Deer Recovery Blood Tracking

11/01/2025

Sometimes you have to worry about the tall grass and w**d stalks between you and the deer. Sometimes it’s saplings that may interfere. Occasionally, it could be an errant tree branch from above. And on occasion, it’s the stinkin’ frame of the shooting window in your blind that interferes with the trajectory of your arrow. I fully expect this hunter to encounter the buck again.

10/31/2025

Swamp buck. Due to the thick swamp grass, hunter was unsure where it was hit. 400 yards. No visible sign the last 250 yards. Reagun said no problem. Follow me and try to keep up.
Congrats to the hunter
Deer Recovery Blood Tracking
Hardtrigger Gundogs

10/30/2025

I enjoy hearing the stories from the hunters of their opportunity. You can tell it in their voice that they really enjoy hunting. Their reasons vary. Some hunt to provide nutrition meals for the table. Some hunt for the tradition and family time. For others it may be time with friends or even time alone outdoors. Many hunt for all these reasons and more. Today’s track was one of them. Congrats to the hunter. I truly hope you have many more fun days in the field.

10/29/2025

Sound advice. We are fast approaching the zombie deer phase of the rut season. Do not rush your shot. And especially do not rush your follow up/track effort.

10/28/2025

Often getting and taking the shot is easy compared to waiting after the shot. Some hunters are better than others. The commitment to wait will ensure your efforts on the track will be efficient and effective. Had this hunter tracked this deer last night, today’s work would have been much harder. I applaud and admire the confidence of hunters like this that know the shot and reaction were not what they expected and contact a dog team rather than push the deer. You can’t argue with the results. Congrats to the hunter.
Deer Recovery Blood Tracking

10/23/2025

The body reaction from this deer, clearly suggest WAIT before you track. 12 hour wait is not too long. Check out the details in this post. Heed this free advice.

10/22/2025

As we approach the peak of the season, I'd like to remind hunters of the following.
1) Take your time. Calm is a superpower. Use it. Tracking too soon will bump your deer and inform them that they are being pursued. The temperatures are ideal to wait until morning to track.

2) If you see anything in the shot OR the deer's reaction, call an experienced tracking team and discuss it. This may or may not result in a dog track. Experienced trackers have hundreds of experiences with challenging tracks. Their advice is free and available through a phone call.

3) Call early. During the busy time of year, tracker's schedules frequently fill up within the first few hours after sundown. Be proactive!

4) Record your track effort and mark your visible sign along the track. Especially if the sign starts to become scarce. Onx and Huntstand are commonly used apps for logging your track.

5) Mark your visible sign with flagging tape or toilet paper. As tracking schedules get busy, we'd like to avoid spending time and energy re-running the portion of the track you've already done. If you've recorded and flagged your existing track, we can more efficiently get beyond your track and grid effort.

6) Grid search prior to a dog track is disruptive. Call a dog tracker before you grid. If a dog is not available or unsuccessful, you can grid until you tire. But try the dog first.

10/21/2025

Reagun and I regret to inform you that we will not be available for tracking until October 28th. I should be available via phone and text most of this period- so please feel free to reach out to me. I’ll do what I can to answer questions or assist in putting you in contact with a tracking team if needed.
recovery blood tracking
Deer Recovery Blood Tracking

10/21/2025

A huge part of the tracking work from a dog is channeled through the Jacobson’s Organ -AKA vomeronasal organ. This organ enables the dog to determine if the deer is in declining health and if this track is viable.

Class time! Here is the Jacobson’s Organ, located in the upper palette in the mouth of bucks. It is involved in Flehmen Response, in which a buck sniffs where a doe has urinated, then applies it to the Jacobson’s Organ, along with the characteristic posturing and lip curl. The organ is a non-volatile chemical sensor, innervated with the brain’s Amygdala and Hypothalamus, which influence release of s*x hormones. It is erroneously thought that the function is to test whether a doe is in estrus, when it’s actually to prime and maintain reproductive physiology.

10/21/2025

Today’s track had a number of challenges. 30 hours age and nearly a mile long were only a couple of them. Thankfully the hunter was happy with the final result and assured me he will handle it differently next time. I believe him. Congrats! And thanks for sharing the experience with us.
Deer Recovery Blood Tracking
Hardtrigger Gundogs

10/20/2025

At 530 AM today after breakfast, I checked my weather station for overnight conditions. Specifically, I was looking for wind conditions. I recalled that the early forecast had showed today with gusty winds. Surprisingly, it Indicated there was no significant wind overnight. I frequently review that information before a day of tracking. If my dog is off the actual track, generally the dog will be on the downwind side. And that might be overnight downwind or current condition downwind. Little did I know then that zero-wind would affect my first track today.

The hunter had a good shot on the deer with complete pass-through. We both felt confident the deer was expired at the time of the track. But it’s very hard to wait after a shot. And the deer was bumped from its bed last night in their tracking effort. Tracking too soon will be disruptive to a recovery. The chances of recovering the deer are reduced every time the deer is bumped from a bed. Furthermore, you inform the deer of what caused their injury and the deer now knows that it is being pursued. That deer now has a renewed motivation to keep moving. Older deer may make evasive maneuvers with this knowledge.

Reagun was able to confidently take us beyond their last blood and into the creek area of tall grasses. After traveling about 100 yards in that grass, she told me she lost the track. A reset back near last blood repeated a portion of her track, but by now there was an ever so slight breeze. Because this was a creek bed area it was a low spot in the terrain. Overnight temperatures were in the 30s and these low spots had a coating of frost. Without any wind, this low area became a huge scent pool. The ever so slight morning breeze helped to clear out that scent pool and channel it in a more specific line. The reset enabled Reagun to get on the track and cross the creek where the deer had actually traveled and 50 yards later in the tall grass, she indicated we were directly downwind of the deer. I called the hunter up to our location and before long he became the first human to touch this deer. Congratulations to the hunter. And I applaud the Pre-track effort to acquire neighboring trespass authorization. That definitely was helpful in this track.
Deer Recovery Blood Tracking

10/18/2025

Deer tracking dogs show their impressive tracking skills on tracks that may not result in a tailgated deer at the end. One of our tracks today was just that. In my conversations with the hunter, we had reason to question the final results of the effort. But we decided to put a dog on it anyway and get a professional opinion.

Reagun steadily and confidently took us on the track to >.7 mile. The route she took went right past the hunter’s trail camera -the same camera that had taken a photo of the deer in the dark last night. Due to the rain and the circumstances, we had no visible blood anywhere on the track. Reagun ultimately took us across multiple property lines and then indicated the track no longer existed. The deer was no longer shedding stress pheromones along its travel route. After discussions with the hunter, we called the track as non viable at that point. Shortly after we parted ways, the hunter contacted me with a photo that this dear was back in the food, plot, grazing and checking for other deer activity. It is possible this deer and hunter will encounter each other again this season.