M&M Big Game Recovery

11/15/2023

Drake trailed him a couple hundred yards and jumped him. Zoey swam him down and drown him in the back of a four acre pond. The hunter was able to get a boat and retrieve him while I went and had a treble hook made.

01/06/2023

01/06/2023

This track is special to me. I had to share it . Drakes first track back after almost losing him a week ago.

Mason said Drake didn’t waste any time recovering this doe and was very excited to work the track. Like he was glad to be back .
With no blood and a deer already being hauled from the area,crossing the track Drake is tracking, he tracks right over it, paying it no mind .100 yards later Drake has the recovery.
Couldn’t be more proud and thankful for the comeback he made and the care that was given to him by Jessica Hutto, my mom and family. Wish I could have seen him work tonight. Mason done a great job tonight with Drake. Bro Don called me bragging on him. thank you mason for helping him! You are awesome kid!

12/31/2022

This track was 38 hours old and ended with a 5.10 mile race. This is the coldest track I’ve ever put Drake on and he didn’t skip a beat. From the last blood he went 800 yards and jumped. When he crossed the county road I added Baelie to the race . They made a big four mile circle crossed the same road again but I couldn’t get him to stop. I knew Drake would be tired with the weather like it is and his age . They would continue another mile with Baelie pushing him into a cow pen where the dispatch was made. I thought Drake was held up by a fence but my fear of him getting to hot soon became a reality when I drove the buggy to him . His mouth was pouring blood and he was laying on his side . I’m not sure what caused the cut in his mouth but it’s bad.I picked him up and carried him to the closes house to cool him down with water. We later brought the deer to him to let him know that he won the battle. I picked him up and put him in my truck and drove home. He is walking now and breathing a lot better. I love my buddy and don’t mind my bloody clothes, I just hope the best for him . He’s tough but he is aging. This is the best/worst end to our recovery season. Keep us in mind if you will✌🏼

12/28/2022

This was a good recovery.
Congratulations Bill on this Telfair Cy stud!

12/28/2022

Grayson done a good job tracking his buck this morning. He followed specs of blood for a good ways until it quit and needed some assistance. Congratulations young man.
DOA recovery.

12/28/2022

Tailgated a good one last night in telfair Cy. It was cold . You can hear Drake’s teeth chattering in the beginning of the video. Drake jumped him around 600 yards, then bayed him in a creek about 150 yards later with Zoey and Baelie.

12/23/2022

Congratulations Memphis on your first buck! Mason and I enjoyed helping y’all!

132 yard DOA recovery.

12/20/2022

I got a call tonight on my way home from Alabama from Matthew Tuten. He said he shot what would be his best buck ever . He told me he had bone and blood and has tracked him about 70 yards before he stopped bleeding. I asked him what did the bone look like and he said a bunch of tiny pieces and a chunk . This is great news for me and for him as well lol. Tiny pieces means his leg is busted, completely broken and he’s going on the tailgate.100% guaranteed! Sometimes you get a chunk of bone and his leg won’t be broken . Fractured but not broken.If it’s leg isn’t broken into we won’t be able to catch it. Most of them we never even jump because their already in the next county over. I told him it would be about 3 hours before I made it home and He said I sounded confident enough to him about the situation, that waiting on me wasn’t going to be a problem for him. Now the pressure is on me . I just told this man his buck was 100% going on the tailgate lol. I got to hit a grand slam to get out of this one! Zoey is definitely coming along. A few hours later i arrived at the shot sight with Drake Baelie & Zoey. I turn Drake out and he immediately takes the track and he’s working it fast . Heck yeah! This is great! When he hit 100 yards I sent Zoey and Baelie behind him. Drake was headed North but starting turning back to the west making a circle coming back to us. Now I’m thinking to myself what are you doing man, come on now, don’t you come back to us and make me look bad but in reality I know he’s still on it. All of us dog owners have thoughts like this from time to time even though we know better and just to trust our dogs.
Me and Cody Wise have checked each other’s tracks more than one time to get a better understanding on what our dogs are doing and each time Drake’s done exactly what Blue Dog done and Blue Dog has done exactly what Drake has done on non recoverable tracks. These deer would later show back up on camera !
Drake’s now at 100,90,80,70,68 and BOO YAH !! He bayed at 68 yards straight across from us after going out 150 yards . When Zoey & Baelie herd him they shaved about 70 yards off their track and cut straight over to him. Right before Zoey arrived I told Matt that he may break when she tries to catch him , but not to worry if he did ! Well he did! But he only made it about ten yards before she caught him again and this time Baelie has made it to the bay barking every breath right beside her dad,Drake! This buck is done!! Let’s go get the biggest deer you’ve ever shot and pick up my grand slam ball along the way🙂We are here to help if you need it!
Congratulations Matt Tuten on your biggest buck to date!✌🏼

