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Thursday, November 30, 2006
The One that Got Away: by Bob Dobson Show/Hide This Article
It was 4:30 AM, I knew we were going to be late but still couldn't help feeling overly optimistic. The outside thermometer read 20 degrees, a fresh 2" of snow laid in the yard, the rut was peaking and I couldn't think of a better recipe for bucks to be on the move. To top that, my friend Dan Infalt was up from Jefferson and we made plans to swap hunting/filming for the weekend. Seemed like I couldn't ask for more but already had. Being a selfish host, I called dibs for the bow on our first hunt, a venture deep into public land. We whipped our gear in the truck and hit the road.
A month earlier, I took a rainy afternoon to scout this area and found three small scrapes at the rim of a valley between two ridges. I wasn't overly impressed at first but remembered several wrist sized rubs found during a spring turkey hunt at the corner of nearby planted pines. I checked them and nothing was fresh but heavy scarring showed this was a year-in and year-out buck travel route. I decided this spot needed a hunt or two but no more than that. I was already a good mile back and a lung busting hill at the start left me wondering how many more years my body would hold up to this type of abuse.
As we neared the parking spot, I caught a pair of eyes in the far ditch. Rounding the corner, headlights landed on the rack of a 2 year old buck. Not the size we were looking for but he showed full rut while trotting away from the road side. I gunned it the last quarter mile, pulled in and we hit the ground running. On the way up never ending hill, one of our frequent rest stops revealed a good set of tracks next to one of those quick scrapes made by a buck on the move. I begged to be sitting my hotspot at that moment but for the last half mile we stayed in the harder, less traveled woods until reaching the valley rim just as shooting light appeared. A straight trunked red oak downwind of the scrape/rub area with a fork 25' up was tailor made for hunter and camera man. I set the climbing sticks trying not to think about missing the first 15 minutes of shooting light until reaching the fork. Climbing down, half frozen fingers remembered there was more than one hunter on site and asked Dan if he could hang the stands. Not wasting time to chide me, he hung both and we were set in no time.
The morning was gorgeous, a white blanket below with crisp still air kept me on high alert for the first hour. But like other hunts, anticipation surrendered to cold winds and the lack of any fresh sign below. The scrapes I'd found in October were long since gone and our only saving grace was one fresh rub Dan picked out just off the base of our tree. Idle chit chat had given away to long stares when I heard a muffled crack to my left front. I looked over to see nicely spaced G2's and 3's fifty yards out and whispered shooter buck but not knowing for sure if he really was. As I stood the buck turned towards us and confirmed my initial thought. I knew without a doubt he was going to be in range soon and the mature timber was certain to allow an open shot. As he plodded closer I took a couple deep breaths to keep my nerves at bay and focused all attention on his actions. Just as I was sure he would pass downhill and to my left a 90 degree turn took him broadside heading to my right. With one look at his chest the "in range" light lit green and my legs instinctively crept forward to the stand's front allowing a full draw without obstruction. I glanced ahead for a wide opening and found just that beyond a small popple tree.
As he stepped into the kill zone, adrenaline cranked up the volume of my stop bleat and he slammed on the brakes, whipping his head and locking eyes on me. The pin had just found on center behind the shoulder when the string dropped. I saw no arrow, no white nock, no spinning fletches. My shot had gone everywhere but through the vitals. I was in disbelief when he took two jumps and trotted off only slightly distracted from his morning of lady chasing.
I cursed and immediately blamed my misfortune on not settling the pin for that crucial half second. It seemed as though I'd hit a new hunting low. I just had a full bodied nicely horned eight standing over fresh snow in broad daylight with a camera rolling over my shoulder and blew it. Worse yet, now I had to explain this scenario to an audience. Somewhere in my depressing skit I mentioned how the buck was probably Pope and Young. Camera man Dan, a veteran big buck killer, said "Dude, that buck was at least a 140!!!!" I tried to reason that he didn't have very good brow tines but that didn't seem to make anything better. We sat the next hour but I really didn't have it in me, the cold winds were a nice excuse to get out of the tree. Reaching the ground I soon found my arrow 21 steps from our stands. Looking close at it's angle and distance beyond long striding tracks showed it should have smashed right through his chest. Now I really didn't know what the hell happened but it didn't matter much, another bragging rights buck was running the woods instead of riding around in the back of my truck.
