THE Random Chat Thread - AKA "The RCT" - No shirt or shoes required - Open 24 / 7

RustyRelics said:
Got one, now comes tracking. The nerve wracking part.
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Up in WI you can now use dogs to track a downed deer, but dogs are allowed only after a deer is stuck. Never had to call the houndsman myself. I carry a red handkerchief with me and hang it on a branch at the last drop if I loose the blood trail, then start making concentric circles around that last drop until I can pick up the trail again.

I used to deer hunt northern WI, Chaquamagon Forest. Once when I was about twenty I found a bottle neck about two miles off the road. I set my tree stand right at the pinch which was only about 25 yards from the main trail into the woods. I figured dragging a deer two miles wouldn't be so hard going straight back to the road using the trail. Boy was I wrong.

So, I shoot this two year old doe when a pair wanders through the bottle neck. It ran back across the trail but I lost sight of it after that. I gave it a good fifteen minutes then went to track. I got down to where the deer had been shot and to my dismay there was no blood, just a big pile of hair. So I dropped my handkerchief and waited another 15 minutes before I stated walking in circles. Finally after about another 15 minutes I find a spot of tallow and a bit of blood. Dropped another handkerchief and continued weaving along looking for more blood. After about ten yards I found my deer. It popoed up about when I almost stepped on her. One of its front legs was obviously broken, but it was still running pretty fast away from the trail and into a logged clear cut with no trees but lots of scrub left from the logging.


Usually I'm pretty slow minded and I never know quite when to leap into action, but not this time! I ran as fast as I could climbing over brambles, stumps, and brush trying to flank this deer and get another slug in it. Took about 200 yards sprinting but I finally got ahead and dropped it from about 30 yards broadside. When I first shot that deer it was kind of angling towards me and the slug had hit the rib cage, glanced off an exited the armpit. Close call with that one, could have lost it.

Oh, and so much for my easy drag back to the truck. Had to trek over 300 yards across bramble and scrub to get to the trail. Took me longer to go 300 yards than it did to finish the two miles down the trail. No way am I in shape to make that kind of expedition today. I'm greatful for all the risks I could take on when I was younger, I wouldn't trade those memories for the world. But that's water under the bridge now. Gotta enjoy your youth. Someday, God willing, I'll be a feeble drooling old man. And if that happens, hopfully I will still have those fond memories to retreat in.
 

Tracking game ,or humans ,or pets ect. is a patient art.
Practice and eyes getting readjusted to scanning ground and anything above ground takes some time. But ...With practice it can be surprising how well a track can be followed. With calm track makers easier than erratic ones to follow.

Deer I prefer to anchor anymore. But forget sometimes and double lung one that will run into the alder jungle or swamp.
Usually hear them fall. The it's a squishy tracking job on crutches...

The last time one was double lunged I knew it was over in seconds ,despite the run. (And several seconds of running can cover a lot of ground).
Instead of taking a break and calming down I picked up the track ,mostly by disturbed foliage (my tired eyes and darkness combined did not help pick up anything wet deep in the cover) and when I stopped to respot the faint blood trail higher up on cover after a while or any other sign it sounded like someone was banging on a steel drum with a padded club. Bowmb,bowmb,bowmb.
Wondered if it was someone at a farm in the distance , then realized it was my pulse! L.o.l..
Thrashing along in the heavy cover combined with excitement added up apparently.
My prize wasn't much more than fifty yards , but it seemed much farther when following.
 

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Duckshot said:
Up in WI you can now use dogs to track a downed deer, but dogs are allowed only after a deer is stuck. Never had to call the houndsman myself. I carry a red handkerchief with me and hang it on a branch at the last drop if I loose the blood trail, then start making concentric circles around that last drop until I can pick up the trail again.

I used to deer hunt northern WI, Chaquamagon Forest. Once when I was about twenty I found a bottle neck about two miles off the road. I set my tree stand right at the pinch which was only about 25 yards from the main trail into the woods. I figured dragging a deer two miles wouldn't be so hard going straight back to the road using the trail. Boy was I wrong.

So, I shoot this two year old doe when a pair wanders through the bottle neck. It ran back across the trail but I lost sight of it after that. I gave it a good fifteen minutes then went to track. I got down to where the deer had been shot and to my dismay there was no blood, just a big pile of hair. So I dropped my handkerchief and waited another 15 minutes before I stated walking in circles. Finally after about another 15 minutes I find a spot of tallow and a bit of blood. Dropped another handkerchief and continued weaving along looking for more blood. After about ten yards I found my deer. It popoed up about when I almost stepped on her. One of its front legs was obviously broken, but it was still running pretty fast away from the trail and into a logged clear cut with no trees but lots of scrub left from the logging.


Usually I'm pretty slow minded and I never know quite when to leap into action, but not this time! I ran as fast as I could climbing over brambles, stumps, and brush trying to flank this deer and get another slug in it. Took about 200 yards sprinting but I finally got ahead and dropped it from about 30 yards broadside. When I first shot that deer it was kind of angling towards me and the slug had hit the rib cage, glanced off an exited the armpit. Close call with that one, could have lost it.

