Short track and recovery for Thor: Important deer anatomy lesson

By Bob Yax

On Nov. 8^th, Thor and I took a track in Geneseo.  The hunter, Josh, hit the buck about 4 pm the previous day.  While interviewing Josh about the hit, not long after he shot it, he said that the buck was broadside when he hit it and the arrow passed thru near the center of the deer.  Surprisingly, the buck bedded within 20 yards of the hit, then got up shortly after and bedded 2 more times in the next 50 yards before getting up and walking off.   

Josh waited awhile and then inspected the hit site and arrow along with a few yards of the early trail.  He saw a reasonable blood trail and then backed out and called Deer Search.  The quick, frequent bedding, signaled a liver hit, but then Josh described the arrow as having heavy intestinal matter on it.  With a broadside shot it’s hard to hit both liver and intestine.   I told Josh that the options were to go after it late that evening, like 11 pm (assuming it was liver), or to wait to later in the morning assuming it was intestine only.  It was a tough decision.  A liver-hit deer could be dead in less than an hour (typically 7 hrs covers 95% of liver hits), but an intestine-hit deer can go for over 24 hrs.  We had to worry that it might spoil if it died early or we might jump it if we go too early.  We decided that we’d wait till late morning to start the track.  

We started at about 11 am, 19 hrs after the hit.  I inspected Josh’s arrow and confirmed it was covered with intestinal matter and a little blood.  We started the track and quickly got through the first 100 yards where blood sign was still visible along the way.  Soon we came out to a standing cornfield, where Thor spent about 10 minutes circling around in about 20 rows of corn.  I was happy to find 1 spec of blood on a corn stalk, while he was circling.  Finally, Thor came out of the corn and headed off pretty hard across a clover field for about 125 yards, until he entered the woods that surrounded a 1 acre pond.  Soon, he was walking through the shallow water at the corner of the pond.  He came out of the pond and climbed up a short bank.  There I found a single drop of blood.  Thor then took a path through the brush along the edge of the pond, and again ended up along the water’s edge.  He was really interested in the water. 

I scanned the pond hoping to see a floating deer. Finally, he walked off the bank and started swimming into the pond.    I let him go out a few yards, and then pulled him back to shore.  He jumped up the bank and then I spotted a bloody leaf on the shore.   I let the leash go and told Josh to grab it as I climbed through the heavy brush.  He grabbed the leash but had a hard time holding Thor back as he dug in and pulled hard into the brush.   A few seconds later the reason was obvious.  The dead buck was lying about 40 yards from the pond. So far the track wasn’t that interesting, but the deer and the hit changed that.  Looking at the 8 pointer, it was obvious that the deer had passed just a short time before we arrived.  There was no rigor, and the internal organs were freshly warm.   The other observation was that the lower half of the deer was soaking wet and his legs were brown with pond muck.  It had obviously been laying in the pond.  The autopsy revealed the biggest surprise, the 3 blade broad head clearly passed thru the liver, before exiting out the intestines.  This buck, with a solid liver hit, likely lived for 17 or 18 hours!   Not sure if laying in the pond had any influence, but most liver hit deer are dead at 6 or 7 hours.  I did have one buck years ago, that we jumped after 20 hrs with a liver hit.  The general rules usually apply, but not always!  Photo of hunter and buck, below. 

Thor tracks and recovers a liver-hit buck 4 days after the shot

By Bob Yax

        

Just got back from a cold rainy day (Wednesday) of tracking.  This afternoon I had to shoot a 12pt non-typical 18 hours after the hit, and that wasn’t the most interesting track of the day!  

The track we started this morning at 9:00 has a long backstory.  The Hunter, Charlie, had hit a big buck this past Saturday morning (11/5) at 9:30.  He thought his arrow had entered low in the ribs, about 6 inches back of the front leg on the right side.  The white hair at the hit site indicated that the exit was near the bottom of the deer. Being pretty new to bowhunting, he waited about 1.5 hours to begin tracking.  He and his hunting friend tracked the deer about 300 yards, when they jumped it.   They then backed out for about an hour and continued tracking a dwindling blood trail.  After several hundred more yards, they jumped it again.  Finally, after about 3 hours of tracking, they jumped it a 3^rd time and then tracked it a few hundred more yards to the last blood sign at the edge of a golf course, on a cart path.  At this point they’d tracked about ¾ of a mile.  After the cart path, the buck headed across a fairway and then along the woods on the other side.  Charlie was able to track the buck’s hoof prints in the soft dirt.  About 100 yards past the cart path, they lost all signs of the buck.  From that point on, Charlie and his hunting friend grid searched the woods on that side of the fairway for another hour to no avail.

         

Two days later, on Monday 11/7 at 8:30 am, Charlie called into Deer Search asking for help.  The rut in our area, as well as cross bow hunting began this weekend.  As a result, we had 30 to 40 calls waiting in our system.  We don’t have the manpower to handle all those calls, so on Monday evening I began deleting calls older than 36 hours and then calling those hunters back to say sorry and to discuss their hits.  Charlie hunts in an area far from most of our trackers and it was now 59 hours after the hit, so I deleted his call and then called him.  After hearing the story of his hit and track (jumping the buck 3x) it certainly sounded like a liver hit.  It went a long way between beds, but it was being pushed.  I knew the deer was dead, and Charlie made it clear how much he wanted to recover it, his best buck to date.  I thought that a body search, to smell the dead deer might have a chance of working – but they usually don’t!   I told Charlie, that I might be in his area on Tuesday and that I might want to give it a try.  Well, Tuesday didn’t work out, but I did catch a call for Wednesday that would be nearby.  Charlie and I traded a bunch of text messages Tuesday night, and he even emailed me a Google Maps photo of the area with his deer track marked on it.   At that point I didn’t realize that the track so far, was ¾ mile long.     The photo showed that the area was very large with diverse vegetation.  I agreed to meet up with him on Wednesday morning at 9 am – 4 days after the hit.  From Saturday thru Tuesday it had been sunny, warm (65deg) and breezy, but Tuesday evening and Wednesday AM the forecast was for rain.  Sure enough it started raining about 9 pm Tuesday evening.  At that time, the thought hit me that with this moisture, Thor might actually be able to follow the 4 day old track! 

      

Wednesday morning, as I made the 60-mile drive to Hume, Allegany County, the rain was pretty heavy, but luckily just about stopped as I met up with Charlie.  After doing our paper work, Charlie showed me his arrow & Rage 2 blade broad head.  The arrow and fletching showed not much blood, and the first 10 inches had a coating of white fat / suet on it.  Likely from passing thru the fat on the bottom of the chest. I decided we should start the track at the hit site in the hope that Thor could actually pick up and carry the track beyond where the hunters had lost it.  I started Thor where we thought the hit occurred and headed off in the direction the buck went.  I never saw any blood, but Charlie convinced me that Thor seemed to be going the right way.  After a short time, I was convinced that Thor did have the track.  

