Finally got my Buck

[Savage 12BVSS]

Man you earned it the hard way but hung tough. Lotta nice bucks like him make it to die in some wicked thick place, difference is you didn't give up. My son and I lost one with the same angled shot years back, tracked him about 2 miles and he went to a good size river and swam across. We walked about 2 more miles up where we could wade across and then came back on the other side. We never cut a track, figure he swam down river a ways or maybe went down crossing. All we had left were some cam pics to look at and bad memories. Congrats again.

 

[X47guy]

Blue ticks make great trail dogs.

Good for you on getting a dog involved.

 

[5.56×250]

What a day, whew!!! Shot the deer Thursday morning at 0800 hrs. Our Florida rut just kicked in this week, the last week of January. Three bucks were chasing 2 does; a 1 inch spike, 3 inch spike and finally this 8pt. They were grunting, etc. Pretty entertaining.

The bucks and does were rapidly crossing back and forth across a narrow food plot into the thick trees and underbrush on both sides so very little time to aim. Luckily, I had my rifle up against my shoulder and resting on the window opening of the shooting box and was just practicing aiming at the non-legal spikes and does. After they left, I was getting ready to lower the rifle when the 8pt stepped out. It appeared he was broadside to me so I aimed right behind the shoulder, shot, and he leaped into the woods. Waited 2 hrs, found lots of big puddles of blood, so buddy and I thought he was double lung and heart shot and he'd be close. NOPE. After 2 hrs of tracking through a miserable and very difficult swamp, the blood stopped, so we called a tracker. Two more hrs with the tracker and his dog and 7 miles of tracking according to his GPS through a tangled swamp still no deer. So we stopped for 2hrs for a break and lunch. Started again and the deer kept getting up and running from the dog and wouldn't stay down. Finally, at about 1500 hrs the tracker got close enough to the deer to shoot it with his 357 revolver because the deer was distracted fighting the dog and he said it threw his dog up in the air. We discovered I hit it where I thought right behind the shoulder but the deer was quartering toward me instead of broadside. Bullet went in just behind the shoulder and exited just in front of the hindquarters. Took out one lung and some intestines missing the heart. Didn't even hit the liver. Then we had to drag it out over a mile through the sharp briars, mud, downfalls, and tangled vines to the truck. What a workout. This is a big buck for Florida, but small mass for the northern states.

Couldnt help but remember a similar situation when you said your deer threw the dog into the air. Even a little whitetail is much stronger than a human when they are pumping adrinaline . I once made a questionable shot on a nice ga buck with my bow. Shot was good other than a couple twiggy pine saplings in thr area i needed to place the arrow. I had a deflection and somehow broke the bucks front leg and the arrow still hit the buck in the windpipe, nicking the jugular . The buck let out a strange scream and took off on what looked like a double lung death sprint . I thought the hit was good and proceeded to climb down and check the impact scene. No blood and an arrow in 2 pieces with 6 inches missing wasnt what i expected. I looked around for the couple minutes of light left, and caught up with my hunting buddy and went to contact another friend with the best tracking dog ive ever seen , a weiner dog named Saidie .
By the time we got back to the scene, it was dark thirty . Saidie picked up the trail instantly and off we went to find my buck. About 40 yards into the trail i found the missing pc of arrow shaft and instantly the blood trail got heavy. We followed another 50 or so and jumped the buck. At that point, i abandoned the dog and gave chase ! I was doing a pretty good job at keeping up with the 3 legged buck until i heard a splash. I popped over a little rise to see a tall, heavy 8 pt standing in a beaver pond. My 2 buddies showed up within seconds and we all staired at this very much alive 200lbs buck without any weapon other than a swiss army knife !
All we could come up with was to pick up a rather large and extremely heavy water logged, uh, log and sneak up on either side of the deer while blinding him with the light, throw it on his back, ride the log down, one guy on each side. Once yhe buck was down in the 2ft deep water, Bruce, the dog owner , would dive over us, grab the buck by the horns and force his head into the water and drown him. Plan worked flawlessly until Bruce, who had the buck by the horns hollared, he is coming up ! The buck lifted him like he was paper ! Bubba hollared for me to straddle the deer and he jumped up to the head to help Bruce hold him under. That worked for a moment till, in unison and with harmony, bubba and bruce both exclaimed , he is coming up again !! We all held station and after a couple minutes of struggle, we finally won the fight . That great deer picked up two grown county boys with only hiis neck several times before he finally succumed to exhaustion and blood loss ! It was an amazing fight of life or death , and a terrible way for a buck to suffer, but we dispatched him the quickest way we could under the circumstances.

