Swampster
Well-Known Member
He was on the ground kicking. After about 30 seconds of that I thought he was slowing down, but when I decided to get down, he made it up and took off. Good open shot (I thought), .308 at about 90 yards. I couldn't find where he landed, no blood there. I crisscrossed the brush in the woods about 100 yards each direction from where I saw him go in and nothing. Made seven passes 15-20 yards apart. After almost an hour of this, I decided to get some help and went back to get Claude. Claude is a pet, not a trained tracking bloodhound, and is not even used to a leash but I thought I would give it a try. He did find where it hit the ground, hair only, no blood. Ran me to death and I wasn't sure if he was tracking that deer, another deer, a coyote, or rabbits. Finally, about 300 yards in the brush from where he went in, he found a hand sized smear of blood; not a puddle, just a smear. For the next hour and a half, he ran my legs off. He would find a single drop here and there, but no deer. Thinking I must not have hit him as well as I thought. I think Claude had more fun than I did. Don't think I've knocked one off their feet like that and lost them. A shallow creek borders my land, and he went there a couple of times but stopped on the bank. I though it may have crossed, but we would find another drop of blood back in the brush further down. As the creek bank is about eight feet down, I guess it couldn't or didn't want to cross. And I want to add that I HATE greenbrier.