To make a long story shorter, for about the next hour, we followed Thor down what seemed to be the right track through the mixed hardwoods.  On 3 or 4 occasions along the way, Thor got into a circling pattern 30 or 40 yards in diameter, obviously trying to figure out which direction the buck went after it stopped and circled.  Once we got to within about 200 yards of the golf course, Thor got stuck in a circling pattern for about 15 minutes. He was working hard, but couldn’t get out of it. It could have been the Hunters bloody boots that complicated that area.  The 3^rd bed was ahead in the thick brush between us and the golf course.  We were now about an hour into the track and still hadn’t gotten to where the hunters had lost the track.  At that point, I asked Charlie to take us to the last sign of blood at the edge of the golf course, 200 yards ahead.  Soon we were at the cart path where the buck came out of the woods. Still in the path, was a dime sized blood clot.  The 1^st blood I’d seen so far.   Thor caught the scent again and headed off hard across the fairway towards another woodlot.   A short time later, Charlie confirmed that Thor was on the path of hoof prints in the fairway that they had followed 4 days earlier.  75 yards further along the edge of the fairway and we were now at the point where Charlie lost the trail for good.  At that point, Charlie and his friend went on to search the woods on that side of the fairway, and the woods beyond.  Now I was hoping / praying that Thor would take us in a totally new direction.  Soon after, he was in the middle of the fairway, heading back across towards the cart path and woods beyond.  Yes! Charlie, had never searched in this area.  It was totally clean and Thor was heading hard into it. That buck should be lying, dead ahead within a few hundred yards.  So, I hoped!  

Well, we continued into the new section of woods for another 200 yards with Thor seemingly, still on the trail – I sure thought so.   Then, just as I was beginning to doubt him (I shouldn’t do that!) I spotted what I thought was a blood spot on a wet leaf.  I stopped and dabbed it with a white paper towel – BLOOD!   The last blood sign I’d see on this entire track.    A short time later, Thor was in his 4^th or 5^th area of circling.  I stood by for 5 minutes trying to be patient – it’s hard!  Finally, he was off on another 200 yard line thru the woods.  I expected to see the dead Buck ahead of us at any moment.  We’d been in this woods for at least 400 yards, the buck should have bedded by now.   After another 100 yards we were at the corner of the woods and a clover field.  Here, Thor spent at least 10 minutes circling a 30-yard diameter area in the woods.  This is torture!    Multiple times, he would seem to head off on a line out of the area, only to come circling back!  In our early tracking days, I couldn’t take it, and would pull him off in a direction I wanted to go.  Now, I’ve learned that he almost always figures it out, if I give him the time he needs. Finally, Thor headed into the clover field and then took a good straight line, for about 100 yards, across it to the woods beyond.    He quickly got thru the woods and then we headed into a large thick brushy basin.  We were now more than a half mile beyond the last bed, with no sign of the deer.  I began to have my doubts, but Thor was still determined as we headed down the narrow deer trails in the dense brush.  After a 200-yard arch thru the brush, Thor’s nose was suddenly up, scenting hard.  10 yards later I caught a whiff and a few yards later I saw half a rack poking out of the weeds ahead – we had him!!!  The buck was a big 6Pt, and the shot was just about where Charlie thought.  The broad head looked to hit the bottom of the liver.  Unfortunately, after 4 days, only the rack was salvageable.  But that, and the track it took to find him, will provide memories of this Buck well into the future…  Photo below shows Charlie and his Buck.  Map shows total track route.  Red portion is where Charlie tracked the Buck,   Thor tracked the entire route.  I learn more and am amazed more every day!

"Track or treat" night: Winnie and Jared's first track in pursuit of a wounded deer

Some tracks are more memorable than others but most likely every handler remembers their very first track. This week we received email from Jared Brueggeman, who got a female pup from our only 2016 litter. Winnie (Yola von Moosbach-Zuzelek) was born on July 3, 2016 so she is just turning 4 months old tomorrow.

My neighbor shot this doe on his land at approximately 5:45 pm Halloween evening. He said he heard the arrow hit but was unable to locate it or any blood at the shot site.  A few hours later Winnie, myself, the hunter and two friends took to the field. We started tracking at 9:15 pm.  It was difficult to locate the first blood as there was none at the hit site that we could see. We tracked for quite a distance.  Some heavy blood fading to some light blood and back to heavy.  After several hundred yards and it was apparent that the deer was still alive as we were finding fresh blood that was not dried like at the beginning of the trail.  We never found a single bed.  We pushed the deer to make her bleed and we ended up through the large block of timber where the deer crossed the road.  We located a few drops on the road and Winnie was anxious to push on. Shortly after crossing the road Winnie came upon her first real deer.  The deer was dead and Winnie realized what she has been training  to do. She went right over and started licking the blood and eventually she latched right on and was biting the deer with all she had. She showed no possessiveness as last night I think Winnie realized that we are working as a team.  All of the other people and the lights in the woods were a distraction at times as this was only her second time in the woods at night, once on an artificial line and then this actual call. I would reassure her with a calm tone that she needs “find the deer” and she was back to tracking. We recovered the deer at 11:28 pm. The deer was shot quartering away hitting the gut, liver and a single lung. There was an entrance and exit wound, however, the arrow was still in the deer. She had not been dead long as there were still bubbles coming out of the exit hole near the lungs. The track totaled just about a mile in distance. The Halloween deer that Winnie found will be one I will never forget. Winnie did get on Halloween a little treat of her own, a few slices of fresh deer heart.

On the track there were a few times where I needed to reset Winnie on the last blood found and then she was back on track. She persevered and did great. I was very proud of her as you know she is not even 4 months old yet! I am on cloud nine right now and I have the itch to get back out there and let the sniff hound go find another!  Thanks for being a part of all of this. 

Sincerely, your friend and now fellow tracker,

Jared Brueggeman

A long track for Darren Doran and his dachshund Theo leads to successful recovery

A big thank you to Darren Doran who wrote this report a week ago. Following Monday he had a rotator cuff surgery. The surgery went well and Darren is recovering home. Darren's tracking partner is Theo (FC Theo von Moosbach-Zuzelek).

A hunter called about a deer he hit on Friday morning, October 21, about 7:30 am. At the hit the deer walked off about 60 yards and lay down. The hunter thought that the deer was going to die right there. After about 20 minutes the deer got up and slowly walked away. The hunter stayed in the stand for a while, then climbed down and snuck out. He came back around noon to check the arrow and look for the deer. During this time it had rained heavily and was threatening the rest of the day.

When the hunter checked his arrow he smelled gut on it and saw white hairs on the ground. Despite the rain, there was a substantial amount of blood in the bed. He began to track the deer and eventually lost the blood alongside the creek. The hunter looked me up on the UBNJ web site and called me. It turns out that the hunter was a new resident to the town I work for and was hunting right out of his back yard.

At this point I would like to say that this swamp buck was a mature deer over 3 ½ years old. I have seen this behavior in this age class of a buck many times. At the hit the deer doesn’t run or panic. They don’t elevate their blood pressure by running, and by bedding quickly they slow their blood loss. With the onset of the rut, this type of buck with this type of hit can be very hard to kill and recover.

