Rhino Posted October 9, 2015 Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 So far on our place in Mo we've gotten 2 outstanding bucks. My buddy Ernie and I each picked one to pursue this bowseason. Pics of the one I chose are posted in our team thread. Ernie chose this NT buck which, at the time we thought had 16 points coming off the main beam...turned out to be 17 points (main frame 12 point with 5 NT points). Ernie named him Bullwinkle. Since we hadn't gotten any pics of him since July 31st we were very concerned EHD had gotten him. So far we've found 7 dead dear on our place. Monday afternoon was going to be our last hunt on this trip. Ernie decided to hunt a stand we call the Rookery stand because a shooter 10 point we'd also gotten on cams in Bullwinkle's turf had shown up before dark 2 days early and the wind was finally right. Ernie has seen quite a few deer then low & behold Bullwinkle shows up. A quick look with his binocs and he knows. Bullwinkle approaches from over his left shoulder & stops to work a scrape and lick branch at ~20 yards...no shot that way. Then he works into a shooting lane toward a 6 point. Ernie turns his arrow loose and hits Bullsinkle high behind the shoulder. Now...where he hit didn't turn out to be exactly right but as Bullwinkle left Ernie could see a bulge hanging out of Bullwinkle's gut area...turned out to be intestines. After discussing his hit with Ernie convinced he had caught lung we waited 2 hours & took up tracking him. Blood was good at 1st but then sparse. We lost blood at ~150 yards. Around 10:30 we decided to take up tracking in the morning. The next morning we found more blood 40 yards past the last blood and tracked him another 1/8 mile to 2 beds ~20 yards apart...then lost blood in tall CRP grass. At noon we talked it over and decided to locate a tracking dog. Several calls gave us 2 options...we were told the best guy to get is Tracker John. We got in touch with John & he arrived around 5:00 Tuesday afternoon. We took John & his oldest Bloodhoud (Jesse) to a spot about 75 yards before we lost blood. After Jesse caught the scent she needed off she went...over hill and dale...OMG...working too fast for me to keep up...did my best though. Somewhere along the way Jesse got off the trail. When John realized she was off the trail (yes he can read his dog's mind) we called it quits ~10:30. We decided to take up the trail again in the morning close to where Jesse had found the last blood at least 1/2 mile past where we found it. Next morning I decided to hang back since my bum knee was hurting from last night and left Tracker John & Ernie take up the full blown chase. Ernie & I had radios so I got a blow by blow accounting. After tracking over hill & dale again for ~2.5 miles they came to a spot and Jesse starting wimpering. John told Ernie...dead or alive your buck is bedded in front of us...sure enough a few steps later Bullwinkle stands up & trots off slowly. John tells Ernie...Next time we jump him we'll know but he was pretty sure then they'd recover Bullwinkle. About 20 minutes later the see Bullwinkle standing in a creek leaning up against the bank. They approach & Bullwinkle slowly climbs the bank & walks off. After a short pause they take up the track and catch Bullwinkle standing up again & slowly walking off through the timber...then bed down again. I get the call to bring Ernie's bow to him so he can slip in & finish him off. By the time I arrive 45 minutes later we all approach Bullwinkle and he was already dead in his last bed. All total Tracker John said the tracking job covered ~5 miles. The shot...well further back than thought and the arrow appeared to have deflected off a bone and cut through the gut further back and on the same side as the entry point. Odd to say the least. Here's Ernie & Bullwinkle...17 points...Gross score 178 1/2". He has a 3/4" kicker point too that I didn't count. BTW...Tracker John was taking video footage during the tracking job. Turns out he's shooting tracking footage for a show he's doing for Field & Stream. He got Ernie's blessing to use the footage. You may get the chance to see some of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbeck Posted October 9, 2015 Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 way to go, that is a beautiful white tail Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbarcheryhunter Posted October 9, 2015 Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 Wow !!awesome story and buck !! So glad u could find him . Here in pa we not aloud to use dogs to track . Not sure y not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted October 9, 2015 Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 Congratulations to Ernie on a great deer. Have a hard time imagining a 5 mile track job and how many properties you would cross, that is a lot of ground to cover. Glad the deer was recovered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted October 9, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 (edited) It certainly is hard to imagine William! Actually were were only on 3 properties including ours...had permission from the others. A lot of the distance was going this way & that way zig zagging around...mostly on our place and a neighbor that borders us on the NW side. I talked to him before taking up the tracking job...He wished he could have joined us but he was on his way to Colorado for an elk hunt. We also had the local game warden come with us Tuesday night too. He came by Wednesday afternoon after we got Bullwinkle back to the camp. If you took a direct line from where Ernie shot him to where he finally died, according to GE measuring, it was a little over 1/2 mile. I think Bullwinkle was staying within his known turf but taking us all over it during