2011/2012 Drawing Winner

“CONGRATULATIONS JEREMY MARTONE”

Jeremy Martone is from Greenwell Springs, LA

I would like to thank everyone who joined Southern Blood Tracker Associations. As everyone knows we hold a drawing every year for our members. This year we gave away an engraved Colt skinning knife with sheath and sharpening stone. The prize will change from year to year. S.B.T.A will hold another drawing during the month of November 2012. So sign up early to make sure your name is entered in the drawing. Remember your membership runs from September – September of the following year. I will always guarantee that your dues are used to promote the ethical thing deer hunters should do and that is RECOVER what you shoot. Thanks again for your support and S.B.T.A looks forward to having you as a member.

Tracking Supply’s 

There has been discussion about what to use for keeping up with your four legged buddy while he is trying to recover the wounded deer. Me personally I have tried several techniques, bells, weed eater string and GPS systems. Well I am here to tell you the GPS system is by far the way to go. The GPS systems are pretty pricey but they are worth every penny when you need to locate your dog. The GPS system I use is the Garmin Astro 220 and 330 with dc30 collars. This is a very impressive system.  I will tell you I still put the small cow bell on my dogs, you never know with electronics. I will say my Garmin has never let me down but if it does I will still have some sort of location device on my dogs. We all know that it is not practical for all hunters to run out and spend $700.00 on a GPS tracking system.  Use the cow bell, they are great and make a lot of noise. I tracked for several years before I was able to spend the money on the GPS systems.  Another tool I would recommend for hunters to keep with them at all times is a medical bag with things such as, vet wrap, peroxide, neosporin, baby aspirins, cut and heal (liquid), liquid Tylenol, gauze pads, bottle water, collapsible water bowl, extra leash and medical tape. This is just a few things I keep in my bag. I bought my bag from Harbor Freight for $3.00, and most of the other items you can get from the dollar store. You just never know when your dog may be injured. An aggressive wounded deer can cause a lot of bodily harm. I have had to use my medical bag several times.

"Shot Placement"

This is always a hot topic after someone shoots a deer and cannot find it.  The first thing fellow hunters asks each other is, did you make a good shot? Shot placement is so critical.  When the time comes when that deer walks out that we have been waiting on for hours and hours we sometimes begin to lose focus on shot placement. From my past experience hunters are so excited that they feel they put a good shot when actually they pulled the shot. I have seen when hunters tell me they shot for the neck and after the recovery they hit the deer in the back hind quarter. As hunters we all know that as longs as we are hunting there will be bad shots. It happens and will continue to happen. Just remember to always check your guns and make sure they are sighted in for the distances you plan to shoot. Blood tracking dogs can only track what we put on the ground. Dogs can recover many deer that the hunter would have never recovered, but we still have to make a lethal shot. If you don’t have a clear shot wait until the animal presents a clear shot or let them walk. They will come back at a later date. Deer are very tuff animal and can survive a lot more than we as hunter realize. I have had hunters call me back a couple weeks after I tracked a deer for them and told me they got pictures of the deer they shot eating under a feeder or in a field. This just goes to show that all deer that are not recovered do not necessarily die. We as hunter owe the effort of recovery to the wildlife we shoot.

On November 24, 2011 I received a phone call from Taddi Brown. Taddi told me her husband had shot a deer in Clinton, LA and could not find it. I told her I would be on my way in a few minutes. Upon my arrival I met her husband Richard Brown. Richard proceeded to tell me the story about the doe he shot that evening and was not able to locate her. TBoy my blood dog had to work very hard on this one even though the deer did not run very far. Richard told me there was more than one deer in the food plot. TBoy must have picked up the scent of the other deer. We worked the area for about 30 to 45 minutes with no results. I decided to start working TBoy back to the location of where the deer was shot and low and behold TBoy found the the deer. Richard told me that he and the guys at the camp were skeptical about calling out a tracker, but after the recovery he was convinced that blood dogs are a great thing and joined the association. The point is don't give up until there is no other options. Thanks to Richard for doing the ethical thing even though it was a doe. GREAT JOB RICHARD  "RECOVER WHAT YOU SHOOT"