 

[sturner]

Way to go
Congrats

 

[Gibbshooter43]

And kudos to a state which allows dogs to be used in the follow-up.

 

[Cinchy]

I am impressed you mentioned Drahthaar. I miss my Girl Sasha RIP. She was a VOM ALTMOOR pup. Roger and Nancy. Impressive dog.


But to me looks like a shorty in the picture

I have had a few German wire hairs & Drahthaar`s both with smoother hair coats, I really prefer a slick over a wooley any day!! LOL This young guy is pretty slick himself!!

 

[nicholasjohn]

I have had a few German wire hairs & Drahthaar`s both with smoother hair coats, I really prefer a slick over a wooley any day!! LOL This young guy is pretty slick himself!!

That is a VERY handsome young dog. I had thought that a german wirehair and a draahthaar were the same breed. Is there a difference ? If so, what is it ?

 

[Baker Alvin]

Good work and Congradulations!

 

[Cinchy]

That is a VERY handsome young dog. I had thought that a german wirehair and a draahthaar were the same breed. Is there a difference ? If so, what is it ?

Oh boy that's about like asking which caliber is the best long range caliber LOL !! The major difference is The Drahthaars are German registered & have to pass a stringent series of hunting tests, & have to pass confirmation requirements, hair coat, hips, eyes, etc to be eligible to breed. German Wire hair pointers are AKC registered. Breeders of GWP`s will usually say they are the same breed, but DD breeders say they are not! I own both & the Drahthaars are my personal favorite, just a different dog in so many ways! Many won`t agree but I have owned & hunted both 25+ years/

 

[6.5x300 WBY]

Oh boy that's about like asking which caliber is the best long caliber LOL !! The major difference is The Drahthaars are German registered & have to pass a stringent series of hunting tests, & have to pass confirmation requirements, hair coat, hips, eyes, etc to be eligible to breed. German Wire hair pointers are AKC registered. Breeders of GWP`s will usually say they are the same breed, but DD breeders say they are not! I own both & the Drahthaars are my personal favorite, just a different dog in so many ways! Many won`t agree but I have owned & hunted both 25+ years/

Exactly it's all about the intense testing for German DD. My sasha's drive was insane and talk about never giveing up wow. No quit no fear just a hunting machine. I had her breaking ice doing her water work at 8 months old. Man didnt phase her one bit. Just throw the duck and send my girl out on a 65 yard one way retrieve breaking throught ice. Dont think i will ever be convinced there is a better VHD than a DD.

Love and miss you Sasha. RIP girl

What a dog.

Mine was a wooly one and loved it.

 

[Deputy819]

What a day, whew!!! Shot the deer Thursday morning at 0800 hrs. Our Florida rut just kicked in this week, the last week of January.

Nice job, Sir and Congrats! What part of Florida? I've got family that live/hunt in White Springs.

 

[JustMe2]

Nice job, Sir and Congrats! What part of Florida? I've got family that live/hunt in White Springs.

I'm in NW FL what they call locally lower Alabama. We hunt very close to the AL/FL border, way north of Destin and Panama City.

 

[JustMe2]

Congratulations & great job in not giving on recovery! Super job on the dogs part, What was the tracking dog, Drahthaar, or German wire hair, or possibly German shorthair??

The dog owner said it was a Bluetick Coon Bloodhound, 1yr 4 mo old. He said it was a similar breed as the DD, without the papers and training.

Nicholasjohn, I've had the same thoughts at my 72 yrs about just shooting them in the shoulder to put them down hard, but everytime I see someone else's shoulder shot and the loss of all that meat in both shoulders, I just can't do it yet. Some day when I can hardly walk, I may change my mind. Just not at that stage in my life yet.

 

[5.56×250]

I prefer a top of the heart/double lung shot as the best way to dispatch an animal quickly with minimal meat damage. That said, i wont hesitate to shoot a deer in the top of the shoulder/spine intersection if the situation calls for it, like an animal thats close to a property line or one thats about to go somewhere i dont want to go, like one close to a river or headed into a tangled swamp . Im only 55, but i wore my body out , pushing myself in physical jobs the majority of my life. Im basically a 55 year old in a 80 yr old body. Degenerative discs in my neck and back , copd, and our good friend authur makes me hesitant to let a deer i want to get very far from where it stands.