Mosquito Creek 'Houlas

11/26/2025

This couldn't be more accurate......🤦

11/23/2025

Ran into this little guy while running one of our tracks last night, he wasn't phased by us at all.

11/21/2025

11/21/2025

A great video with our good friends @ Mulberry Bottoms Wounded Game Recovery ft. Marlee, Maggie, and Paisley 💪

Blood Tracking: A Not So New ApproachIf you hunt long enough, unfortunately, wounding an animal is going to happen. It’s not a matter of if, it’s when!It suc...

11/21/2025

Ohio's Youth gun season is this weekend, and it’s one of the most meaningful weekends of the year.
This is where traditions are built, confidence is shaped, and young hunters learn what true respect for the woods and the animal really looks like.

Make sure they’re suited up in blaze orange, safe, and steady — but also remind them why we do this:
The patience…
The responsibility…
The honor of taking a life ethically…
And the connection to something bigger than themselves.

These moments are how we keep the spirit of hunting alive through the next generation. Every track, every lesson, every sunrise they experience beside us matters more than they’ll ever realize right now.

And if the shot doesn’t land quite right — that’s okay.
Mistakes are part of learning.
If you need us, we’re here to help give those young hunters the closure, answers, and guidance they deserve.

Let’s make this weekend safe, memorable, and full of moments they’ll carry for the rest of their lives.

Best of luck to everyone this weekend! 🧡🦌🧢

"When in Doubt - Back Out!"

11/19/2025

It feels like some of the old-school hunting traits and ethics are getting forgotten more and more each day — patience, respect, and responsibility traded for shortcuts and quick thrills. I just wanted to touch on some of those here.
​

𝗛𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲: 𝙀𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙘𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮 𝙎𝙩𝙚𝙥
Ethical hunting isn’t just about tagging a deer.
It’s about respect, responsibility, and every decision you make before, during, and after the shot.
Those choices affect the animal, the land, the public’s perception of hunters, and the legacy we leave behind.

Think of this as a reference of some key points in ethical hunting.
​

𝟭. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗔𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁
Ethical hunting begins long before you step into the woods.
It starts with recognizing that a deer is a living creature, not just a tag filled or a photo opportunity.

Respect means:
• Planning for a clean, humane kill
• Avoiding risky or show-off shots
• Being grateful for the life you take
• Not taking unethical shots just because they present themselves
• Treating the harvest with humility, not arrogance

Those moments where hunters kneel beside their deer, bow their head, or place a hand gently on its side — that’s not posing.
That’s respect, and it is the heart of ethical hunting.
​

𝟮. 𝗠𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗘𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘁 𝗖𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲𝘀 (𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙀𝙭𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙊𝙣𝙚𝙨)
Shot placement is the biggest factor in determining how quickly an animal dies.

Broadside or quartering-away shots expose:
• Both lungs
• The heart
• Major arteries
• A large, forgiving kill zone

These shots create the quickest, most humane death and the highest recovery rate.

Why head and neck shots are unethical...
Some hunters believe head or neck shots “drop them instantly,” but biology tells a different story:

• The head is always moving
• The kill zone is tiny
• A slight miss destroys the jaw, nose, or throat
• Jaw hits cause slow starvation
• Windpipe hits cause slow suffocation
• Non-spine neck hits only wound muscle
• Many “dropped” deer get up once spinal shock wears off

Ethical hunters choose high-probability, low-suffering shots — even if it means waiting.
​

𝟯. 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗚𝗲𝗮𝗿 & 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗺𝗶𝘁𝘀
Ethical hunting requires understanding what your equipment — and YOU — can truly do.

This means:
• Practicing regularly, not last-minute
• Knowing your maximum effective range (where you always hit vitals)
• Understanding arrow setup, broadheads, pe*******on, shot angles
• Knowing firearm drop, accuracy, terminal performance
• Being honest about nerves, weather, and shooting position

Just because a weapon can make a long shot doesn’t mean you should.
Ethics are measured in discipline.
​

𝟰. 𝗪𝗮𝗶𝘁 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘁𝘀 𝗗𝗼
Perfect intentions don’t always equal perfect hits, and things happen that are out of our control. Just remember what happens after the shot determines recovery more than anything else.

