head on facing chest shot. He had blood and bone fragments at the hit sight. He tracked for approximately 150 yards before losing the blood. I arrived at the hit site at about 7:00 that evening and put Gerti down at the hit. She took off immediately with no re-starts necessary. She pulled me down to the point of loss very quickly. I had not seen any blood since the first 50 yards or so but she was pulling very confidently. We continued for several hundred yards with no blood. I called back to the hunter, who was doing a great job of keeping up, that the rope “felt” the same as it had since the hit site but that I was dying for some confirmation. (I have a bad habit of not trusting Gerti sometimes). Well I finally saw some blood and I felt very confident that I could pretty much blindly trust her from that point forward.

It ended up being a 3.5 mile track where we caught up to the deer twice and I even got a shot at him the second time. He only let me get about 30 yards away. The cliff-notes version is that we were in Yellowwood State Forrest. We had no cell signal and we had to rob the batteries from my portable radios for my GPS as it had gone dead. We kept pushing the deer because I just felt (and I checked with 2 experts) that it was the right thing to do. To this point, I had never had a track where I had seen the deer and not eventually recovered it. 

We finally had to make the hard decision to abandon the track. We recorded last blood with GPS coordinates and he was going to try to come back. I was honestly starting to get a little freaked out when everything battery powered we had was dying. I was concerned that if we lost our lights that we may have a long night in the woods in front of us. Temps dipped into the 20’s, and as you can imagine, we’d worked up quite a sweat.

This was without a doubt Gerti’s best track of the season. I give her credit for a “find” because she found him twice! I believe shot must have glanced down and along the brisket and hit the shoulder. I think we could have eventually walked him down. I hated to leave him.

We’ve had a frustrating season. This was only our 10^th track total. We are usually in the 20’s by now. I haven’t had the local calls I’m used to and many of the UBT calls have just been too far with me working and hunting myself. This was our 3^rd find and possibly Gerti’s best track ever. The total distance from the truck back to the truck was 5.5 miles….and suffice it to say there were no fields and the hills of Brown County can get steep.

When we made it home around midnight Gerti ate supper and then disappeared under a blanket with my daughter’s fiancé. Not a bad life…for me either.

---------------

Pete Martin from Kiamesha Lake, NY, wrote recently about one of his tracking adventures with Lisa von Moosbach-Zuzelek, a  9½ year old daughter of Billy and Gela.

What an unbelievable bear call on Saturday night of November 15.  Took up track Sunday morning @ 7:30 am, 11 hours later. Bear was shot with .270 @ 50 yards by a 17 year old hunter. It was in Ulster County, on state land in Voor Nuy Kill area outside Ellenville.

The hit site showed moderate blood and hair. As we proceeded to track it was obvious that the bear was bleeding profusely. The hunter, his dad and uncle did excellent  job tracking bear 400-500 yards, zig-zagging up and down side of steep mountainside. We passed last marker and blood. Lisa was on this track like nobody’s business. Straight down mountainside to small wet swampy area with good blood all the way.

Here comes the LONG TRACK made short. Next 4 miles up mountainsides, down steep hills, flat open hardwoods, blowdowns, streams, mountain laurel. You had to crawl on hands and knees. Lisa showed us every little blood spot you could possibly imagine, It wasn't too long, maybe one mile, I realized and explained to tracking crew we were pushing a wise old bear. We saw fresh wet blood. At start of track blood was plentiful and dark. This bear couldn’t have been that far ahead of us but just far enough we couldn't catch up. Lisa was totally vocal which indicated to me she was on very fresh scent and blood.

There were two very tough checking spots for Lisa to figure out but after 12 minutes or so she took us off in the right direction to more blood. Amazing. Some blood drops were 75 to 100 yards apart. I could not believe the strength and persistence of this bear. This bear did everything you could imagine Circled, went up and down same but different hills more than once, back tracked, bedded. Near the end blood was getting watery and weak but Lisa was right on it. The tracking crew and hunter could not believe it. At one point close to end of track someone behind me said "you have a million dollar dog -never saw anything like this before. These were experienced hunters.

Lisa never quit pulling, nose to the ground so focused and vocal. She wanted this bear so bad and knew it wasn't that far ahead of us. Still had small drops of blood going up yet another hill. Hunter’s father and uncle decided we were not going to catch up to bear, and they called off track after 4½  hrs. Everybody was completely exhausted, myself including. My only regret is that we didn't take a long break and continue to track as I thought the bear must be at his end. We were almost to the Roundout Reservoir.

