RICK O SHEA
Well-Known Member
Thursday evening I was changing out some fallow cleaves for some Sika hooves in preperation for laying a couple of trails on the Friday when the phone rang
Hello mate came the reply on the other end i don't suppose you could help me out could you why what's up , well I was stalking into a group of 6 deer and I selected one to take near the hedge line with the other five further out into the field and I don't know if the deer took a step forward as I fired or I pulled the shot but it sounded like a gut shot.
Quickly reloading to take another shot the deer was joined by the other five and they all took of and ran along the hedge line before jumping the fence and disappearing into a wood making a follow up shot impossible as well as unsafe.
He gave it a while and went forward to find the shot site marking the firing point as he left but upon reaching the suspected area he found no blood hair or sighn of any kind and after an unsuccessful search decided to back out and give me a call.
For the last five months now I have been training a Bavarian mountain hound called izzy with artificial tracks but luckily or unluckily depending on how you look at it all the deer I have taken have either dropped to shot or ran no more than thirty feet Always the case I suppose when you are trying to train on live tracks I suspect.
After getting some diesel and loading some deer to drop of En-route I was heading of towards Wiltshire via the 303 with an as yet a un proven dog and a few nerves as to how she would perform. I had however a phone number of a proven tracking team logged into my contacts just in case we failed and to help put my mind at ease.
After approximately four hours after the shot had been taken we arrived at the estate and was shown where the shot had been taken from at a distance of about 100 metres , we moved forward to the suspected shot site but izzy indicated nothing but was trying to lead me further along the hedge and slightly further away from the fence.
Letting her do her thing with my friend trying to find some sighn where he thought he had struck it
behind us izzy moved forward twenty yards and started sniffing the ground like what can only be described as a junky sniffing crack . I couldn't see a thing and with a frost moving in and the temperature now dropping to minus 2 I touched the ground and saw a speck of dark gut content and a miniscule amount of rusty orange looking blood bingo we've got the shot site and were off.
Did all the fallow stay together I said or did they split as the entered the wood no they stayed roughly together but they were roe not fallow lesson learnt for me there don't assume always ask.
Izzy went another twenty yards then went to a wooden crossing point in the fence looked at it and slowly walked away looking for an easier entry point I called her back and lifted her over the stock fencing and barbed wire and repeated the same the other side of the hedge bank. We were now into the wood and she was of at a steady speed zig zagging threw the trees when she then headed back to the fence line and 100 yards back in the direction we had started from.
My first thought was I hope she's on the right track here when my friend said are you sure the deer went this way as I thought I would have seen it if it had come this way, well she seems to know where she's going so we have got to trust the dog with me crossing my fingers thinking please izzy don't make me look a tw#t for gods sake .
She then took a line much deeper into the wood crossing a road made for lorrys to extract recently cut timber and then worked out a star shape and I think it was here that the other deer in the group left the doe behind, izzy moved on into thicker pine trees with me commenting on the fact that I hoped my friend new where we were as we were well into the woods.
Three more turns and fifty yards latter and there lying dead against a tree by some trimmed branches was the roe doe with a confirmed fatal rearward gut shot wound.
Along the entire track we encountered no blood hair slots or sighn of any kind so I guess my no blood training programme looks to be working.
Yahoo my first real track and a successful outcome plenty of praise and play for izzy and we loaded up the deer then headed for home.
Sorry for no pictures but I thought if I take the camera with me although it was a fairly hot track I am bound to put the jinx on it for her and it was her first live track after all.
Hopefuly the start of good things to come and a kiss goodnight for izzy an honour indeed as I don't even kiss the misses lol
Thanks for reading.
Hello mate came the reply on the other end i don't suppose you could help me out could you why what's up , well I was stalking into a group of 6 deer and I selected one to take near the hedge line with the other five further out into the field and I don't know if the deer took a step forward as I fired or I pulled the shot but it sounded like a gut shot.
Quickly reloading to take another shot the deer was joined by the other five and they all took of and ran along the hedge line before jumping the fence and disappearing into a wood making a follow up shot impossible as well as unsafe.
He gave it a while and went forward to find the shot site marking the firing point as he left but upon reaching the suspected area he found no blood hair or sighn of any kind and after an unsuccessful search decided to back out and give me a call.
For the last five months now I have been training a Bavarian mountain hound called izzy with artificial tracks but luckily or unluckily depending on how you look at it all the deer I have taken have either dropped to shot or ran no more than thirty feet Always the case I suppose when you are trying to train on live tracks I suspect.
After getting some diesel and loading some deer to drop of En-route I was heading of towards Wiltshire via the 303 with an as yet a un proven dog and a few nerves as to how she would perform. I had however a phone number of a proven tracking team logged into my contacts just in case we failed and to help put my mind at ease.
After approximately four hours after the shot had been taken we arrived at the estate and was shown where the shot had been taken from at a distance of about 100 metres , we moved forward to the suspected shot site but izzy indicated nothing but was trying to lead me further along the hedge and slightly further away from the fence.
Letting her do her thing with my friend trying to find some sighn where he thought he had struck it
behind us izzy moved forward twenty yards and started sniffing the ground like what can only be described as a junky sniffing crack . I couldn't see a thing and with a frost moving in and the temperature now dropping to minus 2 I touched the ground and saw a speck of dark gut content and a miniscule amount of rusty orange looking blood bingo we've got the shot site and were off.
Did all the fallow stay together I said or did they split as the entered the wood no they stayed roughly together but they were roe not fallow lesson learnt for me there don't assume always ask.
Izzy went another twenty yards then went to a wooden crossing point in the fence looked at it and slowly walked away looking for an easier entry point I called her back and lifted her over the stock fencing and barbed wire and repeated the same the other side of the hedge bank. We were now into the wood and she was of at a steady speed zig zagging threw the trees when she then headed back to the fence line and 100 yards back in the direction we had started from.
My first thought was I hope she's on the right track here when my friend said are you sure the deer went this way as I thought I would have seen it if it had come this way, well she seems to know where she's going so we have got to trust the dog with me crossing my fingers thinking please izzy don't make me look a tw#t for gods sake .
She then took a line much deeper into the wood crossing a road made for lorrys to extract recently cut timber and then worked out a star shape and I think it was here that the other deer in the group left the doe behind, izzy moved on into thicker pine trees with me commenting on the fact that I hoped my friend new where we were as we were well into the woods.
Three more turns and fifty yards latter and there lying dead against a tree by some trimmed branches was the roe doe with a confirmed fatal rearward gut shot wound.
Along the entire track we encountered no blood hair slots or sighn of any kind so I guess my no blood training programme looks to be working.
Yahoo my first real track and a successful outcome plenty of praise and play for izzy and we loaded up the deer then headed for home.
Sorry for no pictures but I thought if I take the camera with me although it was a fairly hot track I am bound to put the jinx on it for her and it was her first live track after all.
Hopefuly the start of good things to come and a kiss goodnight for izzy an honour indeed as I don't even kiss the misses lol
Thanks for reading.
