On Friday I headed out to friends farm and got set up about 3 pm. I was on the edge of a ravine overlooking a run that feeds into a field of winter wheat. The weather was nasty (37F, 20 mph wind, rain squalls) but this seems to be when I connect the most frequently.

At 6:54 pm (7 minutes of legal light left) a nice doe comes down the trail and I grunted her to a stop for a nice broadside shot (I have two anterless only tags that need filling). She takes the arrow straight to the boiler room, does an impressive donkey kick and I know she is going down. I saw the first 10 yards of her run but the bush is pretty thick and I quickly lost sight of her. The temperature has now dropped to 34F and the rain is beginning to mix with snow plus with all the red fall leaves on the ground finding the blood trail will be a challenge.

I cased my bow and packed up my knapsack and headed back to my truck to stow my gear. Got back to where I hit her about 25 minutes later and by then it was pretty dark. I Started looking with the flashlight and after getting turned around multiple times in the thick stuff and with all the red leaves on the ground I quickly determined that help was required.

I called my wife and 20 minutes later she arrived with my 16 year old son and the hound. The hound is a 3.5 year old mostly treeing walker coonhound but has a little rottweiler mixed in somewhere. He has done me proud 3 times in the past and I was counting on him once again.

Took the dog to the where the deer was hit and took him off the leash. He immediately took off and minutes later was baying (meaning he found something). We caught up and the doe was laid down about 70 yards from where I hit her. She was double lung hit.

I had passed within 3 yards of her earlier when I was blindly thrashing around. She was 2 yards from a distinct tree I recognized. Eventually I probably would have found her but the dog sure made easy work of it.



If you are wondering about the yellow tag it is not a HF tag. Upon recovery and prior to transporting a hunted deer we are required to put a validation tag through the ear (doe) or on the antlers (buck).

Great event and good looking friend & companion.

Congrats.

Hard to beat a good dog. Congrats on the hunt.

Great Story and good looking Hound!

Cool story brother.

Sounds like a fun challenging hunt, way to go Hound Dog

nothing like a great dog no matter the breed

Thanks for sharing. Good dog for sure!!

Outstanding

Yep, thanks for posting it up

Great story, Hirogen. Great hunt too. Wish we could get a little 'cold snap' to help the deer move...That's a BIG doe, unlike some Texas deer.

Nice!

Congrats, stay warm