I shot a really ugly looking spike last night just before dark. I shot and watched as it ran into the woods. I didn't look around a lot for signs but I wanted to confirm the hit before dark if I could. I walked down to where I had shot it and saw some white hair on the ground so I knew I had hit it but I was afraid it was low. Turned out it was a good shot I was just shooting down on it. Now I shot it on a path cut through a very rough and large thicket. I walked back to the house and got the truck and my four year old Bench Leg Fiest. This dog has never been good for much outside of being a good pet but I thought I would give him a shot. I loaded him up and drove down to close to where the deer was. I kept him on a leash and he went right to where the deer hair was. Then he started licking the ground, I turned on the flashlight, it was completely dark then, and saw a lot of blood on the ground! He sniffed for a second then led me about 25 yards into the thicket where the deer was lying down with it's head up. I was only about 5 yards away from it when I saw it. At that point I drew my S&W .357 Magnum and finished it off. I had never used a dog to track a deer before, it was a good thing I was able to utilize him though because it looked like to me that the deer actually went the opposite way than where I found it. I may have looked all night and never found it.