Blood Tracking Log – 2008 - 2013
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2013

An Attempt While Still Injured

Rob shoulder shot a buck a few weeks after we recovered Bella. She was still taking high doses of Amoxicillin which was greatly hindering her scenting ability and her feet were not 100%, but we decided to see if she still had an interest in tracking anyhow.

By the time we took Bella out of the track it was 24 hours old. We started her at the last blood the boys at found. Bella started super well/strongly and did extend the track another 400 ish yards from the already 1 mile the boys had followed, but then at the top of a hill as the light started to fade,it was as if aliens had transported the buck off earth and Bella just lost him in the hollow surrounding the hill top. She did real well for the amount of track she did do. 
Additionally her feet opened back up and her blood was making it hard to determine buck blood so she is done for the season totally.
The boys went back out again the next am and did pick up some tiny blood about 100 yards straight down from where Bella lost the track and they foot step tracked as best they could and found where the buck had actually engaged/fought another buck and bled some more and then after that totally stopped bleeding and kept on going.
This track puts Bella at 2 recoveries out of 5 tracks for 2013 and a career total of 3 recoveries out of 14 tracks aprox 22%

A Long Way Home

Called by a hunter to locate a deer suspected of having an abdominal shot. The day before another tracking team had made the attempt but lost the track.

By the time we started tracking, the trail was 36 hours old and the hunter and friend had already grid searched, plus the house Lab had been out there as well as the aformentioned tracking team. We started at last visible blood to attempt to avoid as much of the contamination as possible. 

Bella circled the blood once and made a fast exit in the direction the hunter had seen the deer go. Bella's tail was high and curled and nose down as if it was a hot track even though it was not. She never hesitated and headed down a hill with numerous scrapes and rubs along it. We went down perhaps 100 yards or so and then started gradually turning West along a flat ridge after a couple hundred yards the deer dropped into a swamp with a lot of blow downs and old logging slash. We came to a bloodless bed, Bella hesitated at the bed, circled and headed North West through some of the nastiest, meanest Country we have ever tracked in. Multiflora rose abounded along with blackberries a thorny bush with red berries, blow downs and old logging tops and slash. We started to go up along a small knob but the buck turned North east and headed back down the hill. Buck then crossed a stone wall onto a neighboring property. He then went aprox 500 yards through a mixed forest and more of that horrific thorny garbage.

Bella was telling me she was hot on the buck's trail as we continued weaving through the trees and thorns when I decided I had to stop so the rest of the team and landowners could catch up because Bella tracks fast and also because I was inclined at this point to call the track for the night and return the next day as Bella was starting to bleed from the thorns and was tiring, we had at this point covered about a mile to 1 1/2 miles. It was at that moment that I felt the line go limp as I was looking at the ground for blood while preparing to reel the line in. Bella did not like this idea and REALLY wanted to keep going badly because she knew the deer was close, although at the time we did not know this. When I looked up Bella was standing in her harness with just her front legs having backed out of it in her drive to keep going. I told her to hold and she did until I took a step towards her without any line tension, which is her signal to keep going and she took that as a cue to get back to the track. So she turned around, nose down, tail up and vanished into the darkness tracking the deer again.I yelled to her and she stopped to look but then kept going. As soon as she left the flashlight range I could not tell where she was going but could faintly hear her crashing through the woods.

This is where everything goes to hell. We searched for Bella in the bitter cold for 4.5 hours while we kept hearing a large coyote family in the same woods. At this point we gave up the search because we did not know the woods and would have to return in the morning to search more. We were only able to continue as long as we had because Rob's co-worker Brian had a GPS that enabled us to navigate some. A harder decision we have never made. Bella is a short coated dog and normally sleeps in the house and it was frigid. Fear and worry kept us awake most of the night.

I returned in the am and searched another 5 hours during this time I was able to put together a small picture of what had happened the night before. Bella had tracked the buck to a small pond. The tracks in the mud said the deer had drank and then turned and headed back West on 3 legs. Bella's tracks were in the mud and came back up from the pond and also headed West after the deer. At this point I lost their tracks mixed in with all the many coyote and other deer tracks. While I was searching the caretaker from the neighboring estate notified Brian that he had found a dead buck in a log landing directly behind the property we had started the track on. I came out to go home to get Diane to search more and the landowner and hunter said we had to go see the caretaker about this deer.

We drove over and met the caretaker and he took us out to where the animal was. The buck lay just about 1/2 mile from where we had lost Bella. When we got to the deer it was an obvious abdominal shot. It was apparent that there had been a lot of activity around the dead deer and upon inspection there was a beaten path around the animal and there was an obvious dog sized bed in the clover next to the buck's body tight up against it. The obvious dog sign had to be Bella and she had waited a long time- possibly all night- for us to arrive but when we never did, she left trying to find us but we had somehow missed each other. Loaded the deer up so that the hunter could check it in and I gave the day up and came home, still without bella.

Diane, my co-workers and the landowners had been meanwhile networking like crazy to attempt to get the word out about Bella. Hundreds of people all over the Country forwarded her infomation across the internet and many many people started putting out flyers and posters. We drove around each night for hours trying to get a glimpse of her because getting out into the woods at this location and actually crossing her path was incredibly low in success odds. We ourselves hung at least 75-100 posters.