I made arrangements to meet the hunter after work and I was at his house by 4 p.m., 8½ hours after the shot. We went to the hit site and I got Theo ready. The arrow had a slight gut smell and the white hair was there just as the hunter had said. I started Theo and he took the track and ended up in the wound bed. I could see good blood indicating it was a liver hit. Theo tracked to the creek to where the hunter had quit and began searching. He kept going up and down the bank and then just jumped in and swam to the other side. The creek was about 15 feet wide and I just kept feeding out my lead. Theo got to the other side and after a quick check started up a little draw away from the bank. 

It looked like we were going to get wet. The creek was mid-thigh deep and a little chilly but had a pretty good bottom. We got across quickly and tracked along the top of the creek to an ox bow. Theo started down towards the creek again and stopped on a log that was in the water. He was stretching out and sniffing but hadn’t committed to taking the plunge. The creek was deep here but not wide and if we went in we were going to have to swim.

Theo came back up to the top and began searching the bank. All of a sudden he took a line right over our track in. The deer had back tracked. He bedded high on the creek bend with the deep water at his back looking over his back trail where he crossed the creek the first time. It’s quite possible that the deer saw or heard the hunter from this vantage point looking for him earlier in the day.

Theo then tracked out of the flood plain and up to higher ground. I hadn’t seen any blood since the bed at the creek and we were heading right for a housing development in the neighboring municipality. Theo was tracking right behind the backyards of the houses and I was praying that the deer stayed in the woods. All of a sudden Theo’s tempo picked up and the hunter said he saw a deer get up and go to the right. Theo was really excited and tracking left towards the road. I just held back on the lead and let him settle a bit. It was obvious that there was more than one deer here and they left in different directions. Theo took a line that was straighter, and the hunter said that the deer went right. I asked him to stand by and wait. When I saw a small drop of fresh blood 30 yards later I knew he had the right deer. I went about another 30 yards, found another spot of blood and called up the hunter. Theo was tracking towards a mowed retention basin behind the houses and he was pulling hard. I planned to track up to the edge and look across and check for the deer. The basin was about 125 yards wide and there was no dead deer in it. I pulled Theo back and it was time to discuss our strategy with the hunter.

I was afraid to push the deer because of the houses. I’ve lost big deer to the developments before and did not want it to happen now. I laid out our options. We could continue and risk losing him in the development, we could come back around midnight and re-start, or we could take our chances with the rain and start in the morning. I reassured hunter that Theo could track after a rain and it wouldn’t be a problem, but I didn’t realize how much we were going to get.

We decided to resume tracking in the morning. It had poured over night and was raining hard in the morning. I sent a text to the hunter to make sure that were still on and he said yes. I was a little apprehensive about tracking to the deer but felt confident that if it stayed in the woods we could find him. I picked up the hunter and we started at the first creek crossing. I swear when Theo saw the hunter he knew we were going to finish what we started. 

I brought Hip Boots for the crossing and just made it. Theo swam across and was dragging he short lead following the exact same track to where we stopped yesterday. I hooked up Theo about 50 yards from the edge of the basin and started. He ran down yesterday’s line and into the basin and began searching his way across.

At the other side he began checking runs. I was really hoping to find the deer just inside the edge but it didn’t happen. We had the wind in our face,a and I was sweeping Theo in a search mode from the houses to our side of the creek in an effort to pick up the trail of the deer or air scent a body. Theo was working nicely through the thick green briars and brush and we went about another 500 yards sweeping through the bottom without any luck. Now the plan was to work the creek back and have Theo check the runs leading up to a crossing. We had gotten about 150 yards from the retention basin when Theo started sniffing the briars while standing up on his hind legs. When he does this it usually means he’s confirming the scent of our deer or has caught a piece of familiar scent. Theo started to take this run towards the creek and worked down to the bank and was looking across the water. I happened to look downstream and there was the deer floating in the middle of the creek stuck against a fallen tree. As soon as I saw him I shouted out my favorite saying “I gottem”. The hunter came running over and because of the briars and the creek bank he couldn’t see him. He said “where, where “. I said "he’s in the creek, you got him".

Theo got him!

By now Theo had seen him and was swimming over to him. He climbed up on the deer and began to pull out his hair. I waded out and dragged the deer back to the bank. The deer died about 100 yards behind the hunter's stand and looked like it was headed back to where it had come from. We had a heck of a celebration, and I was genuinely happy for this hunter. He was a good guy and I’m glad we could find his deer. The deer was hit low in the liver and because of the way it acted after the hit, it lived a long time.

This kind of track makes believers out of hunters and legends out of tracking dogs. This may be my last track this season and if so it was a great one. Theo is still learning and getting better every time we track. We have developed into a team that knows what to do to get the job done. I love working this dog and finding deer with him.

Darren and Theo at the end of successful track

Shot analysis by Bob Yax on the two deer recovered by his tracking dog Thor

These two bucks were recovered last weekend by Bob Yax and his tracking dachshund Thor. 

The Pittsford buck was hit low in the chest with a bow on Sunday morning. See entrance photo attached.   Also, check out the kid wearing shorts while he was tracking with us! Ouch!   We  jumped this liver hit buck twice, 6.5-7 hrs after the hit.  In its 3^rd bed, the kid was able to put another arrow into it.  We found a 1 inch deep slice thru the edge of the liver when he gutted it. That was a long survival for a liver hit!

 *****

We jumped the Honeoye buck 17 hrs after the 7 mm hit,  from its 1^st bed, about 700 yds from the hit site.   Up till then we had only found a few spots of blood to confirm Thor was on the bucks trail.  At times, I was really wondering since Thor took us close to 2 houses and across at least 200 yds of cut lawn and a main road with no blood.  After jumping up from a very bloody bed, the buck ended up  (luckily!) in a deep ravine 100 yds further up the trail.  The hunter was able to shoot  it a 2^nd time from about 40 yds as it tried climbing  up the far side of the steep ravine.   The 7 mm hit was really low in the front of the chest and hit the top of both front legs – see entrance and exit photos attached.  The buck was quartering to him a little.   Not really sure what vitals he hit (maybe low lungs?) but I know he missed the heart entirely, since after close examination, it’s now in my fridge.  I’m going to check out the rib cage after the guy finishes butchering it to see if the bullet did make it inside the chest cavity. 

      

Darren Doran and his tracking dachshund Theo recover a deer 55 hours after the shot

By Darren Doran

A local hunter that I know called me Monday morning of November 16 after he had shot a good buck. He thought he had hit forward, and after the shot he just snuck out of the woods. He was going back after lunch to look for sign. I told him I would hold a spot for him in case he needed Theo.

He called me back and said that he tracked to a bed about 50 yds from the hit site and then he found another bed very close. The blood was wet in the second bed, and he thought he might have bumped the deer. He backed out. We discussed the hit and our options and decided that the hunter would look again the next morning and give the deer more time.

