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Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel LLC, Iola, WI (2026)

10/23/2026

We took two tracks this morning. The first one was shot last night the hunter couldn’t find blood or his arrow so we opted to throw Freya on it. She took us 80 yards from the hit site to the arrow that came out as the deer went through some brush. Another 250 yards down a logging road where I was able to mark blood several times then about 100 yards into a corn field when we were about 10 ft from this deer when he blew up out of his bed with just a little bit of blood in it. Better wake up call then coffee in the standing corn! We flew the drone after and located him a couple hundred yards away bedded up again in some woods. This deer will live to see another day. Great dog work by Freya here to give us the answers we needed.

Track 2 was an unknown hit shot last night no blood and about what looked to be 10 inches of pe*******on on the arrow so we opted to fly the drone on this deer last night where he was about 200 yards away bedded up and we could see the hole well and it was top of the shoulder in front of the shoulder it looked like and shot was quartering away so should have came out front of the other shoulder base of neck area. We then flew on this deer again after the first track this morning and I located him about 100 yards away from the bed he had been in the previous night. I believe this deer will also be fine but I will check him one more time yet to make sure. I lost my videos while transferring them over so best I can do is a few pics from that one.

A lot of high hits or shoulder hits here the past few weeks but I’m well ahead of my 176 track pace of last season but we are probably behind on recovery pace of last season. If I had to guess if this pace keeps up we will surpass 250 tracks quite easily if snow stays away in November and December. But we have been tracking a ton thus far.

10/21/2026

Here was one we found last night for a hunter. He was about 700 yards from the shot site. We watched him get up go 20 yards and lay back down. You can see the hole in his left shoulder area which was the side he was shot on. Arrow was broke in half no blood at the hit site almost no sign on the arrow. Checked back on him this morning and he had moved along and will see another day for someone to pursue him. The hunter wanted me to put Freya on just to double check this was our buck as I had a rather free day today so I did and she tracked him through a hardwoods across a corn field right to this bed he was in where I confirmed blood several times along the way. We have also had about a dozen proof of life pics of some of the deer we have been chasing the last week or so here. A lot of high back and shoulder hits. Stay off the shoulder!

10/20/2026

Had a text come in about noon to track a buck that was shot last night and was just a couple miles from the house. Freya was able to track this deer 500 yards to a couple beds with blood in them and then wasn’t able to push this out any further after the beds which told me this was an alive deer that just had a chance to calm down where Freya could no longer pick him up. Terrain was favorable for the drone but we had full sun. But I felt like I could give this hunter even more answers and get eyes on this deer. I flew up and about 150 yards from those beds I found him with the drone in probably 15 seconds. We watched him for awhile and you can see in the pic he was favoring the front right leg. We watched him get up go 20 yards limping and then lay back down and pop his leg out like this again. He will live to see another day and we gave the hunter the answers they were looking for.

10/19/2026

Update from track 3 of last night which was track 6 of yesterday. This was the deer Freya took 550 yards through the woods across a couple roads and through some lawns but we lost permission on and we didn’t want to knock on doors at 11:30 at night and I didn’t want to flash the drone around in peoples yards. I told them to go back this morning and door knock through the lawns as the way Freya tracked through those 550 yards and didn’t want to leave the track when I went to pull her off I felt as if this deer was dead. And the deer really had no where else to go with a pond on one side and road on the other I figured it would stay along the pond going through lawns. Well they went back this morning and it was in the next lawn over past the one we lost permission at and this young man’s first buck was recovered and he got to get picked up from school early to celebrate! The family said there was no chance they recover this buck without Freya and myself and I’d have to agree. No blood after 50 yards then I marked a few spots around 200 and then didn’t mark any blood until 500 where I had it crossed the paved road into the first lawn where I took it behind a house and between a shed where we lost permission. Sucks to take it 550 yards with such nice dog work and not be able to finish the last 30 yards because of permission but tough to get permission when a deer starts to go through continuous 1/4 acre property lots with houses on. Urban tracks can be tough in that aspect.

