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Slifer Bloodhound Service, 10570 East 700th Avenue, Watson, IL (2024)

10/08/2023

Heads-up we have gotten our original page back up and going after the FB "review." We will leave this page here intact, but will however be posting on the original page https://www.facebook.com/sliferhounds?mibextid=LQQJ4d
Sorry for any confusion, it's just good to be back on our original page. 😊 Thank you all

10/07/2023

Sometimes a win isn't a complete win. Take the case of the first track yesterday. We received a text from the hunter Thursday evening, we had successfully tracked on a very crazy track for this hunter back in 2019. Thankfully the hunter had saved our number, his text asked if we still tracked. Again due to our old page being pulled off FB the hunter didn't know.

Anyhow getting the details via phone call, things sounded pretty interesting. The pass thru shot sounded to be a lethal one that likely got some lung/liver. The hunter knew he had to give the deer some time to expire, so he backed out and WAITED. Here's where the story gets interesting a couple hours after the shot several coyotes went down the same exact path the wounded deer did! It was decided that wait time be shortened due to the coyotes on the deers path. The hunter and two others took up the trail going 150/200 yards on "good" blood. The group called the track after they reached a wound bed near the edge of a creek. The call was then made to us for assistance in the morning.

Meeting up with the group the next day ( yesterday) we drove a short distance to the hunting area and made the walk back to the scene of the crime, the shot site. Conditions for tracking yesterday morning were very favorable as it was cool and was a dew on. Jewel immediately locked on to the scent of the wounded deer at the shot site and walked us to the point of loss (POL). The POL was the previous mentioned wound bed from the night before. There were attempts to find more blood beyond the POL, however mon was found. No blood after a wound bed is usually the case as the deer lays there licking its wounds, or the blood has had time to start clotting.

We all knew in this case the coyotes seen on the deers trail had likely got the buck off of that wound bed, however it was a question now just how far did the push the deer and in which direction. Shortly after Gary harnessed Jewel and gave her the high five start I said a pray and we set jewel off. I wished I could see scent, but watching Jewel I knew what she was doing at our starting point. Jewel worked feverishly in the creek channel to sort out which way the deer went. After about five minutes of checking bank to bank on the creek, Jewel too off in a definite direction with Gray. I looked over at the hunter and told him she had it now. Gary yelled back at us approximately 70 yards away saying he found a drop of blood, we all advanced to Gary but he was already gone and going. We all watched the progress of Jewel and Gary via Garmin Alpha. As we were watching the screen Jewel topped and showed "treed," which meant she had stopped. I looked at the hunter and said I bet she got him. Wasn't a minute later Gary was calling me saying the two standing over the buck.

The hunter, his brother, and his dad all followed me as the Garmin led us some 600 yards to Gary and Jewel waste high standing in the middle of a CRP field. As expected the deer had been unfortunately ate on by the coyotes. The group all said there was no way in the world that they would have found this buck, especially in the amount of time it took! As I said earlier sometimes a win isn't a complete win. The coyotes did beat us this time, fortunately that don't happen too often.
Good job Jewel, you're making your way to rockstar status!

10/06/2023

Good luck and safe hunting to everyone this weekend. Sounds like some cool weather for the youth weekend deer hunting. Cool temps might mean more deer to be seen! EVERYONE is required to wear blaze orange, or blaze pink the 7th-9th.

Also I'm still getting text and messages asking wether we still track. YES WE ARE STILL TRACKING. Jewel is already putting them on the tailgate. Anyhow like always we ask that our fuel expenses be covered and anything above that is welcomed and greatly appreciated. YOU decide how much to compensate us! Again this is the link to our **NEW PAGE** https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550596515965&mibextid=LQQJ4d Feel free to follow along and share this post as well. Thanks so much!

10/06/2023

Sneak peek on number two buck!

10/06/2023

Nice start to the morning!

10/05/2023

These girls are ready to track! Bopper and Jewel are preparing for the youth deer season coming up this weekend.

10/05/2023

A memory of four years ago, some very good points in this post.

THAT’S IT WE QUIT THIS TIME! Two for two this season so far! We are sticking at the 100% success rate. Na just kiddin again! I doubt this will last long, but if the hunters would do as this hunter did there’s a greater chance we can have a great success rate.

This buck was a public ground buck in Southern IL at Pyramid State Park near Pinkneyville, IL. For those of you that is familiar with that park, you know it is a huge park with a large variety of terrain. Today I was tracking in muddy bogs, tall grasses, brush, and huge grassy/weedy feels. You name it we was in it!

