THERE'S A REASON WE CALL OURSELVES RELENTLESS GAME RECOVERY. 6 hours and 5.2 miles later, we caught up with a giant.
This was probably the most challenging and rewarding track we have ever been on. Ransom and I showed up at this track with not a lot of information on tuesday at about 2:30 in the afternoon. Dan shot this buck the afternoon before at 12 yards with a crossbow, and it happened so fast he wasn't sure where he hit it. They waited about 2 hours and went out looking for the buck. Fast forward 5 hours, and they were 800-900 yards away in a field and jumped the buck. They did the absolute best thing they could do in that situation, and they reached out to Missouri Blood Trackers, and I got the call. They were very patient when I couldn't get out there until about 2 the next day. I showed up and we started at last blood. Ransom struggled with the dry conditions and high winds in the short grass fields but after a couple restarts in the first 500 yards, we were off. 900 yards in we came across fresh blood and Ransom exploded with drive from the fresh deer. The pace quickened and I knew at this point from the way the deer was bleeding it was a brisket shot. I have to brag on the hunter a bit. Dan is 58 and he kept up with me like a champ. Ransom and I move fast and it was pretty impressive to say the least. It was even more impressive when darkness fell upon us and I was the only one with a light he kept pace in the blackness of night through thick brush without the aid of a light. We followed the deer for 5.2 miles, only stopping when hitting property lines to get permission. On the last stop at a fence with a house in front of us, we lost all visible signs, and we had to just trust the dog. At this point Ransom took us right at a house. When we were approximently 30 ft in front of the fron porch Ransom snarled and I shinded the light up to him just in time to see the buck right on front of Ransom. I knew at this point we were going to get the deer. Dans friend joined us at this point and we progressed another 300-400 yards where we were able to catch up with the buck in his last bed where he was unable to get up and had died from his wounds. This deer has virtually no blood left in his body. It just goes to show you that the track is not over until somebody quits and there's no quit in this dog. Congrats, Dan McKean , on an amazing buck.