At 6:30 am Sunday, 58 hours after we last saw Bella we got a call from the microchip company that Bella had been found! We quickly drove to the man's home for a happy reunion with a very tired, cut up, tick covered and severely lame Bella. brought her home and washed her to remove as many of the ticks as possible and got probably close to 200 ticks off of her. After the bath she went to the vet for some care and medications and will have to go back for more. This is likely the season ender for her, but Bella made the most of the 4 tracks she was out on. 2 recoveries and 2 amazing tracks (the River buck non recovery and this track) really showed us what her talent level has become!

Very glad to have our girl back!

River Buck

Got a call late morning from a man who had shot a deer a few hours earlier. Since Rob was working til early evening I gave the man the option of another tracker's number, to look for it on his own OR to back out NOW and we'd come over when Rob got home. With some time to consider his options the man called me back and set up a meet for evening.

Met the guys in the evening at a riverside log landing a few miles from home and hiked a bit to the last blood site. With some sorting out of the human contamination, Bella acquired the track and promptly found where the buck has stood and bled, not a lot of blood but fairly dark. She went approx 30 yards and turned due east. After finding a few more very small and sparse blood spots, she crossed over the trail we had walked in on. Circled twice, required the trail outside of the contaminated entry point and went into a thicket of spruce. Bella went in about 20 yards and turned South on an old farm road. After about 100 yards to a small pond she circled the back side into thick cover and dropped into a ditch and traveled due east again for around 70 yards. The track went over a fence, that Bella jumped, it went around another 30 yards down to the old railroad bed. Once on the railroad bed she turned North for about 10-15 yards up the railroad bed and turned east again down a deer trail over the embankment to the Sugar River's edge.

After wind scenting and circling she picked up blood and found where the deer had entered a shallow section of the river. Rob had to convince Bella to NOT swim the river we backtracked to the vehicles and drove to the opposite side of the river and parked in the hunter's friend's yard and went down to the river to attempt to find the deer's exit point. She immediately windscented UPstream and indicated we needed to go North on the river and we slogged a 100 yard stretch trying to figure the puzzle out and discovered the deer had crossed the river, went upstream and then cut across to a small island. Bella and Rob waded a shallow stretch about 20 yards wide where Bella tracked up the rocky shore of the island and found where the deer had bled on rocks and crossed to the other bank of the island bleeding on the tall grass.

We checked the side of the river we were on to see if the buck had gone up the bank to the woods but Bella INSISTED the deer had crossed the deeper part of the river to a larger island. After MUCH discussion with hunters Rob and Bella found a knee deep COLD wadable section and went to the larger island for a looksee! (it was 20F out) Upon reaching the shore Bella IMMEDIATELY picked up the track and headed North up the length of the island. After about 100 yards they came upon a bed with no blood but much interest. Bella frantically circled the bed, picked up the trail back to the river's edge where they did find a small spot of blood. Bella bee lined to the eastern shore though waist deep ice cold water she had to swim in with Rob splashing through behind her.

At the shore line Bella tracking tail came up and said the trail was now HOT. The rocks on the shore had wet deer tracks on them! Bella zoomed up through the river grass, crossed a 4 wheeler trail and straight into the woods on a flat shelf in a spruce forest and turned due North and was pulling hard with tracking tail still up and no stopping even though the water was freezing her collar, harness, line and Rob's clothes. The trail gradually went up a bank and Bella tried to put on the speed she does when the track is smoking hot. After 200 yards Rob had to stop after getting seriously tangled in brush and when re started Bella zoomed off on the same due North track. After around another 200 yards the buck J hooked and circled as if attempting to find a bed and by now was slightly dragging a leg. We went maybe another 100-150 yards and the track turned up a steep hill where the buck again was dragging a leg a bit.

After reaching the top of the flat plateau and finding no deer or blood and in unfamiliar terrain having lost both myself and the hunters, Rob decided to call the track. Once he got Bella out of work mode he noticed everything was totally frozen and he worked back down to the 4 wheeler trail and walked for about 10 min before he picked us back up again. We were trying to catch up without success!!

No deer but a fabulous track by Super Bella, approx total track length was 800-1000 yards long!

First Muzzleloader call 2013

Hands down THE most difficult track we have ever done both terrain and scenting conditions wise. Bella has only 10 career tracks over 3 years so she is still technically a "green" dog a VERY good and a very talented dog but a "green" dog nonetheless.

This was a VERY large bodied deer, a 200+lbers. The hunter has shot multiple 200lb deer including a GIANT Canadian non typical that is Boone and Crocket ranked so we trust 100% his words that this deer was in fact very large bodied. A 35 yard shot just behind the shoulder but a "bit high". Man and son could see the Muzzleloader ball inpact waves travel through the buck which mule kicked then tripped and landed on face. Given a good 1/2 hr-45 min before tracking there was almost no blood, no beds, no drag marks just nothing- just scattered drops. Hunter, son and friend circle and grid searched for 4 hrs before calling us and by the time we got there it was approx 10 hrs post shot.

Right off it was a 1 hour walk in. Almost straight up, through mud and a large section of slash as well.Probably 15 min or so of this walk was the trying to find the last blood. It was marked on GPS but still in the dark it was a challenge. We RARELY ever start at last blood. FAR prefer to start at the shot site because it gives the dog a better picture (and us) but the shot site was not on GPS and in the dark all but impossible to find some 80 yards from last blood.