In a lot of places in New Jersey the properties are very small. A pushed deer, especially a mature buck, can cross many properties, all of which we need permission to enter before we can track. I always tell a hunter to give the deer time as if he’s dead he’ll be right there. If he’s pushed too soon and knows he’s 

being tracked by a man, the recovery can get very difficult.

The hunter called at noon on Tuesday and said he had advanced the line to another bed but thought the deer might have crossed the railroad tracks to another property. He marked his last blood and gained permission to enter the property just in case. I got there at 3:30 pm, 32 hours after the hit.

We went to the hit site and I looked at the arrow. There was white hair at the hit. The hunter described a hit forward with what looked like a long gash on his side. The shot was 32 yds from a stand about 22 feet high.

I started Theo and he circled the hit, took the trail the buck came in on, then turned around, tracked through he hit site and took the buck’s line. We tracked to the first bed and on through to the second and continued on. Theo was tracking with the intensity that usually accompanies a recovery, and he was extremely focused. The hunter pointed to his last blood as Theo tracked about 20 yds to the left and straight past it. Theo continued on and I marked another drop of blood and soon we were at the railroad tracks and on across. We tracked to a sandy deadfall, and Theo located 3 more beds. The hunter had never tracked to this point and had no idea the deer had gone this way. Theo then worked the line back to the tracks and across once again and back into the woods we just left. Theo tracked to the hunter’s last blood mark and past. It became evident that the hunter during his searching had found this blood by accident and cut of about 200 yds of the track.

We continued on paralleling the railroad and crossed a water filled ditch into some briars and swampy brush. Theo marked another bed with dried blood and then started out of the briars back to the tracks and across once more. We already had permission to enter so we just kept tracking. In a short while I heard a deer get up in front of us. I hadn’t seen any blood since the last bed and this was a typical deer bedding area. I wanted to make sure we were tracking the right deer and was holding Theo back and telling him EASY. He was barking and I had him close. All of a sudden the hunter says “I have blood”. I asked him to bring it to me and sure enough it was blood. I moved forward with Theo and soon we were on the deer’s bed. Theo was hot now and the deer started to bleed again. I also noticed a strong smell of rotten gut. The hunter could also smell this. We tracked about 300 more yds and started to lose the light. We decided to come back next day and restart the track. I marked the GPS and flagged the spot.

We started Wednesday afternoon about 3 pm and picked up where we left off. Theo started right away and we had gone about 100 yds when we ran into a large flock of about 25 turkeys. Theo jumped up on a log and looked at the birds flapping and yelping in front of us. I told him in a stern voice to “get back on the line and find the blood”. Immediately he forgot about the birds and resumed tracking. We had gone about another 100 yds right through the turkey distraction and started to turn to the left. I was familiar with this property and knew the deer was going to turn to get around the corner of a deer fence that went around a large nursery. We came to the corner of the fence and there was a T shaped water filled ditch that followed the corner and went out into the woods. Right at this spot the deer stopped for a while and there was a hand sized amount of blood. The deer has never lain back down since we jumped him yesterday.

Theo worked this check for a good while. He checked the banks of the ditch on our side. He went across and checked the other side. He came back to the blood a few times. Eventually he took a line into the woods away from the fence and in about 20 yds we found the deer next to a log.

This deer was finally recovered about 55 hours after it got shot, and would have never been found without a dog team. The arrow actually hit low on the left side just above the sternum. The arrow somehow bruised the left lung but never cut it. It went between the sections of liver and out the gut. That counts for the strong rotten smell we had when we put him up the day before.

Theo is now 3 and a half and is maturing into a very honest and efficient tracking dog. I love handling this dog and watching him work. 

Two more deer recovered by Bob and Thor, and a lesson learned on intestinal hit

By Bob Yax

I learned a big lesson on these last two recoveries.  The 1^st  on Nov 2^nd  (my birthday and the 4^th year in a row that we’ve recovered one on that day!) was a suspected liver hit pass thru.  The hunter waited two hours and then jumped the deer out of its 1^st bed after about 200 yards of good blood.  He went a little further thru the woods until he came out to crop fields that extended about as far as the eye could see.  At that point, he turned around and called Deer Search.  We came in the next morning,  18 hrs after the hit.   

It had rained hard overnight,  so there was very little visible blood sign up to the 1st bed and none visible after the bed.  Thor covered the first 200 yards, thru the hardwood  to the first bed,  with no problem.    When we came out of the woods and I saw the huge crop fields ahead, I was concerned.  Besides the standing corn field to the right, the only heavy cover was about a half mile in front of us – big woods off to the left and a thick brushy gully a half mile ahead on the right. In between all of these were  large clover  fields (about 10 inches high) and large standing soybean fields (about two feet high).  

Thor continued strong out of the woods and into the clover field.  He jogged the full 600 yard length of the clover field, with only a short circle into the nearby soybean field.  At the end of the clover field was a paved road which he quickly crossed.  On the other side of the road was another standing soybean field with the thick brushy gully  off to our right.  As this was the only nearby thick stuff,  I was hopeful that Thor would take us in that direction where we would find our buck dead in its 2^nd bed.  After entering this 2^nd soybean field,  Thor proceeded about another 150 yards down the middle of it before finally  heading down towards the brushy gully. Here we go I thought! but instead of going into the thick brush, Thor took a farm road into and out of the gully.  On the other side he continued down the farm road another 100 yards as it passed between brush on one side and a standing corn field on the other.  He, and hopefully the deer,  seemed to be taking the easiest path possible,  but he still seemed very determined on the trail.  Once we got past the end of the cornfield, another huge standing soybean field lay ahead of us for another 400 yards!   A wood lot was at the far end of it.  

Thor again headed into the soybeans and at one point took an exactly straight path down the same row of soybeans for about 150 yards.  During this part I really had my doubts.  Since we were now about a mile from the last bed,  I’m sure the hunter behind me also had his doubts.  We continued down the soybean field towards the woods for about another 150 yards when Thor turned and headed uphill toward the standing corn lot.  While crossing the rows of soy beans I looked towards the woods and saw an unusual bump between the rows about 50 yards ahead.  I stopped and pointed it out to the hunter. “What’s that” I said,  a few seconds later we figured out it was his nice 9 pt.    Thor continued up to the edge of the corn lot and then back down to the buck.  From the torn up dirt and downed soybeans, it was obvious that’s exactly the way the buck had gone.  (See Gorham photo attached – you can see the woods that I think the buck was trying to get to at the far end).  Upon examination, we found that the 2 blade Rage had clearly passed thru the liver.   Thor was dead on this buck  the entire way, no matter how unusual the buck's path had seemed.  I thought, “I really should trust Thor more than I do”.

   

A complicated track that ended in a recovery of this liver-shot buck

 Well, this new found trust came to burn me the very next morning!  We took a call in Scottsville for what sounded like a pure intestine hit.  After hitting the buck and watching it slowly walk out of sight,  the traditional archery hunter had quietly backed out without following the buck at all.    We started on the trail,  Monday morning,  25 hrs after the hit.  After the hit,  the buck had walked down a mowed 4 wheeler trail for about 50 yards until the hunter lost sight of it.  We started at the hit site and found no arrow and no blood.  As Thor tracked down the 4 wheeler trail,  I searched for any sign of blood, but didn’t find any. 

