Geralds Deer Recovery Service

Geralds Deer Recovery Service Contact information, map and directions, contact form, opening hours, services, ratings, photos, videos and announcements from Geralds Deer Recovery Service, Sport & recreation, Risdon School Road, Marissa, IL.

02/05/2026

People balk at paying tracking fees. What they don’t see is everything that goes on behind the scenes. Training, food, gear, vet bills, you name it.

I don’t know a single tracker that makes enough money tracking to justify doing it for the money. At the end of the day, it’s probably a “minimum wage” job at best.

We put ourselves and our animals in harms way every single time we unload them. Case in point, our friend Lindsey was tracking for a client yesterday. Lindsey is a MASTER tracker/trainer. Her dogs are the best of the best.

Yesterday they were called out to help a hunter recover a wounded whitetail. In the process of the track her dogs got on a very large wild boar. The boar attacked the dogs and left them for dead. Thank God she got to them, got them to the vet and they are going to be ok.

I don’t know the number, but I’m quite certain the vet bills from yesterday will be more than an entire season of “tracking money”.

So, the next time you call a tracker and they tell you $100, $200, $500, whatever, keep all of this in mind. We don’t do it for the money. We do it because we enjoy it. We enjoy helping folks find their animal they most likely wouldn’t have found otherwise. And, if we don’t find it at least they have peace of mind that the animal will most likely be ok.

PS In case you are wondering, yes that boar is at the sausage factory today…..

Decided to mess around with ChatGPT for a little fun.
02/04/2026

Decided to mess around with ChatGPT for a little fun.

01/18/2026

Well boys and girls the fat lady has finally sung signaling the end of the 2025-2026 Illinois deer season. We want to thank everyone who called upon us for assistance finding their deer. It was a fun year to say the least with some great tracks. Met some new hunters this year as well as got to run some tracks for repeat clients. Here’s to planning next year’s adventures!

01/13/2026

Well we finished up what would be potentially our final track of the 2025-2026 season this evening. Based on what we could tell by Stitch’s behavior the deer will be just fine. It was great getting to hang out with the Rare Breed Outdoors guys this evening! Thse guys are class acts. Even got to make a couple predator stands with them. Boy those Optics are awesome!! Here’s to the 2026-2027 season! It will be here before we know it. Now time to see if Owen and I can get another deer on the ground before the end of the season.

I have said this time and time again. This is by far the best day to be in the woods!! During the 2023 deer season when ...
12/24/2025

I have said this time and time again. This is by far the best day to be in the woods!! During the 2023 deer season when I was laid up with a hand injury I answered 53 calls for tracks in that single day!! I was so glad to be part of the Illinois Deer Tracker’s Network because knowing I couldn’t run any of those tracks I was able to pass them along to other trackers in the network. I track still sticks in my head and it was a hunter from the Wisconsin boarder (5 hours away!)needing a track done!!

Just a little to think about.
12/11/2025

Just a little to think about.

Cold mid morning track!I was called by the hunter Steve while we were on our way back from Mississippi yesterday evening...
12/02/2025

Cold mid morning track!

I was called by the hunter Steve while we were on our way back from Mississippi yesterday evening. He said he had shot a good buck and knew the hit was farther back than ideal and could see a fair bit of arrow hanging out as the deer took off. He was able to watch the deer for a good distance before it went over a hill. He waited a few hours before looking for any blood. He went to where he had last seen him and found some blood but it wasn’t great. He did follow it a short way and mad the decision to back out after marked the location. After talking with him we decided to let the deer lay over night and come back mid morning to give ample time for the deer to expire. We met up at the location at 11 am this morning with a temp of 28° we set out to the hit site.

Steve had showed me the direction the deer had went across a grassy area before he had last seen him. After I harnessed Stitch and said our prayer I let him work the area away from the POL to see what he picked up. He made a quick circle picked his line and I look where he had put his nose down and there was blood. We had inadvertently parked on the path the deer had taken to the hill where he was last seen. Stitch continued tracking right between both of our trucks. Headed to the point of loss I was noticing spotty blood here and there. We make our way to the marked last blood area in a bottom. Stitch went up the next hill and made a sharp left towards a cleared path. We crossed it and Stitch started to pick up his pace moving quickly into the next timber piece. A hundred and fifty yards or so. At this point I felt he was on a live deer and it was time for a restart. As we were headed back one of the others with us noticed blood at the path. We headed back to that spot to start again. This time he pace was a lot slower and I knew we were on the right deer and working a lot better. Before to long we come up on 2 different beds about 5 yards apart. Stitch continues out of those and we find a little more blood, then another bed. We keep tracking along finding multiple beds on various ridge tops. This deer is almost zig zagging these small ridges. We started getting closer to a lake edge and Stitch is all over in there working all the scent trap locations and trails on this hill side. He picks a line and takes me to 2 more beds, then another close to the water edge I can see another bed as he’s making his way down. Fearing this deer has possibly swam across the adjacent lake I holler back to Steve and let him know we might have a swimmer on our hands. As we get to the bed close to the water edge I was very relieved when I noticed the dees laying just on the bank at the waters edge!! After looking the area over the deer had likely expired at the lake edge and flopped into the water. In total this deer had bedded 11 different times!! Congratulations Steve on your beautiful southern Illinois 8 pointer!

Waiting at property line for permission
12/01/2025

Waiting at property line for permission

12/01/2025

One stud loaded up in the truck now headed to track number 2 as the snow is starting to fall!

We hope everyone has a blessed thanksgiving with family and friends!! I know we are truly blessed for the year we’ve had...
11/27/2025

We hope everyone has a blessed thanksgiving with family and friends!! I know we are truly blessed for the year we’ve had so far tracking. Proof of lifes keep rolling in as expected. After this short little break we will be back and ready to help all the hunters we can! Hope everyone enjoys their meals and the hunting clothes still fit afterwards!! 😂🤣 God bless y’all!

Address

Risdon School Road
Marissa, IL
62257

Telephone

(618) 719-5563

Website

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