A leg-shot deer gets away and a hunter harvests another buck...by mistake

 By Judy Catrett (a Georgia owner of  a seven-month-old "Mossy Brooke" aka Viola von Moosbach-Zuzelek)

This little girl, Mossy is addicted to tracking wounded deer.  We received a call yesterday from a hunter who had wounded a deer 5 hours earlier that morning.  There was blood at the spot that the deer was shot and an occasional drop for approx. 100 yards.  Mossy tracked from the initial blood and then continued on strongly after the point of no blood.  She was tracking off leash on this occasion.  

She was 100 yards in front of us when she started yipping. I told the hunter, Rod, that we had to hurry to her as she had just  jumped the deer.  When we got to the yipping, there were two bucks trotting slowly with Mossy behind them. Rod was about 10 yards to my right and both deer stopped. The deer in the lead and the larger of the two had a broken front leg. I knew that this would be our only chance to have a shot at the wounded deer and Mossy was not close enough to be in danger, so I told Rod to shoot the one on the left. He shot and immediately said I got it. I responded, no you didn't, the wounded deer just ran off.  

From Rod's view 10 yds from me, he never saw but one deer and did not understand what I saying about two deer.  He did kill the 8 point in the picture, and was quite proud of it, but was upset about having wounded the other deer. We loaded the deer he killed and got it out of the area. I explained to Rod that it would be very unlikely that the wounded deer was anywhere near and that it would more than likely live with the wound I saw.  

I again asked Mossy to find another dead deer. There was no blood, but I knew the direction the buck had run.  It took Mossy 10 minutes to straighten the track out, but she then started strong on a track. She trailed for 600 yards at which time I called her back.  I explained again to Rod that this wound would not be lethal and the deer could travel miles on 3 legs. Craig had a hunter at the plantation wound a deer last year in the same fashion. The deer was killed out of the same stand 3 weeks later. The front leg was completely severed except for being attached by hide on one side. Basically, the deer was carrying a necrotic leg which was a burden to him, but he was alive and working scrapes.

So the deer in the picture was not the wounded deer, but for some reason was with the wounded deer. Mossy took us to the wounded deer, so I consider her as having done her job.  It was me who did not control the situation at that point as I should have.  I have learned from this experience that in the woods 2 feet can change a persons view and that should we run into this situation again, the hunter should be very close to me.

Off leash tracking is definitely different from tracking on leash. Had Mossy been on leash I do not think that we would have ever seen the wounded deer.  I think that the deer would have detected humans and would have immediately left when we got close to where it was bedded.  Because of Mossy's small size, she does not intimidate the bucks and most wounded bucks do not run from her. They stand their ground and look at her. She is a distraction to the buck and the hunter is usually presented with a shot.  I had the same experience with Bear due to his small size also. Mossy is intelligent enough to know that the buck could hurt her and always keeps her distance when baying, which I am very thankful for.  Bear would get a little closer to the deer than I  have observed with Mossy.  Don't know if this is a male/female --testosterone--issue or just the difference in the two pups. 

I will continue to learn from every tracking experience that Mossy and I have.  I counted  this as #23 as Mossy took us to the wounded deer even though the hunter shot the wrong deer.  I have never tracked a wounded buck that had a healthy buck with him.

Hope you don't freeze the next few days.  We are getting weather that is very cold to us, but probably considered warm by you.

Thanks Again,

Judy

Tommy finds a wounded deer with a broken leg

This was Tommy's recovery #9. The line was 16 hours old, and the deer had its hind leg broken above the hock. Tommy cold trailed the buck for 300 yards in very thick brush, jumped the deer and took it 250 yards to where Doug, the hunter, could finish it. John was very pleased with Tommy's work.

The picture shows John and our friend Michael Relyea, who is the hunter's nephew.

Michael Relyea is holding Tommy. To the right Doug, Michael's uncle.

A busy weekend for two "von Moosbach-Zuzelek" tracking dachshunds

It was a very busy weekend for two dachshunds out of our breeding - Quenotte (Joeri/Keena) and Gerti (Billy/Gilda).

This is a first tracking season for Quenotte and Kevin Wilson, who is a year-round bowhunter and District leader for Suburban Whitetail Management of Norther Virginia.  Kevin wrote:

This was the first weekend archery hunting in the local parks.  Here are a couple of photos from two recoveries.  The first was a double-lunged doe that went less than a 100 yards from my shot.  We did this one for a warm-up.  The second deer was shot by another hunter, went about 200 yards with very little visible blood and died in an awful thicket.  We would never have found it without Quenotte's assistance. 

