Tuesday, January 11, 2011

8 Point Down In Palmetto, Louisiana

1/11/20

I just got a call from a hunter whose wife shot a buck yesterday evening. He was establishing communication with me in the event that he needed me and my blood trailing dogs to find the deer.

She got off 2 rounds before the buck left, and there was evidence of a gut shot and the deer was dragging a leg, which was evidence of a broken leg bone. Looked like this was a terminal situation, but a gut shot is a slow death and the best and most ethical thing you can do to insure that you find the deer in the end and salvage the meat is to give it 12-18 hours to bleed out and die.

This hunter did the right thing: he and his wife walked away, and went home to let the deer die, then returned in the morning to follow the blood trail with 2 locations of laying down with good blood pools and as they followed a good blood trail, for over 150 yards, it appeared the deer had finally went into a thicket.

At this point before he entered the thicket, he called me to discuss and plan on possibly bring in a dog if need be.

We talked about the evidence of a gut shot in the blood trail and I told him I was available if he needed me, and I could be there in about an hour.

But based on what he shared with me I told him that the deer was most likely in the thicket and dead or very weak and be ready to shoot it again if the deer got up.

I aim for a spinal cord shot if possible to drop the deer in it's tracks.

He called me about a half hour later and informed me the deer was found dead about 20 yards into the thicket.

This hunter did everything right.

He flagged the point of impact, analyzed the blood trail, found evidence of a gut shot and backed off to NOT put pressure on the deer and cause it to move.

18 hours later, the deer had died within a reasonable distance from the point of impact, and was actually easy to find, but just in case, he had a professional blood tracker with a dog ready and waiting on call.

He sent me a picture in my phone and if I can load that into the computer, I will share it with you here later.

If you have a large hunting club and plan on killing several deer on the weekends, and anticipate needing a tracker on the lease for a day or the weekend with dogs ready to go, call me and let's get these Catahoulas on some fresh blood.

I would be willing to be there for some gas money and meat. I am not a just a tracker with only one dog. I am a breeder and a trainer, and I have 6 yearlings who are on their first deer season, and need all the experience they can get.

Catahoulas are not hounds with long range and a mouth. Silent on track, and short range runs, checking back often with me if off leash.

Help me get these dogs on as much blood as possible while the season is open.

I am available 24/7 through the archery season which for most of us runs into February. If you plan to finish filling out the doe tags before the season closes, I would love to be there with a couple of my professors and some of the pups. (I use the older dogs to train the pups)

Also call me if you have carcasses to donate to help train my started pups. The more raw deer meat we can feed to them, the sooner they are seasoned, finished trackers.

If you find a deer a day or two later, and the meat is not good, call me and I will go pick it up. I am also interested in any part of the deer you don't want. The more my started dogs are exposed to blood, meat and hides, the better will be their ability to trail, in the future if you need a tracker.

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