Here are the rough wait times every hunter should at least try to go by:

𝙇𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙩 — 𝙒𝙖𝙞𝙩 60 𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙪𝙩𝙚𝙨
• Lung hits are fatal, but deer often run 50–150 yards.
• You have had patience and took your time to get to this point, don't rush it. Take a minute to reflect and give the deer some time.

𝙇𝙞𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙩 — 𝙒𝙖𝙞𝙩 6+ 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨
• Liver hits are fatal, but not fast.
• Deer bed quickly when unpressured.
• Pushing too early is the #1 reason liver-hit deer are lost.
• Six hours is a good starting point — more is often even better.

𝙂𝙪𝙩 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙩 — 𝙒𝙖𝙞𝙩 12+ 𝙝𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙨
• Lethal but slow.
• Deer will be feeling really sick, and will typically want to go bed down right away, or slowly move to a place they feel safe.
• Pushing early can make a gut-shot deer travel miles.
• A 12–16 hour wait dramatically increases recovery success.
• Evening gut shots almost always mean returning the next morning.

Patience saves deer.
More deer are recovered because someone waited — not because someone rushed in.
And if there is worry of spoilage, remember the clock doesn’t even start ticking until after the deer dies.
​

𝟱. 𝗥𝗲𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗜𝘀 𝗮 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆
Ethical hunting doesn’t end with the shot — it ends with recovery.

A responsible hunter:
• Marks the exact shot location
• Watches the deer’s escape direction
• Interprets blood sign correctly
• Avoids grid-searching too soon
• Calls a tracking dog early, not after the track is ruined
• Gives the appropriate wait time
• Follows through even when the outcome is tough

Trackers see it constantly:
Many deer weren’t “lost” — they were pushed too soon or poorly tracked.

Ethical hunters finish what they started.
​

𝟲. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝗻𝗱 & 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘄
Your actions reflect on the entire hunting community.

Ethical hunters:
• Get permission and keep good relationships
• Leave no trash
• Respect property lines
• Park respectfully
• Follow all rules and regulations
• Tag and report accurately
• Treat landowners with gratitude

One unethical hunter can damage access for everyone.
​

𝟳. 𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗛𝗮𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁
Once recovered, the deer deserves dignity.

Honoring the harvest means:
• Taking a quiet moment of respect
• Using the meat responsibly
• Passing on ethical knowledge
• Teaching new hunters the why, not just the how
• Showing gratitude instead of ego
• Treating the deer with care

A deer gave its life — ethical hunters recognize that deeply.

**𝘌𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘴, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.
𝘉𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 —
𝘉𝘺 𝘥𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵’𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨.**

11/18/2025

‼️📢 Starting - Monday Dec. 1, 2025

🚨 NEWS: Deer Bag Limits Reduced in Athens, Meigs, Morgan, and Washington Counties
🦌 The Ohio Wildlife Council approved new white-tailed deer hunting limits in Athens, Meigs, Morgan, and Washington counties for the remainder of the 2025-26 season during its meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

Beginning on Monday, Dec. 1, and coinciding with the opening day of the seven-day deer gun season, the bag limit for Athens, Meigs, and Washington counties is reduced to one deer. Also on Monday, Dec. 1, the bag limit in Morgan County is reduced to two deer. Deer bag limits are reduced in these counties in response to an outbreak of Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD).

The limit remains in place until the close of the 2025-26 deer hunting season on Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. Athens, Meigs, Morgan, and Washington counties have a three-deer limit until Sunday, Nov. 30.

Deer bag limits in the rest of the state remain unchanged.
https://ow.ly/YaL950XrMRO

11/18/2025

Alright — honesty time.

What’s the shot you still think about to this day?
Bad angle? Rushed? Branch got in the way?

Drop it in the comments. 👇
𝑵𝒐 𝒋𝒖𝒅𝒈𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 — we’ve all been there.

11/18/2025

𝐎𝐤, 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐭𝐬....

Are folks who take head or neck shots really being ethically responsible? 🤔

Because when you understand deer anatomy, movement, and real-world outcomes…
that shot shouldn’t even cross your mind.

So why does the idea even pop into someone’s mind?

Usually it’s one of three reasons:

𝟭. 𝗘𝗴𝗼 𝗳𝘂𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲.
“Drop ’em in their tracks” - "They don't walk away"
They want the dramatic effect — not the ethical outcome.

𝟮. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘁𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴
They’ve seen it work once and think it’s normal.
It’s not. It’s luck, not skill.

𝟯. 𝗟𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘁 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘄𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴.
Talk to any tracker, we've seen it all too often.

