Tracking update. Another recovery for Layla.

Opening day of the regular gun season brought us our first rifle track.  Since the track was fairly fresh, and the deer had been shot with a rifle, I felt like this would be a good track for Layla.  The young hunter felt confident that he had hit the deer well, but there was an absence of blood at the hit site, and an initial search did not lead to the discovery of any sign.

 The real key to the issue came during my interview with the hunter.  He said that the deer had run about 100 yards, and then let out a bawl.  In my experience, wounded deer only bawl when a large bone has been hit.  This usually means a leg shot, though I have tracked a bow shot deer that bawled after a sternum hit.  When a deer is struck in the leg, getting on the track early is usually the best tactic.  These deer want to lay down, and they can often be overtaken on the track.  Most have also sustained some injury in addition to the bone hit.

Layla was started where the deer was thought to be standing at the time of the shot.  She quickly progressed along a deer trail, but the hunter thought that the deer he had shot took a slightly different route.  There had been several other deer in the area on that morning, so getting started right was very important.

A restart got us moving along the path that the hunter felt the deer had used to exit the area.  After 50 yards, my suspicion about shot placement was confirmed when a large shard of leg bone was encountered.  There was still no blood to be seen.  The dog continued down the track along a drainage area.  The next sign we encountered was 100 yards into the track, and was another small piece of bone along with a small piece of fat.  I suspect that the deer had spent some time in this area, as Layla began tracking "hot".  Unfortunately, all of the scent was overwhelming to a dog that usually follows 24 hour old hoof tracks.  Her great excitement  had her running in circles along the ditch rather than tracking methodically.  

A short time out was required to get Layla to calm down, and restart the track.  Getting back on the trail was also a challenge due to the fact that we had still not found any blood.  I was beginning to think that the shot was a low front leg hit, which may or may not be recoverable.  Still we persisted on the track, and progressed into an area of tall native grass.  This was promising since leg hit deer often bed in this kind of cover.   We had only progressed a little way into the tall grass when I heard the crashing of the deer, and saw the animal get up just 5 yards in front of me.  Due to the cover, I could not see the wound, but knew that it was severe as the animal would not run out of the tall grass.  Layla and I backed out, and informed the hunter of the situation.  Fortunately, in this case, the deer was wounded to a degree that it was likely to stay put.  This allowed us to take the dog back to the truck, and return to dispatch the deer.  

After the deer was put down, the severity of the wound was clear.  This deer was not shot in the front leg as I had suspected, but rather in lower section of the back leg.  The leg was completely severed from the ham, and the abdominal cavity was also penetrated.  This deer would have been destined to a painful, lingering death had it not been for our recovery effort.  The hunter was quite upset with his shot placement, and seemed to appreciate the importance of good shot placement for an ethical and humane kill.  We were all glad that we ended the deer's suffering.  As a whole, hunters take game much more humanely that Mother Nature tends to, but it is still important to minimize suffering.

No pictures were taken of this recovery due to the devastation of the injury.  In the end, I was relatively happy with Layla's performance.  The track also gave me a bit more insight into what I needed to work on in Layla's training.