Quenotte and I learning some great tracking lessons and having a lot of fun in the process.

Note: She is not tracking in her leash with the pink skulls.  She just wears it after/before actual tracking.  We use the orange polypropylene leash for tracking.

Chris Barr and his two and a half year old Gerti are experienced trackers. Chris wrote:

Gerti had a busy start to her tracking with the youth season opener on Saturday. We had three tracks for the day.    

 

1. The first was a 13 year old boy who’d shot a doe in the leg. He believed it to be a lower front leg hit. We found bone fragments and very little blood. Gerti tracked for a few hundred yards. I’m pretty confident that she was on the correct deer as the one heavy hoof print indicated a deer on 3 legs. The problem we encountered is that almost immediately we were off the hunter’s property with which he had permission. There were ½ million dollar homes in the area and I was pretty nervous that we were going to make someone upset. With no more evidence than we had and the circumstances, I chose to pull out. I felt bad, but I wasn’t willing to risk trespassing and there were too many landowners in the immediate area to possibly gain permission from them all. 

 

2. The second came while in route to the first. Caleb Sorrells, 15, is pictured with his 8^th bow deer of his life. By the way, he’s vowed to never take a deer with a gun. Caleb has provided the first track of Gerti’s first two seasons, and the second of her third season. All total, we’ve tracked 5 deer for him and found 4. His dad filmed his hunt and after reviewing the tape, they felt they had a 1 lung, possible liver hit. They tracked until the blood became pretty sparse which is when they called. Gerti and I arrived about 2:00. We took up the track and 275 yards later, we found the doe. It wasn’t a perfect track, had a few corrections, but it all worked out at the end. Charles videoed portions of the track. When I get an edited copy, I’ll send it to you.  

 

 

3. After Caleb’s track I hustled home to prepare to take my daughter’s boyfriend out for an evening youth hunt. Jake had football practice in the morning. He’s a stud running back for Franklin who’s stacked up nearly 1000 yards and 10 touchdowns in the first 6 games of the season. I got home, flew around the house, took off and we were on stand by about 5:40. At around 6:45, I felt a frantic tap on my leg which I was sure meant that Jake had seen a deer. I turned to see a small buck emerging from a small stand of trees. It was about a 75 yard shot which resulted in a leg hit. Having learned from my own mistakes, and from reading John’s book, numerous times, we just bailed out of the stand and went home to get Gerti. We put her down within an hour of the shot and away she went. There was little to no blood at the hit site and after about 150 yards of her pulling and breathing frantically, I restarted her  (be sure to reference John’s book regarding trusting your dog). We re-started and away we went almost step for step the trail we’d just taken. Once down in some really nasty vines and briars, Gerti started to open. Still with no blood or other sign, I radioed my buddy who’d come along and told him I was just going to see where Gerti took me. We made it through a stand of timber and into a standing bean field with Gerti pulling harder than ever. Still not completely convinced, I looked down and saw where the deer and fallen and knocked down some beans and left some blood. (Confirmation for the dope on the rope). We tracked through the beans another 100 yards and jumped the deer. After some more excitement at the end, Jake was standing over his first buck with Gerti attempting to chew off a ham like a grizzly bear. 

 

We hung the deer in my garage and I still made my 25 year class reunion by 10:00 p.m. Luckily for all involved, it rained all day Sunday. Gerti and I sacked out on the couch nearly all afternoon watching football. WHAT A LIFE FOR BOTH OF US!!!

Sorry for the long post.

Take care,

Chris and Gerti………and Oscar.

 

Congrats to Kevin and Chris and their dogs!

Blood tracking reports

Bill Siegrist from Deer Search wrote on November 23:

Jake had a good find today. This morning at 8:00am we took a 25 hour old line. The hunter didn't know where he hit the buck but lost a sparse blood trail after 150 yards. Jake took us another 200 yards finding a few more spots of blood pretty much in a straight line. At the last blood he worked the area for a half hour. I had to start him over at the last blood 4 or 5 times. Finally he (Jake) made a sharp right turn and took me down a very steep slope for about 150 to 200 yards into a swamp. Jake got into the 6"' to 8" water and we found the deer 75 feet away. The last 150 to 200 yards were without blood. It was a nice 7 point buck. The wound was a low gut shot.

This is probably Jake's last tracking season. Sadly he has been diagnosed with mouth cancer. His registered name is Drake v Moosbach-Zuzelek and his parents were Alfi and Vamba.

