Blue Bagheera Tracking

01/17/2025

Jinx and I will be signing off for awhile. We have a couple of events that I am are booked at to assist in training and judging tracking dogs this spring. I’ll also be posting some of our training videos after the temps warm a bit but a break from socials is due.

We tracked 35 deer. Of the 35 we recovered 17. Of the 18 not recovered, 15 were either jumped by us while tracking or were seen later. 2 we have no closure on. 1 we left dead in the woods thru my error.

Calls were way down this year but man did I have a ton of fun and we met some FANTASTIC folks! Thank you, thank you for allowing us to be a part of your hunts! We appreciate you allowing us to assist -so very much!

01/15/2025

Since I received questions on our snow track I’ll give you the story and my thoughts.

Doe shot Sunday evening. Shot, ran, then walked off. Lots of visible blood at hit site. Took up track two hours later. There was a ridiculous amount of blood that went to drops. When we realized that she was seen 45 minutes post shot we decided to wait until morning. Jinx had NO Problem tracking this deer at this point! It was 37 degrees, snow was deep but had been melting all day. Conditions were GREAT, honestly in the initial area there was almost too much scent and she was amped.

We resumed in the am. Temps had dropped to thirteen over night and everything that melted was froze tight. We are now primarily walking on ice and all that blood is under ICE. (Freeze a small piece of onion in an ice cube and see how well you can smell it). There isn’t much scent accessible, still Jinx picked up the trail well but whenever there was an intersection she would always chose to go forward. Maybe she would’ve corrected herself in 30 yards but as soon as Ian would say he had blood to the right/left I would turn around.
(I have Raynaud’s disease and getting cold can result in serious problems for me so I wasn’t wasting time.)
We finally just ended up leading Jinx as she was struggling to even walk in most areas. It was quite a workout for us all.

Now if you shoot your deer and it snows OVER the trail, it’s insulated and it’s just a soft fluffy covering but this situation was the worst case scenario for us since it MELTED and then FROZE, creating the barrier. Are there dogs that could have meticulously picked this track apart—Yes, there are, but I’m very honest about our abilities and we are not your best option in this situation.

Ian and I were able to eye track her for about a half mile. Then we used the sxs to check every levee and standing corn. We did our due diligence in trying to locate her but came up empty-she ended up being spotted by a neighbor and he confirmed it was a brisket shot but Ian still went back to check and make sure she was healthy enough to make it. She got up and moved off well so hopefully she does recover.

In closing, as I said yesterday- I’ve got friends… five actually that have Labs. Labradors are bred to work in icey waters and are a great option in 15 degrees. We will call one of them!!!

Sublime Tracking
Bear The Big Black Dog Tracking
smelly benelli wounded game recovery
Rest Easy Tracking Deer Recovery
Lab Tracks Deer Recovery
Labs to the front… in ice.

01/09/2025

Jasper’s story.

I won’t show anything graphic, he had his surgery a few days ago. He’s doing well, way better than me.

I got the call 6 years ago on Nov 10th that he had been born. He was imprinted on deer at birth. He was trailing deer scent by the time I got him at 8 weeks old. He was a freaking MACHINE! I’ve seen a lot of dogs track and by 2 years old he was one of the best. Slow and methodical, he would shut out the world and only that line would exist. He was going to be one of the BEST.

He was also a little s**t! No sweets were safe left out on the table or counter. He was a freaking cat and could scale anything and had an insane vertical jump. Fasted dog I’ve ever seen. He would nip Jinx and run, she would give chase but he could spin and nip her again without losing stride. His athleticism was unprecedented. He could do it ALL… water retrieve, track, loved holding cattle- anything you introduced to him he would excel at.

January of 2021 - I noticed him squinting and his eyes were a little red. I was headed out the door and stopped to look at him. As a handler of a working dog you are so bonded… I just knew something was wrong, really wrong. I could feel it. I canceled my plans and called the vet, jumped in the car and drove straight there.

