They always go to water

First time using the TRAKR app.. Not a bad experience at all. Honestly, this track should have been a slam dunk so to speak. The hunter did everything a Tracker could ask. After the shot, the hunter knew it was a bad one, inspected arrow and confirmed, gut shot. Hunter left the scene and waited for our arrival. Not quite 24 hours and we were on scene. The Hunter had warned that coyote’s were bad in the area, and I told him that if we didn’t push the deer alive that the deer shouldn’t create a long track for the yotes to cut.

After suiting the dog up and walking to the scene – the shot site – I sat Alli and motioned towards the shot area while suggesting “Find It”. Now, the hunter did say that there were two deer in the same area, but we are supposed to be looking for the wounded deer… We took off and we were tracking. I believed Alli to be on trail. Then she started zig zagging through the nasty stuff and we were moving. By this time we had lost our Hunter and his crew. After a while I doubted the dog. We were cruising, she didn’t quite feel like she was really on it any longer. It was pretty warm and she was showing it. Panting hard, tongue out. We stopped and took water. I started her back towards the shot site to restart the track. On the way back we jumped a deer. I mean, it we almost stepped on it in some real tall grass. Couldn’t quite make it out fully if it was injured or not due to visibility, but I doubted it was the deer. I wasn’t sure.

After getting back to the start, I have Alli sit and cool off. I water her, talk to the hunter and explain about the jumped deer. We all kind of discussed it possibly being the buck, but I wanted to retry. Alli started again and was a bit slower this time, thank god. We head to the creek. She acts like she wants in the water, but she is not a real big fan of water or swimming. She starts to bob in and out of the edge of the creek like she is maybe looking for a different crossing, I couldn’t really tell. We meet up with some of the Hunter’s family and discuss going over the creek with vehicles. By this time we haven’t fully gone down the other side of the creek (right direction). Alli stands pointing towards that direction but I think nothing of it since maybe she is just looking for a different crossing (always watch the dog). By this time the Hunters dad has decided to walk the creek edge down the direction I just stated and finds the buck in the water. As happy as I am that the buck was found, my heart sank a bit since we didn’t get the chance to find it. However, I let Alli finish out without steering her. I let her head down that direction she was pointing and we start walking down the edge. There is some real nasty stuff on the edge between the water and the mowed path we were on, so it wasn’t real easy to get to. She eventually cuts in and starts walking the edge. There is probably a 5 foot, maybe 4 foot edge or drop to the water. By this time I can see the deer. She hops down in the water and walks out to the buck. Yay, we at lest closed that and got her nose on it. The Old Dog (dad) technically found it, but at least we were able to finish. Them Old Dogs are good to have around :).