Boone’s Trail Deer Recovery

12/15/2025

Congratulations to Dax on an amazing first buck. It’s a beautiful thing to recover a deer for any hunter but it’s always extra special for youths especially when it’s their first deer! Thank you Kaw River Outfitters for trusting us to recover another deer!

12/04/2025

Just a guy and his exceptional hound dog!

11/26/2025

A couple more tracks that we haven’t posted. First from a hunter in Michigan. We tracked 24 hours after the deer was jumped Hunter hit liver and tracked to hours later and bumped him. Boone took to it well until shortly after the empty bed Boone struggled and lost it in the bottom. Eventually after a little searching Boone lined back out and got to stick his nose on a deer tucked behind a cedar. Side note we were actually ten yards from this deer before I pulled him off it the first time. That’s the second time this has happened this season. The second was for a young girl. 52 hours after the shot we teamed up with another tracking team. Both dogs tracked from hit site to timber good but we seen eyes all over in the timber and assume it was just spreading scent around and making it hard on the dogs so we opted to go wind searching. Boone and I stayed on the edge of the field h til he pulled me nose to the ground in the timber, 80 yards later he nosed up hard and went five different directions nose up until he determined which way the scent was coming from. I was patient with him and let him figure it out and he stayed nose to the moonlit sky until he stepped on it. The other was for a young boy that the other team found. Beau pretty much went right to it while Boone stuck to the hunters search partyhalf moon circle they had walked searching for more blood. It was at night and we actually got a little discombobulated in our direction of travel. Hey it happens at night. Either way the team radios us that they found it and on the way to them as I was walking in front of the hunting party I spot a shed and it turned out to be the same deer shed the young boy had shot from the year before. So I gave it to the young man to mount with his deer. Congratulations to all the hunters!

11/26/2025

Well after what felt like an eternity I finally sealed the deal on a nice buck. Through all the years of hunting and sitting in the woods I’ve never had the opportunity to draw back on a big buck or even rattled one in. I rattled for the 3rd time around 8:30 on 11-22-25 and about five minutes later he came in nose to the ground searching. He made a big loop where a small buck had busted me earlier followed his tracks and then around 8:35 snuck in on the other side of me and was heading for my wind. I stopped him broadside in a very narrow window I had sitting from the saddle and he took a hard quartering to turn almost a frontal. I was drawn back looking at his chest and said to myself no way am I taking a chest shot knowing what I know as a tracker. A settled my pin behind the shoulder knowing I would get some guts. (98% lethal) I let the arrow fly and knew it hit far back but I was ok with it. Waited 15 to 20 minutes snuck out of the tree and packed up my gear. I left one stick on the tree and marked the hit site with an arrow and backed out the complete opposite direction. Fast forward 24 hours I call in a good friend Michael Pulido to help me track with Beau. I was nervous tracking with my dog Boone just because I didn’t want to make a mistake on my own deer and knowing my nerves could cause a mistake on my end. Beau leads the way and Boone tracked great right behind him. After one creek crossing both dogs got off. We reset them and they both started tracking good again, fast forward to the third creek crossing that both dogs tracked great to. Boone usually wants to take a quick dip but he wanted to cross the creek up a steep hill. Beau wanted to stay in the bottom. Likely there was a scent pool down low from the thermals that night. I decided to follow my dog up the hill and 70 yards later Boone stuck his nose on my first ever mature buck up on top of the hill. Either way either dog would’ve found him and I really appreciate Mike and Beau-Dacious Deer Tracking for the assist and leading the way for the majority of the track. Thanks to my big brother Steveo Duke for helping me get him 900 yards back to the truck. I set a goal this year to get a 150” deer and the good lord blessed me with what we think will go low 160’s”. The meat was still good as we think he expired around the 18 hour mark and was not stiff. I hate the fact that he probably suffered but am thankful I got the meat and a nice trophy, proving once again dead deer don’t go far when they are not pushed and proper wait times are vital in recovering deer. He only went 280 yards as the crow flys. Boone’s Trail Deer Recovery

11/24/2025

We have been slacking at posting lately but to our last post follow up. Boone tracked to a live liver shot deer in a thicket. Stuck his nose on it and the deer moved his head and it startled Boone for a second. The hunter was able to run back to the truck get his bow and put a few follow up arrows in him. The deer was alive 25 hours post shot.

11/20/2025

11/19/2025

Boone got to sticks his nose on a live one this evening! Details to come in the morning!