We then had what we thought was going to be a busy morning with 3 tracks ready to go but ended up only taking one as one of these bucks showed back up on trail cam this morning walking around hit what looked to be like square shoulder blade and will be fine. And the other we are currently waiting on permission from the neighboring landowner which doesn’t sound too promising. We may fly the drone after dark on it. But the one we did take this morning the shot was on video and a deer I thought we would for sure recover and have in 5-10 min. As I was assuming it was liver hit and back of one lung. The deer didn’t not react like a liver hit or stomach hit post shot but the shot on the video is clear as day I would have bet it was liver hit all day. Height looked good mid body entrance. I was thinking 200-300 yards and a couple min we would be on top of this deer. And Freya has been rolling after just tailgating a deer at 1400 yards and 700 yards yesterday and basically tailgated the one at 600 if we wouldn’t have lost permission. Freya hit it hard at hit site we marked blood out to 140 yards and Freya took the same line 3 times out to a paved road at about 400 yards and we could not advance it past this point. I could not find any blood after 140 yards. I walked all up and down the road trying to reconnect her with this deer for nearly 3 hours I covered almost every inch of this property in every direction as a last ditch effort because I felt as this was a dead deer and I flew the drone after and this buck seemed to have vanished. Blood did not look like liver it looked very bright not gritty and no beds no gut material. But shot looked middle of middle. Maybe this deer is not dead like I think it is because of the video. I’m really not sure on this one but there was not a lack of effort. Hopefully we can get some answers one way or the other.

10/19/2026

Were able to take 3 more tracks tonight. First track I got a message this morning asking what this was as they were holding a large piece of fat. I said it means you’re in for a long track. They tracked this deer 600 yards before bumping her and then lost blood from that bed. Freya said hold my b**r and took us 1400 yards to this doe. She was shot quartered hard and entrance was a tad low. No chance this deer is seen again without her. Amazing dog work as per usual from this girl.

Track 2 was a deer shot last night and grid searched for today that they believed was shoulder hit. Flew the drone and were unable to locate this buck.

Track 3 was for a young man’s first buck. They lost blood at about 50 yards. They had a trail cam pic of the arrow still in the deer in what looked like higher third top of the shoulder with arrow sticking out both sides. Freya marched us through a hardwoods across a railroad through another chunk of timber. Down a logging road and across a paved road through multiple mowed lawns where I marked blood and we ultimately ended up in the middle of a city of houses with almost no cover. Just mowed lawns. Tracking between houses and garages. I can’t say for sure if this one is dead or not. We did not see any beds but Freya was still ripping through this track very confidently. I would have liked to taken it further until Freya either had us on the deer or told me it wasn’t fatal. But we just simply ran out of permission. I could have flown the drone but there were so many deer in these lawns as we were tracking and I wasn’t about to be putting a spotlight in everyone’s lawn. Hopefully this buck shows back up on their cameras soon enough. I have tracks booked for tomorrow already we will see what they bring!

10/18/2026

Got on 3 more this morning so far. The first one was just a recheck of a buck from the night before he moved another 200 yards and was bedded up and seemed to be doing well.

The second one was the one we found in the pics with Freya. The hunter had good blood then nothing when it got into some tall grass. You can’t see how well it was tucked into the grass because I didn’t take a pic until we started pulling the grass away but Freya tracked right up to where he had last blood and took it a little further and just kept sticking her head in the grass and wouldn’t leave with 3 of us sitting 5 yards from her and we couldn’t even see the deer. So we started peeling back the grass and finally could see part of the deer.

Track 3 the hunting party tracked it quite a ways the night before and I just couldn’t get to them last night with other tracks. They couldn’t get permission from the neighboring land owner so we couldn’t put the dog on it but flew the drone and could see pretty well but were not able to locate it.

10/18/2026

Took 3 more tracks this evening. The first one we put Freya on it was grid searched for 5 hours with 3 people. Deer was shot this morning. Conditions just weren’t great for the drone. Freya had to work very hard to get through all the foot traffic on this one but pushed us out quite a ways to where I felt confident calling it off. Arrow was busted off and had quite a bit of fat on I believe this was a high shoulder hit.

Track 2 was a busted off arrow deer was quartered too I was hoping he got enough pe*******on to get liver. He wanted the drone tonight so I flew and found this deer. Video of this one is posted. Hit was high shoulder he was moving around fine and I believe he will be fine but I will check on him again tomorrow morning just to make sure.

Track 3 had a dog on before I got there and they wanted me to fly the drone to cover a big marsh. Arrow also busted off on this one and believed to be hit shoulder or opposite shoulder. I did find a deer that looked like the one they were looking for but could not see a visible hole. I searched a couple hundred acres around that whole area and that was the only deer I found matching that description and this deer was feeding before bedding so I believe this deer will also be fine.

