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Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel LLC, Iola, WI (2025)

11/13/2025

Another one with the drone tonight. Deer was shot last night and the hunter saw guts hanging out of the deer as it walked away. I attempted to fly the drone at 10 am this morning but too much sun and with the amount of rocks made it almost impossible and was only around 18 hours post shot so didn’t want to put Freyja on this one yet. Waited till dark was going to fly one set of batteries on the drone and then if nothing was going to put Freyja on him. Right at the end of my first set of batteries I got him about 600 yards from shot site. Was able to get on two others today as well.

First one I know is a gut shot from the arrow and is a dead deer. Freyja tracked him well to a field that had manure spread over the entire thing with an adjoining field also covered in manure. Tried for about an hour to get her to take it from this point and trying to connect with where it left that manure field with no luck. Flew the drone for almost 2 hours as well covering a ton of ground and not being able to find him. Unfortunate luck on this one if we didn’t have those manure fields I feel confident we would have tailgated this deer in short order.

My last track of the night was a deer that was jumped the day before and believed to be one lung hit. Covered alot of ground with the drone in a very drone friendly terrian and did not see him I believe this deer will be just fine.

Also heres a handful more proof of lifes I’ve gotten in the last couple days that Freyja put some work in on.

11/12/2025

Number 2 tailgated from the air today. The hunter had white hair and gut material at the hit site. We originally scheduled for tomorrow but I was in the area and they wanted to take a look tonight with the drone. Now they can get there hands on him a little sooner!

11/11/2025

Got on a couple this morning so far. Had Freyja on a few that she lost interest on. Flew the drone on this one first as we thought it was a dead deer and was able to locate him pretty quickly. Was thought to be hit mid body quartered away turned out to be hit quite a bit further back than the hunter thought. This deer was tracked too soon and they lost blood this deer was straight line 980 yards from shot site. No chance this deer is ever seen again without our help. Have multiple booked for tomorrow already. As always call early and when in doubt back out. Treat unknown hits like gut or liver hits this time of the year 12 hours minimum. Gut shots need the full 24 hours right now. We have been so busy if you wait 12+ hours to contact us I’m more then likely already booked so far ahead that I won’t be able to help but I can try and find someone who may be able to.

11/10/2025

Couple recoveries so far today.

First one was just a check up on the one that was shot behind the shoulder yesterday that we located with the drone. He was still in the same bed shot through the liver and finally dead.

Second one there was blood at hit site then not a drop after. No chance this deer is seen again without Freyja the deer went down to a river bottom and followed the inside of the river for a couple hundred yards then crossed the river through some cedars into some open grass. One lung liver hit.

Third track was hit way back so we gave this deer 26 hours before we even attempted this track. No blood to be seen anywhere by the hunters. They backed out and handled everything perfectly. Several hundred yards through a pine tree plantation through a hardwoods and then another big pine tree plantation into another hardwoods. With multiple re sets Freyja picked this track apart but was having a hard time picking it apart but was working very hard which was telling me this was most likely an alive deer or one hit in the intestines. Freyja started indicating she could smell this deer as she head popped and this deer charged at Freyja from behind a tree top he was bedded up in. We pulled Freyja out and were going to try and get a follow up shot but after we took a couple steps this deer took off across open plowed fields. He had alot of life left in him yet at 26 hours. We tried to locate him with the drone for quite awhile but was unable to through the pine trees. Not sure if this deer kept going but this deer is surely a dead deer but I believe he will live days yet.

11/09/2025

Been running all around today phones been busy. Put Freyja on another one and she lost interest after several hundred yards. Flew the drone on another and couldn’t locate the buck and then was able to locate this buck with the drone. We will check on him again in the morning. He was shot this morning jumped and the hunters basically got on top of him before he jumped up and then the hunters went back and tracked again and couldn’t find blood from the spot they jumped him so called us for the drone and he was only 60 yards from where they stopped tracking bedded again already. He was in some thick stuff but you can see hole on entrance side just behind the shoulder. Honestly looks like a pretty good spot on entrance maybe a little low they did not get a pass through so hit opposite shoulder. We will give him more time and check on him later. More scheduled for tonight and already have tracks scheduled for tomorrow call early!