It was bad, inflammation, for some reason his body was attacking his eyes and a ton of damage had already been done. He was sent to a specialist and the appointments were enough to break me. It was during Covid so I would have to take him in, clip him to a table and walk back out. Go sit in my car and sob. We literally call Jasp “sweet baby boy” or “the prince”. He’s our eternal baby and honestly I just love him so much.

We fought hard to keep some vision and for awhile he had about 10% left and he knew the yard so well that it didn’t really faze him. We would just make sure nothing was ever out of place but eventually, within a year, he went completely blind. It was a rough time, I know there are worst things but there are few people that I love more than Jinx and Jasper. I won’t SAY they are on the same level as my human children but…🤔 lol. It’s no secret, my kids are well aware.

My youngest daughter Shea and Jasper have always been very close. He would sleep with her and was as much her dog as he was mine. She was in college but again bc of Covid had to come home (which made Jasp happy) when she went to England for a semester he would cry and howl whenever he would hear her voice on the phone and was beside himself when she returned. She moved to Tower Grove 2 years ago. We agreed to share custody of him but it got to be too much on him trying to recall his path at both places. Not just that though- he had become very reckless and was running into trees, cars, falling off things. He still wanted to do all the things the other dogs did. He wanted to run with his pack but was no longer able.

So I made the tough decision to let him live with Shea, which made her very happy but broke my heart. I still get him several days per month or when Shea is out of town—and now that he’s not as comfortable here it’s slowed him down some. He generally stays next to me and I take him to the back pasture where he can full out RUN. Then we go do some water retrieval at the pond. He still LOVES doing that. He’s always trying to be the big dog and can have a naughty attitude but he’s easily kept in check. He loves to guard, loves it, wants to guard everyone. He gets overwhelmed when I come to visit him and immediately has to grab his toys and bring them over for me to see all his “stuff”. He loves his walks in the city because there are so many smells, and dogs to fence fight 😂. He LOVES babies!!! Any kind of baby, he loves them!

Anyway, his eyes have continued to die off and due to the pain we opted to remove the one giving him trouble. Let’s pray we can keep that left one healthy!!! He may be blind but he’s still very valuable. Forever our Sweet Baby Boy.

01/03/2025

As most of you know my sweet baby boy went blind 4 years ago. Sadly his right eye has deteriorated to the point of needing to be removed and he will have surgery in a few days. I just wanted to ask you all to cover Jasper, Shea and I in good vibes and prayers for strength and healing.

12/30/2024

The Flu whooped our butt over the holiday. 6 days of hell but we are finally rejoining the living. Ron had to force her out to go potty otherwise this is where she stayed- my once in a lifetime best buddy.

12/23/2024

HELP!!
We are bored silly!!! Someone call us to track! PLEASE! You don’t even need to pay us… honestly I might be willing to pay you lol— nah, not that desperate YET. Stay tuned though.😂

12/22/2024

Still on its feet 4 weeks later!!

12/13/2024

My good friend Matt Davis of Broken Arrow Game Recovery, LLC put this comparison together and I think he did a really great job giving an honest assessment of abilities.

This video breaks down the differences between drones and dogs for whitetail deer recovery. Comment any questions!

12/05/2024

4 hours and 5 miles… I’ve waited to post this story because I was hoping for a resolution but it’s been almost 2 months and nothing yet.

Details from my hunter said a dead deer. Deer was shot with a compound bow fix blade, ran approximately 75 yards in a semi circle, laid down. The deer rose after 10 minutes, head hanging low, mouth open and walked very slowly then laid down again. Hunter thought he might of stood again but it was dark, thought maybe he heard him fall. They waited an hour before heading out to search. No deer to be found.

We came in the following morning to “this super easy track” Jinx took a line out but in a matter of minutes was saying that wasn’t him. We tried again, she went to the water. We tried again and she backtracked slightly then went up the ridge - this was the only time she looked positive to me but we jumped two bucks up there and the hunter said neither were his. We tried again and again and again. We grid searched the entire area with them (and I do NOT grid search with my dog). There was a bluff to one side so that was eliminated but we even went on top of it to try to pick up something.

