Mosquito Creek 'Houlas

09/23/2025

Like the photo says, give yourself the best odds of recovery. Best thing you can do if you run out of blood, or even if you can't find any around the hit site at all is back out and get in contact with a tracker.

If you think you may need a dog, the worst thing you can do is get all of your buddies and start grid searching the entire area. There is much more to a track than just visible blood, there are microscopic drops of blood, scent from the interdigital gland in their hooves, hair, dander, their breath, crushed vegetation, and many others.

When the area is grid searched and you cross the scent line you pick that up on your boots, your clothes etc and then wind up spreading it in every direction you go. Not only will the dog have to figure out where the deer went, it will have to try to work through all of that scent that was spread around from the grid search.

So before you decide to push on and start to grid the area, consider giving your local tracker a call.

09/22/2025

Here is the video of Luna kicking off her 2025 season. So glad we were able to travel up north and help the kids recover their deer. Excited to see what this year holds for us.

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09/19/2025

Archers first recovery of the season.

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09/18/2025

09/18/2025

🏆 We did it, Ohio! 🏆

Ohio State Parks is officially the No. 1 state parks system in the nation, winning the 2025 National Gold Medal Award for Excellence - presented by the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and the National Recreation and Park Association.

This honor belongs to YOU—our millions of visitors who camp, hike, fish, paddle, swim, and explore every year. Together with our incredible staff, volunteers, and partners, you’ve helped make Ohio’s 76 state parks a place where memories are made and nature is celebrated.

From free entry and thousands of campsites and trails, to adaptive kayak launches, inclusive playgrounds, and once-in-a-lifetime experiences like the 2024 solar eclipse, Ohio State Parks are for everyone. 🌲💧🌅

Thank you for making Ohio the gold standard of outdoor adventure. Come see why we’re the best in the nation—your next adventure awaits at ohiostateparks.gov!

Complete press release: https://ohiodnr.gov/discover-and-learn/safety-conservation/about-ODNR/news/ohio-state-parks-gold-medal-winner

Ohio Department of Natural Resources
Ohio, The Heart of it All
Governor Mike DeWine
Ohio Magazine

09/16/2025

Here is the latest EHD map for Ohio...... Not looking good.

09/16/2025

So for our last track of the weekend, we set our sights back to Ohio to track a deer for Steve in one of Ohio's DSA (Disease Surveillance Area) counties for their early season opener.

Steve had slipped through the woods to about the last place he had seen the deer, and upon inspecting the arrow it looked to be covered with gut matter, and lucky enough the deer had passed by one of his trail cams which confirmed it was just that.

After seeing that he knew that he needed to back out and give his deer some time. Not having much sign to go off of, and wanting to have the best chance of success he gave Miller Deer Tracking. a call, and was referred to us. Ended up working out perfect for us as it was close to our way back home.

Typically with that type of shot time is on your side, and normally we would wait around the 12+ hour time period. With the temps being much higher early season, we will shorten those times. We arrived around the 8 hour mark, and made our way back to the hit site. I would normally leave one of our dogs in the truck, but the AC in the truck decided it wanted to quit working on me, so we took both Luna and Archer out with us.

As we were walking along the outer edge of the woods both dogs cut over to the inside edge of the woods and indicated that they picked up a good whiff of scent. I didn't know we were getting close at that point, and we hadn't reached the entrance the hunters went in at yet. Once we entered the woods, we had a very slight breeze flowing through the woods, and it was coming from the direction the dogs had indicated earlier. I was hoping that was a good sign.

I started Archer at the hit site, and he immediately cut over to our right behind the direction of travel and started working back over to the hit site. He then started to work in the direction the hunter said he went with his nose down working a good trail. We get about halfway across the woods and his head popped up high, and starts air scenting pretty heavily, working back and forth showing that he was really picking up on this scent. We reach the other side of the woods, and i look up through a clearing of brush and in the distance I can see a white belly.

I pointed it out to Steve, and Archer heads us over to recover his deer. At the time he was kicking himself in the pants, because of where the deer was in relation to where he stopped, which was probably another 80 yards, but I stressed to him that he did everything right. Had he continued on he would have undoubtedly bumped his deer, and who knows how far that deer would have gone. Yeah it wasn't the hardest track for Archer, and at the end of the day he probably would have found it without the dog, but everything Steve did handling the track made that possible.

Congratulations Steve!

09/15/2025

Our second track of the weekend was for Easton Short. Easton was sure he had made a solid shot on his deer, and upon inspecting the hit site there were only a few pindrop spots of blood for about the first 20 yards as the deer headed into a very tall grassy bottom. After looking around at his last blood, and having a hard time locating more in the tall grass, he wisely backed out.

We showed up and started Luna at the hit site, and she wasted no time getting to work. She quickly made her way past last blood and hit the thickest patches of grass. She started working wide to the left, then working wide to the right, then she started leaping through the tall grass like a deer on a pogo stick ( She had me laughing so hard 🤣 ) I explained that there was a good chance that there was a ton of scent in the area that she is trying to work out.

After a few rounds back and forth, she came back to around last blood and started working around that area to the left, checking the multiple lines that crossed through until we reached a mowed path on the opposite side. She checked the path in both directions, and did not pick up any scent that she liked, and was clearly in search mode.

I decided to go back and restart her at last blood, but this time I would trail close to her on lead and try to slow her pace a little bit. Once we got back to last blood she went nose down, and started working a good line, but was pulling like a freight train. This was a great sign. We continue across the tall grass till I decided to find one of the holes and fall flat on my face 😵‍💫😆. I brush myself off and we continue on for another 30 yards, and I spot our first bit of blood past his point of loss on some blades of grass.

We push on for another 10 yards or so, and I feel the lead go slack. I make my way around the corner and there lays his deer. With the lack of any wind all that scent had settled in that bottom, and explains why Luna was working the area as wide as she was, and her crazy intensity. She knew that deer was somewhere out there.

His deer would have been a tough one to find without the help of Luna, you could have almost walked right over where he was in the tall grass.

Congratulations Easton on your awesome non-typical buck!

(More of our weekend to come)