I enjoyed reading the stories bro, good stuff for sure! Stay in touch and let me know if I can ever give you a hand with anything.

Thanks David!......

Writing the “tales” at the end of the track has been one of my favorite parts of it. I think we all enjoy gathering up around the campfire after the hunt to tell everyone the story about the one we just killed or the big one that got away.

Just got an update on the buck we tracked on Parker Island. The property manager sent me a text yesterday and said that the buck finally showed back up and looked to be fine. If you remember, the hunter’s arrow only got a few inches of penetration for some reason.

I always enjoy getting these calls because it reassures me that Otis and I assessed the situation correctly. I’m sure we may miss one here and there but I don’t think we’re leaving many dead deer in the woods.

Check the cerakote one out in below article that is a nice one.
https://www.outdoorlife.com/why-45-...ame-and-3-modern-rifles-chambered-for-it

I got an 18" barrell and really like that for brush and tight places. The 30-30 will usually do what you need just stay away from those guts. Most calibers will not be drt with a gut shot. I made a mistake and lead one too much cause it was walking fast a few years ago. Shot it about three inches from the front. That deer only walked about 20 yards. I didn't push it, but still am surprised it didn't make it further. Glad the shot was more forward than further back in those guts.
My uncle gut shot one with a .30-06 years ago. That deer still ran about 40 yards. From then on I said I would be to far forward instead of too far back on my shot selection if I had a choice. I do not want to drag one out or clean one with a gut shot after smelling and seeing that stinky mess. I may have hit one in the gut since that day.
Which ever you chose those deer better watch out cause you coming for them, right!

That’s a really nice gun there. A 45-70 may be a little overkill. I just want to make sure if I hit a buck in a bay situation that it puts a serious hurtin on him……even if I hit him in the hind quarter or the guts. I want it to hit him like a mack truck. I don’t always have a “good” shot on these bay situations and I have to take the shot I’m given once I spot the deer. If the deer sees me and the hunter then they’ll bolt…… so you can’t dilly dally around a lot trying to get a perfect shot. They're dang near always holed up in some kind of thicket too so you may be shooting through briars and saplings. My only concern is the recoil of the 45-70…..I’ve never shot one so I don’t know what to expect. I still want o be accurate with my shooting.

The next thing I’ve got to decide is whether or not I want to mount a reflex style sight on it or just go with iron sights. I think a reflex style sight would be nice but the iron sights are much more fail proof in a situation like this where we’re tracking for miles across swamps and creeks and everything else.

Get that Marlin Modern Hunter and put a lazer sight on it also and you should be good to go after any buck in the south. A 325+ grain chunk of lead should knock anything in the woods down..

I think so too.....

Game on!………….Hunter just called needing assistance......Big buck shot yesterday evening. He says it was quartering away from him at 20 yards and he hit way back.....buried it up in its guts. No blood or anything to be found. He has searched for it out to 100 yards and backed out.

I would feel really good about this track but its blazing hot and its gonna be 24 hrs old. We shall see though…..if he hit it like he said he did then we have a good chance of recovering this one……Gonna wait until it cools off a little and search for it this evening.

To be continued…….

Right on. Go get em guys. Good luck.

YEE HA! it is on again....

Well dang...…..no recovery......When I talked to the hunter on the phone I thought he had seen the arrow hit the deer in the guts. Turns out he wasn't for sure if he had actually hit or missed. The shot happened really late so he couldn't see his arrow flight and he couldn't find it after the shot. He assumed that it was in the deer. We gave it a good search though and the dogs didn't pick up on anything. The hunter was only about 10 ft off the ground in a ladder stand. I think he may have possibly just shot over the deer and slung his arra off through the bushes. It was sure nuff a dang stud though. He had trail cam pics of the deer for the last 3 years. Hopefully it shows back up for him. There was really only a small head of woods between two cotton fields where the deer would have likely ran and he for sure wasn't in there. We gridded it off for about an hour and a half.

Well, we’re officially on the board with the first recovery of the season. A pretty straight forward gut shot with no blood on the ground for the hunter to track by. The hunter backed out last night and met us at daylight this morning. The dogs ran right to him. He didn’t make it but a couple hundred yards and bedded up. A good call by the hunter to back out knowing he had hit guts instead of pushing it last night. It made for a simple recovery.

Also, the hunter from the first track reported his buck already showing back up on camera again so it was indeed a clean miss.

I gotta figure out some way of resizing these phone pics......Grrrrrr.

[quote=CNC]Well, we’re officially on the board with the first recovery of the season. A pretty straight forward gut shot with no blood on the ground for the hunter to track by. The hunter backed out last night and met us at daylight this morning. The dogs ran right to him. He didn’t make it but a couple hundred yards and bedded up. A good call by the hunter to back out knowing he had hit guts instead of pushing it last night. It made for a simple recovery.

Also, the hunter from the first track reported his buck already showing back up on camera again so it was indeed a clean miss.



Awesome!!

Thanks man!........We went on a second track today too but didn’t have any luck on it. I think it was just a muscle wound or something. It was a freaking giant of a deer though. One of the bigger ones I’ve probably tracked that I’ve seen trail cam pics of. The hunter was in a ground blind and took a really hard quartering away shot on the deer at about 20 yards using expandable broadheads. He said the arrow stuck in the deer and it ran off. They had searched for the deer last night without much luck…..very, very little blood. They had gotten lucky and actually just walked up a spot about 300 yards from the hit site but never found any more. The dogs hit around on a little bit of scent here and there but never really acted like they could pick up on it at all……which leads me to believe it wasn’t hit in the body cavity. We grid searched for a couple of hours and called it off. I think maybe he just wedged that expandable in between the front shoulder and the body cavity with it being a steep quartering away shot. You’re way better off to bury it up in their guts on a shot like that rather than flirt with that front shoulder.. Chit happens though……….

Congrats on the recovery.

Good job Oits and Harold! This thread is one of my favorites all year long!

Dr. B

Thanks Doc!......Glad to see this cool weather finally roll in. Tracking in the heat sucks. It's been a slow weekend though. Kinda surprised after the calls earlier in the week.

Mine too. Glad to see it pick back up and it sounds like some good deer are being seen.