WA ADA Branch April Hunt Part 3

I had some previously arranged commitments to attend to over the next two days and was unable to accompany the guys the but I pointed them in a few different directions and they hunted a few different areas with out firing a shot. After I had attended my prior commitments I was able to accompany them again so we headed to an area I had always wanted to look at but hadn't so far had the chance to. Steve decided to stay home for the day as his feet had taken a beating over the previous days and needed a day to recover. We decided we would hunt some old logging coups and after about an hours drive we quietly parked the vehicle. We all quietly geared up and headed in different directions, agreeing to meet back at the vehicle at noon.

I was quietly walking through some thick trees when I heard a single shot from the direction Craig had taken. I hoped he hadn't missed and was confident the shot had been good as I had only heard the one, so I continued on my stalk. I located a number of rub and preach trees and a small but well used wallow. I took note of the location of the rubs and wallow for future reference but failed to sight any deer, despite the abundance of sign and marks. Shortly before noon I made my way back to the vehicle expecting to see Craig or at least a meat bag but there was no sign of him. So I sat down and made myself a cup of coffee and had some lunch while I waited.

One of the Preach trees I located on my stalk.

Not long after I finished my coffee Craig appeared looking very dejected, "wheres the Deer" I asked, his reply was that it had run off after the shot and he couldn't find it. He then proceeded to tell me what had happened, he had been honked by a young spiker and had waited quietly for a few minutes before following up. He had seen the spiker on the edge of a clearing and put in a good shot that saw the deer drop to the ground before regaining it's feet and running off. He had followed it's running marks and found blood spots but then lost the trail after about 80 meters. Darren had called him on the Garmin Rino 750 and they had both searched for the deer for a couple of hours to no avail.

Having had this happen to me a number of times in the past I was not overly concerned and was quite sure we would find the animal. I asked Craig a few questions and was quietly confident that we would be able to pick up it's tracks and locate it, I was certain that it was down from the description of it's reaction to the shot, we just had to find it. After Darren and Craig had had some lunch I got Craig to show me where he had taken the shot from and where the deer was standing. We located the initial marks quite easily and followed them for about 60 meters before loosing them in a jumble of tracks and boot prints. I was able to locate a number of small blood spots that indicated the direction of travel but once again lost them after about 20 meters. 

I was beginning to think Craig may have hit the Deer further back than he had initially thought, when after about an hour of casting around in ever increasing circles I located another blood spot about 40 meters away at right angles to the original direction the deer had taken. I marked the spot and made my way towards the previous blood spots, it was in doing this that I picked up where the deer had changed direction. I marked the spot and returned to the trail, it was relatively easy to find the deer's marks again and I soon located a set of splayed hoof prints and a blood smear indicating the Deer had fallen and regained its feet. The wobbles had set in and I knew then that it was not far away. I indicated to Craig and Daren the direction of travel the deer had taken and showed them both what I had found and what it indicated. Craig then scouted ahead while I continued following the marks, 10 meters in front of me Craig located his deer piled up in some long grass and Dogwood.

Craig looking very happy after finding his Deer.

Daren and Craig with Craig's Deer. 

To say he was relieved was an understatement, we had found the deer nearly 5 hours after Craig had shot it. I know that immense feeling of relief that comes after loosing an animal and then locating it many hours later and have experienced it a few times myself. We took a few photographs and then set about removing the back straps and legs. Daren and I bagged the meat ready to carry out while Craig retrieved the vehicle from where we had parked and drove as close as he could to the Deer. When Craig returned we all carried the meat to the vehicle and loaded it in. By now it was late in the afternoon and we decided to call it a day and began the drive back to the house.

Steve had been busy while we were away and had a feed cooked up and ready for us when we returned. We were quite a happy bunch that night as we ate dinner and relived the days events, telling Steve of all the different things we had each found and it was then we decided to return in the morning with Steve and hunt a different part of the area.  We all slept well when we went to bed that night having had both a physically and mentally taxing day.