the pursuit. No telling how many times Bullwinkle sensed danger approaching & moved on without being seen and how many beds we ultimately found during the pursuit. From the best I can figure, as the crow flies he never went more than a mile from where Ernie shot him. That would be a point on our place SE of where Ernie shot him. Where he finally died is a little over 1/2 mile NW of where Ernie shot him. Edited October 9, 2015 by Rhino Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maine Hntr Posted October 9, 2015 Report Share Posted October 9, 2015 Great story al and beautiful buck to Ernie. Hard work paid off in terms of deer management and after the shot follow up! Congrats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted October 10, 2015 Report Share Posted October 10, 2015 Congrats!... very lucky to have found him Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hoosierhunter Posted October 10, 2015 Report Share Posted October 10, 2015 Great deer for Ernie. I'm just amazed about hearing the dog work. I'm sure John is a proud papa of Jesse. 5 mile journey and they were working a day old trail each time. It would be really cool if John has a picture of the GPS screen showing exactly what the dog did on a map. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted October 10, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 10, 2015 I'm not sure if John had a GPS with him or not...never noticed it. I spent more time trying to keep up with them than anything else that night. The next morning they had to start at a spot where we found blood while tracking the prior evening so Jesse would get on the right scent again. That meant they had to cover some of the same ground we covered the prior night. Pat...Obviously we had some time to talk to John that evening and the next morning before it was light enough to see. For a gut shot deer John doesn't like to start tracking them until after 18 hours has passed...24 hours is better. He's tracked and recovered deer up to 3 days after the shot. That's pretty amazing. He has 3 dogs but Jesse is his oldest and most experienced at 11 years old. His other 2 dogs are 6 and 2 (I think)...the younger one is still in training. He also has some type of foreign falcon (told us but I forgot) he's in the process of training for airborne assistance. That's hard to comprehend. He's still working on training the falcon but says he's gradually getting there. The falcon stayed in his truck this time along with the other 2 dogs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smha6784 Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 man i dont know what is more impressive, the deer, the story, the dog, or the guy that is training a falcon to track deer? unbelievable all wrapped up in one adventure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Determination all over this hunt. I'm glad it worked out Al. Amazing story and buck. Reminds me of my first ever monster buck (161 inches) that died a little over a 1/2 mile from where I shot him. I looked the next day and lost the blood trail after 100 yards. Started grid searching and came up with nothing. I couldn't go back until 2 days later. I looked for several hours and got lost. I was simply trying to figure out how to get back to my truck when I walked up on him dead next to a creek with my arrow still in him (got one lung). It was getting dark by this point and I still did not know where I was. I heard some familiar dog barking and figured they were the dogs from the farm house I parked next to and thank God it was. Wish I had thought of tracking dogs back then. A guy with good dogs could do well here in the mid-west. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerClay Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 (edited) Wow! Great buck and a great story! Does Tracker John have a Youtube page? Edited October 14, 2015 by RangerClay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhino Posted October 14, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 Does Tracker John have a Youtube page? I honestly don't know. William found these 2 articles about him. http://illinoisbowhunting.com/blood-tracking-dogs-tracker-john/ http://www.grandviewoutdoors.com/big-game-hunting/blood-tracking-dogs-101-using-dogs-to-recover-more-deer/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fly Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 So glad you were able to recover that beast Al. Reminds me of my first Monsterbuck in 2006. Arrow got one lung with a short blood trial. I went back the next day and found nothing. I couldn't look the second day but went again on the third. After a few hours I got lost and stopped looking - and tried to figure out how to get to my truck before dark. I was over a 1/2 mile away from where I shot him when I just walked right up on him next to a creek. I was so lucky - as I never would have went that far if I had not been lost. I finally figured out where I was thanks to some barking dogs. Coyotes had already started in on his hind quarters but the cape was good as was the 161 inch rack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaun_300 Posted October 18, 2015 Report Share Posted October 18, 2015 That's a great story! Hard work and persistence pays off. Congrats to Ernie, that's one heck of a deer. And kudo's to all of you for not giving up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbHunterNY Posted October 21, 2015 Report Share Posted October 21, 2015 great story and outcome Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redkneck Posted November 2, 2015 Report Share Posted November 2, 2015 That's some deer Al! Congrats to your friend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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