It's not all fun and games!!
I drove a few hours north to help a great friend after he told me he shot his target buck!
He found his bolt a few yards past the shot site and backed out. Using his cell phone as a flashlight he couldn't tell by looking at the bolt if he made a great shot. It was clear it wasn't a double lung or heart shot!! I got up north by 10 pm and we went into the shot site with Sypris and investigated the area and bolt. I told him he gut shot the buck and we are not tracking tonight. I slept in my Ford focus with my two hounds. (I'll never do that again)
I started Sypris at the shot site and she took the wrong deer run as TJ buddy was looking down a path to my right and he found blood. Got Sypris back on the right line and she tracked slowly into the cedar swamp about 50 yards further we found two hockey puck size pools of blood. From their Sypris continued forward very slowly and unsure of her self. After an hour of struggling I decided to get Sargent. TJ and his buddy were body hunting along the river and Sargent took the correct path blowing by the last blood and quickly found TJ along the river. I knew he wasn't correct however I followed him with no expectations. After looking up and down the river I knew things were not going well and chances were extremely slim that my hounds were going to recover his buck. We met back at last blood trying to figure out where the buck made his turn. Looking to our right was the most promising so I took Sargent into the blowdowns and tall swamp grass. Sargent quickly went back to last blood. While standing there a grouse comes strolling past us at 10 yards and it looks like Sargent was going to flush it however Sargent walks past the bird and starts to disappear into the cedar swamp. So TJ and I started to follow and I look past Sargent and I could see Sargent was at the buck. Just a few minutes prior we were all done and had plans of using another tracking team or planning a grid search and Sargent saved the day. Looking back I should have went with my gut feeling and used Sargent from the beginning. He is still learning his job and I need to be more patient with him and work through his childish tendencies however he will soon make a name for himself.
Tracking Whitetails with dogs isn't easy however after doing this for 10 years the hardest part is starting a new dog and hopefully Sargent can walk in Sypris footsteps and make a lot of hunters as happy as TJ Alberts is right now.
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