At the curve in the trail where the hunter had lost sight of the deer, Thor veered left  down a trail into thick brush.  For the next half hour, as Thor eagerly tracked through thick brush and a standing corn field, I kept saying to myself “trust the dog”.  After the previous day, it was obvious that he knows what he’s doing, but after he started yipping (which he only does when he’s close behind a live moving deer) I decide to pull him off the trail and head back to the hit site.  On the way back, he put his nose high in the air and headed off into another area of thick brush; 20 minutes later when he started yipping, I again pulled him off and headed back to the hit site.  

Back at the hit site, we  again started down the initial 50 yards of the 4 wheeler trail.  This time when we got to the curve in the trail, I made sure he took his time checking all the directions the deer might have gone.  I was happy when he chose to go in a new direction into the thick brush.  After only about 30 yards in the brush,  he showed me a bed.  I thought I saw a little blood on a leaf, and was thrilled when I dabbed the leaf with a wet paper towel and came up with blood.  A few yards later we found another bed and after another quick  50 yards  we found the dead buck – about 125 yards from the hunters tree stand. 

How could it be that Thor was so wrong on this one ?   Then it hit me.  This was the 3^rd pure intestine hit that Thor has recovered in the past few years.  On the other two, the hunters also immediately backed out, there was no blood trail,  and Thor did exactly the same thing.  He initially went way off on the wrong  trails  before I brought him back to the deer’s last known location.  There,  after a short area search we found the deer within 200 yards of the hit site.

My revelation was – without any blood trail to get started on, Thor didn’t know which deer scent to follow.  Not sure why it took me so long to figure this out.  I discussed this with Gary Neal and he confirmed the same thing.  He said that his past three dogs have needed at least 40 or 50 yards of a known blood trail before they get hooked on the correct /wounded deer.

In the future,  with pure intestine hits and no blood,  I’ll assume that Thor won’t lock onto the deer and we will  instead focus on doing an air scenting area search around the deer’s last known location.

 

This buck left no blood and it proved to be a challenge for Thor

A liver-shot buck recovered by Bob and Thor

Another Lesson Learned

By Bob Yax, Deer Search of Finger Lakes

owner of Thor (Thor von Moosbach-Zuzelek, born April 6, 2012)

     Thor and I took a call on Sunday 10/13/13.  The hunter, Bob, called in around 11 AM for a Buck he had hit at 8:45 that morning.  He said the deer was totally broadside and the arrow hit about 5 or 6 inches behind the left front leg and about 5 inches up from the bottom of the deer.   The shot was at a slightly downward angle so the exit hole would be slightly lower.  Bob had found his arrow at the hit site and said that it had dark blood on it with no sign of lung blood or stomach contents.   His description of the hit location had me hoping that he may have caught the bottom of the liver while exiting the deer.  It would be close.  His description of the deer’s reaction to the hit also had me believing it was a liver hit.  When hit, the Buck jumped a bit but then slowly walked away.  After only 50 yards or so, the deer bedded down.  Bob got out of his stand and headed home to wait.   After about 2 hours he went back, only to see the Buck slowly walking about 70yds ahead of where he had originally bedded.  Bob said the Buck looked like he was looking for another place to bed.  It was at this time that he called into Deer Search.  After discussing the hit with Bob, I told him that it sounded like a Liver hit and we had to give the Buck 6 hours before tracking.  I believe that 95% of Liver hit deer will be dead within 6 hours.
     
At 3:00 that afternoon, my son Nate and I met up with Bob.  When he showed me the arrow I immediately saw dark dried blood on it along with the sand like particles that indicate stomach contents.  This had me worried.  If it was only a stomach hit, then 6 hours would not be nearly long enough to wait.   After a 10 minute walk back to the hit site, we got on the start of the blood trail.  The blood was dark, definitely not lung blood.   Thor got on the trail quickly in the open hardwoods and after a little of his usual initial excitement wandering took us past the 1st bed.  In the bed, I was able to show Bob a small pile of stomach contents that confirmed at least a stomach hit.  Thor continued on the trail showing us blood sign periodically along the way.  After a few hundred yards, we passed through a jumble of downed trees.  When we came out of it, Thor seemed to be at a new level of excitement.  I think the deer may have been bedded there and we were now on a very fresh trail.  From this point on, the blood sign we were seeing looked fresh.  For the next half hour or so we followed Thor on a path that skirted around a relatively dry swamp in the middle of the woods.  Along the way we were constantly seeing small signs of fresh blood – the Buck was definitely on the move ahead of us.  At about 4:00 PM, over 7 hours after the hit, the blood trail crossed a clearing and headed into the open hardwoods again.

At this point we stopped to re-evaluate our strategy.  The Buck was definitely on the move ahead of us.  Thor was hot on the trail and would have no problem following this deer for as long as it took.  We had yet to get close enough to catch a glimpse of the Buck.  We knew the deer was at least gut hit and it seemed that he still had too much energy to be Liver hit. With a stomach only hit, it was possible for the deer to live another 15 hours or more.  We could push him into the next county by then.   After talking with another experienced Deer Search Tracker, we all decided it was best to back out now and allow the deer to bed again, hopefully for the last time.  We would come back first thing in the morning to pick up the trail.  The entire time that we were stopped, deciding our next move, Thor was straining at the end of the lead barking wildly, wanting to continue on the trail in the hardwoods.  We marked our location and backed quietly out of the woods.  On our drive back home it started to rain and then rained harder overnight.  Even with the rain, I had a lot of confidence that Thor would continue hot on the trail in the morning, although visible blood sign would probably be gone, making it more anxious for us human trackers.

Thor and I met up with Bob at 7:45 on Monday morning.  It was very damp and calm and the rain had stopped.  It seemed like a perfect morning to find a Buck.  On the walk back to where we had left off, Thor stopped and stuck his nose high into the air, looking into the hardwoods.  Bob said that Thor might be smelling a dead Coyote that was off in that direction.  After a few seconds, Thor was back to walking down the path towards our deer trail.  A short time later, Bob and I both picked up the smell of the rotting Coyote.  Thor didn’t even pick his head up into the smelly breeze.  Once we got within sight of our marker from the previous night, Thor's excitement grew.    When got within 20 yards of the trail marker, Thor was pulling hard on the lead.   At the marker, he was off in a flash into the hardwoods.  After the first 20 yards, it was obvious that the blood we were seeing before the rain was no longer visible, but Thor seemed to be hot on the trail anyway.  Just about as fast as the tracking started, it ended when I looked up and saw the white belly of a deer in the open hardwoods 50 yds ahead.  It was our Buck, only 75yds from where we had stop tracking on Sunday.  Whether he had crashed there before we stopped, or laid down after we backed out,  we’ll never know. 

