![]() Scenting was difficult and it took half a day to trail a 3/4 mile distance without a drop of blood, to a place nobody suspected the deer would go. It was supposed to be a short, slam-dunk trail for the dog, but it sure didn’t turn out that way. When I recognized a little farm lane, it hit me, ‘Hey isn’t this where I had the knife fight 4 or 5 years ago?” Stacy smiled and affirmed it was. This time, as I studied landmarks for where I’d need to turn into the farm, possibly over a number of days, things suddenly looked somewhat familiar. Normally driving to a trail, I confess I don’t pay much attention, I just follow behind the guide’s vehicle, and after the recovery I’m done, no need to return. As we headed back down the road I was paying attention because I would need to return on my own to do the search. We were laughing and joking as we finished our farm tour. So it’s great to work with competent people who are also fun and can take some of the edge off the situation. When a hunter thinks he’s lost his trophy of a lifetime it can be a stressful situation. I’ve found the guides who’ve trailed with me to be knowledgeable and good to work with. The first time we were called in was 2006 or maybe 2007. It was found after so many story twists, so far away, and in such an unlikely place, that when I texted Stacy to tell him I found it, I simply wrote, “do you believe in Santa Claus!” It started as a track and ended as a 4-day area search. Next remembered, was one of my career all-time favorite recoveries – the Christmas miracle, a search for a 200” class whitetail. Well, all day and a mile of negligible blood trail later, when we were standing over a low 170s typical, they had their answer… and their buck. Or there was the gut shot buck that had so much blood to begin the trail that they wondered why they couldn’t find it. That buck went 3/4 mile, but Janie had locked on and hadn’t taken long at all. Gingi recalled another day old trail covered over by 6”of snow. From just this season was a day old trail which had been snowed upon, where we got drawn off course by some other unknown blood that so tired my favorite bloodhound, Janie, that I had to swap out to my young star, Willa, to finally make the find. ![]() Perhaps to bolster my confidence for the long search ahead, Stacy and the ever popular guide, Gingi, who was also riding along, began recounting other trails and searches of mine that took much longer than normal, but ended in great success. It would be a formidable challenge, the uncertainty of which we all understood. I was reminded of that while viewing the farm’s expansive features. You really don’t have a starting point and you might be looking miles from the target. There is no feedback, it’s all or nothing – you find it or you don’t. It’s the high percentage technique.Īrea search by contrast is needle in a haystack. Blood trailing is what we normally do, and over the years, I’ve done a lot for Hadley. Normally when we get called in to Hadley, I follow a guide to a blood trail with one of my dogs, where we attempt to recover a hunter’s buck by actually working the lost trail. This requires area searching, covering a lot of ground in hopes of hitting the carcass scent. The dogs and I would, now that the season was over, try to find the carcass to recover the rack. A big buck had gone missing during the late season. Enjoy the following recollections from Tracker John:Īs our pickup rolled down the gravel road, Hadley Creek manager Stacy Ward was pointing out draws, fields, and other land features, orienting me for my next search. John was kind enough to write down some of these stories and we’re thrilled to share them here. Over the years, we’ve seen Tracker John and his dogs come up with some amazing recoveries – a couple of them downright miraculous. When a shot is taken by one of our hunters, and the buck can’t be recovered by our guides, John is the one we call in for help. The man responsible for many of these recoveries is our friend, known around here as Tracker John. Whether it was the result of a misplaced shot or simply bad luck, it’s a terrible feeling to lose a deer.įortunately, we’ve seen many of these situations turned around into happy endings. Hunt long enough, and you’re likely to experience it. Losing a wounded buck is something most deer hunters can relate to.
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