When you’ve seen that suffering firsthand,
you stop thinking that shot is an option.

If you respect the animal — if you care about a clean, ethical, fast, humane kill — then you choose the shot that gives the deer the highest chance of dying quickly, and not taking a gamble with the animal suffering. And that is never the head or the neck, the risk is just too high.
​

𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙚’𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙮, 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙣 𝙚𝙙𝙪𝙘𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙥𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙩:

𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝘂𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘆.

People say “aim small, miss small,” but in the head/neck?
Miss by one inch and you hit nothing vital.

• The brain is the size of a raquetball.
• The spine is narrower than your fingers.
• The jugular?
It’s a thin, low-lying vein buried deep in muscle, about the width of a pencil. Missing it by even an inch means you hit nothing vital.

Everything else up there — jaw, nose, tongue, throat — is non-fatal but devastating.

That’s not respect.
That’s gambling with an animal’s suffering.
​

𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝗡𝗘𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴.

A deer’s head is the busiest part of its body. Every few seconds it’s:

• Lifting
• Dropping
• Chewing
• Sniffing
• Flicking
• Turning

By the time your bullet or arrow gets there, the target is already somewhere else.
Respect means knowing the animal’s behavior — and choosing the ethical shot based on that reality.
​

𝟯. 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀.

If you ever watched what happens after a bad head/neck shot, you’d never aim there again.

We’ve seen:

• Deer with their jaw blown off
• Arrows lodged in their skull
• Tongues hanging out
• Nose and face shattered
• Windpipes destroyed
• Deer alive but unable to eat or drink
• Slow, painful death over days or weeks

These aren’t clean kills.
They’re slow deaths.

Respect/ethics means not putting an animal in that situation.
​

𝟰. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝘂𝗻𝗴𝘀/𝗛𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁, 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗲 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘇𝗼𝗻𝗲.

If your goal is a quick, clean death — the true mark of a respectful/ethical hunter — the vitals behind the shoulder are where it's at:

• Large target
• Stationary compared to the neck
• Full of arteries and vessels
• High lethality
• Predictable recovery

Ethical hunters choose the shot that ends the animal’s suffering fastest — not the one that “looks cool” if it happens to work.
​

𝟱. 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗽𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝗿.

Respect isn’t what you say after the hunt.
It’s the decision you make before you take the shot.

A respectful/ethical hunter:

• Understands anatomy
• Understands movement
• Understands the consequences
• Chooses the ethical shot with the highest percentage of a clean kill.

Stop and think - Am I taking the high-percentage, humane shot…
or am i taking a gamble that could ultimately cause this animal to suffer?

A neck or head shot is a gamble — and the deer pays the price when it goes wrong.

11/18/2025

Got another confirmation of life from one of our tracks we took while we were up in Michigan.

11/17/2025

We got a call from Jonathan W. while we were up in Michigan this weekend. He had made what he thought was a great shot on a buck, had got a passthrough with his arrow. Upon taking up the trail he had some decent blood till it just came to a stop. He backed out and reached out for some help.

We started Luna at the hit site, and she took off on the blood trail, got to the area the deer turned left and went towards the fence line and kept trucking forward until we came out to a grassy opening out of the thicket. She then made a hard right about 75 yards around a few pike trees working back and forth around them but not able to pinpoint what she was smelling there.

She then restarted herself back to where we came out, then went across the grassy area to the other side and worked up to a couple pine trees. She slowly worked over to the other side of them then came to a stop. I stood there watching waiting for her to continue, but she never moved again. I then proceeded to walk around to where she was, and there laid his buck. Unfortunately the coyotes had tore him to pieces. Big thank you to Rob with Miller Deer Tracking. for the referral.

Congratulations Jonathan!

11/16/2025

First one from our trip up to Michigan for their gun opener on Saturday.

Ryan was referred to us from Rob of Miller Deer Tracking. Ryan had shot his deer at the top of the ridge, and the deer turned and ran down the back side away from him. Upon looking for blood he only found a couple spots, then nothing.

We started Archer off at the hit site and he quickly made his way down the ridge to a well used path, then started working his circles trying to reconnect. As I approached the trail Archer cut off to our right and started making his way along the trail till we got to the edge of the next finger about the time I hear Ryan say "There he is!" At this point I hadn't seen him yet, but as I rounded the trees there he laid.

Congratulations Ryan!