Oh, and so much for my easy drag back to the truck. Had to trek over 300 yards across bramble and scrub to get to the trail. Took me longer to go 300 yards than it did to finish the two miles down the trail. No way am I in shape to make that kind of expedition today. I'm greatful for all the risks I could take on when I was younger, I wouldn't trade those memories for the world. But that's water under the bridge now. Gotta enjoy your youth. Someday, God willing, I'll be a feeble drooling old man. And if that happens, hopfully I will still have those fond memories to retreat in.
Click to expand...

Yes I also enjoyed every bit the years I spent in the woods. I now hunt some of the same timber and ole home places with my treasure machines. I use to keep dogs and run um at the club I was in. I liked the beagles in later years because they were easier to catch. I one bought a pair of "July Flies"(converted coyote hunting dog). :laughing7: $175 a piece. The first day of dog season I turned loose in Weyerhaeuser on an ole gravel road. In 30 seconds the race was on and 10 minutes later I was down $350 bucks. They crossed old highway 6 headed toward Alabama. You couldn't have stopped um with a heat seeking missile. Needless to say, I never found my dogs, hell, I didn't even have time to name um. I now refer to um as Mutt and Jeff. Just one one the funny huntin stories.Yeah, those were the days.
 

Found him! He isn't the most impressive, but it's a 7 pointer, and good sized.
 

RR,

Glad you managed to find him. Suggest you keep the antlers and use sections as handles for your knapped knife blades it'll add a nice authentic touch.
 

ECS said:
Are you sure those dogs weren't part setter and pointer upsetter and disappointer! :laughing11:
Click to expand...

Didn't have um long enough to get a good look. I believe they could outrun a Greyhound. Too fast for deer hunting.
 

bill from lachine said:
RR,

Glad you managed to find him. Suggest you keep the antlers and use sections as handles for your knapped knife blades it'll add a nice authentic touch.
Click to expand...

Where I live in Eastern Kentucky, we have countless ridges and canyons and ravines, it's ridiculous. He was about 12 feet away from a ravine with a 200 foot decent. I did NOT want to drag him out of there, lol!
 

2011_1228Mttohuntdeer4th0053.JPG You guys were talking about deer hunting.Heres a blind I made a few years ago.Weighs 25 pounds,holds 2 shooters,(on folding chairs),waterproof,scent-proof,warm,and fits exactly on my truck :) At a distance placed among 900 pound (rolled up) hay rolls it blends in well. 3 shooting windows roll up & down :)2011_1228Mttohuntdeer4th0042.JPG2011_1228Mttohuntdeer4th0043.JPG2011_1228Mttohuntdeer4th0045.JPG
 

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rook3434 said:
Yes I also enjoyed every bit the years I spent in the woods. I now hunt some of the same timber and ole home places with my treasure machines. I use to keep dogs and run um at the club I was in. I liked the beagles in later years because they were easier to catch. I one bought a pair of "July Flies"(converted coyote hunting dog). :laughing7: $175 a piece. The first day of dog season I turned loose in Weyerhaeuser on an ole gravel road. In 30 seconds the race was on and 10 minutes later I was down $350 bucks. They crossed old highway 6 headed toward Alabama. You couldn't have stopped um with a heat seeking missile. Needless to say, I never found my dogs, hell, I didn't even have time to name um. I now refer to um as Mutt and Jeff. Just one one the funny huntin stories.Yeah, those were the days.
Click to expand...

They might have ended it, but WI had or has a dog hunting season for bears. I was a grouse Hunter at the time, bear tastes like raccoon but grouse are all delicious. I always knew when it was bear season because the woods were littered with hunters carrying these 15' long radio tracking antennas. The put a radio collar on one or two of the hounds so they can find 'em. They don't find them. I eveen had a hound to follow me back to my truck once, lost and it had a radio collar. Every year it was the same thing. Guys with huge directional antennas asking everyone and eachother, "have you seen my dogs? Have you seen my dogs?"

I always replied, "yeah, I think I saw them go that way", pointing away from the covert I wanted to hunt. :laughing7:
 

Way ya go RR. Nice one.:icon_thumright:
 

Treasure_Hunter said:
Server is backed up every day early in the morning.
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=======
I do remember you telling me that before Treasure Hunter. Is it backed up at the same time every morning or does it vary ?
Not that it makes a difference, but is this done in Kansas City ?
 

I cleaned my cache, deleted a massive amount of files to a separate hard drive. ( I needed those memes for when Tom, Sis, and I were sparring partners ) :laughing7: I will keep them just in case Rook is up to the challenge :icon_thumright:, ( within TNET rules of course ). Then did a disk Defrag. So at least my system now looks like it has had the same personal trainer that Sis has :laughing9: , except my result are immediate and pain free :tongue3:

All that work has made me hungry.
Pizza time.jpg
ice cream sandwiches.jpg
 

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Good morning Simon glad you got your computer cleaned up. Sounds like it was due for a spring cleaning 6 months late is better than never.....:laughing7::laughing7::laughing7:
 

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