The terrain itself where the track was, was steep up and down with ledges, large depressions and scattered squashy moss bogs plus slash and blow downs. Topped off by the wind swirling in from TWO separate directions! Just a nightmare for scent pooling, channeling and drifting especially after so much time had passed and then all the human back and forth.

Bella tracked downhill into the bog and up the other side and lost it. Restarted her as we were thinking she was following scent drift and bloody human tracks. 4 times she went back into the bog so we believed her and searched as much of it as we could with no buck and no clear "I'm tracking" indication from Bella except here and there for just a few feet at a time.Back to last blood again and then did a search all around the area and out the way we had come in where Bella had made an indication on the walk in. She did indicate again but a search found nothing and she did not go into tracking mode. 

Sadly it was so late now we had to give up. But left Bella on the line the trip back down (which was far shorter) just in case. Got back to the truck at 11:30pm and home by Midnight. Hunter has the week off and will be going back up to search where we suggested and more

A very frustrating track for all of us involved. 3 hours of hard searching and no indication or feeling of if the deer is alive or dead.

First call of 2013

Bella's first track of the year was close to home, just 6 miles away.
Rob's older friend after many years of having hard hunting seasons because of medical issues, finally put the sites on a good buck. He shot the buck with his crossbow in a quartering to angle. Made a clean passthrough shot. First 30 yards not much blood and the arrow smelled like a paunch shot, so he decided to call us in. After a short ride in the Razor we arrived at the spot where the deer had been standing. Bella immediately took to the track. After hitting the open log road and being distracted by the wind blowing the scent down the road a little, our camera man James found the blood drops where the deer entered the opposite side of the road and then Bella was off!
We went straight up a steep hill for maybe 75 yards with increasing blood. Bella was on a dead run and found a bloody bed. She did a circle of the bed and picked up the trail and went straight down into a brook gully.
At the bottom the wind was blowing down the valley at a good clip and bella started crisscrossing the side of the hill in the scent cone trying to reaquire the actual track.
She doubled back to the bed, circled twice, found the blood trail and went back down the hill to the brook with very large blood splotches. At the bottom of the hill she turned left and slightly up a knoll at the top of the knoll she went into turbo mode and ran less than 20 yards and jumped on top of the DEAD deer. 
A beautiful 8 point buck. He was shot through the heart area and the bolt angled back through the abdomen and exited the opposite flank and sliced through the knee as well, nearly severing the patella. The friend's first big buck in several years. 
Total track length approx 200 yards and the track was approx 3 hours old. This was Bella's first buck
GOOD DOG BELLA

2012

Another close to home track 11/11

VERY proud of Bella today! She is just in her second season of tracking, but has great instincts for the job and has done really well.

Today she did a track on a large bodied buck that the hunter had already tracked for 3-4 MILES before finally running out of blood. Muzzleloader hit quartering to, entry wound in front of shoulder.

Track was 7 1/2 hrs old and the whole family had done the first long stretch so we picked up at last blood.

Bella tracked that big deer without a drop of blood at a trot or RUN, more than 600 yards up and down hills, CROSSED his original dripping down hill track with just an acknowledgement! (he was circling back to his home turf) and through some NASTY thorny clearcut and back into the woods again when they jumped the buck from about 45 yards. No shot for the hunter and the buck was FLAT OUT at a dead run. (limps while walking but runs great)

62 F and we had already stopped Bella by force twice to cool her and get her to drink. She was bloody from the thorns but did NOT want to give up, especially after jumping him. But given the heat, her growing fatigue from it (and OURS!) and the deer's speed/liveliness; we called the track (and the hunter agreed)

But gosh what a great job Bella did in scent work, very accurate and dedicated

Within walking distance of home 11/9 & 10

Did a track for our friend tonight. almost right across the road from our house. shot broadside at decently close range with a bow from a tree stand but from where the doe was standing she was really just about level with the stand
 
Doe bounded off up a rise where she stood looking back where she came from. Hunter's arrow had one of those Illuminock thingies where the nock blinks green after shot, He can see right where arrow is and how much is left out. Arrow is lowish on the chest but above elbow, sort of like above the heart but through at least 1 lung. About 6-8" of arrow is all that is left sticking out. doe then whirls and takes off walking "funny".
 
Hunter gets down and goes to shot site to look for hair and blood. Nothing. he texts my husband on his work phone (he is hunting behind the house) as well as calls me here. We both tell him to get out and come to the house which he does
 
We wait until Rob comes down from his tree stand at dark and get geared up and head out. It's about 2 hrs post shot probably 2 1/2 by the time we reach the stand
 
Bella tracks well and we are finding random blotches of blood. NO directionality just large (quarter or dime size) blotches but not lots. No bedding at all and it cut across the swamp and slightly uphill across a hill side. Down the other side and then diagonally up a slightly steeper hill. About 3/4 up the hill there are several larger (dollar bill size) blotches. Again NO directionality. We are only seeing the blood on the dark wet leaves with flashlights because we have about 1/2" of snow, but the snow is patchy. At this point (about 200 yards in) all blood vanishes and the dog veers right up the rest of the hill to the road and insists deer crossed road. It seems SO unlikely (the hill and all) that Rob restarts her at last blood 2 more times and she does the same thing each time. 
 
