October 23, 2007 - Billy's deer

This morning we got a call from a hunter located 16 miles from our place. He gut shot a deer yesterday at 5:30 pm. He went to the hit site this morning and could not find his buck. There was ...

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:24:31 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
This morning we got a call from a hunter located 16 miles from our place. He gut shot a deer yesterday at 5:30 pm. He went to the hit site this morning and could not find his buck. There was ...

John starting the line with Bernie. It was a warm day, temperature around 70 degrees, and overcast sky.

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:24:40 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
John starting the line with Bernie. It was a warm day, temperature around 70 degrees, and overcast sky.

As we followed the trail, we found numerous spots of blood.

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:24:48 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
As we followed the trail, we found numerous spots of blood.

The leaves on the ground were also red so it took some effort to actually see the blood.

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:22:20 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
The leaves on the ground were also red so it took some effort to actually see the blood.

Then we saw quite a bit of blood on this birch trunk (fingers indicating the direction of track).

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:22:28 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
Then we saw quite a bit of blood on this birch trunk (fingers indicating the direction of track).

Bernie showed a good desire to track but he was too fast and not very focused. It was good to have a long blood trail to work with so we could actually evaluate Bernie's work as we were sure ...

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:22:37 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
Bernie showed a good desire to track but he was too fast and not very focused. It was good to have a long blood trail to work with so we could actually evaluate Bernie's work as we were sure ...

The deer went into patches of golden rod.

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:22:46 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
The deer went into patches of golden rod.

We could see that the deer was bleeding badly and we thought that we should be able to recover him.

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:22:56 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
We could see that the deer was bleeding badly and we thought that we should be able to recover him.

Occasionally we marked blood signs with orange tape so we could get back to the marked places if we needed to.

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:23:03 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
Occasionally we marked blood signs with orange tape so we could get back to the marked places if we needed to.

Bernie was pulling ahead, and he was not very accurate. When we ran out of blood line, we did not have much confidence about whether Bernie was on the right track. We searched and searched b ...

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:23:11 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
Bernie was pulling ahead, and he was not very accurate. When we ran out of blood line, we did not have much confidence about whether Bernie was on the right track. We searched and searched b ...

The picture shows John putting a tracking collar on Billy.

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:23:17 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
The picture shows John putting a tracking collar on Billy.

It was not an easy task for Billy to track through the terrain already trampled by three people and one dog. I was getting a bit discouraged as we could not find more blood and advance the t ...

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:23:30 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
It was not an easy task for Billy to track through the terrain already trampled by three people and one dog. I was getting a bit discouraged as we could not find more blood and advance the t ...

While John was working with Billy, the hunter and I decided to look a bit to the right of the track - the only direction not explored yet. We were successful and found more blood at the edge ...

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:23:38 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
While John was working with Billy, the hunter and I decided to look a bit to the right of the track - the only direction not explored yet. We were successful and found more blood at the edge ...

We marked the blood and called John with Billy. This time we were very optimistic about finding this buck. This new blood trail was not disturbed by us or another dog and in the very thick c ...

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:23:50 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
We marked the blood and called John with Billy. This time we were very optimistic about finding this buck. This new blood trail was not disturbed by us or another dog and in the very thick c ...

Forty yards later (and two hours from the start with Bernie) we found the deer. It was a very sad site as unfortunately coyotes got there first! The damage was severe. Another lesson that th ...

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:24:04 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
Forty yards later (and two hours from the start with Bernie) we found the deer. It was a very sad site as unfortunately coyotes got there first! The damage was severe. Another lesson that th ...

Billy got his reward by tugging a deer...

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:24:14 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
Billy got his reward by tugging a deer...

...and getting a piece of venison. Good boy Billy!

nobody@smugmug.com (Jolanta Jeanneney) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:24:23 -0700

Jolanta Jeanneney
...and getting a piece of venison. Good boy Billy!