11/09/2025

Freyja’s newest friend from this morning. Joey shot this deer yesterday morning and had it on video of this deer standing out about 60 yards for quite awhile acting like a deer that was hit back. So we treated it as such and lined up a time this morning to go track this deer. 24.5 hours post shot and Freyja marched us 200 yards which was mostly snow covered to this buck in a short amount of time. Originally I had plans to fly the drone for this deer but Joey saw a buck go across the road 3-4 hours after he shot this one in the opposite direction his deer went and thought it was his deer he shot at. So we would have had a much bigger area to search so put Freyja on it and let her sort it out. Turns out he went the way Joey originally thought and bedded up along the river. This deer was still not stiff 24.5 hours post shot. You can see the entrance which is just about perfect and exit was same height basically maybe an inch lower and 3 inches back clipping the liver and I’d assume one lung. These deer need time this time of the year. Don’t be the hunter calling me saying well I waited 2 hours before tracking on an unknown hit. I had a double lung last week still alive 3 hours after the shot. 12 minimum on unknown hits. Congrats Joey on your biggest public land buck to date! Appreciate you handling everything perfectly post shot. There was no visible blood after where this deer stood. Had Freyja on a few others this morning that are still running. See what the rest of the day brings.

11/08/2025

Took flight on 2 bucks right away this morning both within 15 min of my house. The first one was gut shot yesterday morning they found corn in the blood at 30 yards and wisely backed out. Everything handled perfectly post shot by these guys flew up this morning and had him located within 10 min. Second one was shot last night the hunter figured high behind the shoulder which we both kind of figured wasn’t going to be a fatal hit but he wanted to make sure and 15 min later I located his buck indeed hit high. This deer will live to see another day.

11/07/2025

4-5 before noon with more to get too tonight. Taking a break and charging everything up.

Track 1 this one was tracked by the hunters last night and at about 300 yards they saw corn in the blood so they wisely backed out. This deer went another 600-700 yards from where they stopped last night. I located him this morning 18 hours post shot still alive but not doing well. We did a re check on this one after track number 3 and he moved maybe 70 yards and was dead.

Track 2: the hunter shot the deer last night and after the shot the deer slowly walked off. Typical liver/gut hit behavior which is what both our thoughts were. Turns out the deer was hit better then thought and this was a quick one.

Track 3: the hunter shot last night and tracked a ways and didn’t like how the blood looked and was raining pretty good so they backed out. We put Freyja on this one and a short 275 yards later we had this buck.

Track 4: was a doe shot one lung liver gut the hunting party lost blood and then rain washed what maybe would have been there away.

Track 5: was a deer shot in the back ham the hunter never tracked this deer knowing it wasn’t a great hit. We flew the drone for an hour in the direction he thought the deer went and was unable to find it. Put Freyja on the trail and she showed us several spots of blood showing us this deer went the opposite way the hunter thought and she took it several hundred yards where we were headed to a big open grass area and swamp and we decided to pull her off and fly the drone again and was not able to find him. I believe he will give another hunter a chance at him.

As always when in doubt back out and give us a call sooner then later. When I’m getting dozens of calls for tracks at a time it’s much easier if you text and put all the detail in there it can be hard to keep track of who’s who when calls come in back to back. And be patient if I don’t respond I’m likely tracking a deer and will respond after

11/06/2025

This one was a special one for Philip and a fun one for us. I’m glad we could be apart of it. Philip lost his father this year and took his dad’s bow to the woods with him and was able to harvest his biggest buck yet! He knew the shot was a steep angle and he couldn’t find his arrow or any blood at hit site or within 15 yards of the area the deer ran so he decided it was best to leave us a clean line and back out. We scheduled a time to come in. The shot ended up entering higher on the back and exiting low gut explaining the lack of blood. I would guess it was one lung liver and gut. 250 yards later Freyja had us standing over this beautiful buck. Not a drop of blood to be seen until 30 yards from where the buck was dead.

11/06/2025

2+ mile recovery today all because of Freyja! Not exactly sure how this deer is dead as the arrow never went into the chest cavity but we put Freyja on it and she was forward the whole track and as tight and clean to a line as you could possibly be. She kept telling me this deer was dead so we continued to keep tracking. As long as she wants to track we will follow. Through a swamp across a county highway through a chest high grass field through a hardwoods across another blacktop road through an open cut ag field into another tall grass field and this buck dead in his first bed never once did she question where she was going sometimes hundreds of yards between drops of blood. We waited at a property line for about 45 minutes could not get ahold of the owner but I knew from how she was tracking this was a dead animal. She never took her eye off of where this deer went across this road and whined the entire time we waited. She said we are not leaving this track so I flew the drone up 300 yards straight across from where she was waiting and found the deer and the hunter was able to get ahold of that next landowner and recover their deer. We apprecaite all these land owner’s that allowed us to pursue this animal. As we had more tracks to get to we left after locating the deer. No chance this deer is ever seen again without a very experienced and driven dog like Freyja. 22 hours post shot dead in first bed never pushed. These animlas are tough this time of the year.

We took 5 tracks in total today so far with at least one more to get to tonight. Call early!

