This is the spot of blood from the first track where the deer stopped just inside of the wood line. You can get a little perspective of size by that leaf of the left. The blood area is about the size of the palm of your hand. What you’re seeing is the extent of it other than a few single drops after the deer took off. This is pretty indicative of a mild flesh wound.

Call just came in from the morning hunt……

The hunter shot a good buck with a 30-30 from 150 yards away. He said the deer jumped straight up the air and came down on its chest before taking off into the words looking to be favoring a leg. However, he can’t find blood, hair, or anything.

To be continued…….

Go get him!

Got him! What a way to end the season.....one of the biggest bucks and most exciting tracks of the whole year. Story and pics later tonight. Im headed for afternoon hunt with some folks I've tracked for a bunch in the past. Maybe I'll get one of my own this time.

Way to go, can't wait to hear about it, shoot a biggun!

that was quick congrats!

Go ahead and post up the story and pics while you're in the stand. Aldeer doesnt care if you kill a deer today. We want to hear about Shelby and Otis. LOL

We're all three sitting in the Taj Mahal stand this evening. Otis and Shelby are asleep on the floor. Itts gonna scare the chit out of em if I shoot.

Its gonna be a great story of Otis and Shelby tracking daddys deer,

I’ve just gotten home and got a shower fellas……I’m gonna hold off until tomorrow morning to tell today’s story. I won’t leave y’all hanging without a pic though. More pics and story to come in the AM……This story is a good one for why I don’t like ballistic tips.

Got a call late last night around 10:00 to track one........All I know right now is that they have "a lot of blood" and tracked the deer for 3 hours last night. I didn't get a whole lot more details because I was just about asleep out at that point. Headed out there this morning to see what we can do. I'll get us caught up on yesterday's story and this one when I get back.

To be continued.......

Got him!....Holy chit what a buck too. 220 lbs easy....Got two good stories to end the season with. Pics and stories to come......

Can't wait!

Dr. B

Wow I just now stumbled across this thread and it's a winner!!!

Not a winner. CNC has gotten tired and lazy here toward the end of the season. Now after every track, he has to go home and take a nap before he updates anyone on what happened with Otis and Shelby, what they found, etc. I mean, I could understand it if CNC was tracking both day and night but he tracks daytime only. He needs to get on the ball and and have his posts up within 90 minutes of arriving home. Time to feed the dogs, get cleaned up, and a bite to eat. I mean, we've got to have some performance standards on this website. This we found him! he's huge!!! Then no posts for another 5 hours is totally unacceptable. The thousands of Otis and Shelby fans demand better service from their owner!!!!

I hear you abolt... .....I'm trying man, I'm trying.......

I’m still amped up from the morning’s track…..As exciting as it was though, let’s back up to yesterday and tell the story of that one first. If you recall, the deer had jumped up in the air off all fours, came down on his chest, and took off favoring a leg with no blood to be found…………

I turned Otis and Shelby loose at the hit site and they both took off like a rocket. They got out to about 150 yards and Shelby checked up and started coming back to me. I’ll be damn if 2 seconds later, Otis didn’t check up and start coming back too. Well, when they got back to me…..Otis never even stopped. He made a quick loop and was gone again. This time he passed 150 yard mark and bee lined for about 200 yards to a little creek bottom where the deer was bedded up right on the creek bank. That’s when I heard Otis start bariking on bay………

We started easing into the bay and I spotted Otis on the side of the creek. I stopped and started scanning the brush but couldn’t pick of the buck. We started easing around the bay real slow and the hunter said….”There he is!!!...I just saw him turn his head!” …..I backed up to look from where the hunter was standing and that’s when the deer broke bay. Otis took off after him and about 200 yards over the hill….he got the buck to stop again. This time he was much more out in the open. We eased in real slow to the bay and spotted him standing broadside at about 60 yards. I took aim with my 30-30 and waited for Otis to clear……Boom!!!....I shot and the deer took off. He ran about 20 yards and stopped again……We ran behind them and got into position in another shooting lane…..Boom!!!....I rounded off a second shot at him and he took off again…….We moved forward and could see Otis up ahead of us pointing in the bushes. About 20 yards away was the buck finally piled up and done for. It was a damn good 8 pt that went 200 lbs on the scale.

There’s a good lesson to be learned from this track. Now I know a lot of you could tell about how ballistic tipped bullets preformed great for you out of such and such gun with this and that load, etc……and I hear you….I do…….BUT this situation is when ballistic tips go bad and what you should think about when using them. The hunter had hit the deer really well actually....It was in line with the point of the shoulder but just a little low. That hit should have been deadly with a hard penetrating bullet but instead the ballistic tip likely hit bone and fragmented..... not penetrating into the body cavity except with maybe a fragment or two. I would have liked to have seen this one after it was skinned just to see exactly what happened. He was still pretty lively but was just a sitting duck for the yotes once they found him.




On a side note, I hit the deer with both shots….once in the liver area and once in the lungs. I feel WAAAAY more comfortable using my 30-30 in these type situations. I wish I would been carrying it from the beginning of all this. I’d love to have those pistol shots back on that big buck that got away a weeks ago. That damn learning curve got me though.

This morning's story still to come. I just thought yesterday's track was a great end to the season. This morning's track put the icing on the cake.

Come on CNC, dont waste your time typing a teaser at the end like that. We are a "meat and three" type audience . No appetizers for us, just bring on the steak and potatoes. Dont waste our time with more to come, cakes and icing...pics and stories are what we are looking for. You do know that this is all in good fun and joking correct?

It’s not the best pic…(I took the pic a little to close up)……but here’s the hunter’s hit and one of mine behind it. That's the base of the neck on the left for reference.