Just got in from helping a friend track a deer. It is always a pleasure helping and especially when they have given up but you still find it for them. The day started badly for me. I woke up around 4:00 really hurting badly. So bad I had to take pain medication and then get out the heating pad. That ended my thought about going hunting but I was able to get up later. Still not good enough to do much of anything but after more pain meds I got outdoors. I had just got out the atv when I got a call from a friend who was hunting across the road from us. He had shot a buck and could I come help track. Of course I will! It was a very difficult tracking job. He said he thought he may have hit it a bit low but was not sure. But there was very little blood. We tracked it for about 50 yards then it took a long time to find more blood. I even called my wife to come help. The buck eventually crossed the road into our place and we tracked it out to the open sand and lost it again. We looked for a long time then I made a wide sweep and I did jump a deer but was not sure what it was. No blood. I kept making more wide sweeps and so did my friend while my wife kept looking close to where we found the last blood. Finally our friend said it was time to give up. I could not see him or my wife but could communicate via 2-way radio. I told them I wanted to make one more check in the olive trees before heading toward them. Ah ha! I found where it laid and bled. The tracking was on again. To make a long story short, we did eventually find it but it was not an easy tracking job. It was a nice 8 point buck and we are happy for him and he was extremely happy especially after giving up but we still found it. He is now heading home and is having a great day. Me, on the other hand, hurt my back even more while helping load the buck into his truck. So here I sit and won't hunt today but still very happy. And for those who these things matter, I am celebrating right now by drinking a Long Trail Brew. Refreshing! We'll probably get a few venison steaks later too.
Good job, hate to hear those stories. But it ended well. Hope it tastes OK Sometimes those have a strong gamey tasting meat.
So how far from shot to the pile up? What was the shot diagnosis after seeing the wound? Great job on trying so hard. I hate it when people give up so soon. I tell peeps I take hunting that if you wound one without a recovery, I trash your tag and you're done hunting. Haven't had anyone take a bad shot yet. Scared straight I guess. Bentley has a great nose for blood and deer. I put him on the shot site, Crack a beer, take a seat, and wait for the GPS collar to tell me he's not moving anymore. Technology (and the dog himself) is great.
Butter Milk, my friend.... soaked them about 24 hours and you'll never have known that they came from a deer.... same way for duck breast wrapped in bacon.......
Sorry to hear about the pain Backwoods Savage from loading, but glad to see that your experience helped Out....
Backwoods Savage, great Help and story bocefus78 - wouldn't have you tell it any ther way, bud! Didn't know about the buttermilk Chvymn99 that's a gooder tip!
Its always fun to help find a deer, I just packed one into the freezer tonight. Good for you going to help a friend out.
Good job tracking it down Dennis Would have been a real shame laying out there going to waste, bugs eating it. Sorry to hear your back hurting though. I must have been doing something odd while running the back pack blower yesterday afternoon cuz my hip is hurting pretty good today, never did that before
Good tracking. I hate seeing them get away, Sprite or 7up will work if you don't have buttermilk. Not quite as well though.
Looks like the tracking was around 1/2 mile. The hit just barely missed the lung so we were lucky to find him. Funny that I was thinking about Bentley as we were tracking and ran out of blood. But that would have been a long drive to get him here.
We've found that so long as you get all the white stuff off the meat, that takes care of any gamey taste. Leave some of that white crap on and it will taste gamey. This means a bit more work when putting up the meat but is well worth the time and effort.
Around here the coyotes get them before any bugs do. If you have to leave a deer overnight then track the next morning, you might find only some hide and hoofs. No meat.