There was almost no blood. Not a drop to be found after the bed. No arrow but he swore it was a pass thru. Sadly they did some searching so if there was sign it had been eliminated. This is the track we dread. The zombie deer that for whatever reason isn’t stressed. Isn’t feeling the pain so it’s not laying down interdigital wounded deer scent, it’s not bleeding or leaking gut juices and with all the yummy rut smells we cannot stick to him.

The three of us searched everywhere within half a mile of that hit site. Then they searched, checked cameras, checked in with all the neighbors… nothing. This track will stick with me. It’s scary right??? But it happens and it’s why I give what sometimes seem to be outrageous wait times. Because this CAN and DOES happen to SOMEONE every season and I don’t want that someone to be YOU!!! They thought it was dead and rushed in (it sounded like a dead deer, could’ve been laying there dead- but wasn’t) - you should treat every track like it’s the worse case scenario on these giants.

IF called first I would’ve said… soft tissue area with a small fixed blade… we are in TROUBLE! (Fixed blades are great for breaking through and getting the job done but on intestines they’re not as effective as a mechanical. We use a hybrid ourselves because mechanicals are notorious for deflection when bone is involved.)

We laid it all out there on this one (the track is zoomed way out so doesn’t do justice to the search) but this guy still doesn’t have his deer. Hoping it’s located at some point but it could be miles away. He wasn’t a home range buck so he probably traveled back to his normal area. Very disappointing but thankfully it’s only this deer and one other that we don’t have closure on for this season. Out of 30+ we either recovered, jumped or they were seen later except for one we left in the woods. Thankful for that at least.

12/03/2024

We tracked this beautiful buck at approximately 18 hours post shot. Details were 100 yard shot, ran then laid down at another 100 at which point 5 doe came in, he jumped up and ran off with them. Not sounding too good.

Our hunter felt pretty positive of his shot but said that there was only a little bit of blood at the bed, then a couple of drops after. With the lack of sign and him moving out fast he didn’t have much hope and was just giving it his due diligence after wounding the animal. This buck was only 20 yards from the property line when he jumped up so of course across the fence was where he went.

After he received permission to track we showed up and tried to get Jinx to search out the hit site, that didn’t work. We moved up the field to the bed, couldn’t locate that either but Jinx hit on where he entered the woods, I saw one drop of blood and asked her to track THAT. She looked good, committed, she came out into a cut corn field and I could see her trying to figure it out. She looked like a dog does when crittering- tight fast little circle. I knew she was trying to pull the ONE injured deer out of the SIX that ran through together. I could read her saying…this one? NO. This one? NO. This one? YAS!!! She had him!!

She locked on and trailed him through the mostly dirt ground, towards a creek, quick hard left into the woods and showed me a minimal bloody bed. We then exited the woods and trailed along the field again until she threw up her head and I knew we had him. We entered the woods again and I could see him 40 yards ahead laying up against some brush.

I said “we got him”. Our hunter was floored. He said “I kept waiting for you to tell me the dog says it’s not dead”. Nope- I was pretty confident we were finding this deer within 30 seconds of her putting her nose down. He said “ I would’ve never found this deer without that dog, amazing!” In all this deer traveled about a quarter of a mile and all we saw was a single drop of blood and one wound bed. There was no straight line, he zigzagged through a field and a few different wooded areas. The kicker… he was shot with a 270!!!! Through the liver and intestines, clipping the lung. Crazy. Tough. Animals.

Now in all honesty all tracks are not this easy. It all depends on the scent line. This deer was laying down some serious “mortally wounded” deer scent and no one had gone in and made a mess of things- thank goodness!

We had a track the other day for a back whack- deer dropped and laid there for 5 minutes then jumped up and ran off. This is a 99% non-recovery and the deer will most probably be fine but the hunter wanted us to confirm. Jinx wanted to track everything EXCEPT that deer. She was like nope, I don’t care about that lil blood line, not catching that deer. It took a minute to convince her to track it. She finally did and we jumped him several hundred yards out with a bit of blood and our hunter confirming it was his buck moving out just fine… this took an hour though! Not all tracks are easy- sometimes it’s a ton of work and we still don’t get our deer.

