October 23, 2007 - Billy's deer
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 but could not see more blood. After one hour we decided to take Bernie back to the car and bring more experienced 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 trail. I could not believe that the deer, which was bleeding so much, all of sudden would stop leaving any blood behind.
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 cover Billy should not have problems with following it. We were right! Now Billy was pulling with great strength and acted very sure of himself.
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 these days in our area a hunter risks losing a wounded or dead deer to coyotes if he chooses not to track at night.