This buck was shot on by the hunter who was on the ground at the time and not in a tree stand, 23 hours before we recovered it. The arrow did pass through the buck, but there was very very little blood at the hit site. The hunter and a friend did attempt to track this buck after a lengthy wait of course 👍 The bad thing was they kind of had a general direction, but no other blood to track this buck in the knee high weeds and grasses. The two had wisely backed out, gave us a call and we made a game plan do go down and attempt to track this buck.

Dio and myself had a great road trip down south. We met up with the hunters and proceeded to the park. A very lengthy walk was in store for us to make our way to the hit site. At the hit site I gave the pre-track instructions, said a prayer, and then said those words Dio always anxiously awaits... “Go find em!”

In an effort to keep this post from becoming a book, the track went nearly 3/4 of a mile and was in very sporadic blood with long distances between the spots of blood. The odd thing was went Dio found the buck it was actually laying in 6” weeds, in the wide open and nothing had ate on it! When I first saw it from some 10-15 yards I thought it was a mound of dirt. I could only see its back and no antlers, but thought it was very weird there was fly’s all over it. It was the buck!!! Also just ten minutes before we found it the hunter has said to me I love the work your dog is doing, but I don’t think we are gonna find this deer dead! Well obviously it was dead. Turns out this buck was gut shot and the arrow exited out the rear leg, due to the angle of the shot.

So main points I would like to share about this track is:
1. The hunters got PERMISSION for us to track on this public ground during daylight.
2. The hunter and friend WISELY backed out and did not contaminate the track. This smart move in this case was definitely a huge factor in the recovery of this buck. The hunter and friend both said over and over there would be no way that they would have found this buck on their own without the use of a TRAINED dog.
3. The fact that they had faith in us and was willing to WAIT the following day to track this buck.

Hunters try to remember these these things mentioned, it may make a huge difference in the outcome of the track. If you have concerns or questions on or before your track give myself or any other tracker you may know a call for information. Most trackers have a great wealth of knowledge due to having experienced much while tracking.

10/04/2023

One year ago today: 10-03-22
Fist time bow hunter!
First sit this year!
First time shooting a deer with a bow!
First Buck!
First time and did it right!
First time seeing a dog work!
First time I really felt Dio was with us! (last paragraph)

The hunter informed me his shot a tad back and that the arrow passed completely thru. The hunter investigated the hit site found stomach material on the arrow and had found a little bit of blood on the standing beans near by. Luckily the hunters brother had utilized us (Team Dio) in the past and he knew in this situation a WAIT was mandatory. A call was made to me and it was agreed that Team Jewel would appear shortly sometime a bit after dark. I must admit I was VERY IMPRESSED by the hunters patience and endurance during THE WAIT. I find at times it is even hard for veteran hunters to endure THE WAIT, they even sometimes end starting too soon and end up jumping the deer! The hunter admitted this WAIT wasn’t easy, luckily we told him it was through the day and not the night. 😊 It’s very hard to sleep during THE WAIT! Oh another point of interest was the hunters brother informed me that we had a green light to enter upon the neighboring landowners property, they wisely had contacted them BEFORE we arrived. 👍👍

Arriving a little after the sun set and making our way to the hit site some 13 hours later, l found that the soybean field we was starting in would be very dry. Jewel definitely struggled (as I figured she would) at the beginning, knowing this fact and having ten years experience behind Dio I knew I would have to remain calm and patient here, giving Jewel all the time she needed to get locked on to the scent of this deer. After a 10-20 minute struggle, Jewel locked on and began advancing her way through the field the direction the buck had ran earlier. Every once in a while I was able to make out a smear of blood on a soybean leaf or stem (it’s very difficult to see dried blood on standing beans). The hunter and the other two individuals did as I asked and remained at any new blood Jewel found as we would advance onward to the next spot of blood. The deer eventually angled out of the beans, paralleled the field a bit, and then entered the woods. After a total distance of approximately 300 yards and 30-40 yards within the woods Jewel was standing above the hunters first buck quietly wagging her tail! Good job Jewel!

We (Jewel and myself) then hitched a ride in the bed of a truck to take us to our vehicle. It was on this ride that I truly felt Dio’s presence. Jewel was resting her head on my shoulder as we were going down a country road, I was staring at the sky full of stars. I found myself thinking of similar situations that Dio and myself had in the past. It was at that exact moment I saw a shooting star stream across the night sky. I couldn’t help to think that shooting star was Dio’s way of indicating he was with us. Miss you Dio, I see and feel your presence within your daughter at my side and on the lead. You done good Dio.
RIP DIO 🤘

09/30/2023

‘Twas the night before season,
When all through the house
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even the hunters spouse;
The camo was hung
By the door with care
In hopes that the thirty point buck soon would be near;
The hunters where nestled
All snug in their beds,
While visions of drop tines danced in their heads.