-----

Susanne Hamilton from Maine wrote on November 26.

We just did a 2 mile track on a high leg shot doe. I saw the bone and white hair at the hit site and decided to push it. I told the hunter that it could be a long track, to take some cloths off (he had looked like a michellin man) Also asked him to keep his rifle in the car as it is against the law for anyone but guides and trackers to carry firearms after dark.

I thought that we would most likely push this deer quite a way and that we would most likely find it still alive. I brought my 357 mag, and after a 2 mile track with very little blood the first 400 yards, the doe started to open up more. Although I kept Buster on a pretty short lead  because I didn't want him to get stepped on like the last leg shot deer, he suddenly had latched on to one of the doe's hind legs.

I pulled my dog off, handed him to the hunter (with a stern warning not to let go) and shot her in the neck and put her out of her misery quickly. It took over an hour to drag her out of the woods, but I had a very happy hunter.

PS sorry no pic... cell phone which I usually take pics with ran out of battery.

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Joe Walters from Indiana wrote:
 
This was a 24 hour old track on a gut shot buck. The hunter tracked it for maybe 1/2 mile and then Doc and I started there and took the track another 1/2 mile where Doc got on healthy deer for a stretch. I took him back to last blood and we found the buck about 50 yards from there. Hunter was jumping up and down and wanting to kiss Doc. Biggest buck he has ever shot.

The best mule deer of the season is recovered with Remi's help

This story came from Justin Richins from the R&K Hunting Company in Utah. Justin's tracking partner is "almost" six-month-old Remi, a son of Joeri and Gilda. Justin wrote:

I’m not a writer so I asked Kody the guide to write this. I’m sure glad I called John as my first thought was to let the buck go for a while before tracking. John assured me the way to approach deer with this type of wound was to keep right on their trail because they would still bleed out through the bone marrow. If we waited, we ran the risk of the wound clotting up.... Thanks John!!!!!

A west view towards the hit site about 3/4 the way down the track

By Kody Whitear

Victor and I had been chasing this buck for a few days and he had given us the slip every time. We probably should have moved on to another deer, but as a guide I have a responsibility to take my hunters to the best buck on the mountain. The first day we had him at 200 yards in the jack pines when the doe he was after busted us. The hunt was over for that day. Day two we saw his head sticking out of the chaparral for 30 seconds as he worked his way into the dark timber of a straight up and down canyon. This had been going on for over two weeks now. Day three was a whiteout snow storm that kept us confined to the lower end of the ranch. Day four, our second to last, was our only opportunity to hunt high at 9,000 feet before the next storm rolled through. Day four was the day to get it done so I called for an extra set of eyes in my cousin and phenomenal guide, Justin Whittier.

As luck would have it we put this buck in Vic’s crosshairs several times on that fourth day as he was running around acting like a froggy buck in the rut. The breeding season brings the big boys out of the bushes, but they never stand still for more than a few seconds. After jumping out of Vic’s scope three different times in a 10 minute period he ran 500 yards down the hill and stopped. Vic had shot well at the range out to 600 yards earlier in the week, but I didn’t want to press our luck with the wind. This was too nice of a buck. So we dropped down to a big rock as I brushed off the snow and threw my heavy coat over the top of it. I dialed up the Huskemaw scope to 412 yards and backed it off two clicks as we were shooting on a heavy decline. We both knew this moment was it. This was our last chance at this buck.

I asked Vic how he felt and he replied, “Pretty good! My crosshairs are steady.” I said that I was ready when he was as he held his breath and let the 168 grain Berger fly through the air. “Hit! Throw another one in the chamber Vic, he’s running pretty fast.” Our buck was flying down the mountain as fast as he could, but I could see some red towards his hind quarters. Then I could see that his hind left leg had been hit. The bullet impacted eight inches behind the vitals, caught his flank, and passed out the opposite side breaking his hind leg high in the quarter. The elevation on his aim was perfect, but Vic must have slightly pulled to the left as he shot with all the adrenaline that we had pumping through our veins.

I watched our boy run 800 yards down into the bottom, stop under a pine tree, and then blow out from under that pine a hundred miles an hour for another 400 yards before slowing to a walk as he dropped out of view. Usually at a time like that my heart would sink into the pit of my stomach. This one was different. I had a good feeling we’d be able to find this buck. Vic was pretty disappointed as we headed to the Ranger, but I told him not to worry as we would do whatever it took to find his buck. I had my cousin take Vic down to the bottom of the slope.