It was a long walk back but I tried to keep my chin up. I did a lot of things right on this hunt. Scouting and reasoning put me in a location where most people wouldn't go and it produced a shooter buck on the first crack. I had kept my composure from first sight and was able to avoid mistakes up to the point of shooting. Maybe I didn't lay the pin on him as well as I could have but history showed a shot like that resulted in heavy blood trails and punched tags. The urge to look at that tape grew stronger with every step.
We reached the truck, loaded up and headed to the closest TV. First review showed this buck was a hog. Not a monster rack but long bodied and barrel chested, easily a four year old deer. It was hard to watch so I busied myself making a sandwich when Dan blurted out "You missed him by three feet!!!" I was in no joking mood and voiced my attitude when he replied "No, seriously you were there feet in front of him!!" I watched in slow motion and sure enough a black streak appeared three feet in front of his shoulder. I've missed deer before but by three feet at 21 yards hinted something other than buck fever kept this one walking.
We watched from front to back a couple times before the clue surfaced, a little tick noise just as I reached full draw. I knew what that sound was before a practice session in full gear confirmed it, my arrow wasn't on the rest at the shot. The combination of one heavily mittened bow hand, new fall away rest and a broad head tuned by Murphy's law cost me the ride on cloud nine. It was a tough pill to swallow but easy problem to fix. My fall away now resides in the "will never use again but too expensive to throw out" box replaced by thoughts of his tracks and the snow days I'll get before season ends.
# posted by Jarrod Erdody @ 11:52 AM
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Tracks... Taking a Closer Look: by Dan Infalt Show/Hide This Article
Small bucks and large does can be hard to tell apart. But once a buck gets to Slob status, a buck track is easily identifiable. The weight of bucks over the 200 pound mark will cause the hooves to splay apart on the front feet. Us Blood Brothers often use our closed fingers to measure a track. Thus a "4 finger" track is generally a buck that will dress over 200 pounds. It's important to look at the big picture though. Look at a series of tracks and make certain the splayed tracks are of a walking buck, not running. All running deer will have splayed front hooves. Another trick is to look at the stride of a walking deer and see how far apart his steps are.
I think tracking is way over looked by modern hunters. Hunters living in today's fast paced society worry to much about getting from point A, to point B. Most hunters need to slow down and notice the signs the deer we are hunting are leaving behind for us.
I use tracks to tell me the size of the bucks in the area and what individual bucks have been hanging around. And how many different big bucks are using the same area.
If I shine or see a certain buck in a field, I go back and check his tracks in a lot of cases. You will find that mature bucks have tracks as unique as there antlers if you train your eye to look close. Some tracks will be very short but wide, others will be long and skinny, some bucks will have a chip or two missing in there hoof leaving a very recognizable impression. You will also notice the very tips of the track will hook in different directions. This can be very useful in keeping track of individual bucks.
You can also look at the direction of the track, some bucks feet will aim outward, some inward, some straight ahead.
I should also mention, that the left and right hoof will often not match each other, so its important to study both.
I only study deer tracks in areas where I will not be hanging a stand for scent reasons.
A lot of the time, after shooting a nice buck that I am not positive whether or not it was the track maker, I will return to the area and check the crop fields to see if his fresh track is there or gone.
In winter after the season, I like to go to my hunting areas and find the tracks of the bucks I was hunting and follow them in the snow to learn how each buck travels the ground I hunt, and where he beds.
Question:
How can you tell between a bucks front tracks and his hind tracks?
Front tracks are noticeably larger. Front tracks also sink in deeper and splay more do to the heavier front end on a mature buck.
You will get the idea after you study some tracks. I would suggest visiting some fields a day or two after we get a good rain, and study some tracks. I would also suggest you find a fresh track in the muddy field and take a close up clear digital photo of it. Return every day for a week and take another photo daily. Compare the photo's
Question:
say you see a track and am pretty sure it's a good buck but can't find that series of tracks to make sure?
It can be hard to tell if a single track is a running, or a walking track. If the track is indeed a running track, there should be some subtle signs you can pick up on. Does the track have debris thrown in front of it from a running hoof impacting the ground? Does the track look as if it slid forward adding to the length and splay?