Appreciate the trust in us- always!

12/01/2024

This was a two day track. This buck had been jumped the evening before. We came in to track him and jumped him again. The terrain and property lines made it impossible to attempt pursuit so we parked him in the woods and prayed he wouldn’t keep moving.

We came in the following morning and resumed where we left off. The blood trail was going to specks so we knew this would be a trust the dog situation. As we were going up the side of the hill and through the woods Jinx was noting several beds. We trailed along the edge of the woods for awhile before Jinx gave her proximity alert. I told our hunter that I thought his deer was close and still alive. As we started down the hill he jumped up right in front of us and squared off. This boy wasn’t playing. I pulleyed Jinx back as fast as I could and squatted low then told our hunter, who at this point was right beside me, to shoot him. His gun jammed. This buck stood there the entire time that he ejected and reloaded before turning and running back into the woods. I knew this deer was badly hurt and we needed to put him down.

I said “you loaded?” Yes. “Ok then go get him”. We waited in place while he pursued him through the woods and out into the bottom field where again the buck stood (no way I’m moving out in front of a hunter high on adrenaline with a loaded rifle) I heard a shot, called out to make sure our hunter was ok then Jinx and I headed down for her prize.

This track was over a mile long on a TOUGH old boy and I’m thankful we were able to get permission on the adjoining property or this deer would’ve suffered a long time before succumbing to his injuries or to the coyotes.

As always we appreciate your trust in us!

11/30/2024

“How could you not fall in love with that dog” Eric Jon Peterson- great job on narrating! Katy Harrelson, you did amazing as did Scott Gillespie and the crew of Rocky Mountain Big Game Recovery!

“Borderline Addiction 😂. We all know it’s more like full blown addiction. Hahaha

In the rugged wilderness, where every scent tells a story, humans have an extraordinary partner—the K9. With noses attuned to even the faintest trace of bloo...

11/29/2024

My husband has gone along on two tracks with me. I had asked him to get some photos of Jinx and I working. THIS is the only photo he took… not exactly what I was going for—-men.

Anyway, if anyone has ever taken photos of us tracking-I would really love to have them.

Thank you!!!

11/28/2024

We have so much to be thankful for today (and everyday), including everyone that shares in our adventures and especially those that have trusted us with their trophies!
We will be enjoying good food and great company today, probably be in a food coma this evening but give us a call if you think you’ll need help tomorrow morning.

11/26/2024

I took this photo a few weeks ago. That really pretty buck… as we were walking out I turned around, knelt on the ground, took out my necklace and snapped a photo. Credit to my hunter for not asking questions- I think I mumbled something but don’t actually know what. I didn’t plan to take the photo…

I primarily keep my private life off of socials but I want to share this AND explain how EXTRA SPECIAL this year has been to me.

I lost a close friend this year. My husbands best friend since childhood, the best man at our wedding. He was present for all of my kids milestones, a regular at our holiday tables. He was family, a brother of heart and it was really tough to watch such a big ole grizzly decline. I don’t actually think it’s sunk in yet.

He loved Jinx, was obsessed with her! Fed her a ridiculous amount of treats every time he came over. Camping was the worst- she would sit by him the entire weekend because she knew how he rolled. He still couldn’t pet her and she gave him hell every time he came over but he never quit trying! Lol. I always thought that we would go get him his very own special Lacy dog whenever he retired (he worked out of town a lot and as a bachelor there was no one to care for the dog at home). That dog would’ve had the best life and more adventures than you can imagine.

That will never happen now.

BUT he has gotten to come along with Jinx and me this season! He’s in my pack and will probably always be with me on my tracking adventures —so Thank you to everyone that has had us out so far this season! I know that together we are making smiles in heaven!

Carmen Hembrock

11/24/2024

Moments before the face plant and drag this morning. My friend Tom Monehan says I may have gone overboard on the prey drive. 🤷🏻‍♀️ ya think? Shes a gritty little hellcat for sure but we love her!!