np307
Well-known member
Yesterday evening was a pretty eventful hunt. Everything was dead quiet the entire evening until the last 30 minutes of shooting light. The first squirrel of the evening finally wandered through, and then as things were returning to silence I heard the unmistakable tromping of a deer slipping through the pines. In the thick pines I was hunting, the deer was already within 100 yards by the time I could even see it's shape. I readied my gun and waited for it to clear into a shooting lane. It was a little spike on the hunt for a doe and he was not standing still for long. He finally got parallel to me about 40 yards away and stopped hidden behind a tree. I held, just waiting for him to clear it. He finally took a step, I let my rifle sound off, saw a mule kick and heard him run off. I never heard a crash which is always slightly concerning, but I was confident in my shot.
I marked the deer's direction of travel and then got down. When I went to the hit site, I couldn't find any blood at all. I got back in my stand to make sure I had the right area and then went back to searching. By this time it was late into grey light. I got my headlamp out and started searching for blood again. Absolutely nothing. I then decided to take a risk and try cutting circles in the direction of travel I had marked. Still nothing. I decided the best course of action was to back out and go get Daisy before I contaminated the track too much.
Daisy is our 7.5 year old lab/plott mix. She's a house dog through and through but she has an incredible nose. I've worked with her a minimal amount on scent trailing and she has been on two unsuccessful (extremely difficult) tracks. She was by far my best option though with a lot of coyotes in this area and a warmer night.
I walked to the car and drove 40 minutes home, collected the dog who was thrilled to be going, and drove 40 minutes back. The whole time I was replaying the events and felt confident in my shot and that I saw a mule kick. I was still a little worried that my eyes may have lied to me and I actually missed the deer completely. We arrived at the game lands, geared up, and started walking. Daisy was eager to go and was pulling already, sniffing at everything she could.
When we reached the hit site, I shed my pack and started recording my track. I gave Daisy the command and she sniffed around and then took off. She was pulling hard but after 50 yards or so I began to suspect she was just following a generic deer trail. We weren't heading in the direction of travel and she didn't have her nose in the track. I let her go another 100 yards just in case and then I brought her back to the hit site. This time, after giving her the command, she sniffed around a little more and then she hit gold. I could tell this track was different because she stuck her nose in it and snorted three or four times. She was popping her nose as she took the slack out of the leash. Her nose didn't leave the ground for 30-40 yards and then she threw her head up high, almost standing on her back legs tasting the air. I got excited and scanned with my headlamp and finally saw an eyeshine. Daisy nervously approached the deer but I could tell he was dead. I had probably walked within 20 yards of him at least twice in my early search. He died without his belly exposed, almost as if he fell straight down and didn't flop over. He blended in well with the pine straw and I was too rushed in my search to find him before.
Once I got to work quartering the spike, I tossed Daisy a few scraps and then the forelegs that I usually bring home for her anyway. And then as I was loading my pack she started tearing at the ribs and backbone. She buried 2 of the forelegs in the time it took me to get everything done.
I didn't get a great picture of her with the deer, once we found it things got a little chaotic. But it was a great moment and one I'll remember for a while.
For those wondering about the shot information, I was trying out the 77gr TMK load that's currently so popular. I shot a doe with 62gr Federal Fusion (which is a speer gold dot) last year and was very happy with getting a pass through along with good tissue damage. I knew the TMK risked a poor blood trail and no pass through, I didn't anticipate this poor of a trail though. I even tried backtracking after we found the spike and still couldn't find any blood. I had to press on the chest cavity to even find the entry wound. Internally though, it was perfect. Heart was blown up and the lungs were well perforated. The bullet was caught in the hide of the offside shoulder.
Today, Daisy has been taking things pretty easy. I reckon at her age, that was quite a bit of work. My wife was even a good sport and let Daisy have one of the forelegs in the house to chew on. She's probably feeling like she owns the place about now, and I guess she deserves it.
I marked the deer's direction of travel and then got down. When I went to the hit site, I couldn't find any blood at all. I got back in my stand to make sure I had the right area and then went back to searching. By this time it was late into grey light. I got my headlamp out and started searching for blood again. Absolutely nothing. I then decided to take a risk and try cutting circles in the direction of travel I had marked. Still nothing. I decided the best course of action was to back out and go get Daisy before I contaminated the track too much.
Daisy is our 7.5 year old lab/plott mix. She's a house dog through and through but she has an incredible nose. I've worked with her a minimal amount on scent trailing and she has been on two unsuccessful (extremely difficult) tracks. She was by far my best option though with a lot of coyotes in this area and a warmer night.
I walked to the car and drove 40 minutes home, collected the dog who was thrilled to be going, and drove 40 minutes back. The whole time I was replaying the events and felt confident in my shot and that I saw a mule kick. I was still a little worried that my eyes may have lied to me and I actually missed the deer completely. We arrived at the game lands, geared up, and started walking. Daisy was eager to go and was pulling already, sniffing at everything she could.
When we reached the hit site, I shed my pack and started recording my track. I gave Daisy the command and she sniffed around and then took off. She was pulling hard but after 50 yards or so I began to suspect she was just following a generic deer trail. We weren't heading in the direction of travel and she didn't have her nose in the track. I let her go another 100 yards just in case and then I brought her back to the hit site. This time, after giving her the command, she sniffed around a little more and then she hit gold. I could tell this track was different because she stuck her nose in it and snorted three or four times. She was popping her nose as she took the slack out of the leash. Her nose didn't leave the ground for 30-40 yards and then she threw her head up high, almost standing on her back legs tasting the air. I got excited and scanned with my headlamp and finally saw an eyeshine. Daisy nervously approached the deer but I could tell he was dead. I had probably walked within 20 yards of him at least twice in my early search. He died without his belly exposed, almost as if he fell straight down and didn't flop over. He blended in well with the pine straw and I was too rushed in my search to find him before.
Once I got to work quartering the spike, I tossed Daisy a few scraps and then the forelegs that I usually bring home for her anyway. And then as I was loading my pack she started tearing at the ribs and backbone. She buried 2 of the forelegs in the time it took me to get everything done.
I didn't get a great picture of her with the deer, once we found it things got a little chaotic. But it was a great moment and one I'll remember for a while.
For those wondering about the shot information, I was trying out the 77gr TMK load that's currently so popular. I shot a doe with 62gr Federal Fusion (which is a speer gold dot) last year and was very happy with getting a pass through along with good tissue damage. I knew the TMK risked a poor blood trail and no pass through, I didn't anticipate this poor of a trail though. I even tried backtracking after we found the spike and still couldn't find any blood. I had to press on the chest cavity to even find the entry wound. Internally though, it was perfect. Heart was blown up and the lungs were well perforated. The bullet was caught in the hide of the offside shoulder.
Today, Daisy has been taking things pretty easy. I reckon at her age, that was quite a bit of work. My wife was even a good sport and let Daisy have one of the forelegs in the house to chew on. She's probably feeling like she owns the place about now, and I guess she deserves it.
