I was in my pajamas and just getting ready to hit the hay when I spoke to the hunter about his need for a dog about an hour away. From listening to his account of the shot and deer reaction, along with the pictures of the blood, we decided to take on the track. The only issue was that if was about 10:45 pm and I had to work this morning, so it would have been hard to go this morning. After some deliberation, we decided to come down and give it a go while knowing there was one peice of property that we would need permission to go on and we wouldn't get that permission until today if the deer went that way. We arrived at just before midnight and about 5 hours after the shot, and Finley got straight to work. Let me tell you this dog was on a mission! She did amazingly well for our first night time track of the season and didn't skip a beat. I'll even say this was her best track of the year. She never came off track once through a wooded area and then through a crazy maze of thicket and came out at a driveway. THE driveway. We let her go across the driveway (outside if the gate/fence) and work her way about 75 yards through freshly cut grass where she stopped at the end of the field of property we didn't have permission to go onto. Just to double check, I took her back and restarted her at the driveway and she led us right back to the same spot. We couldn't go that way, so I decided to just let her go down the revene to see if by chance we could cross paths where the buck potentially went and where we could go, but no luck.
We ended up calling the track with the intent of getting permission first thing this morning. The hunter went back, with permission, to where Finley stopped and this Ohio monster was sitting about 30 yards away. She didn't sink teeth into this one so I'm bummed for her, but she definitely would have if we could have walked a few more yards, so I'm calling this one a recovery. I couldn't be more happy for the hunter, and for Finley for really showing me that when I start to doubt her, it's not a wise choice. I sure wish she could have chewed on this guy, she earned it!!
We ended up calling the track with the intent of getting permission first thing this morning. The hunter went back, with permission, to where Finley stopped and this Ohio monster was sitting about 30 yards away. She didn't sink teeth into this one so I'm bummed for her, but she definitely would have if we could have walked a few more yards, so I'm calling this one a recovery. I couldn't be more happy for the hunter, and for Finley for really showing me that when I start to doubt her, it's not a wise choice. I sure wish she could have chewed on this guy, she earned it!!
Attachments
-
Screenshot_20231017_103927_Messenger.jpg -
Screenshot_20231017_103920_Messenger.jpg