He gives up and lets her follow the tracks but it is a study walking deer with no visible impairment and it goes through a long stretch of solid snow with NO drip of blood at all so thinking this was the other deer with this one. So after about 100 yards he brings her back to us waiting at last blood. Hunter and I had done a couple circles looking for tracks and blood and found 0
 
Wind is coming uphill from down in the swamp up to the road. batteries in lights are dying and Bella still wants to go to the tracks they had followed across road (which is a right angle to the direction the track had been going) and so we hang it up for the night, going back out at 7am
 
Hunter is an EXCELLENT shot with a fabulous strong bow, very good broadheads on his arrows and he has NEVER lost a deer shot with a bow
 
It was just a very bizarre track

OK am comes and we take Bella out again and she again goes across road and follows tracks and this track goes all over the place. Joins up with other deer and heads down to road towards swamp again.

We decide to get a different perspective and I bring Bella home and Take Annie out. We start her at the last 50' of the blood track sign and she does what Bella did and wants to go up and across the road.

We take her in a big loop around last sign and while she shows interest here and there, nothing that says "wounded deer". Take her up to where Bella tracked across road to walk home through the woods and she pulled air scenting here and there but we did not stumble across a dead deer as we hoped (she was not tracking we were just walking home and letting her investigate the area on collar/lead- out of work harness)
 
Rob further interrogated his friend today while I was swapping dogs and Rob is CONVINCED that friend shot doe in shoulder blade 
 
Rob actually saw the doe/fawn tonight from his tree stand and while he could not get a clear shot with his bow at them (and unless she was impaired or had an arrow hanging out he was not going to anyhow, they WERE on the "no shoot list" he gave his friend and that is another story...) but anyhow, he saw them and the doe had gotten rid of the arrow and was walking without a limp and came into the food plot to eat well beyond his bow range

Yet another undead deer :(

Lebanon undead doe 10/13

Went on a call for one of Rob's oldest friends today. Much farther than we would normally go but it was for a good friend
 
Doe had been hit last night and they had tracked it about 150 yards before they lost blood at a brook
 
We accidentally picked up the track as we walked in to the area- hellish 1/2-3/4 mile walk in let me tell you.. Stopped to water the dog before getting ready to get her tracking and looked down and there was blood. Nowhere near where they thought the deer had gone and maybe 75 yards UP on the hillside above the brook
 
Not great blood track and Rob and I pretty much knew right off it was an undead deer. Bella tracked the deer for maybe 400 yards before the blood quit entirely and then tracked another 50 yards with no blood. Found a bed also no blood and then the deer joined up with other deer and hiked on out still not bleeding straight up hill.
 
Bella did a great job considering she dislikes cold tracks and she got really mad when she lost the blood. Picked several ticks off Bella and Rob (none were attached and I credit that to the stuff I've been giving her and the tea tree oil and water rinse she got yesterday too) and now Bella is freshly rinsed with more of the same and sound asleep

This makes us 1 find out of 3 calls so far

Westmoreland call 10/12

went with Rob & Bella on a call today. Doe arrowed last night just before dark.
 
Light blood for maybe 100 yds or so Which is the distance deer ran before stopping. You could see where deer milled about at this location for a good while but never bedded. Probably waiting to see if whatever got her was following
 
Hunter recovered 2/3 of arrow but not the broadhead end (the dreaded ineffective 2 blade Rage head no less)
 
There was zero blood from the spot where the deer had stopped on. Bella tracked to the end of a sharp downcline into a person's back yard so we took her back around the area surrounding last blood looking for an alternate track but found nothing except where the hunters had walked
 
Could not cross person's backyard where Bella had originally indicated so took her down to the road and she immediately picked up track but still no blood, crossed road and went through a yard where no one was home to perfect deer habitat along the Connecticut river. 
 
No recovery and strongly suspect a high hit just below back in "non fatal no man's land"
 
Guy insisted we take a small donation anyhow and he jammed it into the truck door side pocket LOL

Friend's Granddaughter 9/26

Rob took Bella the Southern Black Mouth Cur (3 years old) out on a dark call for the granddaughter of a friend here in town

Doe was shot at aprox 6:40 and they got on the track at 8:30 ish

Lots of blood but the deer did a lot of twists and turns and diving through terrible stuff. We believe this was a quartering away shot and the liver was pierced

ROUGH terrain very thick brush, reeds and horrible thorns

Bella did a fabulous job and only had one area where the scent was milling but when restarted at the last bloody bed she arrowed her way to the deer. She was dead to rights almost the entire track line and super serious (this is a very distractible dog so this was great to see) 

Total track about 450 yards

Camera flash malfunctioned but they will bring the doe up tomorrow after they check it in so we can get a picture of Bella and HER deer!

2011

ended 2011 season 0-5 12/17 

had just 5 calls this year that we went on plus 2 more we could not get to and another 6 out of the area we can reasonably cover

This was Bella the Southern Black Mouth Cur's first season and she proved my belief that a purpose bred dog is always naturally better then a General/multi purpose bred dog. She is a total natural game tracker and just needs more work on focus. 