It’s 2AM the morning of opening season (tonight) you’re lying in bed like in the pic. You’ve been counting down the days, hours, minutes, and seconds. Hopefully you’ve done your homework and prepared your self for this day. You’ve surely inspected your hunting device (bow or crossbow) as well as your safety equipment (belt or harness), checked to see if your stands are safely secured, practiced shooting from elevations and different angles, know the effective range of your hunting device, tuned everything up, you have a bright light and fresh batteries in that light, you know that THE WAIT is crucial after the shot.

Remember, WAIT, walk along the blood trail, take your hunting device with you on the track (while it’s legal hunting hrs), “WHEN IN DOUBT BACK OUT,” mark your point of loss well, get permission from neighboring landowners before calling in a dog, reminder: “A DEAD DEER GOES NOWHERE, BUT ONE THATS JUMPED GOES SOMEWHERE,” grid search as a LAST RESORT, and NOT BEFORE A DOG.

Fred Bear said it perfectly. “Be sure of your shot. Nothing is more expensive than regret.” Please don’t take marginal shots, or shots in low light situations. There
can always be a better situation at a later time, it could be days or weeks later, or maybe minutes afterward. Please be ethical and respectful of the game we hunt and pursue.

Good luck and be safe all.

09/29/2023

Riddle of the day.
QUESTION: What four letter word does a hunter hate to hear?
Answer WAIT!!!

Let’s put things in perspective here a bit. It’s been a long WAIT for season to get here. We WAIT hrs and hrs/days on end in the stand to see a deer. We WAIT (hopefully) for the best shot scenario. Sometimes we WAIT for that target deer!

However the hardest thing to do is to WAIT to take up the track after the shot. Speaking only from experience and after tracking 100s and 100s of deer, THE WAIT after the shot IS CRUCIAL to the recovery of your deer!

How long do you wait? Well there are tons of variables for the wait time, shot placement obviously is the most important. A reminder and you’ve heard it before but….A DEAD DEER GOES NOWHERE, BUT ONE THAT IS BUMPED GOES SOMEWHERE!

What happens when you bump the deer off a wound bed? Well you’ve most certainly now just increased the length of the track. An added problem when you’ve bumped a wounded deer off a bed is, the deer has likely quit bleeding (clotted up). Now how do you visually track that deer that is no longer bleeding? If you've bumped the wounded deer off the bed it would certainly be the idea time to call a tracking team for info or help. Another unforeseen issue to bumping a deer is the fact that you might of now pushed the deer on to another property. Hopefully you have made agreements/arrangements with the neighboring landowners ahead of time in case this scenario arises.

SOME "SUGGESTED" WAIT TIMES

If deer is vitally hit, double lung/heart, but ran out of sight give it TWO HRS. as a “just in case." Try to the temptation to look!

A liver hit deer is a more little tricky, sometimes those deer can die fairly quick. However I’ve seen liver hit deer jump off a bed 18-24 hrs after the shot. Again it depends on how much damage was done to the liver.

If it’s a gut/paunch hit, just walk away, give the deer time to expire. Gut shot deer most times will go only a couple hundred yards and bed down. If gut shot deer are left alone you can come back 12-24 hrs later and likely recover the deer in that bed. A general rule of thumb pertaining to anything shot behind the diaphragm is, the further back the shot the longer the wait time. Intestinally wounded deer can live for days! Also know the gut shot type of wounded deer are idea to track with a dog since the deer will likely leave little blood to follow, but will produce a wonderful scent trail for a dog to follow.

Certainly any combinations of organs being damaged can decrease the wait time. An example of lung/liver/gut the deer will expire a lot quicker. Also know the time of year determines the stamina of a deer as well. A pre-rut/full rut buck will be tougher to take down, vs a rundown post-rut buck.

With the Neck/rear ham/leg wound well you’ll likely end up with “tons of blood, “ in these cases. However it certainly takes A LOT of blood loss for a deer to expire. If you’re lucky to have sever the artery in one of those areas, the deer will likely die within couple hundred yards. Lots of variables here in the waiting timeline.

The high back wounded deer, “back whack,” are rarely recovered, note tho there is an artery that runs along the spine. Again if that artery is severed the deer should be found within a couple hundred yards.

A special note about artery or heart wounds, if you happen to nick either one. Deer with a nicked artery/heart can go a very long ways before expiring.