The Deer That We Almost Did Not Recover

 Ryan Aucoin came to me at the beginning of September and was inquiring about being a tracker. Ryan and I worked several times with Cash (his dog). After working with Ryan and Cash I knew that they would be a good pair to have as a Southern Blood Tracker Member. Ryan and Cash are very young and have a desire to learn. On January 8, I was on my way home from the camp when Ryan called me and said he needed some help, I asked Ryan what was the problem. Ryan advised me there was a deer that had been shot the day before. Cash tracked that deer for over 1000 yards jumping the deer several times; Ryan made the correct decision to stop the track. The deer was never recovered. That happens from time to time, like our logo says “IF IT’S DOWN IT FOUND”. The part of the puzzle that was missing is it was not down. The very next morning another deer was shot from the same stand. A different person shot this one. Ryan received the phone call by the land owner and wanted to know if he minded coming back out. Ryan and Cash returned to the location. After looking for a while Ryan decided to give me a call to see if I could help him figure out the puzzle. Ryan proceeded to tell me that the blood trails were on top of each other, that’s right the deer ran the same way. I told Ryan I would be there in a minute. When I showed up Ryan proceeded to tell me the story. I brought TBoy my blood dog with 8 plus years of experience. TBoy worked the trail very slow, a lot slower than normal, I was alittle worried at first. But at the end TBoy recovered the deer. When I went to praise him I looked to my right about 2 foot off the ground coiled up on some vines was a very large cotton mouth. I DON’T LIKE SNAKES. We removed the deer and went back to the truck. The problem that cash was having was the blood trails were crossing. Ryan and Cash did an awesome job. The moral of the story is that if you have an old dog or a puppy the end result needs to be the same. This is NOT a competition on whose dog is better or has more experience; we are all in this together to do the ethical thing. When trackers work together we can have the best of both worlds. The end result was the same, we recovered the deer. Please continue to Support Southern Blood Trackers Association and the trackers. We will always do our best to recover your games.

"SADIE"

This is James Watkins dog named Sadie. Sadie is a two year old Lacy Dog. James has been working with her for two years and she is doing great. This is Sadies first buck recovery. She has found a couple other deer this year also, we are so pround of her. Keep up the great work James and Sadie.

" Marcus de la Houssaye"

Deer traveled almost 400 yards after the shot according to gps. Caught liver and 1 lung no pass through. We found the deer 5 hours later deer was very stiff. Had been dead a while.

Marcus de la Houssaye is a member of Southern Blood Tracker Association as a tracker and we are very happy to have him. Marcus has been tracking deer for over 25 years and is very good at what he does. Everytime he calls me he is determined to do whatever it takes to make the recovery successful. Thanks Marcus for your hard work.

The "OFFICIAL" OTP Sherburne Kill...

Below is Shannon's story, in her own words...