Annie the Rottweiler was in season or hopefully pregnant most of the season and her tracking before her heat cycle was her usual very good but her tracking during early heat cycle and early pregnancy was less then her norm but since she typically loses her sense of smell almost totally during a heat cycle not at all surprising (and now it looks like she is either in a false pregnancy or only carrying 1 pup  )

Filling out our tracking report for Fish and game and while they don't ask for it, we always add a small summary of each track at the bottom

#1 Bear-bow-high spine shot. Started dragging rear, then was 3 legged then regained all 4 leg use. never caught up to it, Suspect animal lived

#2 Deer-bow- high angled upper chest. 1,000+ yard track with minimal bleeding and the animal never stopped for more than briefly. Suspect animal lived

#3-deer-muzzleloader- total and complete miss. Same doe was shot opening day of firearm season and killed

#4-deer-muzzleloader- jumped deer still very much alive could not catch up to it

#5-deer-crossbow- very low brisket shot with copious amounts of hair on ground. Long track. Deer totally stopped bleeding after we jumped it twice and we never caught up to it again, was still very alive

by rottlady » Wed Dec 21, 2011 8:31 pm 

yea but the plus side is that we were able to ascertain that all the deer survived (at least initially) their injuries and were not simply coyote bait that the hunter had walked past

the easy track that was not 12/16

Last night Rob's friend from down the road zipped into the drive just after dark. he had arrowed a doe with his crossbow (he is semi handicapped/disabled) and could Rob bring a dog?

Rob and Bella went on the track and there was an unusual amount of hair at the shot site but the deer was bleeding like a stuck pig. They jumped it right off (bloody bed) and then after a longish track jumped it again (really bloody bed) and then NO MORE blood so they gave up for the night

This am he and I took Annie out, figuring with that much blood it would be an easy one for her to end the season with

NO such luck.

We drove in , in his friends 4x4 and got a good daylight look at the hair.. NOT good. TONS of brisket fur. I mean tons. The bolt had some blood on it but it had rained overnight a little so much had washed off

Walked in and cut off the big first loop of the track and put Annie on about 1/2 way in. She followed the track about the same accuracy as Bella did last night, had trouble in the same exact spots but worked on. made it to the last bed and there really was NO blood at all. and she also acted like the deer had vanished (Bella did the same thing and both girls are really good at bloodless tracks (follow the interdigital scent)so...)

We circled the bed and Annie pulled me down to a small swamp 3X and then again a 4th time we looked in and around it but found nothing. She wanted to cross a earthen dam where about 20 deer it looked like had crossed (not a drop of blood either)but it went into a person's yard that is very anti hunting before crossing the road into a huge posted parcel owned by the same person so... we did not go there. There was NO blood at all anywhere within 500 yards of the bed.

Then the wind came up.. 30+ MPH and we decided it was not safe to keep looking. Just as we got back to the truck it started to pour and we barely got out of the cut corn field because it got slick quick even with the 4X4. Poor Annie got bounced around in the back seat of the 4door PU and twisted her wrist. Hunter later drove down to the road where all the deer crossed and had a friend walk 1/2 mile in either direction no blood at all either side of the road

Based upon the hair type and quantity we guess this was a lowish brisket shot that clotted up at that last bed

Got home to a call my Mom took from a guy an hour away who she referred back to F&G as we were already out. She said she had asked him when he shot the deer and he said oh last night around 5 or so... Just a wee bit after legal hours mind you this would be here  

Then tonight- last day of our season, Rob undershoots a giant buck and the arrow buries itself in the dirt 12 FEET from the buck (he had paced off the yardage wrong as we found when we re paced it and it was actually 48 yards instead of the 38 he thought it was)

So here we are done, unless we get a hit by car call before our license expires 12/31 (we don't renew til July typically even though we can 1/1)

close but still no recovery 11/06 

Rob and bella rushed off to a track in our hometome about 45 min from here this afternoon. Buck was shot with a ML last night ran off with tail full up, and hunter tracked a bit but backed out when saw there was not a lot of blood. He went back out this am and 175 yds from hit site found a hand sized blood puddle ( at hit site there was a small chunk of meat and some back hair) and then deer turned and headed marginally uphill and that is where they stopped tracking and called Rob

Rob gets there and they head to initial hit site, put Bella on the track and asked the hunter to point out if she veered from the known track but she did not and she tracked right to the high point where the buck last went

From there the buck stayed on level ground along the edge of the ridge heading deeper into the bush. Then near the end of the ridge deer went almost straight down 100 yds into a valley. Bella milled indicating deer stood still. No blood. Tracks look like deer is limping on the right side. In a bunch of 3' hemlocks bella got a bit confused as the scent had pooled in there after drifting in from the tracks along the edge of them but they got her tracking good again but after looking like heading down to the swamp the buck sharply turned into thick hemlocks again on a nice beat down trail.

Trail started heading down a little and they heard a deer get up and bounce away. Rob had the hunter go ahead to check the bed. Deer did not run off fast but did get away. No blood in bed at all

This was the point where Rob called the track so as to not push the deer more and hunter is going back in tomorrow and see if he can find the deer and see if it is stiffer/slower.