Track 1 was thought to be hit behind the back leg and sent into the chest cavity. So we thought this was a deer we were for sure going to recover. Gave him 24 hours as we pulled in the hunter said he just saw the lumenok of his arrow going across a grass field 5 minutes before we pulled in by the cabin we were meeting at so we sent the drone up quick and located his buck. He was locked down with a doe with the arrow sticking out showing no signs of being hit gut or intestines. I believe the arrow was high in its back. Pic attached of that buck with the arrow sticking out.

Track 2 was for a traditional archer unknown hit no pass through Freyja tracked this buck 400 yards and we jumped him 20 yards in front of us at about 18 hours post shot watched him run probably another 300 and he looked perfectly fine.

Track 3 was for an unknown hit tracked quite a ways already. We put Freyja on the start at their hit site here as they didn’t mark last blood she marched right through what they tracked all night in a few minutes and pushed the track another 200+ yards passed across a creek and told us this deer isn’t dead. Flew the drone for a bit to check the whole creek bottom and he was not anywhere to be seen.

Track 4: was this 2 mile recovery.

Track 5: they had a video of this buck being shot and it was high and back in the hip with minimal pe*******on couldn’t find blood passed 30 yards. Freyja took this another 300+ and showed us a few spots of blood and then told us this deer isn’t dead. Which from the video we kind of figured but wanted to make sure. Flew the drone around the few ponds and the marsh where we ended and he was no where to be found. I believe this deer will show back up soon enough.

Great dog work all day by Freyja once again. Shes a tired pup after the last few days but absolutely loves her job. Can’t recover whats not dead. Call early and give these deer time right now. More to get to tonight and then will start booking for tomorrow.

11/05/2025

Found one dead today finally after quite the streak of non recoveries. Been on a pile of tracks last few days. Two from yesterday were back on cam already. One yesterday we lost permission on the landowner said no dogs but the hunter could go in and it was 40 yards across the line fence and the hunter was able to recover. Because we didnt have permission here we re started her hoping it went a different way and she went two times to the exact same spot and the hunter just followed that runway after we left right to his deer. If only some landowners like that really understood how great of a tool a tracking dog really is and actually watched one work a wounded deer trail and how efficient it can be.

This recovery was our second track today liver and one lung hit flew the drone up and found him in a few min. If he was tracked any further last night he would of been bumped for sure. This was the hunters first buck in 10 years! Congrats on a beauty.

Our first track today was thought to be hit low and back and thought he saw something hanging out and red back and low after shot. We gave this deer 24 hours and put Freyja on she tracked it about 400 yards with two drops of blood around 200 yards to confirm she was on him. Then lost interest. Told the hunter she sure isn’t acting like the stomach was open and he checked his trail cam after we left and looks like it was just a graze low and back never opened up the stomach. That’s the third pic here. Our third track was thought to be hit middle of middle up and down and left and right. We treated it as a liver hit gave this deer almost 24 hours as well put Freyja on it she took it maybe 300 yards and lost interest no blood after 80 yards I said to the hunter she sure isn’t acting like it’s a liver hit and no beds yet and then I flew the drone for an hour and a half because he felt confident this deer was hit middle of middle and I found the buck with the drone over 3/4s of a mile away hit middle but high and was licking his wound bedded with a doe. He will live to see another day. 4th track today was shot almost straight down deer went maybe 20 yards and walked off slowly out of sight. Hunter did everything right got out well after dark never tracked this deer till 16 hours post shot. So this one also sounded somewhat promising from the deers reaction and how the hunter handled post shot. Freyja went 550 yards blood was good for about 300 then marked one little spec out around 450 or so and she lost interest. Drone was flown for this one also for an hour and a half as well and never saw him so believe this one is still running around as well.

11/03/2025

Things are starting to pick up! Took 6 tracks today so far with no recoveries to show but some really nice dog work on 4 of them and flew the drone on 2 others. Freyja pushed two of these tracks out past a mile with blood to confirm on deer that were given ample time. Two shoulder shots, a spinal shock hit, a straight side neck shot, a high mid body back hit and a what i believe to be a one lung hit. Stay away from the shoulder and aim bottom half of the deer. Sometimes the deer move and things happen as did on a couple of these but staying off the shoulder will only help your odds. Recovery percent on these type of hits are very very low and I believe all these deer today will live to be hunted another day. Sometimes our best work doesnt always involve a recovery. Those 5 recovery days we post sometimes are way less work normally than a 5 or 6 non recovery day. At least we were out and able to give several hunters closure in their hunts. Couple tracks booked for tomorrow already. Good luck and call early if you have doubts!

Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel LLC

11/13/2025

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