Well me and my good buddy hit the woods behind the house again this morning. We came to that decision partly because of the full moon and overall deer sightings have been down for us throughout the week. So I told him last night as I was leaving his house to be at my house at 5:45 and we'd just hunt my property since we hadn't been seeing much, and it wouldn't be much of a walk in. We got settled into our stands after 6am, a good hour before daylight. It wasn't long and we could hear deer moving throughout the woods in the moonlight. I was just hoping the sun would get up in time before they went to bed down. I have to honestly say, this was probably the first time I have ever gotten a case of the shakes before daylight. LOL. We were setup about 60yds apart, we could see each other. I told him to go to the same tree that he shot his previous buck out of earlier in the year. Right as daylight broke, I could hear deer coming down the hill towards us. I caught glimpses in the early light, had my bow in hand, it was just a matter of time. Well, these deer decided to not take my trail, and decided to head towards the thicker cover, where Logan was set up. I hung my bow up and sent him a text telling him deer were heading his way and listened patiently. It probably wasn't 2 minutes after that and SCHWACK, then I could hear a deer run off. He called and I asked what it was he shot, and he said it was a buck. He wasn't sure that he hit it, he couldn't see his arrow, the buck didn't act like a deer that had been hit good. I told him that I was POSITIVE he hit that deer, I heard it. We saw a few more deer after that, including another buck, but the whole situation was eating at my buddy pretty bad. He's usually very confident in his shots. I was telling him it would be ok but in my head, I was worried. We gave the deer a solid hour before getting down and assesing the situation. I got to his stand as he was getting down and found his arrow sticking 6" in the dirt covered from tip to tip in dark blood and guts. I turned and said to him, please tell me that deer was quartering to you a little. He said, "Yeah, it was, how'd you know?" I showed him the arrow and educated him a little. It took us 30mins to follow the blood trail 40yds. It wasn't looking good at all. We spead out, covered a bunch of ground, just seeing if we could spot him. NO dice. 10:30 came and I said, "Let's go back to the house, get us something to drink and think about it some." Well, on our way back to our stuff, about 100yds from where he shot the deer, Logan yelled, "Matt! I found blood come here quick, it's a pile of it." Sure enough, blood. 75yds later, we found him tucked up under some briars. Never in a million years could we have seen that deer had we not found that other spot of blood. He was pumped, and you could tell that took some major weight off his shoulders. It was all smiles from there. It took us almost 3 hours to find him and when we did, he was still limber and warm as could be. If he had been dead an hour, it would surprise me. He hit the deer exactly where I thought he did. Near side lung, liver, and exited the guts. It ended with another dead 6 pointer out of the same tree he killed the 6pointer out of a few weeks prior. Here's where the blood tracker comes into play. My dog, her name is Mya, is basically a mut. Her mom was a Wolf, no joke. Not husky, but wolf. She had been rescued from people that I have no clue how they got her. Anyway, I had been kidding my buddy that she could be a blood tracker, she has a nose that you wouldn't believe. I have to put her inside when I go hunting or she will follow my footsteps right up to the tree I climbed in. She won't follow me up there, but she'll come a few hours later and set next to my tree, almost as if she's saying, "Ok, it's time to come back now." A couple times of that happening, left me mad at her in a way, but impressed in another way. Well, everytime I kill a deer, cut it up, and take the carcass to dispose of in the woods, she will end up draggging it back to the house. I could drag the damn deer 1000 yards thru the woods and she would have it back to the house in no time. She just loves deer I guess. Well after dragging his deer back to the house, we had left our stuff in the woods so it wouldn;t be extra weight dragging the deer out. When we went back to get our stuff, I took her with me, just to see what she would do. I took her to where it was shot, and just let her go as we were gathering our gear. It wasn't 15 minutes and here she come with the heart and lungs from that deer in her mouth. I couldn't believe it. That gut pile was 250yds from where we were standing. I think she can honestly find a deer, I'm going to let her try it from the start on the next kill. Now I just have to keep her from eating what she finds :D lol. Sorry for the long read, but it was a good story!
Congrats to your friend. You have a good dog as well, some are just naturals My uncle had a Weimaraner, after the shot we'd head to get the 4 wheeler to get them out of the woods. Once that 4 wheeler started up he was 10 yds ahead the whole way looking back as if you were the slow one. He'd beat me to the deer every time, even when I knew where it was. I can't wait to get my own property, can't keep a good dog in the city.
The law might be different in Tennessee, but in Missouri you cannot use a dog as the first line of tracking. Quote from our regulation book Use of dogs to recover legally taken game A hunter can use leashed dogs to track and recover mortally wounded deer, provided the hunter: 1.has exhausted other reasonable means of finding the animal, 2.contacts a conservation agent, 3.does not possess firearms or bows during dog-tracking activities, and 4.maintains control of the leashed dog at all times. Note: The use of dogs to recover legally taken game does not authorize trespass.
Virginia doesn't allow dog tracking either. BUT the next deer I kill...my dog is getting a free lesson.
I dont know where bones mill is but in stafford area there are two Game Wardens for all of stafford co falquier co and spotsylvania co
Yep...I'm in Southwest VA. Sounds like those two have a big area to cover. If I shoot a deer and can't find it....I'm gonna exhaust every resource to find it.
x2. I honestly didn't think we were going to find this deer. The dog was about to get her trial run but we happened upon a spot where the deer stopped for a few seconds.