Rob thinks this is a high back hit as the gun was sighted in for 100 yards and the deer was just 30 yards, but mostly because of the hair type and blood type

So no recovery but really close this time

Blizzard track 10/29

so the snow just starts coming down seriously and Rob's good friend down the road calls and says adult granddaughter shot a deer with muzzleloader and can't find it just less than 1/2 hr ago. He says deer jumped when shot and vanished in the storm

We tell him if you want Rob to go out then you'll have to come get him in the 4X4 and they did

Snow is coming down fast and furious when Rob and Bella get out to shot site. Walked about 200 yards to get to it in an open oat field. Started dog in the general shot area since the tracks were semi covered (oh yes it is also dark now) and she did circles looking for scent and she locked onto and followed one set of semi filled tracks from the deer that was closest to the hunter (the one she shot at out of only three in the field) but never indicated blood (Bella has a particular posture when she has actual touchable blood)

Bella took off like a shot pulling really hard down the track making great corners and obstacle solving. Deer was going straight uphill through the thickest possible crap. Rob slowed her when they got to the crest of the hill and the terrain was getting thicker by the second and all the snow on trees was making this an unhappy track for Rob.

They covered aprox 175 yards maybe 200 uphill. The tracks they could see (less filled when they got in the woods) were showing zero signs of injury or tiring at all, no signs of beds either and still not any indicators from Bella that there was any blood.

Rob decided to call off the track partially thinking she missed the deer entirely (as the hunter said she lost track of the deer initial actions after the jump in all the smoke) and partially thinking that maybe possibly remotely this could be gut shot and he did not want to push anymore. They did perimeter the field with no blood indicators from Bella

If we don't get totally snowed in (calling for 12 or so inches tonight) Rob might take Bella back out tomorrow and just see what is up

11/10 Update on this track

Girl has been watching this field all summer and fall and can readily ID the deer in it. This doe was the largest and had twin yearlings with her

She called last night thanking Rob for telling her she'd missed that doe and to get back out and try for her again.

Yesterday on opening day of rifle season lo and behold that same doe appeared with her twin yearlings and the girl shot her dead. Not a mark on her from any other wound

Long track undead buck 10/6-7

I'll start off by saying we have not done many calls. SIX total in 3 YEARS. LOL People just really did not know we existed I guess. THIS year we had cards made and that is how we got last nights call BTW) 

We HAVE done a ton of practice tracks of various lenghths and ages and the dog tracks very well, not as intense or dedicated as her mother did (she is dead) or sister (have not taught that one blood tracking yet) but she's a good tracker even in dense crap and through rain and water

The first year tracking was legal here we had 3 tracks. ALL 3 terrible, horrible, lousy shots and all 3 deer were later seen alive and well

The second year I did not get my license

The third year we got ZERO calls but we did track a buck my husband shot at just to confirm that he did miss (and he did, we tracked the buck through his entire daily scrape routine)

This year (the 4th tracking is legal in NH) we have gotten a bear call that ended in a huge deep swamp (posted a couple weeks ago) and last night a deer call (our 6th call ever)

We decided this year to not do night calls unless it was a friend but this deer was shot 5 miles from our house and just 2 hours prior (just under 3 hours from the time we started the track) so we thought we give it a whirl. Deer was arrowed from a tree stand at 30 ish yards, quartering away slightly and the shot was a "touch too high" the kid said and aprox 8" arrow was protruding from the deer at a slight down angle. After the shot the young guy did not get right on the deer for 1 hour but he DID hop right on his 4 wheeler parked within yards of his stand, and tear off down the mountain to get help). Kid was using puny little 90 grain broadheads and light carbon arrows <sigh>

We got there and they showed us where the deer was shot. no hair no blood. And where the arrow was found (I am unclear if the arrow broke off or not-husband was doing the interview while I got the dog watered after a 400+ yard hike up a near vertical muddy, rocky logging road) and this is where they found first blood. A splotch about fist sized. They (a group of 4 young men) tracked the sporadic light blood trail maybe 50-100 yards and lost it. This location was 400 yards uphill from a kennel of coyote and bear dogs who bayed non stop through the entire track OMG they were loud

When interrogated the 4 young men insisted they did no grid searching and had NOT walked any further (read on for real world factoid)

Annie eagerly got right on the track and followed it accurately to where the boys had lost it. (I forgot to mention all 4 guys with big spot lights were treking along with us like Ed's film crew a few weeks ago LOL) She then searched about through the mess the boys had made looking. We did a couple big circles and she switched to air scenting and finally located the track and more blood. Not much though. The boys were really good about being quiet and flagging sign for us

The track looked oddly turned (leaves are falling here) over like people had walked it but the guys kept insisting they had not

Annie found and lost the track several more times and each time she reacquired it there was a smidge more blood but never much. The track went mostly downhill but diagonally and gradually and through some of the nastiest blowdowns, old downed trees from logging years back and horrific blackberry bushes that you have seen in NH (I'm talking my legs were bloodied when I got home wearing heavy denim)

She finally got to a point where we lost sign/track again and she circled big air scenting came back to one of the boys and indicated his boots. Got her back on the track finally and yards later she found more blood- not tracked but obvious drips with directionality), lost the track again and again circled around and indicated the same boy's boots. Found the track again and later more drips for sure from the deer but little and then she acted like she was 1/2 tracking the last few yards to the logging road. AND again came back and indicated the boy's boots. I finally asked him had he come this way and he sheepishly said yes looking for blood but he had NEVER seen the blood Annie had found so thought he was off and just went to the road. So unbeknownst to him he had been literally walking the same trail the deer had but never seen the sign (thus why Annie kept indicating him)

At this point we had been tracking 2 hours and Annie was beat (she's really only good for 2 hours it seems  ) and we could not find any more track/blood or the trail. We flagged off the last blood sign (4 very small directional drips) and did some big circles and also went up and down the road side looking for the buck's crossing to no avail (except picking up a bunch of ticks)

So we came home and will call the boy at 3:30 when my husband is leaving work to see if they want us to come try again for a couple hours of daylight

I am just frustrated that we can't seem to get a dead animal. Yes all the tracks we have gotten are bad or borderline shots but geez louise this is very disheartening for me and the dog (we do practice as I said and she does get a deer leg reward at the end to carry home and she is VERY accurate in practice)

update 10/7

So after the terrain I went through last night my knees were not in any shape to try again. But husband really wanted to try again since the call was so close.