In closing after the shot and if the deer runs out of sight one of the best things to consider is WAITING a significant time to go look at your arrow and hit site, then QUIETLY walk away from the area THE OPPOSITE WAY the deer went. Then WAIT accordingly to the approximate wait times previously mentioned. Go home or wherever, get a snack, gather your thoughts. Maybe contact ONE friend, it only takes a maximum two people to effectively track a wounded deer. TAKE YOUR HUNTING DEVICE DURING LEGAL HRS while tracking! Anyhow the point here with having just two people is, one set of eyes on the ground at all times and the other set of eyes looking forward at all times. With all eyes on the ground you can inadvertently bump the deer without even knowing. Also with only two people tracking, the area won’t be tracked up (contaminated) as much as it would if you had a larger group of individuals grid searching. A contaminated track can certainly make things difficult for some dogs to deal with.

Feel free to share and if you want follow us on our NEW PAGE @ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550596515965&mibextid=LQQJ4d

09/29/2023

A post from two years ago!

Imagine the surprise, when you’re watching an episode of Bowlife with your hound and all of a sudden there’s your hound on TV tracking a deer for Levi Morgan!!

Dio made it on The Outdoor Channel! This track was on Nov 6th of last year. It was Team Dio’s first track planned for that day. Although the track wasn’t particularly too lengthy, the track was in a huge field of switch grass over our heads, as Levi mentioned you could barely see over five feet within it. Anyhow Levi pretty much knew he had a killing shot on his deer, but as he said it was a matter of a time saving issue. Entering that switch grass was like a hitting a solid wall, it was so dense. Amazingly it is hard to believe when we found the buck I turned to look behind us and there was no path to be seen from us, it was like the switch grass had just consumed us all!

I’ve said it before, but A DEAD DEER GOES NOWHERE, that was certainly the case here. Levi called the shots here, he knew THE WAIT was part of the game. Levi and Mike, the land owner, also knew that instead of trampling for hours in the tall switch grass and leaving their scent all over, and that this would be a perfect scenario to have a tracking dog come in to go directly to the deer, that needle in the haystack scenario. Their plan worked, Dio locked on and he took us straight to the deer.

It was a pleasure meeting Levi Morgan and his family, Team Dio was certainly happy we could help Levi recover his fine IL buck. Ironically after loading up and leaving Levi, Team Dio traveled down the road a “few miles” to find a deer for a great guy from NY that came to IL to hunt. After assisting our new friend from New York, Team Dio then loaded up and traveled a “few more miles” down the road to assist two friends that had each shot a deer and was need of our services. The first deer was recovered in a very short time, we was actually driving back to the hunting area and unexpectedly seen the deer laying near the edge of a field! It was one of those moments of being at the right place at the right time I suppose. However the last deer Team Dio recovered that night was definitely an incredibly difficult/lengthy track. A marathon track which ended up putting us in the middle of nowhere at 2AM in the morning, yet Dio did it once again.

All in all it was one of those rare days in tracking where we were blessed to recover every deer we tracked, a four for four day, and it all started when Bowlife met Houndlife! 🤘🏹🐕‍🦺🤘

09/28/2023

THE RESTART
Does a tracking dog take you to the deer on the first attempt? Not always, sometimes a dog does “lock on” taking you straight to the deer, other times a tracker/handler may want to do a RESTART. There are many variables to tracking, therefore sometimes a dog needs to be restarted (sometimes multiple times). Don’t worry if it takes a restart(s) to find your deer. Trust the handler you hired, they know their dog and what needs to be done. You should feel more confident in a handler that does a restart if needed, that shows that they knew it was required.

Compare tracking like a NASCAR race, sometimes there is a green flag (restart) used, ultimately it’s the checkered flag (win/recovery) that is being sought.

09/28/2023

Of course we specialize in wounded deer recovery. Technology is ever expanding. I have been asked several times about my thoughts on drones being used for recovering deer. Yes they may recover deer, but as for now it appears IL. has made the decision that drones are considered ILLEGAL to use for deer recovery. https://www.illinois.gov/news/press-release.27064.html?mibextid=9R9pXO&fbclid=IwAR32gBtnm2Ua1-qqW4bjcp8QSMCEMUHHt5XnIZYHZGsswqndvHovJuEkfbU_aem_AZsUjrVnTk-0cdVQIFVWoNNWxt8quwIRnz_dXKGI0HU8ktATzFUj7hUbUBRyMtNSYIE

09/27/2023

Here's a handy photo to screenshot to send to a tracker for easy reference on your shot placement. Shot placement is critical information for a tracker to decide on how long to possibly wait to take up the track (more on wait times on an upcoming post). Remember tho there is a huge difference between AIM POINT & HIT POINT! If you're sending this pic to a tracker please make sure you are positive on your shot placement. Just know it's totally okay to say you're not sure on the shot placement, especially when using a crossbow due to the high speed and looking through a scope. Another reminder, those lit nocks help you A LOT to know where you hit.

