Ruger’s Whitetail Tracks

29/02/2024

Throwback Thursday!

The day R***r passed his UBT 1 test. This is R***r and I with our Judges at Trackfest.

At only 400 yards with 3 oz of Blood with hoof scent and two 90 degree turns, aged at least 4 hours…. I remember sweating this track. 😂 I hadn’t even begun to understand what “tracking” meant. I clearly remember waiting in my vehicle with R***r while another team tested… excited, anxious, nervous… lots of thoughts of how hard I have trained and what if we don’t pass. I must have been showing my emotions because one judged asked if I was “okay” and when I said I was just nervous, she relied “ah you will be fine”. I thought “easy for you to say”😂 .

I met a lot of great people that weekend. People I still reach out to every week, asking for advice/training tips. I was told by a veteran tracker who watched R***r and I run a practice line that weekend, “he is a tracking dog, all you have to do is put the work in now”.

24/02/2024

Full video from yesterday’s track.

600 yards. 24 hours. blood at hit site. This track consisted of multiple turns and archs to help "read" R***r when he is off line.

23/02/2024

Little clip of today’s track. Concentration was on reading the dog. Lots of turns placed in this track. This was the first. You can see R***r go to the point of loss and then begin to make big circles and eventually back track all to figure out the puzzle.
This track was run at 24 hours. Almost no blood besides hit site

23/02/2024

A few 90 degree turns throughout a 600 yard track. R***r took sometime as the direction changed quickly but sorted each out without help. Lay time was 24 hours for this track

22/02/2024

Throw back Thursday. This was the first deer R***r and I recovered. Two years later looking back this was a very easy track but for a newbie.. I remember it being very stressful. Our team has come along way since then but this is where we started.

18/02/2024

Video of today’s track. R***r did exceptionally well for being 28 hours old. R***r missed a couple turns but self corrected and continued on to the target. 900 yards. Blood at hit site and 4 drops throughout. 28 hours old.

R***r tracks 900 yards with blood only at the hit site and 4 drops throughout. This track sat 28 hours before running.

17/02/2024

Overlap of today’s track. Ran at exactly 28 hours.

16/02/2024

Back at it! 900 yards. Blood at hit site and a few drops throughout. A couple of vbacks and a simulated bed. I’m going to test R***r and run this around 28 hours. The long lay time should help R***r slow down on the track…. Key word “should”😂

04/02/2024

Here is the video of the latest track. R***r did exceptionally well crossing the open ground. You can tell he has a bit of uncertainty as he does a lot of check work and bracketing to figure out the scent goes across the field. One thing I didn’t plan for was a half eaten deer that died almost right on the scent line. This was a great distraction and R***r handled it with perfection, leaving the deer and getting right back on the scent line. 800 yards. 2ml. Aged 18 hours

800 yards. 2ml of blood. Aged 18 hours

01/02/2024

Doesn’t look very fancy but the exposed ground will make for very tough scent conditions. 800 yards. 2ml of blood.

Let’s see how R***r does tomorrow.

30/01/2024

A video of our first track of the offseason. I threw a lot at R***r right out of the gate. A couple back tracks, scent pool and had someone walk over about 30-40% of the track which spread the scent around. It takes a few minutes for R***r to sort out the track at the beginning but he figures it out and finds the target. This was also a great track for me to learn R***rs behaviors. I’m starting to think that when he turns around about 40 yards away and looks at me… it’s not for help but a “are you coming”.

I’m very happy with R***rs performance these past two years. He definitely knows his job and now it’s important to expose him to as many tracking scenarios as possible. There is always room for improvement.985 yards. 2ml blood. 24hours old

R***rs Whitetail Tracks- 2024 Off-Season Trainingg

26/01/2024

Track is set. 985 yards. Complete with backtracks, scent pool and a simulated bed. Running at 24 hours with 2ml of blood.

25/01/2024

It’s about that time… this track im going to try something different. Along with putting in backtracks and scent pools after laying this track I’m going to have people walk over this track. The idea would be to simulate a real track that a hunter had attempted to find the deer on their own. This will spread the scent around and create another problem for R***r to solve.

06/01/2024

End of the year tracking stats.

R***r and I went on 48 total tracks. We had 20 recoveries and 6 proof of life photos/ notifications of later sightings.
We left 1 deer in the woods that was found by neighbors after the season.

The farthest track away from the house was about 45 minutes and the closest was 3 minutes 😂. I’m not sure how many miles total of tracking was completed, but the shortest find distance was about 50 yards and the longest was 1.92 miles.

I want to thank everyone who had us out to track and those who called but I was unable to track. I do appreciate the phone calls/texts but between working full time and making sure I have time with my family, sometimes it just doesn’t work out.

R***r and I are about to kick off the offseason training in preparation for the next hunting season. The season will be here before you know it! 🦌🐾😎

04/01/2024

Prepping for the offseason! R***r and I want to help as many hunters as we can and be a quality team you can trust! 🐾🦌

25/12/2023

Merry Christmas!🎅🐾🦌

15/12/2023

Late antlerless firearm season is going on now! Feel free to give us a call/text! It’s a great time to fill the freezer!

10/12/2023

Recovery #20

Hunter called this evening after shooting this buck at 4:30pm with a 35 Re*****on. Hunter said the shot looked great but he couldn’t find any blood. R***r and I got on the track about the 3 hour mark. R***r did a few circles at the hit site and began to take a line. We found blood approximately 40 yards in and this buck died 10 yards beyond that.

