Deer track in the morning!
 

Just got the call a little while ago! One of my co-workers son shot a HUGE buck tonight on their lease up by Palmetto. This 19y/o has hunted all across LA, MS, and Tx with possibly hundreds of animals under his belt. To hear him talk, this thing must be a MULE!

They found good blood, tracked for about 100 yards, then jumped the deer, which ran deeper into the woods. They flagged their way out and wanted to let him lay up until morning. I will be bringing my tracking dog out in the morning in an attempt to find him! Not sure who is more nervous - him or me!

Blood trail and flagging, sounds like you and the dog will be starting off on the right foot tomorrow. Good luck and get some pics of that MULE....

doesn't sound good, is it low fence?

sometimes you can push them a mile

Be sure to post pics and good luck. By them getting out when they did, i think you'll be alright.

I hope he can still pick up that scent in the morning. Good luck!

good luck ! i hope yall find that mule!

Oh yeah, this is as "low fence" as they come....NO FENCE! LOL

It is a lease they have between Palmetto and Swazzee Lake. Can't go out until 9:00 not to disturb the other hunters. Not sure what the dog will do, the longest one we have ran is 6 hours old, but he found that one w/ no problem.

I hope it's barely alive when we find it, I love seeing that dog go in !

What breed of dog do you use to track?

Jagdterrier, aka - German Hunt Terrier

well... did u find him ??? Pics ???

Well, after a long day, you can't recover what aint dead! WE arrived at the hit site around 9:30 and found that the deer was shot at 80 yards, w/ .308, did not fall but ran off in the same direction it was heading when it came out. Almost immediately, they found blood and trailed it for about 290 yards according to my GPS.

I put JD down and he immediately took trailing hard running through the blood and flagged trail pullin gme along. Their flagging stopped at 295 yards where they last jumped the deer last night. I found the wound bed, which had red blood, but no signs of bone, stomach bile/contents, or lung tissue. To me it looked like a low hit that was bleeding and not mortal. That was reassured when they tell me he bolted out of the cover and seemed to leave the area like he was unhurt hopping tree tops like a olympic track star.

We tracked him pretty good out to 400 yards, w/ the blood thinning out less and less with each step. Over the last 200 yards, we would find minimal blood rubbed low to the ground on palmettos, but nothing on the ground. I found one spot where he had dropped some blood on a log that he crossed. Finally at 565 yards from the hit site, we came out on another logging road and could not locate his direction of travel from there, even with the dog. I think this one will be walking around and get shot in a couple of days chasing does!

Hoping y'all found him... There have been lots of awesome deer killed this year.

Ooops, same time post

Thats exactly right Bryan....... Been on lots of those!!!!!!!!! but if he picked it up the next morning, you have yourself a good dog!

I have a lab that has tracked a few deer for me. I never trained him for it, he just has a real good nose and has found 5 out of 8 deer I have tracked with him. The 3 that he didn't find were shot in the evening and we tried that next morning.

My lab is right at 3 years old, do you think it's too late to train him to track deer?

Not at all!

Either your lab will track or he won't.
Have seen some that have been great w/ no training and some that couldn't find their butt in a box. BUT THEY WERE GREAT RETRIEVERS!

I found a deer shoulder the other morning on the road in my deer hunting area that was gnawed down to the joint. It looks like coyotes are very good trackers too. I don't know if this deer was shot or not. I didn't shoot it. My bud, who is a big deer hunter, told me that coyotes can make easy kills when it is so cold if they can find a bedded deer. Sounds like I should do some predator hunting. I've heard coyote hunting is much harder than deer hunting. Hope it ain't no cougar. There are lots of coyote tracks around but I have not even seen one yet. I used to hear them a lot but not lately.

PM sent

seems like if the deer stayed in the same area he was hit the night before, he's hurt bad enough to die.

sorry yall didn't find it

Thats my neck of the woods and where I hunt. Big deer in that area for sure and tough traking in the palmettos and briar cutovers.

definitely not! its kind of like the other guys said he either got it or he dont! my lab is 6 years old. i never trained him for it. when he was 2 years old i had him at the camp with me during bow season. i shot about a 14" inside 8 point with my bow. i saw and heard the arrow stick him right behind his shoulder. i wait a few minutes and get down from my stand to go look. Nothing! Not a speck of blood, arrow, hair, or anything. i knew i had hit him. i looked around for about an hour, then walked back to the camp. when i get there i tell my dad about what happened. he asks me why i dont try bringin Amos(my yellow lab) to the hit zone and see what he can do. i literally laughed at him but was out of options so decided to give it a shot. he had never been in the woods unless we were going to a duck hole in the woods. i bring him out there on a leash, let him sniff around where it was and off he goes. its dark i have a tiny light and my dog is draggin me down a ridge at about 30mph. next thing i know we come to a stop about 200 yards from hit zone and im standing over my 8 point. Crazy! He has found 4 deer since then and like i said only ones he didnt find were ones people called me about to try and go that next morning. and im pretty sure the 3 he didnt find were bad shots. gotta get on em quick! if not, he is just going to start picking up other deer trails and stuff like that.

Sweet, I'm definately gonna give it a try with him. I'll only be able to make one more hunt this season but I will try him out next season.

Just start to bring him with u to the deer camp. Keep him around when u cleaning deer. i bring mine to the cleaning rack with me and let him just cover himself in the blood and stuff when someone cleaning one. he goes crazy and literally covers himself in blood. sounds crazy but i really think it works!

My dog's name is Amos as well!! Amos Moses in fact.

Haha! I call him Amos Moses all the time!

When I lived in Arkansas I used my dachsund to track deer. But the best tracking dog I ever saw was a stray mutt that lived in my friend's culvert. Man could that dog find a deer! I guess when you don't get fed every day and someone plops you down on a blood trail you have a little motivation!

I remember reading a good article 20 years ago about how to pick a good blood trailing dog. The writer said to take a piece of meat and drag it across the floor. Then take a whole litter of new pups and place them on the trail. Some of the pups will act like nothing's there. If you find one that runs over the others following the trail, that's the one you want!!! Evidently they either have it or they don't. Good luck!