Holy Moly Koda just tracked a buck for Animal Services
This is the most amazing experience I've had with Koda. I can barely type my adrenaline is rushing. I was driving down Pleasant Hill Rd. in Lafayette when all of a sudden a car hits a buck. It speeds off and the buck is on three legs. I pulled over and called the police because it was going towards houses.
I parked the car and got Koda out. I put him on the trail where I saw the buck get hit. Right off the bat, Koda gets the scent. He clears his nose a couple of times, then gets a better whif. He pulls me across the street and up on top of this hill. His adrenaline was pumping, and I could barely keep up with him. He's going nuts at this point, sniffing, pulling, following the deer's track up the hill. He starts marking where he's been. Something Koda never does. He marked every 10 feet.
I see Animal Services pull up and I drag him down the hill. Tell Animal Services where Koda's bringing me and the woman is like let's go. He takes us back up the hill with such confidence that I know he's on this buck's trail. We let him lead us up the hill to a fence line, he follows the fence line to a break in the wire gate. We all go through and that's when Koda starts going up on his hind legs pulling me almost to the ground. I told her to shine her flashlight ten feet forward. I know we're right there. Sure enough about 15 feet in front of us is the buck on the ground. Koda wanted it so bad. He was going nuts!
Unfortunately, the buck was down and basically bleeding to death. It was euthenized on the spot. Koda didn't even flinch.
I don't know what I thought would be about the outcome. Maybe we could have saved him? But I'm glad he didn't lay there and bleed to death. He was so beautiful.
My adrenaline is still pumping. I can see the rush in hunting that keeps hunters going. It was an amazing little adventure.
I parked the car and got Koda out. I put him on the trail where I saw the buck get hit. Right off the bat, Koda gets the scent. He clears his nose a couple of times, then gets a better whif. He pulls me across the street and up on top of this hill. His adrenaline was pumping, and I could barely keep up with him. He's going nuts at this point, sniffing, pulling, following the deer's track up the hill. He starts marking where he's been. Something Koda never does. He marked every 10 feet.
I see Animal Services pull up and I drag him down the hill. Tell Animal Services where Koda's bringing me and the woman is like let's go. He takes us back up the hill with such confidence that I know he's on this buck's trail. We let him lead us up the hill to a fence line, he follows the fence line to a break in the wire gate. We all go through and that's when Koda starts going up on his hind legs pulling me almost to the ground. I told her to shine her flashlight ten feet forward. I know we're right there. Sure enough about 15 feet in front of us is the buck on the ground. Koda wanted it so bad. He was going nuts!
Unfortunately, the buck was down and basically bleeding to death. It was euthenized on the spot. Koda didn't even flinch.
I don't know what I thought would be about the outcome. Maybe we could have saved him? But I'm glad he didn't lay there and bleed to death. He was so beautiful.
My adrenaline is still pumping. I can see the rush in hunting that keeps hunters going. It was an amazing little adventure.
Comments
mmm!
sometimes my guys go nuts when deer or moose have just gone by ahead of us...Iknow that drive of which you speak!
Go Koda!
here in VT hunters can call a list of F&W approved dogs & handlers to help them recover lost game. Sometimes I think that'd be cool to become someday.
When a deer is hit by a vehicle, its usually the end of that deer. I'm glad you guys were able to get to it and dispatch it. I'm guessing the meat and antlers were not available for you to take.
Good job to Koda, now you need to embrace her drive and start hunting!
Mirka, Koda and I took one tracking seminar, but I never followed up with it. He liked it a lot. He gets so serious and focused on the task at hand. I wanted to take more, but with all the training, classes, and school I have him in sometimes I feel bad like he's not able to just be a puppy. I should follow up.
Chrystal, I didn't ask for meat, but I should have. In Lafayette (it's a pretty houty touty town), they may have looked at me like I stepped out of Deliverance. :-P The woman had to wait for other people to arrive to try and remove the buck. It was too much for her alone, and I think they were going to cut that fence more to get him out. I didn't wait around for all of this because Koda couldn't calm down near the deer.
Even getting him into the car was ridiculous. He did not want to go without that deer. ha ha. There may have been some picking him up and dragging him in the car. He's so stubborn.
Yeah, too bad you couldn't have got the meat. What do they do with it, anyway? Where I grew up (in Alaska) you weren't able to take the meat if you hit a moose because Fish and Game came and took it and it was given to charities (group homes, etc) , which I thought was pretty cool, actually.
Koda is handsome. She may have seen him and come running with a crush.
Maybe Koda should be worked in tracking. Certainly there is a need for a good tracking dog to find lost dogs. Hoshi, my old guy, could have possibly been a tracker. He has a good nose and high energy level even at 13 yrs. Whether he would have had the focus--I don't know. Sukoshi would have never made a tracker. She's just too laid back.