Often, if a running track is fresh, or only a couple days old, you can see the running tracks even on ground covered with vegetation or hard. A 200 pound buck running through the forest leaves a mark. Many times I have tracked large bucks after they are shot, with little or no blood trail and could visibly see the disturbed leaves on the ground.
I Guess what I'm trying to get across is you need practice. Another valuable tool to learn is how to age a track. That is very difficult to do sometimes. But it can have great rewards. Like say you see tracks in the morning that appear to only be a few hours old leading into a known buck bedding area? I know where I would be setting up that evening.
When you go out to the muddy fields to study the tracks, look really close. Look at the definition of the tracks edge. Is the mud cut sharply? Or has weather and time began to round the corners? Look for detail, like the fine lines around the edge of the pad, can you see them? or have they faded with time? Look at the small mud balls and broken pieces of dirt, that have broken free from the large foot cutting the soil. Are they still moist? Are they sun dried? Are they cemented back to the soil?
Question:
Wouldn't there be a "ridge" of dirt between the hooves where it first makes contact with the ground and then spreads apart as weight is applied?
In alot of cases yes. But some older deer tend to develop feet that seemed to be stretched to a permanent splay over time from the weight being on the feet for several years.
In moist or wet soil, alot of the time these permanently splayed bucks will trap large hunks of mud between there hooves that will drop off between footsteps. We like to call these hunks of mud "wedgies". The wedgies take on a unique shape.
Question:
HOW CAN I TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A BUCK AND A DOE TRACK?
To tell the difference between a buck and a Doe track:- A buck has a large chest and narrow rear.
- A doe has a narrow chest and slightly larger rear in comparison.
- A buck's rear track should fall slightly to the inside of the front tracks (Rear track gap from left to right foot should be narrower than front track gap)
- A does casual rear track should be slightly outside of the front tracks. (Rear track gap from left to right foot should be wider than front track gaYounger deer in general tend to step there hind feet into there front track.
 Doe track, notice the rear foot stepping in the same track as the front slightly to the outside.If you look close you will notice a lot of displaced soil from when the beast pushed his foot into that spot. The chunks of soil still show good signs of there original shape and have not "weathered down". The soil highest up from the impression has dried, telling me the track is at least 1/2 a day old, however, the lower chunks and the track itself are still moist, telling me its not much more than a day old. I have also noticed the lack of displaced soil, telling me the track was probably made while the ground was dry, perhaps the evening before the photo? The mud chunks do not look to have attached themselves to the ground yet either... You can check that by touching the chunks with your finger or a small stick. After a couple days, the chunks will stick to the soil underneath. You should also notice the defined cuts in the soil, and shape of the center wedge. Also indicating a semi fresh track. My best guess would be, this track was photographed in the late morning and made sometime in the evening or early in the night before the dew occurred. Now that I am semi- confident we know when the track was made, we would want to identify the track in case we notice more big tracks. We would be interested in knowing if more than one big slob lives in the area, and where the buck / bucks are hanging, what food sources he is preferring etc. So, I would want to see both tracks and either take a good digital pic, or just use your memory. The 1st characteristic that catches my eye is, the track appears "square" the actual hoof impression looks to measure close to 3 inches square. (Not including the dew claw impressions) The next one you see might appear rounded or longer than wide, for instance. I also notice the two sides each point outward and straight ahead. Then I always look at the very tip closely, they often hook one way or the other and don't always match side to side, or hoof to hoof. This Dude appears to have no hooking on the tips on each side, and the tips are pointing forward and slightly outward (look close).  This is another unique track. At 1st glance, most hunters would call it a running track, but if you look close the edges are sharply cut, there is no sliding of the, and no debris thrown forward of the track. This is a walking track. Short, right toe, with right side tip hooking inward. Running track with obvious debris scattered forward of the track, although the track appears fresh, the sides are busted from the deer hoof impacting the ground and flinging forward. When I get scouting camera photo's from good bucks, I will look at there tracks and try to memorize the image and subtle differances of his impressions, so I will know if I run across the track again. Another way to keep track, is to cast the track in plaster and keep it to review.
# posted by Jarrod Erdody @ 11:53 AM
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