The entrance wound on the Buck was about 5 to 6 inches back from the front leg and just a few inches higher than the hunter thought, about 7 inches up from the bottom (you can see the big entrance wound in the photo). The exit wound was about 2 inches lower.   During the autopsy, it was obvious that the Rage broad head had indeed passed through the liver about 2 inches up from the bottom.  I’ve always thought that for a big buck, 6 hours may not be enough time to wait on a Liver hit.  This Buck proved it, since we know he was on his feet 7 hours after the hit.  Another lesson learned.

A perfect afternoon of deer tracking and photography

By John Jeanneney

On October 8  I had a call from a young college student at SUNY Cobleskill. He had bow shot a mature doe that morning and had tracked it about 300 yards to a lawn behind the house of the property owner. He was "pretty sure" that the deer had turned back up into the woods, but he couldn't find any more blood.

It was a beautiful fall afternoon when Jolanta, Tommy and I met the hunter and drove to his hunting  area which was about 25 miles from where we live in Berne. Jolanta had her camera and was ready to shoot anything, dog, deer or landscape that might present  a photo op.

I like to start at the hit site, but since we had good blood much closer, Tommy and I started up in the woods about 50 yards  from the point of loss at the  lawn where the doe was supposed to have turned back. Tommy locked in on the scent  line, and when we came to the lawn he did not hesitate. 

Out across the lawn he went, across a road, and then we had to stop to get permission to continue. A 100 yards  of lawn stretched out ahead. No visible blood and the scent line was ten hours old on closely mowed grass. How could Tommy track with such ease in  such a situation? Was he making it up?

We were reassured when we got down into the brushy woods and  saw blood. No problem. Tommy went another 150 yards to the dead doe. Meanwhile, Jolanta's camera was constantly at work. You  see the results here.

 

A good ending!

When the recovered was being dressed Tommy had to be tied to a tree on a light chain. In the past he chewed through many plastic leashed in similar situations

We gutted the doe and the hunter dragged it up the hill and across the expanse of lawns. Jolanta took more photos in the beautiful, late afternoon light.

When Jolanta posted the landscape photos on a Facebook group for Hilltowners that evening, a comment soon came in,  "Hey, that photo was taken in front of my house."

The next day another message came in from the same man. "Did you find the deer? Was just wondering because one of my Labs brought me home a wonderful gift this morning: the mammary glands that had been cut out of a doe. Hahaha... I had to laugh, especially after seeing your photo and knowing the story behind it"

What a small world!

Tracking adventures of Bob and Thor on the opening weekend

By Bob Yax, Deer Search of Finger Lakes

owner of Thor (Thor von Moosbach-Zuzelek, born April 6, 2012)

We had a good opening weekend even though the temps were in the 70s and 80s and it rained a lot.  We went on 3 calls with 2 pretty easy recoveries and a weird non-recovery.   Thor showed me that he was picking up pretty much where we left off last year.

       

The 1st call was for a hit that took place at sunset, in the pouring rain, on Friday evening.  The hunter Josh,  said he didn’t know where he hit the buck, but he did have a broadside pass through shot from about 40 yds.  He said that it looked like dark blood and stomach matter on the arrow.  After the hit, he only followed the slight blood trail a short way in the rain, before turning back.  After talking to him, we decided to pick up the trail first thing Saturday morning.  When I inspected the arrow on Saturday morning, I did find dark blood and the telltale gritty / sand-like particles that indicated stomach contents.  I told Josh that if it was a stomach only hit, the deer could still be alive, but if it also hit liver, the deer would be dead by now (13 hrs after the hit), likely within a few hundred yards.

Once at the hit site, Thor quickly picked up the scent in the still wet  hardwoods.  In the first 50 yds of the trail I was happy to come across a few spots where the blood had not been washed away.  Thor continued on a pretty straight line another 50 yds or so until he began circling and backtracking a bit.  Since the hunter had not followed the trail this far, I figured that the buck must have stopped here and wandered around a bit looking for a place to bed.   Over the next  5 minutes, Thor constantly went back and forth over the same 30 yd circle.  I learned last year that at this point I had to let him figure this out on his own.  The only help I could provided was to make sure my son Nate had marked the last blood sign up the trail a bit in case we had to go back to it.  Luckily, Thor finally headed off in a clear direction along an overgrown logging road.  After a short distance, I then saw another blood drop – Great ! we’re back on it.   After a few more blood drops in the next  75 yds down the logging road, Thor took a left off the road and there in the patch of berry bushes was the dead 7pt.  We confirmed later that the arrow had just caught the bottom of the liver as well as the stomach.   All toll, we probably only traveled about 250 yds during the 10 – 15 minute search.  

         

                                                     Hunter  with  Nate Yax & Thor in Howard NY

         

Our 2nd track was a very similar situation.  The Hunter, Cory had hit a buck on Saturday evening just before dark.  He too had a good broadside shot from about 30 yds but didn’t know where he hit it.  The arrow had blood from tip to tip but he didn’t  think there was any stomach matter on the arrow.  When he inspected the hit site,  he found some blood, but it soon began disappearing when a hard rain started.  He tracked some blood for about 100 yds, but then could find no more.  Later that night he and his father searched an area ahead of the last blood sign with no luck.   I arranged to meet him first thing Sunday morning.  Associate tracker Ark Pisarevsky was along to help.

It was very damp and foggy when we met up with Cory on Sunday morning.  This time the arrow contained a lot of bright pink/red blood – lung blood.  There was no sign of stomach contents or dark muscle or liver blood.  From the description of the hit, this could be a good double lung hit.  Once we got to the hit site, I could see that Cory had marked his initial blood trail with orange tape for about 100 yds. The area was a mix of trees with a lot of thick rose bushes at ground level.  

Thor got on the trail quickly and followed right along the markers.  There was no blood sign however. We soon got to the end of the markers and to the point where Cory and his dad had lost the trail the previous night.  At this point I knew we would have trouble.  After losing the trail the previous night, Cory and his dad had done a grid search of the area ahead, surely with blood on their boots.  At this point Thor began searching in a random pattern all around the area.  At one point we headed off into an uncontaminated area of thick rose bushes.  After about 50 yds, Thor got stuck in thorns with nowhere to go.  I had to pick him up and carry him several times just to free him.

I finally headed him back to the last blood marker and after a few minutes of seemingly random searching the “mucked up – boot print” area again,  he headed off in a straight line like he was on something.  Within a few minutes,  I looked up and saw the dead 9 pt about 40 yds ahead of  him.  The shot ended up being a good, slightly high,  double lung shot.  The buck had gone about 200 yds total.  Again it only took about 15 minutes and I never did see a spec of blood.  I was really happy to see that  Thor again had worked through a problem area and got on the right trail to the deer.

Hunter with Bob Yax and Thor in Hemlock NY

Finally we took our 3rd call late Sunday afternoon.  Associate Deer Search tracker Joe Dallas was with me.  The temperature was 82 degrees!!!  This hunter had hit the deer at 7 am Sunday.   The button buck was only 5 yds from his 16 ft high tree stand.  The deer was facing directly at him with his head down and feeding when he shot (bad shot to take!).  He described the hit, which he plainly saw, as just to the left of the deer’s  spine  (the deer’s right side) and  towards the back of the lung area. He said it was a complete pass thru and there seemed to be stomach matter as well as a little blood and white hair on the fletching.  

