Bear The Big Black Dog Tracking

Went on a track this morning at first light. Hunter wasn’t sure about his hit. A few people blood tracked and grid searched some last night. They ended up finding gut matter. They looked just a bit more and then backed out and called us. OnX pic shows where the grid search went on. Normally Bear works right thru a grid search but I guess with all the moisture the scent is so strong it is messing with him. Once we picked a line we were gone. He led me right to the deer which was not dead and charged him. This is 13 hours after the shot. I pulled him back. I thought we could dispatch the deer with a knife wrong it got gone. I tracked her again I had turned off onx I would say it was another 150 yards. She was bedded back down. So we backed out and had the hunter go in and dispatch the deer. Was pretty exciting

Did a early track this morning for a friend. Almost as soon as Bear took off I could tell we were in trouble we got to last blood and he tried all different directions. We took one trail that looked where the deer could have went. With the rain last night I had no confirmation but I trust my partner I’m sure he was on the deer. Sometimes it just feels like we are just walking these dogs thru the woods. We were in some thick brush like where a deer would go for sure. Unfortuna...tely we came up empty. Probably walked close to 2 miles. Second track was this evening for family. He felt like the shot was good and found great blood for a bit. It was getting dark and was raining pretty hard so he decided. Hey we got a tracking dog at our disposal why not make this job easier. Bear had so much scent he was like ricochet rabbit at first. I’m pretty sure he could smell the deer from the start. It was along a creek I saw him pick his head up as we were walking to the hit site. He finally focused and picked a line and drug me thru some of the nastiest brush I’ve been in this year!!! My extra weight came in handy to fall thru it all. He went straight to the deer the line went slack before I could break thru the last tree lol he took his frustrations from the earlier track out on that poor doe. We had a blast though. The shot was just a bit back still on the lungs I think though. It went about 100-150 yards no blood for the last 75 yards. See more

Thank you Mary Wilson for the referral. Mary got the call last night. She was awoke by the phone call. She already had a commitment for today so she couldn’t take up the track. She graciously handed it down to us. ( It was eating her up, she couldn’t even go back to sleep thinking about what all was going on with the track) So the hunters father gave me a call we discussed what all had transpired during and after the shot. The hunter a 16 year old young man had been w...atching this deer since spring named him Andre!! He had his every move documented down to the weather and pressure when he showed up on camera. The past 4 days he had came in at the same time. So he set up on him. He showed up on time. He took the shot just a bit off the mark. He felt like it was towards the front of the shoulder got about 6 inches of penetration. Had some blood right away then after about .3 of a mile he had opened up some more. They tracked him after about an hour. It took them 1.5 hours to track the .3 Where they found an empty bed. So they decided to back out for the night. A colleague of the father’s had told him about Missouri blood trackers page. That’s when they decided it would be a good idea to get some help. We set up a time for this morning to start tracking. We arrived the father and mother were as excited as the young man!! We started at the hit site Bear took right off . Crossed like 3 fences along the track. We got to the bed in about 8 minutes or so. We had to go around one of the fences because Bear is just to big to pick up over some fences. Got him back on track across the fence. He took me straight to the deer family in tow. It was over a rise in the field they were about 100 yards behind us. The young man came over first and ran down to us. He was so relieved and happy he gave Bear and me a hug. He had been trying to get his first deer with a bow for several years. What a great first deer!!! The deer was hit in the neck just below the jaw. It went .7 of a mile. The coyotes found him unfortunately. In the terrain pic the deer was over the far hill. See more

Your tracker will probably send you a grid like these when discussing shot placement. As you can see by the different angles, there is great variations in what organs you may have hit. When bow hunting remember to always aim for your exit.

