I'd be curious about this as well. I know he covered over a mile on my place in no time really. Keep it up Harold!!

I was just telling my wife the same thing when I walked in today. I don't keep up with it but it�s got to be a lot��.

The deer this morning was just barely grazed�..I think likely just under the armpits or in that general area. There was a couple thimbles full of blood where it stopped at 100 yards and that was it. Otis was having to dig really hard on this one�.doing a lot of looping around and backtracking, etc. After about 900 yards of hard digging and searching, I called him off the original line just to double check the other possibilities of where the deer could have gone. We did a turkey fan shaped search out to about 500 yards around last blood and then we called it off. I think this track was someone hoping as much as anything....that's actually the case with a lot of calls but that's all good. It's just part of it....It's doing everything you can to retrieve the deer and there's for sure nothing wrong with that.

So I’ve been thinking…….We know backslaps are very common due to people shooting too high. It’s pretty easy to identify one of these shots too because of the way the deer reacts……hitting the ground and then running off. I think for as many “too high” shots that occur…..there’s likely just as many “too low” shots as well. However, these shots aren’t as easy to identify upfront as being a deer that isn’t recoverable. I saved the picture posted below that someone else posted awhile back on the GA forum I believe it was….. showing an old injury on the deer he shot…..likely from another gun shot wound earlier in the season. It’s pretty much the same wound the hunter sent me a pic of a few days ago and I feel like it’s a really similar wound to what I was dealing with on the last track…..just not nearly as severe as this one. I imagine this wound probably put out a lot of blood and left the hunter baffled as to what happened. This type of hit probably makes up a decent percentage of near misses……the bellywhack.

Call came in for tomorrow morning........

Not a whole lot of details on this one yet. The hunter said he couldn't believe the buck made it out of the field. When they went to track it though they only found blood for 50-75 yards and then nothing. They reported finding one pretty decent spot. We'll find out more details when we get there in the morning. Might have to wait and let the rain move through first....just gonna play it by ear.

To be continued......

The weather guesser app I looked at last night predicted ½ inch of rain for this morning…….I’m calling bullchit!! It's been coming down all morning.

We’ve tracked behind rain before but this time it was just too much for us to overcome. To compound matters, the track was in a creek bottom that was flooding out on us and was nothing but standing water. The creek we had to cross walking in actually rose probably 6 inches or more in the time we were searching. I know that for sure because when I crossed it the first time it was barely knee deep and on the way back in was just over my waist. Otis just wasn't able to find a clean line to run. We tried to catch a break in the rain to do our searching but it just seemed to get worse as the morning went on. We searched for over an hour in the rain before the hunter called it off. The deer was likely leg hit just going by the hunter’s story. He said it was stumbling as it ran out of the field. The only good thing about the situation was that is was pretty open where you could see so I feel quite certain the deer wasn't just laying anywhere close. We grid searched it really well out to about 500 yards. I would have liked to have been able to ground scent to him though. We might could have done something with him if we could have tracked to him.

Good day for ducks.

Yeah no joke....It's rained way more than I thought it was going to. When I left this morning the radar looked as if everything was about to move past us. That sure as hell didn't pan out.

Call just came in for tomorrow morning……….

The hunter swears that the deer “hunched up” on the shot but the searchers can’t find anything. That’s about the extent if it. We’ll see what happens……….

To be continued………..

We needed a canoe, or a john boat today sir...

You dang right......I wasn't thinking anything about the creek rising when I came back across it until after I was waist deep in it. I've my boots on the boot dryer all night and I'm about ready to go again. Great to meet y'all yesterday.....

You too my man. It was great getting to watch those dogs work. Hope they dried out....and the boots. LOL

CNC I want to tell you thank you for all of the stories you have shared and the great advice that goes with them. Thanks to you and the advice about back slaps my son has an amazing 8 point to go on the wall. You can read the story in the serious forum. I know had I not read all the back slap stories I would have never told him to shot until the deer quits moving. So thank you again and keep them stories coming.

That’s awesome!!.. ...I’m glad to hear of that. I looked at the pics in the Serious Forum and it just makes you grin thinking about the excitement of those hunts like that. Congrats to both of y’all.




More stories and pics to come as soon as yahoo email comes back on-line……...

The first track ended up being a clean miss. The dogs didn’t indicate on anything and there was no blood or hair, etc….I think the hunter may have just mistaken the deer jumping and bolting for him being hit. I asked if he looked hurt as he was running off and the hunter said no.

The second track was an awesome track for Shelby…. I’ve seen glimpses of it in other tracks but this was the first one where I really saw her jump out and take the lead. You could tell she had this one from the start but she just still lacked complete confidence to get away from the pack. She would push the line out ahead of Otis and then wait for him to catch up….push it further and then wait. She ended up taking us about 400 yards right to this gut shot buck. Sho nuff proud of my Shelby Lou this evening………

Nice work Shelby!! I'm sure Otis let her get it. He can't lead them all

You get both of them working like Otis did at our place,you gonna have the dynamic duo there!!

We'll be up at camp all week next week, so you may get a call/text from me again if we need ya'll

I can't wait to see what Shelby does next year. I think she's gonna really be good when she gets a little more age on her. She's smart and got a lot of drive.


I was just by y'alls place today. Those pics came from just a few miles to the east of you.

CNC - what kind of folks you give these guys when they tell you he ought to be dead right over this hill. Shot was right where it needed to be. Everything felt good. Then you track it for half a mile and it’s right through the guts, hams, or anywhere else but where it needed to be.

It’s funny how our perception of what happened is often times so bad off. The only tracks that get awkward though is when the hunter doesn’t want to accept that he missed. The old man yesterday morning was adamant that he had hit the deer right behind the shoulder where he was aiming. He just couldn’t figure out why there was no blood and why the deer wasn’t just laying right there. When I told him that the dogs weren’t indicating it was a hit he said…..”Oh, I know I hit it, he was only 75 yards!”…..even though none of the evidence suggested such. It’s all good though, it’s just part of it.

Got a call late last night to track a backslapped buck…….I advised the hunter that there was a really low chance of recovery but he said it was the biggest buck he had ever shot at so he wanted to make sure……so were about to head out and go check it for him. To be continued……

Way to go Shelby!! Congrats on the find CNC.

Thanks man….I appreciate it!

Well we confirmed that the first track was just another backslap. The deer will most likely live and be fine. I don’t blame someone for just wanting to make sure though…….

While I was there I got another call from a hunter who had shot a buck at first light this morning and swore up and down that he had smoked the deer. The blood trail had just ran out on him and he couldn’t find it. We don’t get many tracks like this one but the hunter was telling the truth this time. He had hit the deer hard but maybe just a fudge back. Just enough to allow the deer to run 100-150 yards and pile up in a briar patch with his belly down. The hunter said he had walked circles all around the deer and had probably been within 10-15 yards of him. You could tell he was a little embarrassed about it but I told him not to sweat it…..chit happens.