The arrow was stuck in the ground when he found it.  He described just a slight blood trail because again, right after he hit the deer it had rained hard.  He thought that the arrow had also been somewhat cleaned off from the hard rain.  After talking to him I agreed to help him at about 5:00.  If it was a one lung & gut hit, this might be enough time.  If it was a liver and gut hit the deer would be dead.  When I met up with him I did a quick inspection of the arrow.  The broad head and first 4 inches of the arrow was covered in dirt.  The camo arrow shaft was pretty clean with just a few area of pink/red.   The fletching were slightly greasy had a slight odor and a few grainy particles (gut matter?) on them.  Both the fletching and nock had white hair on them.

To make a 45 minute, hot /sweaty story,  shorter,   there was no blood at the hit site, no blood on the trail.  No beds found.  Thor never seemed to get hot onto any trail, until near the end when I think he jumped a live/not wounded deer – he began yelping / barking  and pulling hard, a classic sign for him.  About the time I was ready to give up,  we were back near the hunters truck.  I told Joe, “I want to see that arrow again”.  It was in the bed of the hunters truck.  I pulled a paper towel  from my pocket, spit on it and proceeded to wipe down the entire arrow and fletching.  There was not a trace of pink on the paper towel!!   The arrow did still have a little pink / red  PAINT!  on it however.    About this time the hunter came back to the truck.  He said “what now ?”  –  I said “I’ve got one question for you”-  “Did you wash your arrow” – he said no!   I said “then you never hit the deer” and showed him the clean paper towel.  He said, “maybe I need glasses”!

I learned again that often what a hunter sees and what really happened are not the same.

PS – I think this hunter shot off to the side of the deer and stuck the arrow deep into the ground.  The deer then jumped and turned 180 degrees to run off.  I think he landed belly first on the nock end of the arrow leaving some grease and white hair on it.

Remi and Justin, a blood tracking team from Utah, recover a mule buck

We are happy to report that Remi (Remy von Moosbach-Zuzelek) from Utah recovered his first mule buck of the season. Justin Richins sent us a really nice e-mail with a quote from his client (slightly edited): "Anyway, Justin, thank you so much for interrupting your day to help me. I am leaving donation for all you do with Remy. Please buy him a big standing prime rib bone-in roast, cook it rare and hand it to him for me! Or eat if for dinner with your family and just throw Remy a bone. As I said to you earlier in the sagebrush, this outfit you guys are running, from the people, to the lodge, to the guides to this amazing ranch….is absolutely the best I have ever seen, and I have seen some great ones. Keep up the great work until I get back."

"It took Remi about 1 min to lock on, then its was an easy short track for the liver/stomach shot mule deer. We ran the trail during the 85 degree heat of the day around 4 pm and the deer was shot early in the morning. We had a little heavy cross wind and when Remi picked his head up high in the air I knew the dead buck was close."

Justin's website: www.thehuntingcompany.com

A 6.5-month-old dachshund Theo gets distracted by hot lines and Karl finds the wounded deer

No matter how talented, puppies have their limitations when it comes to tracking "real deer" in the real environment. They are just puppies; they have shorter attention span than adult dogs and they are prone to distractions. Darren's experience with Theo, who is just 6.5 months old has confirmed it.
 
He has reported that his dachshund Karl found another buck on Sunday. "It was a four hour old line without any blood after 40 yds. It was supposed to be a liver shot and the blood sign could have indicated that. I thought this one would be a good one for Theo. I started Theo but he couldn't stay with the right line. There were a lot of deer in here and Theo went hot. After two restarts I put him up and got Karl. After Karl settled down he tracked to the deer. The deer was still alive and the shot actually hit the deer broadside in front of the hips."

A twelve-year-old hunter Madison gets her liver-shot deer thanks to Dan and Keena

Two years ago Tommy and I found a deer for a young local hunter Dan Hardin. Last year Dan got his tracking license, and started to track with our Keena. Ultimately Keena will go to live with Dan (she is totally in love with him), but in the meantime he comes here to pick her up when there is a deer call that he can take.

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 Madison’s last blood and practice arrow. Keena tried several directions but didn’t seem sure so we went back to last blood where Madison spotted blood on the opposite side of a tree. It showed that the deer had looped around the tree and backtracked. We continued crawling under thorn bushes finding steady dime to pea sized drops when the blood really picked up. Keena in her excitement had cut her ear on a thorn that opened a blood vessel, which bled quite a bit.
 

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.

 

Madison had gone ahead on the blood trail to confirm that we were still on the right path and advanced the trail an additional 40 feet on her own. Jim returned with the medical supplies and we wrapped Keena’s ear which was a task since she was pulling hard to run down the line again. It was only another 10-20 yards when I saw the doe down by a fallen tree maybe a little over 100 yards from where Madison and Jim had lost the blood trail.

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.

This liver-hit mule deer was recovered by Remi, a wirehaired dachshund from Utah

While Joeri is recovering, his son Remi (Remy von Moosbach-Zuzelek) is already busy tracking for Justin Richins' clients. Justin has an outfitting business in Utah, Wyoming and Montana. The picture shows the mule deer recovered by Remi a couple of days ago. The deer was shot at 5 PM and tracked next morning around 8 AM. It was a liver-stomach shot that left very little blood. The trail was 200 yard long.As some probably recall Remi was injured last year in an accident, but according to Justin, he is doing really well and has recovered completely from a very complicated surgery.

Way to go go Remi!

 

One Tough Buck by Bob Yax

Elli is recovering well, but it will be a while before she heals completely. Due to her surgery and my bad cold, I am running behind. If you sent us an e-mail recently, we will respond as soon as we can. This is the busiest time of the year for us, and your patience is appreciated.

As you know Bob Yax's Gusto was killed recently when he got loose and was run over by a truck. Bob shared with me a couple of stories that he wrote up this year on more interesting recoveries. Thank you Bob!

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One Tough Buck

by Bob Yax

Hunter (Eric) called into the Deer Search hot line late morning on Sat 10/29.  He had hit a big Buck Friday evening at 6:00 from a tree stand.  He was using RAGE broad heads and had a complete pass thru.  He said the arrow had solid dark blood on it, but no food particles.   He described the hit as a broad side hit, about halfway between the front and back legs and about halfway up, top to bottom.  It sounded like a possible liver hit.  After hitting the deer, Eric and his hunting partner Todd, backed out immediately and planned to come back on Saturday morning to track – (exactly the right thing to do for a liver / gut hit).  On Saturday morning,  Eric and Todd followed a decent  150 – 200 yard blood trail until the blood stopped.   After that they did a visual search for awhile in the direction of travel.  They then backed out again and called Deer Search.     