Again feel free to share this post among friends and fellow hunters. You can follow us on our NEW PAGE @ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550596515965&mibextid=LQQJ4d

09/25/2023

A little tracker humor 😊

09/25/2023

National Daughters Day 2023! I'm blessed to have SIX total! 😱

09/24/2023

HELP US, MAYBE WE CAN HELP YOU SOMEDAY! A memory from five years ago of Dio and Teddy, both now gone. In that post with this pic I was asking if anyone shot a deer within a 20 mile radius of Watson and knew where the deer was to give me a call to run the unexperienced Teddy on the track to learn.

I'm asking for hunters assistance in practice tracks again, this time for my now B dog Rudy. Rudy will be the backup dog to the now proven, Jewel. Time permitting I would love to run Rudy on actual deer tracks (known kills) so that she can better learn. We could help drag the deer out, or even perform the track to a gut pile if the deer is no longer at the end of the track. If you could help us out, it would be greatly appreciated. Call me at 217-821-5838. THANKS.

09/23/2023

THE WAIT, and why the WAIT is so important after the shot.

The A. Buck: the hunter knew his shot was intestinal in nature, he then simply backed out, wisely WAITED letting the deer lay over night, and called us to track it the next day. On the track we found the deer bedded several times and bled very little blood to effectively visually track it, this was due to the intestines blocking the exit wound. The deer was then found in the last bed, dead and complete. NO COYOTES found the deer. The deer traveled approximately 150 yards from where it was shot the evening before. Ironically on the way over to do the track the hunter sent us some pics (post shot) from his trail camera that he had gotten through the night. The coyotes in that trail camera pic were approximately 150-200 yards from where we found the hunters buck! There could have certainly been a whole different outcome had the buck been perused too soon and possibly pushed. The hunter won here!

The B Buck: the hunter wasn’t too positive of the shot, but was concerned about the coyotes in the area, he then perused the buck shortly after the shot. The hunter and friends tried to track the buck the evening it was shot with no avail, the lack of blood and thick cover definitely made tracking very difficult for them. We was called to assist and plans were made for the following day to help. Dio recovered the buck approximately 450 yards away in fairly short time. You can see what was left of the buck when we found it. Could the fact the buck may had been inadvertently pushed by searching to soon in the darkness been a factor of the coyotes finding the buck? Very possible. In this case the hunter somewhat won, the buck was recovered by us. Unfortunately there was no meat to eat. The coyotes had a feast.

Simplifying the scenarios a bit and emphasizing why the WAIT is important, I created the animation for a quick visual, each black line represents 100 yards.

BUCK A was shot “fairly good,” the hunter wisely backed out to let the deer expire. The hunter later comes back after he WAITED a sufficient time to track to find the deer dead in the bed (X). The HUNTER TAGS AND DRAGS!

BUCK B was shot “fairly good” the hunter gets down too soon to start tracking, inadvertently jumps the buck off the bed (X). This is where it gets bad, by this time the buck has likely stopped bleeding due to being bedded for bit. Now there is no blood to see to track from the bed. Also now you’ve just increased the scent trail for the coyotes to pick up on. The coyotes odds are now greater of coming across that longer scent trail from the wounded buck. The coyotes now track down the wounded deer and either push it a long long ways away to another’s property, and or possibly make a meal of it! THE HUNTER LOSES!

Of course there are tons of variables in these situations, BUT WHY INCREASE THE ODDS AGAINST YOU by not WAITING. NOTE: it's actually a surprising fact that we don’t lose that many deer to coyotes by letting them lay (WAITING) and giving them time to expire. REMEMBER: A DEAD DEER GOES NOWHERE, WHILE ONE THAT IS BUMPED GOES SOMEWHERE!

Special note: try thinking about showing respect for the deer when taking pics and putting them on social media. Note that when we originally shared the story of deer B recovery, we covered the deer up with cedar branches and posted it that way. I personally don’t like showing pics of deer eaten up on social media. While taking pics we also try to put the deers tongue back in its mouth, or sometimes actually cut it off so that it won’t hang out. Our way of thinking is it makes the deer look presentable and once again shows respect. After all we don’t a hang deer head on the wall with it’s tongue hanging out, we want them to look good and presentable. A pic on social media can “hang around” a long time just like the deer on the wall.

FEEL FREE TO SHARE! Once again if you're not following us, we can be found at our NEW PAGE @ https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550596515965&mibextid=LQQJ4d

Slifer Bloodhound Service

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