12/18/2022

Thursday night I got a call from Tuck to come track a deer that his cousin Marcus Tucker shot as I was going out of my driveway, to our number one ranked in the nation, in the power rankings, USSSA Coffee Pride 8u Softball Christmas party, at Craig and Dawns house. I turned around loaded the dogs and headed to the party. After the party I called Tuck to see where they wanted to meet and talk about the shot. He said Marcus had white hair and a little meat but their was a lot of water where the buck was standing making it difficult to find blood. I told him it doesn’t sound good . That It sounds like he grazed him under the brisket. Tuck said yeah that’s what we are thinking but Marcus says he’s huge and wants to check it. I told him no doubt you never know until you try it. We had the same thing happen last year. White hair with little meat. The deer was quartered away from the hunter when he took the shot. We bayed the deer a few hundred yards from the shot sight and to our surprise the deer was hit in the back right ham next to the a**s leaving white hair and a little meat at the shot sight. He was no where near the brisket like we thought lol. When we arrived at the shot sight I turned Drake out . Drake is a lab/bloodhound mix and out of my 15 years of experience the best recovery dog that I’ve ever had. After turning Drake out he made a loop and came back to the shot sight. Marcus said that’s what he done the first time I shot at him. Drake later went south then took a hard right turn to the west . Marcus said that’s the way he went after the second shot. We walked in a little ways behind Drake and found good blood. After finding blood I looked at my garmin and he was almost 300 yards out!! Lord I’ve got to turn Baelie out ! This deer is probably going to bay!!Baelie is a pup off Drake. She is 3/4 lab and 1/4 bloodhound . It didn’t take her long to catch up with Drake, they were headed in a West northwest direction into the Willacoochee River. I told them if they jumped him around 500 yards we had a chance. At the time I said that they were at 380 and heading towards a 3 path so we started walking back to the buggy through ankle deep water to pull around to the 3 path . The walk wasn’t far . When we got closer to the buggy I looked at my Garmin and they are now at 900 yards and trucking it towards the river!! THEY HAVE JUMPED!! WE’VE GOT TO GO!!! We didn’t hear them bark when they jumped because walking through the water made it difficult to hear but the garmin says it all. Losing communication occasionally we picked them up in the river bayed a couple miles away. When we made it to the area they were in, I cut off the buggy and herd Drake bark a few times then it was silent. He only barks whenever he’s looking at the deer. I looked back at my garmin and they have broke bay heading right down the river towards a bridge a few miles down the road. I kick the buggy around and put the petal to the floor sling dirt 30 feet behind us! My plan was to beat them to the bridge and add redbone to the race when they crossed the county road at the bridge. Well we arrived at the bridge the same time they did. I jumped out with redbone to add her to the race but to my surprise Drake and Baelie was swimming under the bridge heading North. I looked ahead of them and their stood a true Swamp Donkey, A Stud, A Dang Legend!! Standing on an island. OMG what a buck!! His leg is broken and he’s getting tired but he has the heart of a soldier and sails back into the water. We’ve already been four miles at this point. I never got red in on the race because they were in the water . I knew if I threw her off the bridge she would have been really upset with me so I put her back in the box. Lol jk. We watched them on the garmin go 900 yards and bay again.
So we’re trying to figure out how to get to them again and get land owners permission when he brakes bay and heads right back towards us. We wait him out at the bridge but as he gets closer he moves more southwest going out of the river. He crossed the county road about 500 yards west of us . This is where he messed up and I added redbone to the race. She is hot to trot and ready to run! Pack him up ole son we coming in hot!! WE ARE FIXING TOO PUT HIM ON THE TAILGATE!! Drake Baelie and Red pushed him back into the river where he made his last attempt to get away. When he hit the river he made a hard turn to the left heading back north to the bridge where they almost had him earlier. With land owners permission we head back to the bridge and wait in silence on his arrival.
As they got closer to the bridge it went silent because they were back in the water. Not long after that we see the water rippling . Our hearts are now beating faster as the ripples get bigger . Me and Tuck’s looking everywhere for him. I move down the bridge a little and Tuck yells their he is!!! He comes back up on the island and bays right under us where the dispatch was made!! Hallelujah!!! Man this is the biggest buck I’ve ever recovered and at 5 miles is the longest recovery we’ve ever done. Most leg shots usually bay within a few hundred yards from where the deer was jumped but this old Stud was determined to get away. He was unofficially scored at 154 inches!! The best part about this recovery . We didn’t have to drag him 50 yards! Right before this we were about to walk 900 yards to the bay. Me and ole Tuck will be talking about this one for the rest of our lives lol. Man he was tuff but we were stronger!! That purina pro plan adult 7+ sport performance is 65$ a bag but you best believe your dogs will perform their best on it. Those mixed breed hybrids I got sure do. Thought I would share the whole story with y’all on this one. Hopefully y’all will enjoy reading it as much as we did experiencing it. We are here to help if you need it!✌🏼

12/17/2022

Me and Mason had a good recovery this morning.

12/17/2022

We jumped this buck over 900 yards from the shot sight and tailgated him the next block over. The total distance of the recovery was 1.94 miles. After we tailgated him another hunter on the same property said they had a gut shot doe if we could take it
Drake trailed her 1.02 miles where he held her at bay until we made it to him for the dispatch.

12/16/2022

I will update this post later on today.