So Rob took his 2 yr old Southern Black Mouth Cur that we just started training this summer to give this another try in the day light. Bella has NEVER been on a real track just training tracks BUT she is a purpose bred dog as opposed to a Rottweiler being a General purpose dog and a prupose bred dog will ALMOST always have an easier time with the task they were bred to do when compared to a General purpose dog. Not always but nearly so. This was also Rob's first solo dog handling trip

This time it was just Rob, Bella and the young man who shot the deer (though his grandad showed up almost at the end)

Rob started Bella at the beginning and she followed the exact track Annie had taken but faster because she did have Annie's scent to follow and thus did not have to "unravel" and figure out the mess at the beginning. 

Bella got to the end where we quit last night, and insisted they go downhill THE WAY Annie had wanted to go last night but she was so tired by then from "unraveling" the mess and terrain that she did not insist and everyone was sure the deer had crossed the road. Annie being pooped "I" did not insist.

Anyhow they went the way Annie had indicated last night and the deer went downhill a bit and then turned back across the bottom of the hill (and the boys were finding blood along the way- just not much). They tracked the deer through a couple beds but mostly the deer just kept going. Bella did have to figure some stuff out but the terrain was open and easy compared to last night and Rob just encouraged her to do her thing.

At any rate at the magic 2 hour mark Bella was exhausted and the deer was still going and Rob told the young guy he had to quit. It appears that this is maybe a single lung hit (oh and the arrow did break off so part is still in)

All told Annie went the roughest portion and did aprox 400 yards and Bella added another aprox 600 yards for aprox 1000 yards total and still going.

The good news is the people (everyone involved) were very impressed with both dogs and very enthusiastic about their use. said that there was NO way they could have gotten even almost as far on their own

So still sad we can't just get a dead animal but feeling better tonight

first 2011 call got zip 9/24 

we went on a bear call. Yup we did even though I said I would not.

Why you ask? Because hubby was SURE it would be dead or incapacitated, and it was early in the day.....yeah........

Hunter said they shot it with an arrow downward from a tree stand and a bit far back and "spined" it. Bear rolled around, broke off the arrow and dragged it's back legs as it went off at surprizing speed

We figured we'd find it in the bushes...

no

Get there and there was a good bit of blood. All looked like muscle blood nice bright red all smeared on the grass and low down on bushes

Annie tracked this obvious trail down to and across a road. However the road was dirt and it was plain the bear was no longer dragging both hind legs. Looked like make it was carrying a leg, scuffing at each hop

Once in the woods it rarely dragged at all and in short order all blood vanished as did any drag marks

Annie had a tough time with scent down in the swamp with the humidity and heat kind of high for tracking but did find a bed (no blood) and followed the trail deep into the thick thick thick swamp. deep water and mud.

Finally lost the trail and wallowed out to check the perimeter and zippo. We think the bear is still in the swamp and strongly suspect not spined at all but maybe just struck the spine and caused a temporary walking issue that resolved in the 4 1/2 hours before we got there.

<sigh>

What we figured happened was spinal shock. The bad side is the braodhead lodged in the bone and snapped off at the base, there was 4" blood on the shaft recovered though

The good part is the blood slowed/ceased and the bear seemed to have started using at least 3 if not all 4 legs again

I ended up wallowing through crotch deep water and part of the track Annie swam while scenting. The humidity and mosquitos were HORRIFIC not at all like a NH September. All 3 of us needed a shower and dry clothes and poor Annie has some nasty bug bites on her muzzle.

Glad to go on a track but sad we did not get the animal. The swamp was just far too big, dense and deep. Do know the bear did NOT exit it though

2010

Tracking season 2010 almost done 12/5 

Today is the last day of firearms season here in NH and bow season ends in about a week

Incredibly we got just one deer call and did not go on that one because the person refused to give the information our F&G requires us to obtain (mail address, tel number, hunting license# etc)

We did go out to confirm my husband really did miss a deer he shot at but that's it

I'm really surprised because last year we did not get our permit and were swamped with calls that we could not take and the year before we went on several calls

2008

0 for 3  11/24 

Had another of those calls last night. Undead, never going to die, not shot how interpreted deer 

I was VERY proud of my girl though. She tried and tried and tried and never gave up 

We lost the track many times (undead non bleeding deer have a way of doing that it seems) and we circled around and went along the edge of a small clearing to try to cut his path. Annie air scented him and dragged me 100 YARDS through thick trees to a dried bed with some but not much blood. We would never have found it without Annie, because it was about 400 yards from the direction the hunters last saw it going. 