The "OFFICIAL" OTP Sherburne Kill...
Hunting is full of ups and downs; misses, getting busted by deer, buck fever, going several hunts without seeing any deer. One minute you're anxious and pumped up but when one thing goes wrong you question your ability and skill. I was disappointed in myself for not being able to draw back on a doe I saw while hunting Sherburne WMA. Everything during that hunt was perfect, from going undetected by a doe who I watched for 45 minutes to her standing broadside directly in front of me at 10 yards. The pressure of never killing with my bow made me anxious and doe fever set in. She was granted a free pass back into the woods to live another day and I felt like I was gonna die. Was my hard work and persistence ever going to pay off? Something about public land hunting fascinates me. It's the thrill of starting from scratch to harvesting a public land deer that keeps my head afloat when I feel like I'm going to give up and drown. Of course, if it would be too easy, it wouldn't be that appealing to me. 3 days after I had that eventful hunt with the doe, I was ready for redemption. I got settled in my stand at 3:30 and sat there waiting for deer thirty. I was praying the doe would come back out. About 5:00 I hear some crashing in a thicket in front of me and hear a grunt. All of a sudden I count 4 deer running around on the treeline followed by another grunt. One doe decided to walk out and head my way. Excitement was building up because I knew if I had her in range I was going to shoot her this time. As she was down in the slough I stood up and grabbed my bow. I was shaking but mentally talking myself out of getting too nervous. All of a sudden I hear a grunt and see a beast of a buck walk out the thicket and start hooking a tree. At this point I was elated! This is the kind of stuff I watch on tv!!! The buck started following the doe's path, went down the slough then I saw his majestic head and horns rise about 35 yards from me. At this point I was thinking if this was real or not and if I should just shoot the doe who was 15 yards in front of me to my right or see if this buck was going to chance giving me a shot. As soon as he stepped up and turned he put his head down and walked a few steps, grazing. I drew back with ease this time, surprisingly. I had turned my limbs down half a turn but I don't think I had needed it. Thought for a second on how to compensate for the draw weight decrease, aimed my 30 yard pin a little high and released my arrow. Words cannot describe the relief and the excitement when I could see my green fletching sticking out where I had shot him. I was a little high and a little further back than expected but I was confident it was a vital kill. I immediately sat down and watched him run off and tried to see where he went back into the woods at. Then I grabbed my phone to call CETH and told him to stop his hunt and get over here now with Bullet.... I shot a monster!!! CETH told me to get down and find if there was Blood where I shot him and mark it since dusk was quickly approaching. I got down and had no flashlight. I couldnt find any blood with just my cell phone light which was about to go dead! Great! While CETH and Bullet were coming from their hunting spots I was talking to myself downplaying everything. My buck shrank to a 6, maybe 8 point. I didnt want these guys let down when they found the deer just incase I had imagined shooting a buck this large. The 3 of us were on a good blood trail for about 75 yards into the woods. We came to a stand still and decided to back out. It would give him extra time to lay and we could call for more help. The woods were thick with briars and there were down trees everywhere. We met up with LsuSLick who offered his services. He wanted to try out some new spray stuff that makes hemoglobin glow in case we lose a blood trail. We also called Catahoula1 who was on his way with some blood trailing dogs. I was begging these guys to please find my deer. I knew it would be worth it when I found him. The 5 of us ventured back down the blood trail. Bullet and LsuSlick were trying out the spray and following a glowing trail when there was no blood we could see. Catahoula1 was letting the dogs work and CETH was on another path looking for blood. I stayed at last blood. At one point I was thinking I knew this was all too good to be true. The rain was supposed to come and I didnt think there would be a chance at finding him after that. Just when I'm feeling disappointed someone hollered, "we got blood!!" Everyone migrated threw briars and limbs to see a very good blood trail. We would follow a little while then lose the blood again. One dog veered away from everyone else to my left and I kept looking down the path wondering. The dog came back after he was called and I didnt think much of it. After not finding blood on any paths elsewhere I told them about the dog going that way. Sure enough, there was a very good blood trail and a pile of blood. We knew we were getting close.... The dogs went ahead and heard one growl. LsuSlick and CETH were on their hands and knees with a flashlight. The relief I felt when I heard CETH shout, "Oh My God Shannon, you killed a monster!!!!" when I layed eyes on him, his body was a lot bigger than I thought. His horns were even bigger too!! I counted ten points... A first bowkill doesn't get any better than that. I literally thought he looked like a horse lying there! Now came the hard part of dragging the beast out threw all the thick woods. He had ran almost 400 yards and was expired a little while before we found him. It was determined I made a liver shot and maybe caught a lung. I extend my gratitude to everyone who helped track and get the deer out. Every one was worn out, cut up from briars, had fallen down, but everyone was ecstatic to help and encouraged me that the deer would be found. Catahoula1 and LSUslick were making a path at one point so we could drag the deer. It was after midnight when we made it to a clear area out of the woods. This hunt was unforgettable. It's amazing how so many people came together to help find a deer. From the beginning to the end, it was an adventure that I'll relive again and again.

December 21, 2011
Weapon: Bowtech Soldier Bow
Ammo: Trophy Ridge Expandable Broadhead
Huntress: Shannon Beard
Harvest: Ten Point Buck
Sherburne Wildlife Management Area, Louisiana.

This is my son Dakota Lang. Dakota is a up and coming tracker for Southern Blood Trackers. Dakota has a Blue Lacy that is doing well. Jazz his blue lacy, that would not stay still for this photo but she was the one who found this deer. TBoy just has to be in all the pictures - so he thinks. Congratulations on your nice buck son.