When I hit the tracks the first thing I noticed was that he was bleeding heavily. With every bound in the snow it was easy to see that the shot would most likely be a mortal wound. The buck would pass by nightfall and it was only a matter of whether or not we would be able to find him.

We have asked the Utah GnF several time about the legality to track a wounded animal with a dog and there answer was yes, you can use a dog to aid in to recover wounded/dead game. Therefore, when our outfitter, Justin Richins, showed up with his little wirehaired dachshund (Remi by name) we put him right on the track. Being a pup he was a little over anxious those first 15 minutes as he missed the track, rechecked himself a few times, then took of on the track like a bat out of hell. Justin lost the leash a few times as Remi was moving as fast as he could, nose to ground never looking up. After I finally got a hold of the leash again with Justin in tail we were finally able to slow him down a bit. And as luck would have it the tracks left in the snow had slowed to a walk. Then we hit our first bedding area where the blood was pooled up. After spending a short time checking where the buck left this first bed Remi found the tracks heading out and further down the mountain.

The blood pools left after we got the buck up and moving in a light snow

There are a few ways to approach tracking an animal. If they are gut shot we like to let them lie in their beds  for several hours before we move in. When we have an animal that is passing a fair amount of blood we like to keep them moving so they don’t clot up and recuperate per John's advice. Every situation is different and on this one we decided to keep the buck moving. Once Remi got on the fresh tracks out of the bedding area he became excited all over again. We had to slow him down and confirm blood as we were starting to drop in elevation enough to move out of the snow. When we came into the opening that Vic had been covering, our hearts sank a little as we knew our buck had moved into the lower, thick oak brush. Justin and I looked at each other knowing that it was going to get rough down in there as we were already a mile below where the buck was first hit.

Cover

We again sent Vic and my cousin even lower another 800 yards where there was a good shooting lane. As we started into the brush we jumped a cow moose with a calf that moved right across our track. This spelled trouble for us as Remi had been on a moose track earlier in the year where he had recovered a bull in the thick oaks. When we crossed the moose tracks we didn’t know if Remi had diverted from our buck – the moose tracks would have been a hot scent only being laid down a minute earlier. It took another 20 yards to confirm blood. Remi was still on the right track and completely focused on our buck! It was a milestone for a five month old pup.

Every time when we came into an opening and could see Vic up on the ridge we knew that had he been there a few minutes earlier the hunt would be over. We were 20 minutes behind this buck. The blood kept getting fresher and soon it didn’t even have the slight glaze that sets in 10 to 15 minutes after it falls. We came to another bed, then another, and finally a spot where we could tell that he had fallen down. The thought of an injured buck was heart breaking. I make it a point to always take an ethical shot and limit the potential for a wounded animal. We quickened the pace as we knew we were closing in on him. The tracks made their way into a ravine that dropped down just prior to the shooting lane that Vic was set up on.

Suddenly, Remi froze right at the deer butt and started growling like he had visually spotted something. I ran for Vic and my cousin motioning them to come my way. We quickly slipped down into the bottom of the ravine where we saw the good luck that had trapped our buck. A small quakie had fallen across the ravine three feet off of the ground with branches that created a barrier. As the buck had dropped into the bottom he came chest first into the tree – he couldn’t go under, couldn’t jump over, couldn’t turn around from the narrowness of the ravine, and having lost his strength had laid down. Vic crept up and was able to finally harvest his buck.

Right side entrance

Left side exit

We celebrated with some humility knowing that we had needed help beyond our own ability. The snow put us on the right track in the first place, Remi tracked him once we lost our snow, and the felled tree held up the buck long enough for us harvest him. It was an emotional 10 minutes of relief while we congratulated Vic on the nicest buck to come off the ranch all year.  

Victor from NJ and his recovered buck

Little Remi, having found his quarry, then turned into a pitbull protecting his find. He ran around trying to chase us away from his new property so we gave him his time to be possessive and experience the reward. Remi had been on the tracks for over an hour which is unheard of for a pup this young. From start to finish he had tracked for nearly a mile through the thickest brush. This final track of the year ‘made’ that dog as it taught him to never give up. It also taught us as guides and hunters – to never give up. Everything worked out that day as it should have and Vic was able to return home with his trophy mule deer as well as a story for his friends. It was the perfect ending to the season. 

A map of Remi's track - click to enlarge

Remi in Justin's truck

 Thank you Justin and Kody for sharing this adventure with all of us!