11/09/2025
This post is going to be lengthy if you care to ride along. We were contacted by the hunter when his hunting party was having trouble figuring out which way the blood trail went after a series of bloody wound beds. The buck was shot earlier that day and he was at the wound bed location that evening. After some discussion, I asked that they back out for the night and we would take up the track the next morning 24 hours post shot. We arrived the next morning, went over more of the details and started the track. The area where the hunters lost blood was near a farm house with multiple large fences running in several directions. This can be somewhat difficult to work through as the dog needs to be lifted over the fence to continue on the other side, however if the scent the dog is looking for is not on the other side, he needs to work back across to find out which direction the scent goes. This is one of those times I would love to have a talking dog, but until then we must do our best. Long story short we worked around this farm house/barn area for awhile in several directions that I just didn't feel were correct after giving Zeke the opportunity to work through it. I took Zeke back to the original blood trail to see if he would work it differently now that he had checked most of the areas where it appeared that the deer didn't go. That is where he worked out a back track on top of all of the bloody wound beds crossing over the original trail. He located a new wound bed off to the side along a grassy CRP field. He proceeded out in the CRP field where the hunters had not been. This work looked good and gave me some confidence that we were in a new direction that the hunters had not tracked in. He came to another large fence at the edge of some timber where he indicated he wanted to cross. I lifted him over that fence and he started working in the small patch of woods where I was certain the deer would be bedded and expired. His work looked good and he was advancing at a nice pace. Pretty soon we were through the timber section and in more CRP without finding the deer. Now I was getting concerned as typically when a deer beds as often as this one did, we can find him in the next available cover the dog track to outside of where the hunters have been. Now we are at another tall fence where Zeke wants to cross. I lift him over the fence and climb over myself. He works with commitment across a cut cornfield and into another section of timber along a creek line. At this point I have seen two small smears of blood on some brush since we have left the last wound bed, however there is no question that Zeke is tracking the deer. I am however questioning what is going on with the shot and why this deer did not bed down and expire as well as why he is jumping large fences. I decided as long as he looks good I am going to follow. He tracks across the creek to the South and up the other side with commitment, so I follow. Just on the other side of the creek we start seeing large amounts of fresh blood. My first thought was we have jumped the buck and the wound has opened back up. Zeke proceeds to track up a fairly steep hill. As we are going up the hill the blood appears to be getting less but Zeke is advancing at a steady pace with no sign of the deer ahead. I noticed the blood that was smeared on the taller branches was dry so I concluded that we had not jumped the deer. I stop Zeke at this point and call the hunter to see if another deer had been shot in the area last night or that morning. He was not aware of anything. We were at a property line and needed permission to cross over so while we were waiting, I asked that the hunter get his bow and bring it to my location so he can stay with Zeke and I just in case this deer was not dead and offered a follow up shot. We were granted permission when the hunter arrived so we let Zeke lead the way. He proceeded across a mowed grass field, around another barn and farm machinery, across a road and wanted to go into another section of timber. We confirmed a drop of blood at the road and confirmed permission on another piece of property. Zeke continued into the next section of timber where we saw some blood and tuffs of white hair. No deer, but Zeke was committed so we were going to follow. He proceeds out of the timber and across another cut corn field and into a creek line where he located the buck expired in the creek. This buck traveled just shy of 1 mile past the hunter's last blood. The coyotes had eaten part of the deer when we arrived. One was seen leaving the creek line when we entered the area where the buck was located. We suspect the coyotes picked up the trail at some point and pushed this buck. This would explain why the deer traveled so far, jumped large fences and why we were seeing tuffs of hair along the latter portion of the track. The map shows the distance this deer traveled. The red track is Zeke and I. The white line is where the hunters tracked to the north from the shot site. The yellow line is where Zeke located the backtrack and began heading South to the buck. What a roller coaster of emotions for the hunter as we worked this track out. In the end the hunter will be taking his largest buck to date back to Michigan with him. We are grateful for the call and time spent with the hunting party. We also greatly appreciate the land owners granting permission for us to continue the track as far as we did. Sometimes these head scratching tracks are the most rewarding in the end when we can pull it off. Thanks for following along.
