12 gauge slug and the buck was 50 yards away and the slug destroyed the liver,1 lung and the paunch. Another tracking team tried the evening of the buck being shot with minimal success.
I was lined up to track in Byron and Sypris made quick work of a short track as the buck died in a swamp when my client thought the buck ran a slightly different direction. It's easy to do especially with other deer running away.
This morning was super high winds however there was moisture on the ground and that was the key for Sypris to be able to track. I was almost home when I got the call needing help in Howell. After a lengthy phone conversation I wasn't feeling confident especially when another dog had previously tried. I'm thinking if that dog didn't find the deer before last night storm and today excessive winds and this deer may not be dead! In most cases we never know where the slug hits the deer especially when the hunter isn't using a scope. I've helped a friend of a friend as I was referred to this client so I made it clear I can't promise anything and let's all hope for the best!
As always we start at the shot site and Sypris quickly takes the scent trail going the known hundred yards in just a few minutes and in the woods their still some residual blood. We get to the area where the previous dog struggled and I see Sypris go into search mode! She is circle and circle this area for over a half hour and indicating blood from time to time and I quickly learn this buck was trying bed down in this area and just couldn't find a safe spot. This is when a seasoned dog shines as she back tracked the scent trail and figured out where the buck double backed on his own trail and exited out of the woods heading north. Not the question is did the buck do this on his own or was he pressured by the trackers? Knowing the area I'm confident that the buck was pushed because the route he took was across cut fields with ZERO COVER!
Is this typically of a dying deer or just a crippled deer is what I'm asking myself.
The only thing I can understand is it was his only option being pressured so he is in survival mode and when that happens his adrenaline is pumping. We go across a short grass field (100 yards) and she actually finds a nickel size spot of blood and I can tell my it's color that we are tracking a dying deer!! Now I'm getting very excited and confident that Sypris figured out what the other dog couldn't. Up ahead is a couple small field pot holes that contains farm equipment and brush so I'm praying he is laid up in one of them. Well he wasn't so now we cross two more cut cornfields and I'm watching Sypris nose hit in a faint track one for one and the wind is whipping 40+ mph and if I'm being honest it was probably 50+!
I'm in disbelief and super impressed watching her do what she loves. When the come to a road and we cross it and now it's thick cover along with a power lines that been brush hog. We have gone a long ways and at this point I'm feeling very confident he will be dead in this area. Sypris enters the power lines and indicated blood and turns right and heads to another cut cornfield and started crossing it. I've spent years watching a dachshund "TRACK" and for the most part I know when she is locked on and when she is searching for scent.
As we head across this field the wind is hitting her left side pushing scent away from her nose and she is struggling! I then start helping by following the same hoof prints she entered the field indicating on. We make it several hundred more yards to a creek we find blood along the creek and the deer then exited back to the field edge and now I'm getting frustrated. I'm thinking how in the hell has a deer shot in the liver, stomach by a 12 gauge slug gone this far and has yet to lay down. The field edge turns to the north and some tall yellow grass separates the cut cornfield and the creek and there lays my clients buck. What a warrior and what a performance by a 20 pound wiener dog and now my client is elated and overly thankful for our services.
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