10/07/2026
Another girl on board baby!!!
10/5/26
🐾 14 HOURS — ALL-NIGHT RAIN — ZERO BLOOD — “I TOLD YOU SO!” 😂🦌
Sunday night I got a call while I was pulling up to another track. I told them it might be a little while, but as soon as I finished, I’d call with an ETA.
Well… that first track took a little longer than expected. By the time I called back, they had already pulled out and were beginning to think maybe the deer hadn’t been hit at all.
So I started asking questions.
The shot was roughly 20 yards with a .308. There was no blood, and after looking around, doubt had started creeping in.
I asked the husband one question:
“How did she feel about the shot when she pulled the trigger?”
He said, “She felt confident… until we got down there and couldn’t find anything.”
I told him, “Then let’s trust her gut. If she felt confident when she pulled that trigger, there’s a good possibility that deer is hit. No blood does NOT automatically mean a miss.”
We decided to wait until morning.
It proceeded to rain ALL NIGHT. 🌧️ It was still raining when we arrived roughly 14 hours after the shot.
We put Avery and Kona to work.
At first, they checked a couple different trails around where everyone believed the deer had entered. Neither dog gave me the body language I wanted to see. They came back out, regrouped and started working another line.
Then Avery changed.
If you’ve tracked with me before, you’ve probably heard me say it:
I KNOW MY DOG. 🤎
I looked at the hunter and said, “This is it. You hit that deer.”
She looked at me like I was crazy. 😂
“You really think so?!”
Yep. Come on.
Avery and Kona went to work, and within a couple hundred yards of the hit site…
THERE HE WAS. 🦌🐾
Dead on arrival.
And guess what?
It was a GOOD SHOT.
Fourteen hours. Pouring rain. No blood to follow. Plenty of reasons to convince yourself it was a clean miss.
But that hunter’s FIRST instinct after pulling the trigger was that she had made the shot.
And naturally, once we found him, she got to give her husband the best part of the entire recovery:
“I TOLD YOU SO!” 😂👏🏼
Sometimes the woods don’t give you the evidence you’re looking for. No blood does not mean no deer.
If you feel confident in your shot but something just isn’t adding up, back out and call a vetted tracking team.
And ladies… sometimes you’ve just gotta trust that gut. 😉🦌🤎💙
South Carolina Tracking Network South Carolina Tracking Dogs