A lot a lot a lot of shoulder hits here recently with minimal pe*******on and busted off arrows. Very very unlikely we recover shoulder shots unless it’s a deflection off of it. Stay off the shoulder and give yourself some wiggle room. It’s the deers best defensive mechanism against archery equipment. If they are hit back or low we usually always get them. If it’s high or forward they usually live to see another day. We have some more on the docket for tomorrow morning with hopefully some dead ones at the end of them!

10/17/2026

We got on a couple tracks this morning. First one Freya took about 200 yards where she just couldn’t pick this track up telling us this wasn’t a fatal hit. I believe this deer will be seen again soon enough. No pass through I’m assuming shoulder or high shoulder. Second one Freya took over 600 yards to a bloody bed before a briar thicket where about another 75 yards in I heard a deer kick up 20 yards in front of us. I was pretty confident this was our buck. But it was too thick I couldn’t confirm so we went another 100 and we got eyes on him 50 yards in front of us bedded where he kicked up again. We tracked it down to the bed and confirmed blood in bed. He wasn’t too hurt at all. This blood trail the first 300 yards was quite absurd and straight foam you see with lung. Shot was from the ground I believe he just clipped the tops of the lungs and it wasn’t enough to do the job. When we jumped him it was already 18+ hours and close to 800 yards from shot site and this deer had a full tank left. Great dog work by Freya on this one to give us the answers we were looking for. Track 3 was a gut shot covered arrow who cancelled on me because they brought a buddies house dog on it and stumbled onto it before I could get there.

So my annual PSA here.
This happens way more times than it should every year and things are going to start getting very busy. And there’s been a huge rise in new drone guys trying to get into this business so I except a lot more of it. Where some buddy can get there before I can when I’m booked all day everyday. Think about what you want quickness or quality. If you schedule me to come out and track your deer and we confirm on both ends respect my time and hold to it. Don’t go walking around for hours the next morning before I get there hoping to stumble on it. Don’t put a buddies dog that’s tracked 10 deer in its life on it. You may get lucky and find one here or there that goes 200 yards. I can promise your buddies dog isn’t going to find the one that gets bumped by another buck or coyotes and goes a mile plus. Or the one that knows he’s being tracked and backtracks on its blood trail. Or doesn’t bleed a drop for 800+ yards. And when they don’t and you just trashed that track with another dog or your boot prints you just screwed yourself and you still want me to come save the day. I can promise you when I’m getting 20,30,40,50 calls a day during rut and you do this to me and your number pops up on my phone that you are not on the top of that list for me to schedule. I do this for a living if your animal is dead I will find it 99% of the time. Not the 20% your buddies house dog or friend who just bought a drone a few months ago is going to give you. And when I schedule a set amount usually around that 7 tracks a day I turn everyone else away. So backing out on me while I’m driving to you just screwed me out of money and another hunter out of getting a quality dog/drone team and either giving them closure or finding their animal. I do this 365 days a year. You might be able to count on one hand how many days a year of 365 I’m not tracking behind a dog or on my drone.

Pic of after we jumped the buck on track 2 today at about 800 yards. It looks like it will be a very busy weekend of tracks yet hopefully we get on some dead ones!

10/15/2026

One we were able to locate this morning for a hunter and give some closure on. Deer was shot last night the hunter circled out the opposite way he thought the deer went and came across the blood trail walking out and jumped the deer which ran in front of a cell cam. Unsure of the hit wanted the drone to see what was going on and I was able to get to them this morning and find him fairly quickly with a slice up along the back. He will be back to doing deer things in no time.

10/11/2026

We took 3 tracks today and were able to tailgate one. Track one was shot last night and the tracking crew believed they jumped the deer off of a field edge. It was indeed the deer they shot that they jumped. Freya got on this one and had us on top of him in short order from where they thought they last heard him. One spot of blood was marked on field edge but that was it. Deer was hit pretty well just slightly quartering and she got one lung liver and gut. Deer was shot with a .243. Congrats young lady!

Track 2 was shot with a bow and was grid searched for with no blood no arrow and no sign. Freya marched us as about 200 yards to a streak of blood on some grass that was almost chest high. Showing us this deer was hit much higher then the hunter thought. Freya pushed this out another 100 yards before ultimately losing interest. I believe this deer will be seen again.

Track 3 was shot this morning with a .243 and they had a little bit of blood at about 80 yards. Freya took us through some CRP and through a pine tree plantation up to the edge of a cedar swamp where she ultimately lost interest and we could no further extend this track. I believe this deer is also running around yet. Time for a little break from the heat and we will see what the night brings.

Hoffman Deer Recovery & Training Kennel LLC

10/23/2026

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