This was 7 hours post hit and the blood looked to be long since dried so maybe 5-6 hours old 

No signs of any disablement and not a drop more blood. The deer had left town 

This was 3+ hours of tracking in the dark and we were all beat so hung it up. The hunters were going back out this am but unless they jump him off another bed and THEN kill him, I doubt anyone will be finding his body 

The hunters were quite impressed with Annie's find and we were proud. Still wish we could get a truely dead or dying deer call but oh well 

deer call 11/14/2008

Not feeling very talented now We are now 0 for 2

I don't think this guy hit the deer where he says either. (the first track the hunter could not have been more wrong)

We only went (in the dark and light rain) because it sounded like a sure thing and was just 7 1/2 hours post shot, though it had been raining then steady and was said to be a monster deer.
Hunter said he shot the deer in the shoulder (missed the first shot hit it with the second)
However the deer went STRAIGHT up over some nasty rocks/boulders with no trouble and no blood sign.

The point of impact had some grey hair and ONE drop of blood. There was a small bone chip and light blood about 50 yards in (bone chips from shoulder exit wounds are typically at the shot site itself) for about 25 yards and then nothing until they did big circles and found a couple splotches and then a bloody bed 100 yards+/- from hit site along with what they claimed was a teeny hunk of lung (but based on the evidence we saw I'd bet it was fat and/or bone marrow) and no blood to speak of after the bed

Annie tracked fabulously from point of impact, up over the boulder etc straight up to where the 6 hunters had milled about at last blood. The area was so rucked up that instead of waiting for Annie to puzzle it out I had them take me to the bed.

She tracked off the bed great but this deer was NOT acting lung hit nor chest hit at all. NO blood on the bushes at all very very little on the ground and this deer went amazing places and up amazing inclines. He then waded/swam through a large pool and on the other side there was some blood on a hemlock but then no blood at all. The deer went in a large circle down hill then looped back uphill towards the bed area then another larger loop. He wanted to be on that high point of land. And he also kept going back to this pool. (Annie would have swum it if I'd let her- the guys did a light sweep of it and saw no floating deer. He did hesitate in one place that at first I thought he laid down but then decided he just stood still and Annie said there may have been some blood in the dirt there. probably the darn animal was watching the search!

After 2 1/2 hours of tracking, 2 falls by me resulting in a smashed knee and no sign of the deer, more blood nor that he ever bedded up again.

My husband and I think the deer acts like an elbow or leg hit MAYBE a brisket, the hunter thinks a square shoulder hit and we strongly doubt that

The hunters are going out again and I pray they find it but ya know what? I doubt it.

I KNOW we can do this. We have tested Annie with very very dilute and sparse blood and a crap for sign trail and she aced it each time. She is tracking the deer step for step according to the hunters (over trail they've already done) and working her heart out and does indeed find NEW undiscovered blood

I guess It's ME that's the discouraged one. Discouraged that we can't perform miracles

So I feel a bit better now.

In talking with two LONG time deer tracking people I have come to realize that what I have been seeing is typical. We are a last resort. Hunters always call us after mucking up the woods or making a crap shot that they thought at the time was perfect or something unexpected happens between shot and impact...

The average recovery ratio is 30% using a dog in these cases and far far lower when not using one (ie when the hunter looks with just human help)

So while I still want to be a miracle worker I guess I have to take what I get and KNOW my dog is still VERY good at her job (and it's a job she LOVES!) 

first call

The below is from 11/9 and 11/10
___________________________________
We got home this evening from doing a long list of errands and found a desperate voicemail from a guy that shot a deer and could not find it.

This is Annie's first call since she/we became licensed, though she is still actually in training

The man had called both myself and another licensed tracker in a near by town. The other guy had come out but the dog tracked just til blood was lost and could not get any further despite several restarts.

I told the hunter that Annie is still in training and that I made no guarantees, BUT we were willing to come out if he wanted us to. He most surely did!

We got out to the site and started tracking (not at site of the shot but several yards down the trail at a bloody spot) at about 7:45. TWELVE hours after the deer had been shot. Annie tracked very well to the end of blood and then spent several minutes casting about. She then locked on a track followed it, lost it, found it, lost it. This repeated for awhile and then she found more blood!
At this point we were farther by quite a lot than the other dog team. She found a teensy bit more blood a bit farther on and then lost the track again. Found it again and followed it to a mud puddle where she dug up some more blood and then we lost the track entirely.

We circled about and eventually a ways farther on Annie locked on a track and dragged me about 300 yards to the edge of a field.

It was late, Annie was pooped and so we came home and will go back out tomorrow and restart the track again

The man was quite impressed with Annie as was my husband, Rob. I was happy with her performance but sad we did not get the deer. A first track AND in the pitch dark though she did very well and worked her darn heart out! Annie NEVER quit

Went out again this am at 6:30 (almost 24 hours post shot) and got to see the point of impact. The shot and subsequent events were not exactly how initially described and we could tell the deer was likely not mortally wounded (appeared to be an above the spine shot which stuns them but is not fatal)

We restarted the track from the beginning and Annie tracked very very well and exactly as last night, but got lots farther. We followed the deer to where it crossed a road with no sign of stopping to lay down. We quit after 2 hours and feel confident that the deer will live to see many more days

Annie was upset at not finding the deer so we stopped at the taxidermists and got a hide for her and we will lay her a track later so she can "find" her deer

She did VERY VERY well and was an excellent ambassador for the breed (Rottweiler) and the hunter was grateful for her efforts, patting and hugging her in thanks for trying!