Sometimes an animal leaves the scene of the crime…and you have to find it. I hunt in the southern U.S. where there is lots and lots of thick cover. This cover provides an opportunity to become adept at tracking. I'm sure there are lots of great stories to be had from guys on this site about tracking. I'd love to hear them.
I wrote this piece about a tracking episode we had a few years ago along with the lessons learned. The story itself is a big long so I'm posting a brief section of it along with a link to the remainder.
I look forward to hearing the stories of others. In my experience, tracking is a dying art. Too many people simply shrug off a deer when they can't find it. Perhaps our stories can begin to change some of that attitude.
http://southernoutdoorsman.blogspot.com/2012/01/lessons-passed-on.html
Lessons
Today was a bittersweet day. We brought home some venison...but we left some too. A good friend of mine hit a deer this morning with a shot that was a bit off. He said he knew it when he saw the hit and asked that we come help track it. No problem...if a deer leaves blood we do a very thorough job of finding it...we owe it to the animal to make sure we don't waste it's life.
My 12 year old son was along on this trip too. He has been hunting with me since he was 3...and hunting with his own rifle (and me by his side) since he was 8. He's spent a good deal of time in the field and I'm very proud of, and impressed by his skills. Today's tracking job would be one more lesson that he could use to build his base of knowledge.
We had a three-man tracking party and we assigned my son the duty of being a marker...when I found blood I had him stand next to it while I moved up the trail until I found the next bit...then I'd call him up to stand next to the new find...and so it would go. This would ensure that I could always go back to the last known "good blood" if I lost the trail.
While I was tracking and my son was marking, my friend would ride the rifle. As the tracker, my whole world would lie at my feet. I'd be bent over searching for clues the whole time and if a wounded deer jumped up to run I'd have no hope of getting a shot off at it...this would be his job. He would scan forward with the rifle at the ready. With the duties so assigned it was time to get started.
I wrote this piece about a tracking episode we had a few years ago along with the lessons learned. The story itself is a big long so I'm posting a brief section of it along with a link to the remainder.
I look forward to hearing the stories of others. In my experience, tracking is a dying art. Too many people simply shrug off a deer when they can't find it. Perhaps our stories can begin to change some of that attitude.
http://southernoutdoorsman.blogspot.com/2012/01/lessons-passed-on.html
Lessons
Today was a bittersweet day. We brought home some venison...but we left some too. A good friend of mine hit a deer this morning with a shot that was a bit off. He said he knew it when he saw the hit and asked that we come help track it. No problem...if a deer leaves blood we do a very thorough job of finding it...we owe it to the animal to make sure we don't waste it's life.
My 12 year old son was along on this trip too. He has been hunting with me since he was 3...and hunting with his own rifle (and me by his side) since he was 8. He's spent a good deal of time in the field and I'm very proud of, and impressed by his skills. Today's tracking job would be one more lesson that he could use to build his base of knowledge.
We had a three-man tracking party and we assigned my son the duty of being a marker...when I found blood I had him stand next to it while I moved up the trail until I found the next bit...then I'd call him up to stand next to the new find...and so it would go. This would ensure that I could always go back to the last known "good blood" if I lost the trail.
While I was tracking and my son was marking, my friend would ride the rifle. As the tracker, my whole world would lie at my feet. I'd be bent over searching for clues the whole time and if a wounded deer jumped up to run I'd have no hope of getting a shot off at it...this would be his job. He would scan forward with the rifle at the ready. With the duties so assigned it was time to get started.