After Gusto and I arrived at 1:00 Saturday, we inspected the arrow and found that it was covered with a thick layer of dark blood.   It also contained some small food particles and some white hair (it looked like a liver & stomach hit with the exit wound  low on the deer).  On an anatomy chart, Eric indicated a hit more than mid way up the deer from top to bottom and slightly further back than a liver would be located – I worried that the hit may have been to the intestines & stomach only – that may have explained why they hadn’t  found the deer in its 1^st bed after the overnight  13hr wait.   We put Gusto on the blood trail at the hit site and he was off.    He breezed through the first 200 yards where there was an easy to follow blood trail.  Once the blood ended, he continued on through the open hardwoods heading downhill at quick pace – he definitely was on the trail.  After a hundred yards or so in the open hardwoods we hit a row of Posted signs.

At that point we hit the brakes and Eric made some calls to find out who owned the land and if we could get permission to continue tracking.  Gusto wasn’t at all pleased with this sudden stop.  He tugged at the leash and barked continuously.  I’m sure he thought “ hey ! - what’s the deal – he’s getting away”.   Well, after waiting about 5 minutes we got the permission we were hoping for.  I let up on the leash and Gusto was off again heading down hill through the open woods.  We ended up going about 100 yards into the posted land and soon after found ourselves coming back out of the posted area.  By now we were at the bottom of the wooded hillside walking just inside the woods on a straight / level path towards a large field.   All along so far, Gusto seemed to be hot on the trail, very confident of where he was going.  Once we broke out of the woods, we had a large / thick goldenrod field in front of us.    Probably 300 yards long and 150 yards continuing down the hill.  Gusto jumped into the field and started downhill.  The goldenrod was about 4 ft high and very thick.  Gus had a hard time getting through it at ground level especially with the 25 ft leash trailing behind him.  He continued to make his way downhill through the goldenrod by burrowing under it or jumping over it.  He often put his nose high in the air, trying to air scent the trail / deer.  This is always a great sign that something “interesting” is ahead.   Several times during the 15 minute trip though the field I thought “he just wants to get to the woods on the other side”.  We finally did make it through the field and he headed straight into the brushy wooded area that continued downhill ahead of us.

After 5 yards into the new area, now on my hands and knees, I said to myself “now we’ve got the rosebushes – we always end up in rosebushes!”   This hillside was thick with blown down trees interspersed with rosebushes and brush.  Gus was still hot on the trail and I was amazed at how long he had been so hot on this trail – probably a half mile so far.    Now that we were about 10 yards into the thick stuff, Gus turned and started heading parallel to the bottom edge of the goldenrod field.  I was just trying to keep up with him – he can go under and through the blow downs and bushes while I have to go around and over them.   Not long after I thought “this would be a great place for a deer to bed down”  the sound of a breaking branch caught my attention.  I looked up ahead to see a tall rack with the backside of a deer under it taking 2 jumps before disappearing in the brush.    The Buck got up only 30 yards ahead of us and was gone just about the time I started bringing up my side by side 20 ga.  Something in the way he ran said he was hurting.  Meanwhile Gusto was barking and running after him.  Luckily I had a good grip on the leash.  Eric, who was up above me, along the edge of the field heard the commotion but didn’t see the deer.   After  going about 25yds past where the Buck had jumped up,  I stopped Gusto, who was barking wildly, and said to Eric, “now we’ve got  a decision to make –  keep going after him, or to back out till later”. 

It had been 20 hours since the hit and the deer was still able to get up and run, but he still let us get within 30 yards of him.   At this point I was thinking it had to be a gut or intestine hit and the deer could possibly survive another 12 hours, especially if it was intestine only.  I told Eric our best chance to recover this deer was to back out till Sunday morning and to avoid pushing him any further away.  He totally agreed, but wasn’t looking forward to another sleepless night.  At that point we marked the trail where we had stopped with some orange tape and I pulled the still barking Gusto off the trail.  We also put some tape along the edge of the woods before entering the big  goldenrod field.   Luckily we found a 4 wheeler trail to easily get back up through the thick field.  Immediately after we started heading back up the long hill to the truck, Gusto was out of his “tracking mode” and was just casually walking back with us.  It amazed me how he could suddenly turn off the excitement of the past hour and I was wondering what was going on in that head of his – did he somehow know that we weren’t finished with this deer yet ?   Once back at the truck  (2:30 PM) we arranged to meet again on Sunday morning at 9:00 – 39 hours after the hit.  He should definitely be dead by then, but how far away would he be ? And how well would Gusto pick up the trail again ?

On Sunday morning it was 29 F and clear.  I met Eric in Cohocton, and Gus and I drove in his truck with him back to the Avoca farm and then the mile through farm fields back to his stand location.  There, we met up with his hunting partner  Todd and his 15yr old son Zack.  It was a beautiful, crisp, calm and sunny morning as we headed back down the hill through the open hardwoods and then onto the 4 wheeler trail through the goldenrod field.  Along the way, I pointed  out to Eric and Todd how casual Gus was as he headed down to where we ended on Saturday.    He wasn’t yet in “tracking mode”.  The previous day Eric had asked me “how do you know when he’s really on the trail and when he’s not” .  Gusto was about to demonstrate the difference.  

When we got near the point we marked the previous day,  I put Gusto on the trail about 20 yards back from where we ended on Saturday.  I prayed that he would regain his previous enthusiasm for this deer.  I wasn’t disappointed.  He immediately got hot on the trail again and blew by our last piece of flagging tape.  After about 25 more yards in the thick brush he came out into the open  goldenrod field again for  a short time and then headed back down the hillside into the thick stuff.  It was hard keeping up, and at one point after letting go of the leash, I found myself running to catch up.   Gusto was getting close and he wasn’t waiting for me.   Then something caught my foot and the next thing I know,  I’m sliding face first on the ground reaching for the end of the leash.   To my surprise,  I caught the end of the leash and didn’t hurt myself.  Gusto was not happy with the brakes being put on, and once I picked myself up,  we were back in pursuit. 

At this point Gus was pulling, jumping and air scenting with his nose high in the air.  We were now in a patch of 4ft high goldenrod within the brushy woods. Just ahead I saw a small flattened clearing in the goldenrod.  When we got closer, I peeked into it and saw a half a rack poking up from the ground.  I stopped Gusto about 10 ft from the clearing and yelled up to Eric, Todd and Zack  who were 30 yards uphill - “So how big did you say this buck was  ? “  - Eric said “about 140” – I said “well you better get down here and score it “.     After a short confused pause, Eric came running down the hill in a flash.  The high fives and celebration ensued.   All toll, we had traveled only about  150 yds from where we had jumped the buck the previous day.  He must have been hurting pretty badly to only travel this short distance after being jumped.   The Buck sported a very high 8pt rack that we estimated at  130 – 135 inches.  The arrow entered about halfway back on the deer and about 8 inches up from the bottom.  It looked like it could have been a liver hit, but I didn’t think that was possible since he was still alive and running 20+ hours after the hit.  When Eric gutted it, however,  I was shocked to see the clean pattern of a Rage broad head right through an inch thick section of the liver  - Amazing!!! -  You learn something new on every track.

This was one tough Buck ! -  that led us on a memorable adventure.            


Bob Yax, Eric Zastawrny & Gusto  - Sunday 10/30/2011