2012 Lake Grapevine Thread

[stinkbelly]

What about the dogs. I thought you guys had dogs.

I brought one of my tracking dogs. Leon put us on the arrow and 2-3 pea size drops of blood and that was about all we had to go on. He pointed in the direction the deer ran. It immediately turned into a wall of brush so he couldn't have seen the deer once it ran 10 yards from the place of the shot. I showed the arrow to the dog and sent her in the direction the deer ran. As soon as she went through the wall of brush she arched to the right. She tracks with her head up so I have to watch her to make sure she is on the track. I watched her go about 100 yards through the broken brush to the right and I called her back because that didn't look right. The natural direction of the woods would have been straight. After I brought her back and resent her about 3 times and each time she arched to the right I decided to follow. I know, trust your dog. We found a blood smear hear and a drop or two there. At about 200 yards or so we found about 10-12 drops and I was getting pretty excited. I watched my dog at about another 100 yards bust out of the brush and cross a dirt road into the thickest stuff around. I yelled at Leon that she crossed the road and I was running ahead. Then all of the sudden my dog circled back and started searching for the trail. She reran it a dozen time, but could not get back on the trail. So we let her rest and went back about 70 yards to our last blood and tried to follow it on our hands and knees so we could restart her and we found nothing. We searched for a while with no new blood found. So we decided to send my dog on a search. We searched 180° from the last blood and out another 300-400 yards and turned up no more blood and no deer. In all, we probably saw less than 1/8 of a cup of blood and a couple of meat chunks smaller than a pea. The deers path was an arch around Leon's stand. It was not at all the direction he thought or the direction I expected when I got there.

I was hoping so bad to have my dog in a deer dog recovery story, instead she is in a no deer recovery story.

[flufster]

Feel your pain !! How many times have we heard the "trust your dog" statement but sometimes it doesnt make sense what these darn deer do...

Should have seen us on the gravel bar staring at that cold water and 20 foot bank on the other side. The dog would wade across and look at us like "come on". We searched all of that white rock and sand and saw no blood whatsoever so i would ask if the dog was sure and he would look up at the top of the wall LOL...We finally crossed and climbed the wall and sure enough there was a game trail right there and off we went again....Would have been an awesome track if there had been a dead deer at the end...stinks

[GhostSkull]

Well at least that creek didn't rise after you crossed it! Lmao!! That Brian can get ya in more situations I tell ya!

[stinkbelly]

Any of you guys drive the green Chevy z71, 4 door, eagle scout? If so, I hope I didn't spook anything walking down the road near you yesterday. I swear I heard a deer blow right before all of your calling. Sorry! On a side note, there was a deer in your spot last Monday.

[bmactx67]

Anybody hunting tonight?

[bulletpusher]

Too hot, and I've got to make the rounds with the kiddo. Went this morning and managed knock my bow off the holder before day light and sent it 20 feet to the ground. Of course the string popped off the cam, so there I sat with just my camera. I put it in the press at home and I think I got it back where it was. Need to got shoot it right now. Plan B, is the Horton Vision I bought for my nephew. Really don't want to lug that heavy thing around. What stinks is I've got Seg B at the "H" coming up in two weeks.

[Larry]

Ouch! I think that's the one thing (knock on wood) that I luckily haven't dropped out of the stand while hunting. Hopefully you suffered no major damage.

Friendly PSA for you Grapevine guys...it's raceweek! WOOHOO! Be aware of that when you're getting to and leaving your access points. 377 shouldn't be a problem but 114 and 35 might be sketchy depending on the time of day. Then there's that lovely purr of 43 cars/trucks going in circles for a few hours each race.

There might also be a few more cars and people around if you're planning on tracking any barely shot deer across any thoroughfares.

[bulletpusher]

Whew! Got the string back on, bent the whisker biscuit back to it's original shape, and let some arrows fly. Poundage was a little low, but timing was good. Put a quarter turn on the limb screws, and I was punching bullseyes at 35 yards again. Thank you Lord. I don't need excitement like this, in my old age. Be back at it in the morning.

[bmactx67]

Good luck bulletpusher. Hope you get one.

[basscast]

Anyone hunting today? I'm gonna try this eve but w upper 80s i'm not sure if they will move before dark.

[Goldstein]

I was planning on it as well, but in the same boat as far as temp as you are. Might just hold out till next front.

[basscast]

Well last nite was a hot bust, only birds and squirrels. Looks like the same weather until Sunday, maybe sun morn will be good.

[bulletpusher]

After this morning I know one fact. One Grapevine doe has a reaction time faster than 0.31578947368 of a second. (30 yards @ 285 FPS).

[randal]

Is there many hogs out there?? I've been thinking about going out but don't even know where to start..?? I've got just the general hunting permit..

[Budman68]

After this morning I know one fact. One Grapevine doe has a reaction time faster than 0.31578947368 of a second. (30 yards @ 285 FPS).

LOL, I got it. Hate when that happens.