Congratulations to the hunter!
🦌🐾😎

27/11/2023

The perks of owning your own tracking dog… I was hunting with my son this evening when this doe stepped out 180 yards away. As I was just about to touch off the round my son bumps into my right shoulder. After the shot all the deer run off. I looked at the impact site for 10 minutes and couldn’t locate any sign the deer was hit. I then walked the woodline where all the deer ran off… still no blood. At this point I wasn’t confident at all I was going to find this deer but I had one more card to play, R***r. I put R***r at the hit site an hour after the shot and he circled for a couple minutes before I saw that glorious head snap of his indicating he had found a scent. He tracked into the woods where the deer left and 50-75 yards in I start finding blood… and lots of it. 50 yards later R***r was standing on top of this deer chewing it apart. #19 😎🐾🦌

23/11/2023

Happy Thanksgiving! We have lots to be thankful for. R***r and I are thankful that we get to do what we love, Helping hunters by tracking deer. This season has been great so far and we would like to thank everyone who called or messaged us for advice or for a track. Now is the time to enjoy with your friends, family and loved ones!

Have a great Thanksgiving and great rest of the hunting season. 🦌🐾

16/11/2023

Bloodless 100 yard track that most likely would have been found without a dog…. But that’s not as fun as watching R***r do his thing 😎

12/11/2023

Recovery #17

Hunter called and said he shot this buck the night before and lost blood after tracking 75 yards. R***r was on the track about the 22 hour mark and slowly and methodically made his way over hills and down to a river bottom where we located a few drops of blood (300 yards from hunters last blood). The wind was swirling a lot and R***r took a line following the creek. After about 200 yards R***r finally admitted he was wrong and decided to turn back. We restarted at the last blood and R***r this time took us right following the creek and turned into a swamp. While trying to make my way to him the hunter advised he had found blood on a cattail. I walked through the swamp following R***r and jumped the buck that was 5 feet in front of R***r and I. The buck ran out of the swamp and up a hill with R***r in Hot pursuit. The buck eventually collapsed from exhaustion and R***r got to claim his reward. Great track! Congratulations to the hunter on a great buck.

Another buck found that definitely would have never been found without a trained tracking dog.😎🐾🦌

10/11/2023

Sometimes the bucks get away, but not for lack of effort. 2.15 miles of tracking with confirmed blood. Now it’s nap time. 😂

05/11/2023

Recovery #16

Hunter called this morning and said he shot a buck high and far back and was able to track blood for about 200 yards. Hunter advised he did search a little after last blood but did not come up with anything. R***r arrived on the track at the 19 hour mark and made quick work of this track. R***r covered 457 yards in just about 15 minutes. 1 spot of blood was found from the hunters last known blood. Congratulations to the hunter!

😎🐾🦌

04/11/2023

Another proof of life photo. R***r and I tracked this buck last week over 1000 yards with only 1 bed. Glad to see he is still moving😎

04/11/2023

Recovery #15

Hunter called this morning saying he had shot a doe back in the guts and only able to track about 250 yards before backing out. R***r was out in the trail around the 14 hour mark and marched us .75 miles to this doe.

Track #2 of the day was a definite gut shot, lethal every time. R***r put on a tracking clinic and tracked across 3 separate properties, found where the buck doubled back and into an open field. This buck was definitely being pushed by coyotes as the gps read 2.3 miles before the track was called. Unfortunately this buck was not recovered as the coyotes most likely ran it to exhaustion miles away.

Track #3 of the day was a suspected liver shot. Buck track at the 8 hour mark. R***r tracked 350 yards and bumped this buck up from his bed. We watched as the buck stood for a few minutes and then walked off. This shot is 100% fatal and the decision was made by the hunter to back out and recover the buck in the morning, hopefully laying in its next bed.

Overall a great day of tracking. Although recovering deer is the goal, R***r did not disappoint at all. 😎🦌🐾

04/11/2023

It’s a good morning!
#15

03/11/2023

Recovery #14

Hunter shot this buck las night and was only able to track it 250 yards before losing blood. The shot was taken as the deer was quartering to the hunter hitting the lung/liver and guts. The arrow was lodged in the opposite hip which upon impact the hunter suspected broke the rear leg.

R***r was put on the track at around the 18 hour mark and tracked step for step with this buck 926 yards. R***r worked out a backtrack flawlessly along with a couple more turns and through some standing water and onto this great buck.
Congratulations to the hunter on a great buck.

926 yards. 18 hours. One dead buck 😎🦌🐾

02/11/2023

What is almost as good as a recovery?? A proof of life picture!

R***r and I tracked this buck a week or so ago and determined throughout the track the hit most likely wasn’t fatal.

R***r and I have been in a string of similar tracks that did not end in a recovery. I thought I should post this picture for an example. Notice the wound behind the shoulder. Seems like a definite “dead deer”…. Not always. Shots that hit high, The top 1/3 of deers back have a greater chance of hitting muscle and only one long. The deer will run as if fatally wounded but no blood or very little will be located at the shot site. About 50-100 yards down the track large amounts of bright red blood will appear , giving the hunter hope of a recovery as deer “shouldn’t bleed that much and live”. This blood is coming from a large muscle group and therefore oxygenated and giving the appearance of “good blood”. Eventually the blood will disappear and the hunter will no longer be able to track. When a dog gets on the track he will continue to track from other scents from the deer and most likely be able to locate a bed with coagulated blood in it… confirming a muscle hit. Once the deer beds and gets up to leave it truly believes it isn’t injured and will simply walk away. You will also find “dinner sized plates “ of blood where the deer is standing for an extended period of time. All of these clues point towards a muscle hit and most likely, not fatal.

Nothing is a sure thing in the tracking world, but when I as a tracker make an educated guess on whether or not a deer is dead…and then receive a pic like this, I count it as a win. A deer was not wasted.