First post, coyotes, tracking dogs, etc...

[Bbadrinath]

Hi everyone. I've been a member for a little while and enjoy reading all the posts. I'm not one to post often if at all. My recent experience might be of some interest to some, as it was a first for me. I've been bowhunting for 30 years and would like to think I learn something new every time I step into the woods. I was able to get out for a morning sit on Friday 11/18. Trying to learn a new spot, had sat 3 afternoons with little to no action despite a lot of fresh sign. I was anxious to be able to sit this location in the morning. I was in the tree by 5:15 or so, bumped deer walking in and was somewhat disheartened. Told myself it's early and anything could happen. Due to kids, soccer, work and life, my days in the woods have not been as numerous over the last 4 or 5 years. I was hoping to hold out for a 3 year old buck and up but hunting public land and little time to really scout the way I would like, I decided to take the first decent buck that came by.

 

At 7am I heard rustling and something walking directly to me. I spotted a decent buck 80 yards out or so coming in. He presented a broad side shot at 18 yards but was not interested in stopping for long. I tried to get him to stop once but he ignored me. I tried at the next opening and he stopped briefly for me to settle peep and pin. The arrow seemed to deflect off something at impact. He took,off fast and hard, then trotted to a slow walk and stopped at 50 yards or so out. I thought this is where he would drop. He did but instead of falling, just sat down. Watched him hang for ten minutes and then he stood up and slowly walked away. Got down after another 30 mins or so and checked the arrow. Pass thru and only a little blood on the vanes, but greasy slime on the shaft. I quietly left without loooking any further. Came back 5 hrs later hoping to find him not far from first bedding position. Unfortunately we followed very little blood for about 150 yards, then nothing. After some searching the surrounding area for more sign we decided to back out and come up with a plan.

 

With probably close to 1000 acres of land, gird searching was gonna be difficult especially with a gut shot deer that didn't seem to want to bed down. I have read a lot about tracking dogs and contemplated calling one in. I thought by having a dog come in I would be in some sort of a way giving up. I sucked up my pride and called Darren and his dog Theo. After a 10 minute call or so we decided to wait till first light Saturday morning despite the population of coyotes. With the amount of property we hoped that maybe it would take quite a while for coyotes to find him before we did. We met at 7:30 and shortly after Theo was on his track. It was amazing to watch this dog work. He followed our previous track to a "T". He then continued on for another 250 yards or so to the location of the deer. I quickly realized that finding this deer without a dog would of been very difficult if not near impossible. The deer headed towards water like most gut shot deer will do. Unfortunately our hopes of finding him before the coyotes were quickly gone, there was not much left to him.

 

Sorry for the long "first" post, just thought I would share in case anyone else had reservations about ever calling in a tracking dog. As I told Darren, I hope to not have to ever call him again but would not hesitate if the situation were to occur. Thanks for reading! I attached pics of what was left of the buck.

[Psehunter]

Yup thats the problem with leaving deer over night. Not only do you loose the meat but if the yotes or bears get on the deer before it's dead they can still push it quite a ways to where you will never find that deer at all...sucks but not much you can do about it

[Stevo]

Nice Buck. Too bad the Coyotes ate him but it happens. Biggest Buck I ever shot I had to wait till morning to look for him. They chewed his snout off along with the rest of him so I didn't even have the option to mount him. I think Predator season is going to be good this year. Hoping to skin a few Coyotes.

[Bbadrinath]

Very true. The population here is large. Would of loved to of tracked him that night, but by the way he looks I'm sure they were on him early if not before he even expired. I rushed the shot and deflected off a blueberry bush that I did not see.

[Buck154]

Nice high 6pt. Congrats you found him but sucks the yotes got him first. Darrin's dog is amazing for finding gut shot deer. Great serve he provides

[Bbadrinath]

I can't say enough about how amazing his dog is! And the way the 2 of them work together is quite fascinating.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Bbadrinath

[LPJR]

Good informative post for guys thinking about using a tracking dog. Glad you were able to recover him, although the yotes got to him. 

 

I was just checking out Fur Takers by Foxpro last week on the outdoor channel...I never went for coyotes, but we very well may look into this for some of the yotes up by us...

[mattg1500]

Good recovery. No shame in calling in the dog. Giving up would be leaving and not going back. Walking around makes it harder for the dog to track. I used Daren for my bear last month and without him I would have never found it. It went 300yds in a J shape and left no blood, i gut shot it. Nice buck!

[Kayak Ken]

At least your head was still attached. I think a bear made off with this one.

 

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[Roon]

Unfortunately everybody has to eat, I lost one to the yotes few years back, did the right thing by backing out only to find whole ass gone by morning, used what ever I could for dog food, good job on recovery, no matter what you found you have closure.

Edited November 20, 2016 by Roon

[Rusty]

Nice buck and good job sticking with it and making the recovery.  It stinks that the yotes got there first though. 

[Njkoren]

Wow! They really picked him clean. What a shame.

[Haskell_Hunter]

If you don't mind sharing, where was this if it was public land?  I love late winter/early spring predator season and would love to reduce the yote population.  It's a great season that I think more people should start looking into.  It's one of the few seasons in NJ where you can use a real rifle (well, a small caliber rifle, but it's still a rifle).

[Axiom]

 

Very true. The population here is large.

 

 

 The Population is large all over the country.. Just say'n..

[Bbadrinath]

Unfortunately everybody has to eat, I lost one to the yotes few years back, did the right thing by backing out only to find whole ass gone by morning, used what ever I could for dog food, good job on recovery, no matter what you found you have closure.

Honestly I think closure for my peace of mind was rewarding in this case. I would still be kicking myself wondering what had happened. I was happy to tag this deer knowing that I had learned something and that I had an experience I might not of normally had.