Double S Deer Tracking

10/24/2026

Have not been able to do much lately but was able to leave Slate home with the wife and take Scout on a track this morning.

Deer was shot yesterday afternoon and tracked 375 yds to an 8’ hog wire fence. Deer would walk the fence and cut back into the woods doing circles. They finally lost the track and backed out until this morning.

They couldn’t advance much further this morning and went to walking around. With no luck they gave us a call.

We arrived and worked very slowly back to the fence and around where they had walked around. Once we finally got in an area they hadn’t been Scout picked up the pace. About 3/4 mile from shot site we come upon the deer.

#7

10/18/2026

Tracked this one a couple weeks ago for a young boy and guess I never posted. This deer didn’t go far but it was a rough one because he hit an 8’ deep ditch of nasty mud and followed it about 125 yds…

It took getting Scout out to get it all figured out with all the scent pooling. Deer had only went 200 yds or so but only blood was at the shot site.

#6

09/30/2026

TN season has begun and it was still HOT!

Got a call from a guy who's 8 year old son had shot his first buck Saturday morning. They had tracked about 125 yds and jumped him up. They backed out and gave another 4 hours before tracking again.

At this point they were able to track another 150 yds before losing the blood trail. They did some small circles and backed out.

We arrived and 6PM and started the track. We quickly worked to where the buck was jumped and straight to last blood. At this point Slate was working back and forth but kept wanting to turn back almost 180 degree. After pulling him back and making sure the buck did not go into the thicket ahead of us as we suspected it would I let him do his thing.

We made the sharp turn and was headed back the direction we had come for a short ways and then down off into the bottom. About 300 yds down the hill I spotted another spot of blood. We worked out into the mowed road we drove in on (and they had drove in and out on several times that afternoon). He made a hard left and went down the road about 125 yds before turning right across a creek and towards a main road.

The buck was dead just at the edge of the creek. Total track about 850 yds.

Sometimes it isn't about the payment or size of the deer, but all about the smile on their face!

#5

09/14/2026

The final track of the TN velvet season was the biggest.

I received a call from Trails End Tracking Service asking if we would be able to help out on a track. We were just ending a track so we headed that way.

We started the track about 500 yds from shot site where the hunter last saw the deer cross the road going into some woods. Slate took me through the thickest mangled mess of trees, briars, vines, etc for about 6/10 of a mile to a fence. I had not seen the first sign of blood or anything so we turned around and made our way back to the truck.

I got Scout out to let her see if she could figure it out. She takes me along the same path to the same point Slate and I stopped. We continued on about 200 more yards to find the dead buck. Would have saved times and lots of sweat if I would have just continued on the first time....

The deer had been shot back and went over 3/4 mile and as far as we could tell it never bedded anywhere. It had a cool rack rack with white velvet on one tine and the rest a brownish/grey. Pics do not do this buck justice.

Now to wait until regular season begins!

09/09/2026

I had not even made it to our property before getting the next call. We met the hunter and made the drive back to the shot. He felt as if the shot was not bad and the deer should not have gone very far.

The hunter started leading us across the open field toward the spot of blood in the field. They had lost the trail after the deer had gotten out of the field and into the woods. I decided we should start at the shot site like I normally like to do. We turned back, cutting across the grass. We had not made it very far and Slate’s nose hit the ground and he whipped into high gear. He veered hard to the left toward a sagging stretch of barbed wire fence. He stood at the fence looking back at me. The last blood was 75 yds in the opposite direction so I pulled him off so we could go start.

We started at the beginning and before we made it to the point the deer had turned north into the woods he went right back to that exact same fence crossing, stopped dead, and stared back at me. His actions were telling me everything I needed to know, but human logic is a stubborn thing. I pulled him off a second time. Instead of listening to the dog, we worked our way 75 yards in the exact opposite direction, tracing the path the hunter had tracked and we made it to the last blood. Slate circled around casting for a scent that wasn't there. After a few minutes of watching him loop fruitlessly through the trees, I finally gave in.

"Alright, buddy where's he at?". Slate didn't hesitate. He lined out straight for the fence crossing for the third time and stood looking back at me. At this point, we didn't argue. We called the neighbor, gained permission to cross the property line and I told him to go. He took off and just 150 yards later we were standing over a beautiful buck.

The buck had indeed busted north into the woods but once inside the cover of the trees he had done a complete 180 and backtracked 75 yards right through his own footsteps, slipped back out into the open field, crossed the fence, and headed dead south. The hunter had been baffled all morning but Slate had the puzzle solved five minutes after getting out of the truck. If only his owner would have listened to begin with we all would have been back in the air conditioned truck sooner...

09/02/2026

Got a message from a young man’s dad looking for a drone after his son had shot a buck and lost the trail. After a few questions of why a drone and not a dog it was decided we would show up the next morning and check it out.

We hit the trail about 12 hours after the shot and slowly worked to last blood and a little further beyond along the side of the hill. Slate was struggling a little bit (I think due to scent pooling since we were close to the deer and the morning thermals in the hills) to get something figured out so we did some walking a little further. About the time I noticed him go on point, the buck jumped up and took off. He looked to be getting along pretty well.

After a few minutes we got on the trail and started finding blood. We pushed along for a ways catching up to him about 3 times. The 4th time we caught up to him he was about done. A little knife to make sure and the young man had his hands on his awesome buck!

About 400 yards from shot site to where he bedded and then another 900 yds or so of pushing him.

2

09/01/2026

The very first track we were going to let Loren Roe with Trails End Tracking Service and his dog start the track so I left mine in the truck with windows cracked and air going. Slate did not like the idea of another dog doing his job so he found a way out of the truck and caught up with us (he has been waiting a while to get back at it). Not a great way to start the season but had a good ending.

Anyway, I took him back to the truck to hangout. With the midday sun and open canopy Loren and dog decided to take a little break from the heat and let us try and finish the track. I took Slate and we started at the beginning and made our way to where they had stopped. The hunter said they had jumped the buck earlier while tracking and it had went up the hill to the left so we worked that way and he was not interested at all. So we went back to where he had stopped and let him work. He took me straight ahead to a bed and finally out of it and about 75 more yards to the 10 point buck.

Deer had travelled right at 400 yds.

1

09/01/2026

Well, it was a somewhat fun but very hot weekend tracking for the Tn velvet season. Was able to recover 4 of the 7 and the other 3 were caught up with and confirmed still alive and well. Will wait to see if they show back up to cameras and determine exactly where the shot was placed.
Recovery stories coming soon.

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08/13/2026

Season is getting close! Slate getting in his daily exercise to stay in shape and help manage the heat! But we are definitely ready for it to cool down!@

02/06/2026

Received a call late this morning from a guy that had shot a buck quartered to with a bow. He said the arrow looked to enter right behind the shoulder but had a stink to it. They had tracked about 350 yds and backed out.

We arrived about 8.5 hours after the shot and the dogs hit the trail. They worked a long way and we were finding blood on and off but it was all dry. Finally about 1.7 miles in we caught up with the buck. Unfortunately he was not ready to give up and decided to swim the river (another 1/4 mile). We watched and made sure he made it all the way across before heading back to the boat.

We made our way across the river and up the bank to where it finally ended. Shot placement was pretty much exactly where he thought (lung/liver/gut). Crazy how tough these deer can be. Congrats to the hunter on his best bow buck!

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