12/15/2022

Baelie has made our team stronger l! She is one heck of a bay dog and a pup off Drake 💪🏼

We tailgated this buck shortly after this video. Unfortunately he wasn’t as big as the hunter thought it was. We’ve all been their before. he had some of his family their ready to celebrate the recovery of a monster . They didn’t do him to bad. He told them he was way out past the ears and had at least ten inch tines! I say that to say this . Hunting brings us together and the fellowship is always awesome no matter how big an ole veteran hunter thought he was. I love watching family and friends interact with one another after the recoveries. Good times are a blessing from the man above. ✌🏼

11/28/2022

Very interesting recovery!
A young man around the age of 16 shot this buck. This is his story before & after the shot.
I shot the buck behind the the shoulder. He was standing broadside just before the food plot (it was around an 80 yard shot) he lifted his front legs off the ground a little and ran out into the small pines and bedded down. He was looking right at me ( now he’s about 100 yards) but all I could see was his neck. So I took the neck shot and he disappeared!

I put Drake on the track just before the food plot where he said the deer was standing.He walked in on a trail about 20 yards and came back out. He then went all the way down the food plot and came back . He showed no interest in the track at all. I told them Drake says this shot is a miss let’s go check the 2nd shot. I walked Drake in the area he said the deer was bedded in. As we got close Drake came around us . He was alert and stalking like a lion. He went down in a hole. The hole looked like a skidder rut or some type of heavy machinery leaves when it gets stuck. Or the logging crew could have used dirt from this spot to build up their road hauling out timber. When Drake hit this hole his nose went straight to the ground and his tail had a slow motion wage to it. I told the young man he just hit on something right their. Drake left the hole with his nose on the ground and stopped about 60 yards northwest of the hole. We fought our way through a patch of dog fennels and found Drake with the deer on the other side. Now this is where it gets interesting. The only bullet hole the buck had in him was in the neck. Buckfever is hard to control . One symptom of it is that it makes us see thing’s that really don’t happen. With that being said this is the young man’s hunt that me and Drake put together.
His first shot was a miss . After that shot the deer took off into the set out pines which looked to be a couple years old and stopped in the rut looking back at the deer stand thinking he was hide. This is why the young man could only see him from his neck up and why he thought he was bedded down. His 2nd shot was a hit and the deer excited the hole behind some very tall and thick dog fennel, only making it about 60 yards before falling into his death bed.

These hunters got to witnesses something special and this was a first for me as well. They got to witness Drake’s reaction on a miss and a hit. Thats pretty dang cool !

11/27/2022

7mm-08 perfect shot no blood!
Buck was DOA @ 130 yards!

11/26/2022

Drake tracked this buck 1.84 before jumping him. He then bayed and took him down shortly after. Their wasn’t much left for Zoey to do but dare him to make another move!

11/26/2022

Mr. Ron putting meat in the freezer!💪🏼
300 yard DOA Recovery!! Quartering to shot. One of the best shots to take. Some deer are just tough! Drake was on her for a few minutes before we could get to him. He made the entry hole a little bigger. He likes his jerky raw lol.

11/25/2022

Shot last night . Drake tracked him to a pond 1,232 yards. He never crossed it just made a few circles on the West Bank and came back. I meet him about halfway back to where I turned him out at. When he saw me he got real excited and starting going back but I turned him around and told him I had a quicker way. We pulled up on the east side of the pond which was the landowners driveway. The hunter was getting permission from him when I looked over my left shoulder and saw the buck bedded in his yard about 70 yards from us😳. The land owner gave us permission to retrieve the buck. We dispatched him an added another great recovery to the tailgate!

11/25/2022

Recurve recovery!

11/22/2022

We’ve been busy the past 2 weeks. Most tracks that we’ve been on lately have been non-recoveries and bucks that have not been on camera . True swamp donkey’s! Lol..Don’t get me wrong we still find blood on these tracks. We had one of them the last blood was at 1.92 miles and another one at .92 miles. Most of these shots were muscle shots. We’ve still managed to tailgate a few . Good luck my friends we are here to help if you need it.

11/02/2022

This buck dropped on impact from a 270. He kicked a few times and laid still. A few minutes later the buck jumped up and ran out of sight. Six hours later Drake tracked him four hundred yards and bayed him. After dispatching the buck and observing the shot we determined that the bullet center punched the shoulder and rickashayed out the top of the back. This isn't your typical backwack! This is the first time that I have seen this. I have seen a 270 rickashay off the shoulder on a broadside shot and run down the inside of the leg. That shoulder is tough, shoot for lungs. ✌🏼

10/30/2022

A little low but recoverable.

10/30/2022

The trio caught him just before he hit the river! Another great recovery and satisfied south ga hunter!

10/29/2022

Drake, Baelie, and Zoey bayed this deer at 438 yards! The deer was DOA by the time we arrived. All we had to put on was a piece of bone ,a couple specks of blood, and a few pieces of meat.

10/28/2022

158 yard DOA Recovery.

10/26/2022

*Memories *
6.5 owners this is the bullet for you.