Hutch’s quote of the week: “Be Persistent, Stay Focused”

As Bugs Bunny would say, “What’s up Doc? I’ll tell you what’s up; Gene Bahr’s two German shorthairs Tillie and Francie are starting to get excited!

I’ve had the privilege of woodcock and partridge hunting with these two magnificent bird dogs for the past few seasons. The best part of our annual trip to Gene’s camp is to see the dogs work. These dogs love what they do and when turned loose to work, they are truly amazing.

On one occasion the dogs flushed two woodcock, Gene shot the first bird in a flash, the second bird flew to my left, I shot, and down went the bird. I quickly discovered the bird had dropped into the Ellis River. I said, “Gene, I think we might not get that last bird, he fell into the slow moving water.” The dog’s master quickly called the dogs to the riverbank, which was a big tangled mess of briars and brush. The bird wasn’t visible and the next word I heard was “Fetch.” The two dogs bailed into the water and we couldn’t always keep them in sight due to all the brush and tangle along the riverbank.

After listening to the dogs slosh in the water for a few minutes, up over the bank came Francie with a very dead, very wet woodcock. Francie dropped the bird at our feet, and then looked up at us as if to say, “I hung around with a black lab last week and he told me how this water retrieval thing was done” We burst into laughter. What a great bird hunt.

In a couple of weeks, we’ll be back at the “Bird Camp” and I know of a few overgrown boys and two dogs that can hardly wait.

Another topic this week is tracking wounded deer. This can be a very challenging event, but the best advice I can give is not to give up and stay focused. Especially if you know you hit that deer. For some strange reason once in a while a deer won’t bleed right away, it usually depends on where you hit the animal or other factors such as trees or twigs in the way, etc.

On an afternoon deer hunt a few years back, my deer hunting partner Don Blake and I decided to go sit until legal shooting ended that day. At about 3:45 p.m. I heard Don’s 30-06 bark one time. I waited 10 minutes, then made my way toward him knowing that we soon would be running out of daylight. Upon reaching my partner he said, “I had the crosshairs perfect, there’s no blood, no hair, nothing.” He was not happy. He was right, no blood, nothing.

We quickly found the deer’s track in soft moss and followed it for about 50 yards until it turned into oak leaves on the ground. About 15 yards more of tracking through the oak leaves Don got on his hands and knees and picked up a leaf that had a piece of blood no bigger than a wood tick. There was hope! He kept on his hands and knees while I carried the guns. Another 10 yards yielded two more small drops of blood. This process went on for about 50 more yards, we then looked ahead, and just a few yards away was Don’s deer, a high tined, fat buck. He was hit perfectly through the top of the heart.

Don is one of the best deer hunters I know. He is patient, persistent, and one of the best sign readers I’ve ever seen and a big part of my deer hunting success. So, if you should have the misfortune of tracking a wounded deer, gather yourself and stay focused as Don did, it will usually result in finding your deer.

Enough for this time, and as “Porky Pig” would say, “That’s all Folks.”

Happy Hunting,

Hutch