Track 48 was a milestone I wanted for us this year!!! It was our 100th track together. We’ve taught each other so much can’t wait to see how much more we learn. I couldn’t be happier with my partner. This one was for a friend it was a doe. Muzzle loader shot 190 yards. Quite of bit of hind sight in this track. As soon as we got to the hit site I could tell Bear smelled the deer. He took right off and it wasn’t very long I could smell the deer too. Which should have be...en my first clue. We took a wrong turn for a minute. In looking back I believe it was the scent pool that got us off. Put him back on blood we found a good sized pool of blood. Off to races we went. Bear did perfectly from there on. He’s pulling so hard I would wrap the lead around a tree every once in a while just to slow him and to keep from falling. That’s the second clue I wasn’t thinking about. Side note( we will be working with slowing down over the off season) the blood was a decent amount Bear was going fast enough I couldn’t tell at times if we were still on it. I would ask the hunter if was seeing any he confirmed we were on. We were going across a hillside my buddy says I think this blood is still running down this sapling. The final clue that finally sunk in we were pushing the deer. I wanted to go just a bit farther we came upon a wound bed. That’s where we stopped. The track was 500 yards at that point. I figured the deer would lay back down if we left so we did. I told the hunter I would bet the deer would be within 100 to 150 yards from where we stopped. Come back in the morning it will be there. I couldn’t come finish but was confident it wasn’t going far. It was about 150 yards from the bed. The coyotes had gotten it. Which is why we pushed it as far as we did figured that was going to happen. Was still pretty limber. Shot was single lung liver. I’m giving this recovery to Bear he preformed perfectly. Me on the other hand it looks as though I need to work on some things still. See more

Track 45 was close to home. It’s the second time this year we tracked this deer. Ended up with the same out come he’s still alive. We took him a good ways. He again crossed the road we called the track at that point. He had made it a long ways with very little sign of him getting weak. High shoulder shot. Track 46 was my newest neighbor. He shot 2 does the first one he had located. The second one he had lost blood on. We put Bear on the hit site he took off great. I ...Continue reading

Track 44 the hunter made all the right decisions on this track. He had spotted the deer while checking cameras. Was within 15 yards of him noticed he wasn’t acting quite right. Had no reactions to him even made a phone call while at that range still nothing. So decided to go get his archery equipment from home. Called and put Bear and I on stand by. Returned back was able to get within feet of the deer and put a lethal shot on it. He began tracking the deer blood was not ever...ywhere as expected . Although he was confident in his shot he called and asked if we wanted to come and run the track anyway. He knew we had been eagerly awaiting a dead deer to track. Even took care of getting in contact with the MDC agent in his area to tell them what was going on with the deer. They were happy to take this deer out of the herd. The moment Bear leaped out of the truck he could tell there was a dead deer in the area. He put his nose on first blood and was gone. He ran this track nearly as perfect as I’ve ever seen him do. He did check a couple side trails I assume trying to catch the deer making a turn on him but when we got to the turn he was on rails around it. Led me straight to the deer from there. I’m guessing ,the track was 150 yards or so but it sure was satisfying to get a good clean track that ended with Bear getting to have some fun with his favorite toy. There was definitely something wrong with the deer it was way down on weight. As seen in the pic it’s motor skills were even effected, couldn’t even move it’s ear just hung there. See more

Pic on the left is the 9 point extra deer we found from track 35. The other is Bear and Remi kinda getting along. Track 37-43 all non recoveries variety of weapons crossbow,243,45 caliber airrifle, deer rifle. Then 2 bows. All but one I feel are live deer!! One we were unsure where the deer was standing when shot and exactly where it had went after shot. Searched wrong direction. Hunter ended up finding it himself 2 days later in the same field it was shot... in. Very disappointed I didn’t watch Bear closer I’m sure he had wind scented it at some point I just didn’t pay close enough attention to what he was trying to tell me. Hope we get some dead deer to recover soon he needs to have some fun for all the work he’s been putting in. 22500 steps last Sunday alone. I’ve been really happy with the biggest part of our work. I’ve learned a lot about how to see when he’s struggling to keep on our target deer. Which I’m sure it is extra hard for him when the deer aren’t dead. See more